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Spain, 1944. After Franco’s victory in the war times are still tumultuous. Rebels still hide in the country waiting for their opportunity to take out the evil military leaders. Ofelia is a young girl who is brought out to a rural military base when her pregnant mother marries the Captain. Ofelia finds herself caught in the middle of a post-war struggle as well as in the middle of this new familial struggle. Her only escape is in her fantasy books. Her curiosity, and a fairy, leads her to a nearby labyrinth where she meets a faun. The faun will help her escape if she can merely complete three very dangerous tasks. Can she do it? Will she want to if it means leaving her mother behind?

Notice I mention the war stuff first. Don’t let the trailer or the publicity materials fool you, this is first and foremost a wartime drama. The fantasy almost seems to be an afterthought that also happens to be the only aspect making the film watchable. The main thread of the plot deals with political intrigue, backstabbing, espionage and all that other typical stuff. It’s all extremely standard and far too predictable to even mention at length. You’ve seen this kind of thing several times before, and it was probably more interesting.

The fantasy aspect of the film comprises a disappointingly small portion of the film. I wouldn’t be surprised if it all boiled down to fifteen minutes of screen time. The movie looked so promising. I was expecting a great new world full of interesting characters and creative landscapes. I was essentially expecting “Labyrinth.” As far as fantasy goes, what I got was two characters, one that didn’t even talk (even though he should have) and a couple too short sequences. There just wasn’t enough fantasy in this movie, and the little that was there was repetitive and not very original. Come on, I’ve seen “Beetlejuice.” I know about the chalk doors. Please don’t use that two separate times. I wanted to get lost in that world. I wanted a whole new realm to be opened up before me. I wanted to not watch some lame, sorry excuse for a war movie starring a sadistic Captain and featuring some daydreaming little girl used to give the film heart and a child’s perspective.

I really wanted to like this movie. It’s not horrible, but it’s really not great by any stretch of the imagination simply because mine wasn’t. It’s an overly simplistic, standard war movie given a fresh take by integrating an overly simplistic, standard fantasy sub-thread. A big problem I have is that if you’ve seen any production stills or the trailer, you’ve really seen all there is to see already. That shouldn’t be the case. The acting is wonderful; the cinematography is beautiful; the creature and fantasy realm design look great. If only the script were better. If only the fantasy side was fully embraced and expanded upon, I probably would have loved this movie. As it stands, I was severely disappointed.

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