Somewhere, somehow, the idea of fantasy feels societally relegated to something unworthy of the "mature." One movie that clearly goes against this grain of thought is the recently released Pan's Labyrinth.
It is a very dark fantasy tale and is definitely not recommended for kids.
The ability to describe the power of a child's view of a certain cruel world, the pains that she encounters, and the ways in which she copes are well portrayed in the film. The characters shown are both exaggerated in the fable-like sense and yet terribly believable.
Realism and Fantasy are both well done and intertwined in such a way as to convince the viewer that these two perspectives are not truly separated and that both are worthy and necessary foci of an individual's attention.
Some reviews.
