I’d give Pan’s Labyrinth 7 out of 10 stars, the same as Children of Men. The film had some awesome special effects; visually it was wonderful, especially with its use of colors and just the atmosphere of the different locations. Even the bathroom was very stylistic and fantastical. The movie is by no means an epic, but I still thought the story needed something a bit more… and I wasn’t too happy with the ending. There were a lot of parallels between the real world and the fantasy world in Pan’s Labyrinth, but I felt there should have been more parallels that actually have to do with characters and their motivations. In fact, the director didn’t seem too worried at all about character motivations, and if I don’t understand why a character wants to do what he or she is doing, then why would I care about their decisions? Instead, much of the drive behind the story comes from the fear of the bad guys and the need to get away from them. The gruesome violence that makes the film rated R shows you just how horrible the bad guys are, but that almost seems like the most important thing in the film, which it shouldn’t be. But, oh well, the director and I probably have artistic differences story-wise, and he’s the director, not me. Overall, good film, check it out. If I was a director, I’d definitely want those visual effects artists working for me, and I wouldn’t mind the director’s eye when it comes to the visual experience of the film.