Crumpet and I saw Pan’s Labyrinth last night, and it’s hard to describe why I was so impressed with the film without giving too much away.

Suffice it to say that this is the film that I wish Terry Gilliam was capable of making - it’s a wonderful combination of sweet fantasy and dark, gritty realism that he never manages to find. Gilliam always injects too much comedy and farce into his ‘reality’ to give his stories the gravitas they demand. Guillermo del Toro may be my new God (let’s just ignore Hellboy, eh?).

Another way to put it would be saying that this film, which depicts a man’s nose being caved in with a bottle, a face cut open with a knife and a hand destroyed with secateurs, is one of the most beautiful fantasies I can remember and I consider it essential viewing. That is, as long as you don’t bring your kids.

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