He reflects on the common occurrence of prepubescent girls (representing innocence versus the corrupting influence of the material world), adding that, 'Characters can be types and still have an emotional life.' He delves deeper into the subtext of Pan's Labyrinth in a brilliant commentary for the film. Wearing his screenwriter's hat, del Toro deconstructs the classic children's fairytale in The Power Of Myth.

He reveals that he loves monsters because they represent all the qualities that we wish to keep hidden, but which at the same time, 'make us human'. It's a fascinating interview and del Toro is as ever very articulate in describing the ideas that have shaped his outlandish and sometimes gruesome films. He elaborates on this in a half-hour interview at the NFT, describing it as a 'companion piece to The Devil's Backbone ' and saying that after that film, the 9/11 attacks radically altered his opinions regarding children and their reaction to war and oppression. In a prologue to this two-disc edition of Pan's Labyrinth, del Toro calls this 'The most personal movie I've ever made'. The film only took awards for makeup, design and cinematography. In an Oscar ceremony dominated by shamefully overrated movies in 2007, del Toro missed out on the gong for Best Foreign Picture. Hollywood would never have sanctioned such a dark fairytale that sees a young girl (Ivana Baquero) conjure a fantasy world to escape the horrors of war. Mexican helmer Guillermo del Toro travelled to Spain to shoot his ' transcendent' masterpiece Pan's Labyrinth.

Labyrinth 2 movie release date