10 Must-Watch Fantasy Movies For People Who Don't Like Fantasy

1. Pan's Labyrinth

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Warner Bros.

A test to see how diverse a movie-watcher's pallet is, is to see how far they are willing to go in letting go of reality on the screen. For the amazing Mexican film director Guillermo del Toro, Pan's Labyrinth might still be his best film - and I say that as a huge fan of Blade II.

Pan's Labyrinth does an incredible job at drawing audiences' in and keeping attention transfixed between the real and fantasy worlds within. In the real world, a violent post-Spanish Civil War world creates compelling characters and horrific scenes of torture and execution. Whilst in the fantasy realm, Guillermo del Toro's creative flair runs wild as the film takes protagonist Ofelia into a mystical fairy-tale world.

Had Pan's Labyrinth been a CGI spectacle one might find in The Hobbit Trilogy, or a Transformers movie, it would probably not have the same grasp. But even if that was the case, the original design of the characters and compelling narrative makes it an addictive watch.

But be warned - while from the outside it might appear to be a story aimed at children, the subject matter and themes explored within Pan's Labyrinth certainly don't make for family movie night. Quite the opposite in fact.

Contributor

I overthink a lot of things. Will talk about pretty much anything for a great length of time. I'm obsessed with General Slocum from the 2002 Spider-Man film. I have questions that were never answered in that entire trilogy!