This fairy tale with parallels to "Alice in Wonderland" has a little girl encountering bizarre characters in an alternate universe. The cinematography is quite impressive and del Toro displays a fine visual flair. However, the script is too random and contrived to be interesting and the characters are one-dimensional. The captain, for example, is pure evil, lacking a single redeeming character; his wife is a whiny weakling. The film intersperses the fairy tale with the account of the fascist army fighting insurgents, but the two threads don't complement each other. It's like watching two movies. del Toro's obsession with stomach-churning violence doesn't help matters.