It directly plaigarises this film - exactly the same theme of children escaping the horrors of Franco's fascism into a fantasy world. In Pan's the grotesque monsters of the girl's imagination are far less frightening than the real monster of Fascism.
Has anyone seen these to films and observed the similarities?
Pan must've no doubt been influenced by Spirit of the Beehive, but it's more than a bit of a stretch to say it was a remake. For starters, there are significant plot differences (aside from obvious stylistic differences), such as that in Pan the fairy world is implied to be real, whereas Spirit of the Beehive is strictly realistic. But more importantly, Pan has a message of "(most) humans are monsters" and is more narrowly about the horrors of the Franco regime. Spirit of the Beehive is more universal - it is about the more brutal realities of life and how one deals with them, with the Franco regime treated more like a particular example than the actual central theme. Not least, if the fairy world is real as is implied, then Ofelia's end constitutes flight and escape, whereas the more ambiguous ending in Spirit of the Beehive leaves it more open, but the implications of the alternatives are very different - either Ana finds a way of coping with the shock of getting lost in the forest and getting poisoned, the partisan's death, her sister's bullying, etc, or she continues to descend into a fantasy world and madness.
Pan's Labrynth was inspired by Spirit of the Beehive no doubt. It is not a remake, rip-off or anything like that, just a very heartfelt take on the same themes.
And the monsters are REALLY cool!
I noticed quite a bit of similarities with Terry Gilliam's Tideland as well. Looks like a previous commentor beat me to telling you guys though!