Review of The Shape of Water (2017) by Ian B — 02 Apr 2018

Guillermo Del Toro's The Shape of Water is a beautifully crafted film about friendship, love, sacrifice and acceptance. Unfortunately, it constantly reminded me of a specific Simpsons episode that dealt with Troy McClure and his "romantic abnormality".

Don't get me wrong, this is a terrific movie filled with great performances, gorgeous production values, and a wonderfully dark sense of humour...I just kept hearing Phil Hartman's voice in my head the entire time.

Not everything in the movie works, but I don't think any of it would've worked unless Guillermo Del Toro was in complete creative control. It's essentially his twisted take on Beauty and the Beast, just replace the beast with the creature from the black lagoon.

The budding romance between Sally Hawkins' mute Eliza and the God-like amphibian man may be at the forefront, but it was the friendship between Eliza and her neighbour, played by Richard Jenkins, that was the highlight of the film for me.

Then there's poor Michael Shannon, relegated to playing the same one-dimensional bad guy over and over again...although Del Toro does give his character a hilariously morbid gag about his fingers slowly rotting off.

It's this kind of dark humour sprinkled throughout the movie that made me enjoy it that much more. The Shape of Water is well acted, emotionally engaging, surprising, funny, and very, very weird. It still makes me laugh that a movie about fish sex won best picture.