Review of The Shape of Water (2017) by Vladimir T — 15 Jan 2018

The Shape of Water (2017):

I would say this is the kind of film that's more of an experience rather than a movie. Walking out of it, it feels like you just had a really beautiful, odd and emotional dream.

Now I'm gonna warn you right away, this isn't a movie for everyone, but I think if you're the right kind of person for it, you already know that you'll like it. It's very art-house, it's very Guillermo Del Torro, it's very weird.

Overall I really enjoyed "The Shape of Water", it leaves you with a good fuzzy feeling in your heart. I loved seeing every frame of it since Guillermo has a very distinctive and stylized look and tone. He manages to create a real world but with a dash of magic and fairy tale to it. The cinematography was absolutely astonishing (especially the colours), set design/costumes/etc were fantastic, the creature was really cool and pleasant to the eye (good mix of practical and CGI), the acting was good (even though the Russian was iffy).

My only problem with the movie was the fact that it felt a little too long, I think a couple of tiny things could've been cut here and there and the movie would've been just as good. There's also a couple of things that felt unaddressed but as the viewer you let it slide and forget about them since you're focused on the main story.

Basically, if you knew about this movie and you were interested in seeing it, see it. If you don't know anything about it or the works of Del Torro, probably don't.

If I had to boil it down (egg joke) to a score it would be somewhere around 7.5/10.

P/S.

Do NOT see it with kids unless you want to have some VERY awkward moments.