Review of The Shape of Water (2017) by Donna M — 05 Feb 2018

My first impression of the movie based on the previews turned out to be right. I gave it a chance because I hoped to be pleasantly surprised. But this movie was not good. It had a bit of an Amelie feel to it at first, whimsical and quirky/fun.

Until the amphibian creature arrived along with the over-the-top sadistic villain. For a quick minute I thought the villain had been slain by the fish and I was like "good" because that character wasn't just hateful, he was a turn-off.

I just didn't want to deal with this level of obnoxious cruelty and awfulness. It was just too darn much. And I didn't feel ANYTHING for any of the characters except for the friend of the mute lady.

I wish I had a friend like her. The critic reviews for this were as shocking to me as the rave reviews for Black Swan back in the day. I didn't make it all the way through either one. I stopped this movie before things got intimate, so I didn't see 'that' scene but I'd heard about it.

I anticipated I'd have morbid curiosity to see it but to be blunt, I didn't care at ALL about missing it. I didn't want to know this story better or more intimately. I just wanted to walk away and google the ending so I'd know how it all turned out without having to witness the whole thing.