The Shape of Water

2017 • 123 minutes

About this movie

From master storyteller, Guillermo del Toro, comes THE SHAPE OF WATER - an other-worldly fairy tale, set against the backdrop of Cold War era America circa 1962. In the hidden high-security government laboratory where she works, lonely Elisa (Sally Hawkins) is trapped in a life of silence and isolation. Elisa’s life is changed forever when she and co-worker Zelda (Octavia Spencer) discover a secret classified experiment. Rounding out the cast are Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Michael Stuhlbarg and Doug Jones.

Ratings and reviews

From the outside it looks like someone took the fish man from Hellboy and wrote him into a romance. If that was the case the movie wouldn't be so bad. Might be a little weird, but still something you could watch. Everyone loves a Beauty and the Beast story. Same director, same actor who played said fish man, and even some similarities. But take away the "man" part, as in speaking like a civilized human and somewhat looking and acting like one, and then turn fish man into fish beast and all you have is a bestiality film. No one minds romances between aliens or weird looking people (example: Raven or Beast from x-men) when they are still humanized. But ig the character is too much an animal it is WRONG for there to be a sexual relationship. Love doesn't have to be sexual, but Hollywood doesn't get that. Think about if Toothless and Hiccup in How to Train Your Dragon just started going at it. Grandma and kids shield your eyes! Overly sexualized and vulgar with extremely biased liberal views is all this film is. And on a side note. They really had no idea how fish work. Fish gills don't magically make them able to live in water. That water has to be oxygenated. If it is a small body of water and stagnet, the fish would quickly use up the oxygen supply as well as die from the harsh chemicals excreted from the body and gills.

We are not what we think we are, we are what the world thinks we are. Like listening to your voice in a recording you do not realize how you sound to others until it is shown to you. Only then do you see how wrong you can be about yourself and by abstraction the world and how little we tolerate anything different than what we think we see. Those that are tolerated the least in this world are usually the ones that tolerate the most. This fantasy brings this to terms in a way that absolves you from the cringing effect of an unimaginable taboo of an unimaginable relationship. A must see by all means if you like to think. A great cinematic release if not. No matter where you sit on the scale you have the substance there to enjoy this movie.

I thought this fantasy film is great with all its characters. All of the leads are fantastic to watch, filled to the brim with nuances and quirks; I loved them all! The production is rich and detailed in that typical Del Toro way. The love story with the Gillman and pretty little Sally Hawkins is definitely fringe but it didn't distract me from enjoying this movie thoroughly. Going quickly from a rental to just going on and buying this unique creature feature for my movie collection👍