Winning the Oscar for Best Picture (Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale), Best Original Score (Alexandre Desplat), Best Director (Guillermo del Toro), and Best Production Design/Set Decoration (Paul Denham Austerberry, Shane Vieau, Jeff Melvin), The Shape of Water has received lots of accolades, so I was very interested in seeing what all the hype was about.
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| digitaltrends.com |
What It's About:
Orphan Elisa Esposito is very different than those around her - empathetic, passionate, and mute. As one of the women responsible for cleaning in a government facility, she is rarely given the time of day except by her friend and co-worker Zelda and neighbour Giles. When a top-secret specimen is rushed into the lab under the supervision of army personnel, Elisa is curious about this creature, who resembles both a human and an amphibian. The more Elisa learns about him, the closer of a bond that grows between them, through food, music, and sign language. So when sadistic Colonel Strickland decides that the best way to study the creature is to cut him open, Elisa has a choice to make - a choice that might not only risk her heart, but also her life.
Why You'll Love It:
- If you love unusual love stories, this absolutely fits the bill. It's very much that Beauty and the Beast type movie of falling in love despite appearances.
- The music by Alexandre Desplat is lovely. If you have been a fan of his scores in the past (see: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pts. 1 and 2, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, and The Danish Girl to name a few) then you will definitely appreciate his work here as well.
- Sally Hawkins is brilliant as always, as is Richard Jenkins. These both absolutely shine in their roles, and deserve their recognition.
- Best described as a dark fairytale, if you love a classic kind of tale that gets really twisted, then this one will probably appeal to you a lot.
Why You Might Want To Skip It:
- There are several moments that are unnecessarily crude or graphic. They don't add anything to the story or feel of the movie, and just feel completely out of place. So, if you are bothered by either shock tactics, or random gross moments, they come without really any warning or motivation.
- If you love cats.
- The characters were either well fleshed out, or not in the slightest. There were moments that were included that, although fit the characters, were not carried forward throughout the movie and therefore just seemed random. Expanding on some of these moments would have added a lot of depth to the movie.
- If a random musical number is totally not your thing.
- It's definitely pretty predictable. If you're looking for something to surprise you with its storyline, you won't have much of that. The only things that might shock you are some of the graphic moments.
Final Thoughts
I walked into this movie mostly blind, as I have done with several movies over the past bit. It was my first Guillermo del Toro film, so I knew little of what to expect asides from short clips of this and Pan's Labyrinth. Personally, although I enjoyed the overall premise of this movie and some elements of it, I found it to be a large disappointment. There was nudity where it didn't seem to be necessary, or add anything to the storyline, and characters were given traits or put into situations that never came up again and therefore just seemed to be a waste of time. Heck, this movie is supposed to take place in the 1960s, but you would barely know it, nor does that feel relevant. If these characteristics were given more weight in the movie, it would have improved dramatically. Plot details are almost non-existent at the beginning, and then everything feels like it is being handed to you near the end - I'm pretty sure I guessed every single plot twist before it hit the screen, which I wouldn't have if they were spread out better throughout the film. Gross and/or impropable things happened several times which only made me want to look away from the screen - not glue me to it, and I would have much preferred (and would have found it more effective) if they happened off-screen. I'm not opposed to dark and twisted subject matter, but I am definitely against senseless gore. Story: good. Atmosphere: good. Everything else: in desperate need of polishing up and editing.
I walked into this movie mostly blind, as I have done with several movies over the past bit. It was my first Guillermo del Toro film, so I knew little of what to expect asides from short clips of this and Pan's Labyrinth. Personally, although I enjoyed the overall premise of this movie and some elements of it, I found it to be a large disappointment. There was nudity where it didn't seem to be necessary, or add anything to the storyline, and characters were given traits or put into situations that never came up again and therefore just seemed to be a waste of time. Heck, this movie is supposed to take place in the 1960s, but you would barely know it, nor does that feel relevant. If these characteristics were given more weight in the movie, it would have improved dramatically. Plot details are almost non-existent at the beginning, and then everything feels like it is being handed to you near the end - I'm pretty sure I guessed every single plot twist before it hit the screen, which I wouldn't have if they were spread out better throughout the film. Gross and/or impropable things happened several times which only made me want to look away from the screen - not glue me to it, and I would have much preferred (and would have found it more effective) if they happened off-screen. I'm not opposed to dark and twisted subject matter, but I am definitely against senseless gore. Story: good. Atmosphere: good. Everything else: in desperate need of polishing up and editing.
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