While not as powerful as his Spanish language classics Pan’s Labyrinth and The Devil’s Backbone, The Shape of Water is director Guillermo del Toro’s strongest Hollywood film to date. It’s a visually and emotionally engrossing fable, one that synthesizes so many of this unique filmmaker’s peculiar tastes and diverse artistic influences. It is a fairy tale, a monster movie, a Noir, a social commentary, and a valentine to the Golden Age of Hollywood, but above all else, it is a love story. It is poetic yet accessible, and earnest without being maudlin. Its biggest flaw is that its plot ultimately takes a surprisingly conventional route for such an otherwise unconventional Hollywood release.
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