This Week's Review: "The Shape of Water"

I decided to bite the bullet and find a theater showing of “The Shape of Water.” Although I had seen several trailers over the last few months, knew the gist of the plot and had strong memories of director Guillermo del Toro’s “Pan’s Labyrinth,” there were several surprises. It was worth the trouble to find the film.

The first time I saw a trailer for “The Shape of Water,” I knew there had to be a connection with the 1954 film, “Creature from the Black Lagoon.” The film was shot in 3-D, and our theater was never equipped for such technology. I have seen excerpts from the film, but I have no memory of seeing it or its two sequels.

The plot is simple: a mute and lonely girl meets a monster, falls in love with the monster, and, in this case, gets the monster. There are, of course, sub-plots that complicate the budding romance, but, in the long run, there is no substantial difference between this story and every other monster film, particularly the many versions of “King Kong.” The villain turns out to be a worse monster than the creature; the only sin he does not commit is that of bad grammar.
The film fully deserves its “R” rating and is not for the youngsters. The cinematography is superb.