On the surface The Shape of Water seems like a classic Beauty and the Beast esc tale, woman meets monster, woman falls for monster, woman and monster live happily ever after. But nothing could be further from the truth. Where Beauty and the Beast is filled with happiness and laughter Guillermo del Toro’s fantasy, drama is far more complex and intricate. It is a mixture of emotions full of wonderful splashes of dream like warmth and affection intertwined with harsh realities and nightmarish brutally.

The movie opens with a wonderful musical sequence to introduce Elisa (Sally Hawkins) a mute and orphan, Elisa lives alone taking life a day at a time. Isolated because of her inability to talk due to an accident as a child, Elisa only has a handful of friends who like her are considered freaks. Her neighbour Giles is a homosexual and her best friend Zelda is discriminated for being African American. It is when Elisa encounters “The Asset” working her job at a research centre is when the quiet cleaner begins to interact with The Asset. Communicating through sign language, playing music a record player and feeding it hardboiled eggs Elise befriends The Asset all unbeknown to her superiors or co workers.

Through these secret interactions Elisa begins to form a deep bond with The Asset a captured monster pulled from the rivers of South America. Both considered freaks and both having spent most of their entire lives alone their connection deepens when Elisa hatches a plan to help release The Asset and set it free. However those plan’s become increasing more complicated when she falls for The Asset and becomes a target of the research's centres head of security Richard Strickland (Michael Shannon).

Set to a 1960’s backdrop when Russia and the United States are looking to find the next super weapon to win the Cold War The Shape of Water feels like a classic 1950’s monster movie adapted for a modern audience exploring liberation, paranoia as well as questioning societies moral values. Because of this it is easy to compare The Shape of Water to one of del Toro’s other well-known classic Pan’s Labyrinth and you'd be right. However there aren’t many directors that could make a project such as The Shape of Water work but Guillermo del Toro is one of them. As such he has created an inspiring tale that touches on many taboos that are still very much relatable in today’s society. Add dream sequences, fantastic sound and visual effects, a stand out performance from lead actor Sally Hawkins will see this movie no doubt pick up an Oscar or too in the future.

Final Thoughts

If a modern day monster movie doesn’t sound very appealing to you; you stop and take a minute to reconsider. There aren’t many films where you will be rooting for the woman to get it on with a weird god like fish monster from the sea but The Shape of Water makes you do just that. That sentiment alone might make you challenge a taboo of your own because why can’t a woman or anyone for that matter fall for a sea creature? At it’s core it’s a romantic drama but political and spy thriller elements make this more than just a monster movie. In short even if you’re sceptical about this movie go and see it! Sally Hawkins performance alone is worth the price of a ticket and you will be very hard pressed not too fall in love with the rich in depth world del Toro has created.

9/10