Yawn

Rating: 5/10 (3 April 2004)

Man, this movie was a big let down. I simply didn't care what happened. Del Toro is great visually, but lousy in simple storytelling. All of Del Toro's intriguing CGI fx and makeup effects, and fancy camera moves, cannot save a movie that fails to involve and entertain you. A plot that is totally arbitrary in setup, villians that have no palatable threat or menace, annoying sub characters ( fishman, John Hurt, Jeffrey Tambor )and a hero with good presence, but nothing interesting to do. One thing puzzled me : *** SPOILER *** after Fire Chick torches the squids in the sewer, next immediate scene is of our heroes being interrogated and tortured. **** END *** What the hell? I thought the projectionist made a reel change mistake, but no. It seems 5 or 6 minutes were just lopped off to keep the film under 2 1/2 hrs, leaving me and the audience, stratching our heads. But by that point, I didn't care. Bye. Thanks for reading.