A poem instead of prose. (Only minor spoilers)

Rating: 9/10 (16 September 2018)

Going by the reviews, it seems that people either love or hate this movie. Personally I belong to the latter category, however I do understand some of the complaints people have about the movie. The first thing that you should know is that it's very much unlike most other work by Del Toro. Just the opening scene made that abundently clear to me. Although sometimes his characteristic style rears it's head, for me this film felt like a Jeunet picture. The cinematography, his use of colour the fantastical elements in the story. Especially the way our protagonist is introduced is very reminiscent of Jeunet's earlier work. Most of the criticisms I've read about this movie are about the storytelling, that the story itself is not credible in the way that it's presented, which is true. Personally however, I feel like that is one of the movie's greatest strenghts, not a weakness. Del Toro depicts a lot of events that would be completely impossible, or at least incredible in the real world. The most striking one of those is when the main protagonist floods the bathroom by letting the tap run and stuffing some towels under the doorseal, making the water almost touch the ceiling. Ofcourse this is completely unbelievable when the viewer remains too grounded in reality. It's also one of the films most powerful moments, both in storytelling and cinematography. The movie does contain quite a few elements that aren't unlike a fairytale. The main antagonist (or villain) is a larger than life depiction of evil, who has basically no redeeming qualities, the movie is at times quite moralistic and love plays a key-role in the story. The story was never meant to be believable or science-fiction-like. It's using the setting as a vessel to tell an adult fairytale (that admittedly can be a bit too sweet at times) and it's using Del Toro's brilliant camerawork more to convey feelings than story-elements. I feel like it's necessary that the viewer understands this, in order to truly appreciate this movie. It is a poem instead of a novel.