I fell in love with an amorphous amphibian creature

Rating: 7/10 (4 January 2018)

This was the first film by del Toro that I have seen, and I believe that he has made a very good impression on me. He has crafted here a tale of magical realism, with a wondrous amphibian-like creature (Doug Jones) who falls in love with a mute human girl, Elisa (Sally Hawkins). In many ways, it really feels kind of like a fairy tale, with a narrator (who is introduced at the beginning and disappears and comes back at the end - it felt kind of slapped on however), a mystical and godly creature and its lover, and the evil antagonist, Dick Strickland (Michael Shannon), rife with selfishness and hatred. Each of the characters are intricately written and detailed, and are each characterized in a unique and interesting way, very unlike most anything I have ever seen, but done so well and obviously it makes me wonder why it hasn't been done that way before. And to fill these characters are actors that give some of the best performances of the year, especially Hawkins and Shannon. Hawkins doesn't speak a single word throughout this film and conveys every bit of dialogue she needs through her face alone, aided by her signing which was so fluid it seemed like she learned American Sign Language in its entirety in order to play this part. Shannon does so well playing the villain that I would have been satisfied if it ended with him winning. These are some characters that you can really get behind and root for, no matter what side they're on. The creature was beautiful. I couldn't tell if it was done practically or with CGI and I think that attests to how well it was produced. And to sum it up, the dialogue and story were held with care and each felt finely crafted. Oh, and I want to praise the film for being ballsy as well, there was a full nudity masturbation scene in the first five minutes that totally caught me by surprise.
But, I don't feel that everything about this story was so finely told - mainly the attempt to humanize the creature. He eats eggs like us, he listens to music like us, and he has sex like us? What? They don't exactly bridge this conclusion all that well and it's never really explained why Elisa is attracted to the creature in the first place, aside from the fact she might relate to it emotionally. This kind of makes the love aspect of the story feel a little shotty. I could understand wanting to protect and care for this beast, but Frenching it? Idk del Toro. It felt like some sort of furry/bestiality porn to me, and everything up to this point was some really elaborate foreplay. Maybe it wasn't that intense, but I still got that feeling at points. Also, the pacing felt kind of weird between the climax halfway through the film and the climax at the end. Everything slows down super quickly and it feels like it's The Shape of Molasses. But the ending I will admit does kind of make up for that. It's safe to say that this is one of the best of the year and I am sure that it'll be nominated for some Oscars in at least some regard.