Almost great amalgamation of unusual genre elements

Rating: 7/10 (8 August 2019)

At a hidden high-security government research facility in Cold War era America, a mute night-time janitor forms a unique relationship with an amphibious creature that is being held in captivity for a secret classified experiment.
Visionary director Guillermo Del Toro's modern-day fairytale is given flight by his vivid imagination and unique execution. What makes this seemingly implausible story work so wondrously well on screen are the sublime visuals, the soul-stirring score, and the spectacular performances by the entire cast. The unusual amalgamation of the different genre elements occasionally make the tonal shifts exhaustive, which prevents the finale from being as evocative as it could have otherwise been.
Rating: A-