A Sweeping Flood That's Impossible to Resist

Rating: 8/10 (17 December 2018)

While not necessarily perfect, Del Toro holds back his more primitive urges (though they bleed through), refines his most repeatedly practiced themes (fish man, violence, death scenes, magical realism, etc.), and makes a sweeping fractured fairy tale into a flood that's impossible to resist. With an alluring color pallet, fantastic period set design, a love for old Hollywood, and a flawlessly efficient use of music, he creates a world that might be his most grounded and magical at the same time.
Like AmÃ©lie mixed with Pan's Labyrinth and Creature from the Black Lagoon.
And if a slightly silly, out of place sex scene (with reactions that break the film's reality) between a human woman and a fish man tricks people to watch good cinema, well I guess I can't complain.