Unexpected Gem

Rating: 9/10 (19 February 2018)

After watching the trailer, I found myself quite uninterested.
I like Guillermo Del Toro's designs, but the 'genre', I suppose, just didn't pull me in.
I ended up seeing this film on a whim (mainly went for Odeon Nacho's) and left with a new film to add to my list of favourites.
The sets were all absolutely gorgeous throughout. I loved the casting choices and felt like they worked excellently. The music was phenomenal, and the story took me to an emotional place I really didn't expect. I don't want to go too deeply into it, or reveal any spoilers, so I'll try to summarise why I think I enjoyed it so much.
If you're a fan of 'retro/vintage', you'll already appreciate this films aesthetic and sound. That was a huge pull for me once I started watching. If you're into excellent creature design, it's a Del Toro flick... I feel as though it also had a lovely tinge of war time drama in there too, for good measure. I'm not usually a fan of romance plots, but this one really resonated with me. For all of those reasons, I enjoyed the film from beginning to end. Even if the scenes were particularly slow or not to my tastes, I found myself captured by the soundtrack, or the fantastic set design.
If any of what I've said makes sense to you, I'd recommend this film absolutely.