"He sees me for what I am, as I am."

Rating: 9/10 (6 February 2018)

I had my doubts before seeing this film but they were quickly dispelled. What really won me over was the story's placement in what looked like the era of the 1950's, but with a speech broadcast on radio by President John F. Kennedy, the time frame is narrowed down to a couple of years between 1961 and 1963. Even so, the picture beautifully captures the style and sense of the Fifties/Sixties transition - the art work, the color palette, the atmosphere, and the dynamic tension of the Cold War between America and Russia. As for my initial doubts, well, that goes with what one might consider a love story between an amphibian and a human. I really want to say reptile, but the 'Amphibian Man', as he's listed in the credits, did have an ability to exist on land and in water.
What could have been a very creepy relationship between the 'Gill-Man' (Doug Jones) and Elisa Esposito (Sally Hawkins), is handled rather deftly under the direction of Guillermo del Toro. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the whole idea, but without getting graphic at all, the scenes between them are tastefully done. The make-up and costuming of the Amphibian Man is definitely reminiscent of 1954's "Creature From the Black Lagoon", and in a lot of respects, the story is very much the same. Both originate the creature in South America, with the earlier film set in the Amazon River Valley. Surprisingly, the earlier movie has some rather extraordinary underwater footage for the Fifties, while the effects employed here are as good as one would expect considering today's technology.
Given my fascination with the late Fifties/early Sixties time frame, which was my personal pre-teen Golden Age, I did manage to pick up on a historical error in the picture. It occurred when Strickland's (Michael Shannon) son asked his father if he could switch the TV from 'The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis' to 'Bonanza'. The two shows would never have aired opposite each other during that 1961-1963 window. Dobie Gillis was seen on Tuesday or Wednesday evenings, while 'Bonanza' made the transition from Saturday to Sunday evenings during this period. But it was cool to also see a clip from another popular show of the era when 'Mister Ed' flashed across the screen.
Given all that, it would have been really cool if instead of seeing the movie clips featuring Betty Grable and Alice Faye, director del Toro could have considered inserting a cameo clip of actress Julie Adams. I won't leave you guessing here, Adams was the nominal 'love interest' of that Creature From the Black Lagoon. They came nowhere close to the kind of relationship Amphibian Man had with Elisa, though their first encounter resulted in a synchronized swim and a playful tease of Adams' feet before she ever sets eyes on the monster.