I thought It Was An Updated Version Of "Creature From The Black Lagoon".

Rating: 10/10 (7 February 2019)

Boy, was I wrong! When I first heard of this film, I immediately judged it to be just another "fish out of water" story, but there was more here than meets the eye. After hearing of the rave reviews and seeing it win the Oscar for 'Best Picture', I knew I had to check it out. Regardless to say, I wasn't disappointed. The whole picture is visually stunning and grips you right until the end. This so-called Fish-Out-Of-Water story had reached a whole new level of what superb movie-making is all about.
Ever since Pan's Labyrinth, I've always been a fan of the director, Guillermo del Toro. He has a mystical and highly sentimental way of telling a story and cleverly intertwines fantasy creatures into that as well. He somehow manages to make it work without the audience quickly ridiculing and scoffing at the unbelievable fantasy angle of it.
In Pan's Labyrinth, the focus is on a girl who seems pretty much alienated from her Fascist and violent surroundings in World War II Spain and is drawn into a magical world of her own. The same type of theme is addressed here, with a mute cleaner at a top secret government base discovering and later falling in love with an ocean humanoid.
There's a connection between the two right from the beginning and it seems "bizarre" at first, but the more the movie moves along, the more acceptable the situation becomes. We gradually get to see that the connection between these two different types of species is more linked than we first realized.
Giles, as an extremely close friend and devoted next door neighbor to the mute cleaning lady, is a major highlight. The most unforgettable moment is when he develops a crush on a sexy, good looking guy working at a diner and tries to ignite a passion between them. When he later finds out the guy is homophobic and racist to boot, he grows to realize that he's truly "alone" and didn't want his mute friend to be in the same lovelorn state he was in. He wanted to help her gain her true love - the ocean humanoid.
There's plenty of suspense and at first it all looks bleak, but then, of course, in true del Toro fashion, there are miracles that lay ahead. This is an excellent movie with an equally excellent cast and it all manages to work superbly despite the story's unbelievable premise. I highly recommend it. One of the best films I ever saw.