Weird but not altogether bad.

Rating: 7/10 (9 January 2018)

This movie features the weirdest love story this side of Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom, but oddly enough I rather enjoyed it. It was very similar in structure to director Guillermo del Toro's most acclaimed movie, Pan's Labyrinth, to the point that a few of the minor characters and moments seemed like carbon copies. In this case, I thought Toro did a better job using the setting of the 1950's to inform the world of the movie and introduce more plot complications. However, I thought it did a pretty good job with setting up and paying off several elements throughout. The payoffs weren't the most satisfying, but they succeeded in keeping my attention.
The relationship between Elisa and the amphibious monster that she falls in love with is definitely uncomfortable and unsettling at some points, but I bought it. Their relationship reminded me of Her in that the two parties have a deep emotional connection and don't mind the fact that they are completely different things despite some of the complications that arise from it.
Tied in closely with their relationship is the fact that Elisa is mute. The movie puts her disability at the forefront in a plot sense, and it makes up a major part of Elisa's character but not all of it. Her relatively loneliness is no doubt caused by how few people are willing to take the time to interact with and get to know her. I liked seeing a mute character be the protagonist because I'd never seen that before, except with a minor character in Alejandro Inarritu's Babel. Plus, sign language and muteness are both things that can be incorporated into movies in really cool ways, and that is definitely true here.
The villain of the movie, Strickland, is ultra-masculine and validates himself by feeling powerful at every moment. The audience spends a lot more time alone with the villain than in most movies, which I thought made Strickland a better character. However, he falls off a bit in the third act of the movie where he started getting too over-the-top and spouting monologues.
Although I was somewhat entertained, interested, and impressed by the movie, I do not agree with its two Golden Globe wins. Guillermo del Toro did a fine job directing, but I didn't think it was anything that deserved such recognition. I don't remember Alexander Desplat's score, but that in itself makes me disagree somewhat with the fact that he won the Globe for best score. This will probably get a few Oscar nominations once they come out, maybe even a win or two, but I don't consider it "best of the year" in any regard.
There is also a fairly talented cast featured here. I've seen Michael Shannon's name come up in a positive context several times in the past year, and while I wasn't amazed by his performance here, I thought he was well cast and would like to see him in other things. Octavia Spencer is a welcome and entertaining presence, as always, but this wasn't one of her better performances. Sally Hawkins doesn't have a ton of opportunity to showcase talent here, but I did think she made for a good emotional protagonist.
By now, it may be difficult to see this in theaters. If you are planning on seeing it, be warned that the subject matter is more than a little creepy and unsettling. It's not a jump-scare movie, though it was advertised that way a little, nor is it visually gross, but it will throw most audience members for a bit of a loop. Overall Rating: 7.3/10.