Interesting---but---

Rating: 7/10 (17 January 2018)

Well acted, directed and looked great. Interesting and likeable characters. Intriguing premise.
But I've had a love/meh relationship with del Toro films. I'm more a Hellboy and Blade II fan. Pacific Rim was forgettable.
This had the resonance of Pan's Labrynth as I wanted to like it, but ended-up disappointed. Largely due to the mechanics and logistics of the story elements. This facility had terrible security across the board. Cameras everywhere except that lab? Cleaning crews can go anywhere? The Russian scientist spy was in the shadows several times?
Things that look great if you forget the common sense of such. Many times movies will take a "leap of faith" in the story elements in order to move the train along. But there were far too many in this.
The love story fell flat early on as I only felt it after the creature was taken to the apartment. Filling the bathroom with water looked very good but ended up being a very silly act.
Even the initial introduction of the creature in the tank behind the woman was farted out. You let the audience see the creature right when the woman does in order the accentuate the shock factor.
It was a bad decision for the creature to eat the cat. That made it an animal and mitigated compassion for it. Strangely it touted the "animal" aspect of the creature right after.
After the creature scratched the woman's friend, I immediately knew that the marks on the woman's neck was more than just scratches. Thus, when she ended up having gills, I was not surprised.
If you miss it, you're not missing much.