Sweet, whimsical, creepy, dull

Rating: 4/10 (21 March 2018)

I so badly wanted to love this sweet tale of two outcasts finding love.
It has all the elements of a great story: a mute mousy woman working in a lowly job falls in love with a beautiful mysterious fish man. The backdrop is a top secret government facility and there is a wonderful supporting cast. The production design is nothing short of exquisite, and the team definitely deserved the Oscar for the stunning and unique visuals of this film.
Unfortunately, the screenplay is more oddball than engaging. The direction and editorial choices didn't work for me. I was creeped out more than I was happy for our lovebirds. The black and white musical number?! It's very disappointing when film makers saturate movies with unnecessary and unenjoyable whimsy, rather than developing a compelling script.
It seems they were aiming for something like Amelie crossed with The Fly or Splash, but it ended up feeling like the Big Lebowski musical bowling montage crossed with that scene where Jay Mohr eats the mango at the funeral, when he's playing a burn victim in a wheelchair in that spoof movie. Then everyone projectile vomits. You know the one. In other words, this film misses its mark.
In the end, I felt the film relied way too much on visuals and weirdness and not enough on storyline and good editing. Unfortunately I can't really recommend viewing this more than once, and even then I can only recommend the visual element.