The Shape of Water

One to keep an eye on.

The First Reviews for Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water Are Outstanding

Yeah, looks promising. I'll have to revisit "Pan's Labyrinth."

Huh, I've not seen "Pan's Labyrinth" before. I was mixing it up with a Jim Hensen or Frank Oz movie called "Labyrinth" I think.

$3.99 for the two-disc set.

I haven't seen it either, but on the old Debate Unlimited site, one or two people were deeply impressed. I thought you were one of them, but I guess not.

Just finished. It was masterfully done.... but a bit too "magical" for my tastes.

And dark. Very very dark.

The funny thing is, Jim Henson's "Labyrinth" is also about a little girl who discovers a faun and descends into a labyrinth to rescue the world or something. No wonder I confused them.

richard09 wrote:

I haven't seen it either, but on the old Debate Unlimited site, one or two people were deeply impressed. I thought you were one of them, but I guess not.

I know Todd and I both liked it.

Saw previews for “The Shape of Water” Saturday before “Lady Bird.” I have to say, the previews didn’t make it look like anything I’d want to see. A girl discovers a merman-like creature, and tries to protect it from scientists. It looked like nothing more than a dumb Disney live action.

Slipped out to see this yesterday. As one would expect from Guillermo Del Toro, it was masterfully done. Fabulous cinematography, fabulous lighting, fabulous creature design.

But the story, the concept... There was nothing there. It was incredibly thin in plot. And meaning.

Evil scientists find & capture a merman. They torture it (why? never explained). A washer woman who cleans his underground tank falls in love with it, and helps it escape.

Done.

Was it a parable? A fantasy? A fairy tale? It was played absolutely straight, with no elements of "Pan's Labyrinth". There was one scene where the girl and the monster suddenly dance & sing in a Busby Berkeley musical number, but it was randomly thrown in and had no repercussions anywhere in the story. WTF was that? The opening credits showed the girl's apartment as underwater, with all of her furniture (even the steel chairs) floating above the floor. And she herself was sleeping a couple feet above her couch, underwater. WTF was that? None of this tied into the story in any way, didn't presage anything.

I came away pretty disappointed,

I finally watched this, on cable. Have to agree that it all seemed pretty lightweight and pointless. Very well done, but didn't seem to illuminate - anything, really.