This is undoubtedly Gullermo Del Toro's best English Language film, and strongly compares to his best two foreign language films, "Devil's Backbone" and "Pan's Labyrinth". A romantic tale about a mute cleaner in a government laboratory who discovers and forms a relationship with a strange sea creature, it's beautiful in every aspects, from performances (Sally Hawkins' dreamy protagonist, Doug Jones' strong and sensative creature, Richard Jenkins and Octavia Spencer as two of Hawkins' very different allies, Michael Shannon as the cruel government agent running the experiments and Michael Stuhlbarg as the scientist with his own agenda), to design to script to music....
This film has the strange ability to go into some hillariously scatological places (in particular in a side monologue by Spencer on the scientists' bathroom habits) yet keep everything just on the right side of enchantment. But there's real pain and desires lurking beneath - whether it be Jenkins longing for something he can't quite name, Shannon looking to destroy what he can't understand, or Hawkins opening herself up to possibilities). And the bittersweet ending is perfect, giving us both the fairy story ending and the understanding that it all depends on who's telling the tale.
Truly transcendent cinema.
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