Guillermo del Toro is a wizard at taking strange film premises and turning them into something sensible and beautiful. The Shape of Water is no exception to the "del Toro" effect. It is well directed, acted, and written. The story may be formulaic, but the imagination of del Toro takes the formula and gives us something entertaining and engaging to watch. The chemistry between the lead human character and the amphibian man is definitely strange and can be off-putting for some viewers. Sally Hawkins does a fine job acting, she has hardly any dialogue but is able to still convey her character in a tactful manner. The set design in this film is refreshing. It is dark and artsy which enables the audience to get fully involved in the movies setting. This film was nominated and won several awards and it is deserving of much of the praise it has received. It is entertaining and something different and imaginative. However, when the human and amphibian get intimate, it's just weird. I get that it's trying to portray that love has no boundaries, but in this case there should be! Overall, I give this film an 7/10.