--- title: "The Shape of Water: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-shape-of-water/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/the-shape-of-water" critics_score: 87 critics_reviews: 15 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The Shape of Water (2017): what the critics said Critics' score 87 from 15 reviews: 13 positive, 1 mixed, 1 negative. Most critics respond warmly to The Shape of Water, with praise centred on Sally Hawkins and Guillermo del Toro’s handling of its unlikely romance. Hawkins’s wordless performance makes the attraction believable, while del Toro brings creature horror, fairy tale and romantic melodrama together with unusual assurance. The reviews also admire the production design and period detail, and many find substance in the film’s sympathy for outsiders and its politics of acceptance. The disagreement concerns how much strangeness survives beneath that polish. The Guardian admires the sensory richness but finds the romance somewhat precious. The Ringer enjoys the fairy tale while arguing that del Toro leaves its darker possibilities underexplored. Slant Magazine goes further, finding the sentimentality impersonal and the borrowed genre elements insufficiently purposeful. The spread is wide, then, but strongly weighted towards praise: most critics find the central relationship sincere enough to carry the elaborate fantasy. ## Evening Standard — Matthew Norman Rating 5/5. 16 February 2018. The critic praises how del Toro and Sally Hawkins make an improbable mix of genres work triumphantly. Hawkins' mute performance is singled out as making the central romance utterly believable. [Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/the-shape-of-water-review-sally-hawkins-makes-a-splash-in-guillermo-del-toros-fantasy-romance-a3768241.html) ## Little White Lies — Matt Thrift Rating 4/5/5. 14 February 2018. Del Toro crafts a fairy tale for grown-ups and his most perfect confection to date, a transcendent love story and timeless hymn to tolerance that synthesises classic monster movie influences with cinephile magic. It champions the 'other' through an extraordinary Sally Hawkins performance and peerless tonal mastery. [Read the review](https://lwlies.com/reviews/the-shape-of-water) ## The i Paper — Matthew Turner Rating 5/5. 12 October 2017. Festival review. The critic calls it pure movie magic and a must-see, highlighting the blend of creature features, fairy tales and romance. Hawkins' performance is praised for selling the romance and desire. [Read the review](https://inews.co.uk/culture/film/the-shape-of-water-review-guillermo-del-toro-monster-romance-96807) ## The Telegraph Rating 5/5. 14 February 2018. The film is a pretzel-twist of pure strangeness that is both a B-movie blood-curdler and a boundlessly beautiful melodrama. Sally Hawkins delivers the performance of a lifetime in the role of Elisa. [Read the review](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/shape-water-reviewguillermo-del-toros-beautiful-blood-curdler/) ## Empire — Olly Richards Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 12 February 2018. The critic finds it magical and equal to Pan's Labyrinth, noting del Toro balances dream, nightmare and realism while making an improbable romance feel reasonable. Hawkins' performance is singled out as superlative. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/shape-water-review/) ## Los Angeles Times — Kenneth Turan Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 8 December 2017. The film is a wonder to behold, a magical, thrilling and romantic sensual fairy tale that plays by all the rules and none of them. Del Toro elevates genre filmmaking to unexpected heights with his transcendent imagination, echoing Beauty and the Beast. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-the-shape-of-water-review-20171207-story.html) ## Total Film — Kevin Harley Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 12 February 2018. The critic describes it as a full-blooded fable of outsider love that is timely and timeless. Hawkins is singled out for communicating non-verbal feeling with unforced charm. [Read the review](https://www.gamesradar.com/the-shape-of-water-review/) ## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 15 February 2018. The critic finds the film a tremendous sensory experience that is visually ravishing but somewhat precious in its swooniness. Sally Hawkins gives a career-best performance as the mute woman who falls for the amphibious creature. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/feb/15/the-shape-of-water-review-guillermo-del-toro) ## Slant Magazine — Chuck Bowen Fi1m's normalised score 35/100 (inferred from the text). 29 November 2017. The critic criticizes the film for lacking the unruly streak of del Toro's other works, being overly sentimental and impersonal, fusing tropes without purpose. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-shape-of-water/) ## Film Comment — Steven Mears 1 November 2017. The critic praises del Toro's expansive hybrid of influences in this shimmering fairy-tale romance about a mute janitor who falls for an amphibious creature. It singles out the film's un-sententious vision of marginalized characters uniting for tolerance in 1962. [Read the review](https://www.filmcomment.com/article/review-the-shape-of-water-guillermo-del-toro/) ## Sight and Sound — Nick James 1 September 2017. Festival review. Guillermo del Toro delivers a big romantic imaginative coup with a sly political undercurrent, blending fairytale imagery, B-movie creature fun, Hollywood romance and noir elements into an exhilarating multi-layered entertainment. The film excels through its all-round craft, fine cast led by Sally Hawkins, and its uplifting anti-fascist spirit. [Read the review](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/shape-water-review-guillermo-del-toros-magical-anti-fascist-fairytale) ## The Hollywood Reporter — David Rooney 31 August 2017. Festival review. The critic praises del Toro's enchanting fairy tale blending romance, fantasy, and political overtones, highlighting Sally Hawkins' exquisite performance and the film's visual and emotional ravishing quality. [Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/shape-of-water-venice-2017-1034220/) ## The New York Times — A.O. Scott Rating NYT Critic’s Pick. 30 November 2017. The film is a code-scrambled fairy tale and genetically modified monster movie that is altogether wonderful. Del Toro fuses genre ardor with a startlingly sincere romantic sensibility in this interspecies romance set in a 1960s government lab. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/30/movies/the-shape-of-water-review-guillermo-del-toro.html) ## Variety — Guy Lodge 31 August 2017. Festival review. Del Toro is on peak form with this tender, ravishingly imagined romantic fantasy about a mute cleaning lady and an amphibian creature. It is an extravagantly romantic, pure-hearted adult fairytale that is his most rewarding film since Pan’s Labyrinth. [Read the review](https://variety.com/2017/film/reviews/the-shape-of-water-review-1202543729/) ## Den of Geek — Ryan Lambie Rating 5/5. 12 February 2018. The critic calls it del Toro's best film since Pan's Labyrinth, a superb horror romance with tenderness and warmth that celebrates otherness and forbidden love. It singles out the sumptuous period detail and the way it flips mid-20th-century genre norms on their head. [Read the review](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/the-shape-of-water-review-2/) ## /Film — Chris Evangelista Rating 10/10. 12 September 2017. Festival review. The critic hails it as possibly del Toro's masterpiece, a poetic love story and stunning romantic fable with dreamy grace and gorgeous moments. The sincere treatment of the unlikely romance, memorable characters and del Toro's filmmaking knowledge are singled out for praise. [Read the review](https://www.slashfilm.com/553263/the-shape-of-water-review/) ## The Playlist — Jessica Kiang Rating A. 31 August 2017. Festival review. The critic calls it a lovely fairy tale and del Toro's best film since Pan's Labyrinth, brimming with romance, adventure and idiosyncratic care in every frame. The exceptional cast, topical political elements and sincere interspecies love story are singled out for praise. [Read the review](https://theplaylist.net/shape-of-water-review-20170831/) ## Collider — Brian Formo Rating A-. 29 November 2017. Festival review. The critic praises the film as a delicate and timely romance and del Toro's Beauty and the Beast, highlighting its sumptuous fairytale elements, visual communication, production design, and themes of acceptance for marginalized characters in a volatile time period. [Read the review](https://collider.com/the-shape-of-water-review/) ## HeyUGuys — Jo-Ann Titmarsh Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 31 August 2017. Festival review. The critic finds del Toro has crafted a beautiful romantic film that is also a paean to cinema, layering sci-fi, Cold War and civil rights elements successfully. The strong cast, especially Sally Hawkins, and nods to other films are singled out for praise. [Read the review](https://www.heyuguys.com/the-shape-of-water-review/) ## The Ringer — K. Austin Collins Fi1m's normalised score 60/100 (inferred from the text). 4 December 2017. The critic finds it an enjoyable fairy tale with a pure interspecies romance and love of movie magic but notes its limits, as del Toro fails to fully exploit the radical weirdness or darker elements of the story. [Read the review](https://www.theringer.com/2017/12/04/movies/the-shape-of-the-writer-film-review-guillermo-del-toro) ## Deadline — Pete Hammond 28 November 2017. The critic calls it a magical masterpiece and romantic fever dream, the most emotional and humane film from del Toro, praising the sweeping romantic magic, visual splendor, and flawless silent performance by Sally Hawkins. [Read the review](https://deadline.com/2017/11/the-shape-of-water-review-guillermo-del-toro-sally-hawkins-michael-shannon-doug-jones-1202216144/) ## The Wrap 30 November 2017. The critic praises del Toro's genre-bending love story as a gorgeous and grotesque romance that feels personal and heartfelt, highlighting the performances of Sally Hawkins and Doug Jones as particularly swoon-worthy and emotionally powerful. [Read the review](https://www.thewrap.com/the-shape-of-water-review-guillermo-del-toro/) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/the-shape-of-water.md