(WARNING for animal-loving people intending to watch this movie)

Three years had passed since I watched the trailer, so I only vaguely remembered the focus of this odd love story and some impressive visuals, and went into this movie expecting nothing in particular. However, the overall ratings and awards would suggest, that it has at least some things going for it. And it has: the acting, the cinematography, the score, and overall costume and set design. Those will earn it some fairness points on the technical part. Everything else? The writing, pacing, subplots, obnoxiously stereotypical characters, logical flaws, plot holes, predictability and needless gore made it such a dreadful, utterly boring ride, that I wanted to opt out halfway through because of how ridiculous this movie is. I wanted to give it a chance though. I wish I wouldn't have, and this is where I will share my advice:

Any strongly empathetic person, particularly those who love animals and pets, should really consider NOT watching this movie. It has a frankly disturbing scene in it, that adds absolutely nothing to the story, instead it just seems to be there to provoke a reaction from the viewer. To the characters within the story, what happens has exactly zero repercussions in terms of character development. Anybody who has seen the movie will know what I am referring to. It might not have an impact on all viewers equally, but I found the inclusion and specifically how it was dealt with an atrocious case of perverted animal violence, nothing more. I don't mind the idea of an interspecies relationship; it has been depicted (and so much better) in many other forms of media.

The romance feels like the writer/director has never actually witnessed what real chemistry and falling in love feels like. There is nothing going for the proposed couple, specifically in the beginning it completely fails to establish any kind of reasonable or meaningful connection between the two. Instead, it feels like the sexual fantasy of a middle-aged woman, who blatantly takes advantage of the first creature she comes across, that doesn't reject her immediately. It is dull, it is probably the most annoying film I have ever seen, with awfully written, empty dialogue, comically black and white characters who show very little if any development, more logical mistakes than you can even count (go to CinemaSins if you haven't noticed them yourself), and a story which is a regurgitated mess of many better things that came before it, just polished to make it look new, shiny and intelligent.

This movie does not know what it wants to be; strange romance, spy thriller, woke history, children's fairy tale, dark comedy? It dips it's toe into all of these, but ultimately fails to commit to any of them, and as a result does not spark any kind of (positive) emotional response whatsoever. Not recommended, you will waste your time.