The following is my opinion: Watch 'THE SPACE BETWEEN US", a 2015 Indie short by: Marc S. Nollkaemper. Then decide if Guillermo del Toro stole this story. First of all, I want to mention that the Dutch filmmaker kindly shut down the growing talk of plagiarism but...It's still pretty Screamingly Obvious. And, it bothers me that Guillermo del Toro accepts the credit and financial gain from what is really, a story written and directed by a STUDENT filmmaker. "The Space Between Us" has haunted me since I watched it in 2015. And, when I saw the movie poster I initially thought "The Shape of Water" was a longer version. You'll notice the cover art for "The Shape of Water" is the final shot in the original film. When I realized they were made by different people, I began to look into other de Toro "creations". I found that the bulk of his successful work, i.e., everything from Hellboy, to Blade, to the Pale Man are based, and not loosely, on someone else's work. Comic books, novels, Victorian short stories, indie movies and Japanese mythology like Y'golonac and Tenome, to name some of his source material. Not an original idea in the bunch, just the addition of certain components and/or maybe a costume change. The original is more beautiful than del Toro's remake, because there's no unnecessary sex and violence. The addition of sex and violence was just the easy way to lengthen the movie. But, it shifted the focus from the lead characters shared oppression to a vaguely crass love story. Destroying some of the depth the story was intended to communicate and instead creating the chance to titillate the audience with intimacy between the leads and add violence in defence of their love. del Toro took the easy way when fleshing out the movie, as the genius was already there in the original storyline. I think there's an obvious reason del Toro chose to "create" this movie, it fits his talent for taking a solid mature plot and/or character(s) and repackaging them for public consumption. A very useful talent and, admirable if you acknowledge that's what you're doing. del Toro has a reputation for creating original works, which I believe, hasn't been fairly earned. Rebranding an existing creation to develop marketability and pump up a bottom line, are far different talents versus originating something new that prior to you, didn't exist in ANY form. Frankly, in the case of this movie, it's the classic story of a young student having their work stolen by an older person with cash and reputation. This particular student has been smart enough not to fight a very expensive uphill battle but, is spinning it into something positive for his career. Another testament to Marc S. Nollkaemper's brilliance. Bottom line, moving forward I'll search out anything Marc S. Nollkaemper is involved with, as he obviously has the potential to become a major talent. And, I'll avoid anything connected to Guillermo del Toro because I no longer trust that the work is genuinely his. I can't support this type of blatant theft of another artist's ideas as it's already tough enough for an artist to hold onto to intellectual property in today's world. Lastly, I know there are those who will still say, there's no relationship between the films...Just watch them both in the order they were released, the truth is pretty straightforward.