A lot of people really respect Guillermo del Toro, and like M Night Shyamalan, I'm not sure why. His Pan's Labyrinth movie was decent, but I swear the actor for Pan originally starred on Rotten.com as Goatse. This movie was boring, bland and tasted like undistilled salt water. It was about a romance between a merman and a lady. The basis for the film, Creature From the Black Lagoon, wasn't even as good as the children's book Teacher From the Black Lagoon, in my opinion. While both were black and white, one was a parody of ingenuity that pockmarked my youth with B-movie references, while the other was spoofy special effects thrown over the top of a flimsy sci-fi vehicle. The Shape of Water uses star power in the monster cast against the lack thereof in the main protagonists. It was boring, and unromantic. I recommend Guinea Pig: Mermaid in a Manhole.