Blu-ray Review: THE SHAPE OF WATER

THE SHAPE OF WATER is a deeply romantic film between two lost souls who find each other and where the white man is the bad guy and the monster isn’t the bad guy. In 1960s Baltimore (during the Cold War), Elise is a mute cleaner working at top secret government lab. One day, she comes across an aquatic creature that she starts to form a close bond with and she plots to rescue him before he is vivisected in the name of the military’s need to develop an astronaut for the advantage of the Space Race. Meanwhile, a Russian mole in the lab plots with his superiors to take the creature (but his handlers want the creature killed so the US military can’t use it for science due to the creature’s intelligence).

THE SHAPE OF WATER is another in a series of movies where Guillermo del Toro champions the misunderstood monster and where humanity is the bad guy looking to destroy each other. It is a commentary on race and sexual relations while also being a romance grounded in a realistic setting mixed in with the element of fantasy. Doug Jones is terrific in this part where the creature doesn’t utter a line of dialogue the whole movie. The creature design does remind me too much of Abe Sapien, but THE SHAPE OF WATER is interesting enough to stand on its own.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
A FAIRY TALE FOR TROUBLED TIMES (about 28 minutes):
LOVE IN AN AGE OF WAR- all about the story of THE SHAPE OF WATER
SUMMONING A WATER GOD- design of the creature which combines the acting skills of Doug Jones, practical effects, and CGI to enhance the outside look of the creature
SHAPE, FORM AND FUNCTION- production design and costume design of THE SHAPE OF WATER which includes little facts like they used parts of the sets of THE STRAIN for the movie
AQUATIC MELODIES- a brief look at the music of the movie

ANATOMY OF A SCENE: PROLOGUE and ANATOMY OF A SCENE: THE DANCE are two short featurettes that look behind-the-scenes of particular scenes in the movie
SHAPING THE WAVES: A CONVERSATION WITH ARTISTS JAMES JEAN- a talk with the artist who did the paintings and charcoal sketches in the movie
GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S MASTER CLASS is a conversation held at the Zanuck Theater where the director and other creative people on his production discuss the various technical aspects of the movie

Three theatrical trailers for THE SHAPE OF WATER including two red bad and one green band
Sneak Peek trailers for other Fox releases including RED SPARROW, THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING MISSOURI, MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS, GOODBYE CHRISTOPHER ROBIN, THE MOUNTAIN BETWEEN US, and THE POST

Also included in the combo pack is the movie in standard definition on DVD and a code to download/ stream a digital copy of it

FINAL ANALYSIS: THE SHAPE OF WATER will be loved by fans of director Guillermo del Toro’s movies while some others may also be attracted to this fantasy love story. The behind-the-scenes features give a good look at the making of the movie and I welcome whatever glimpse is given into what makes a movie like this.

This review is (c)3-15-2018 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com and look for additional content at http://enterlinemedia.tumblr.com