A movie that, upon reflection, seems to me to be among del Toro's worst, even as it is being lined up by critics, festival juries, and its Oscar-mongering distributor as his crowning achievement to date. . . . There is an airless, self-adulatory quality to The Shape of Water that not only spoils the fun but reverses it, so that every ostensibly enchanted gesture becomes an alienation effect.
Adam Nayman
December 20, 2017