So this is one of those movies that’s ostentatiously re-adapting the book, rather than re-making the old movie. I assume it’s more faithful to the book, but can’t say, as I’ve never read it.

What I can say is that it’s extremely Guillermo del Toro. The architecture (and the Mia) is very Gothic; the cinematography is dramatic. The colors are hyper-saturated. And the heroine wants to bang the creature, just like in The Shape of Water. (Given that the creature is here played by Jacob Elordi, and mostly just looks kinda scarred rather than lumpen and misshapen, this isn’t totally unreasonable.)

Unfortunately, like a lot of del Toro movies, this isn’t so much good as it is merely stylish-looking. And tbh, even for del Toro, it was a bit meh — I think it’s on the weaker side of his movies. The biggest problem is just that the plot is all so familiar, and you need to do something to mix it up or give it an unexpected angle, and del Toro didn’t. I genuinely don’t know why he wanted to make this movie, other than I guess just being a fan of the book maybe?

I wouldn’t disrecommend it if you want to watch it, but I’d recommend the 1931 version over this one.