“The Shape Of Water” (**1/2 out of four) was an alluring but overall disappointing fantasy melodrama set at a top secret research facility in the 1960’s about a lonely and mute janitor (Sally Hawkins) who forms a relationship with an amphibious creature that is being held in captivity and she then decides to free the creature and bring it home and is pursued by the villainous colonel (Michael Shannon) in charge of the research team. Director Guillermo del Toro provides his usual imagination and visual pallette of dazzling sets and colorful cinematography but story is unfocused and aloof and overlong at over two hours and thus- it never fully connects. Good performances (including Octavia Spencer and Richard Jenkins) keep you watching but this pales in comparison to Toro’s previous triumphs “Pan’s Labyrinth” and “Cronos”.