By all rights, this should have been a smash for Del Toro. The thing fits just in line with this style - gothic horror with a sense of fantastical intrigue. And certainly, when it adheres to its noir roots, the film just soars with that style. And yet? It feels really cold and disconnected. Maybe the issue lay in the source material, but that disconnect mixed with some woefully miscast roles just didn’t do it for me for most of the film. Visually? Stunning. And I think Guillermo did a great job with what he was given, but he didn’t lean either way with the genres and it shows.

Really wanted to love this, and it’s definitely well-made - but I expected more I guess.