THE SHAPE OF WATER (15)
the chomping of human flesh begins in earnest. There are undeniable thrills and entrail spills, but the jump scares are largely second-hand.
Mount Sibo, which towers over Isla Nublar, growls with molten fury and Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell), former business associate of John Hammond (Richard Attenborough’s character in the original), implores Jurassic World’s manager Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) to oversee a rescue mission for the dinosaurs. She persuades old flame Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) to return to the island to transplant the stricken wildlife to a new home, aided by her Dinosaur Protection Group colleagues Zia (Daniella Pineda) and Franklin (Justice Smith).
Gun-toting expedition facilitator Ken Wheatley (Ted Levine) chaperones Claire and Owen at the behest of Lockwood’s right-hand man, Eli Mills (Rafe Spall). ★★★★★
SWOON-INDUCING reimagining of the Beauty And The Beast fairy tale between a “princess without a voice” and a merman. Elisa (Sally Hawkins) is a cleaner at a secret US government site. Her supervisor relates exciting news about the arrival of a sensitive asset and soon after, Colonel Richard Strickland (Michael Shannon) shepherds a large metal container into one of the labs. Inside is a beguiling aquatic creature (Doug Jones), who Elisa becomes emotionally attached to. Using sign language and music as a form of communication, they fall in love and the mute cleaner hatches a plan to liberate her paramour. ■ Download/stream from June 11 and available from June 25 on DVD/Blu-ray.