Movies such as The Shape of Water and Pan's Labyrinth are works of a visionary master, one who can take fairy tales and horror movies of our youth and turn them into memorable works of art. Del Toro keeps returning to seemingly silly movie creatures to bring us the deeply humane message about the evil, wonder, and sainthood hiding inside us all. For that alone, his work should be cherished and studied.
Everyone is entitled to their own film preferences and opinions, and nobody could say who’s right and who’s wrong. All we can do is keep the Kuleshov Effect in mind, try to take the filmmaker’s reputation out of it, and watch a film as it is.