If the ultimate goal is entertainment, then Lady in the Water enthusiastically rises to the task. In a movie laden with enough symbolism, shamanism and mythic lore to make Joseph Campbell dance a tribal jig, Shyamalan never forgets to have fun.
This movie proves critics are full of it. This is great storytelling and deserves more love. Is it perfect? Nope, for me it’s Paul Giamatti’s stutter isn’t very good and takes me out of it, but he’s still a pro at drama. The lore leaves me wanting more.
Who cares if the story is fleshed out or Shyamalan's Greek-mythology bed time story is confusing, but "Lady In The Water" is mystical, magical and peaceful also scary, writer-director M. Night Shyamalan keeps us interested into the characters and the Greek-mythology, be glad he didn't make the film boring. A building manager Cleveland Heep (played by Paul Giamatti) rescues a woman named Story (Bryce Dallas Howard) from danger he discovers she is a narf a character from a bedtime story who is trying to make a treacherous journey from our world back into hers. Cleveland and his tenants discover that they are also characters in the bedtime story. Cleveland starts to fall in love with her he works together with his tenants to protect her from deadly creatures called "Scrunt" from preventing Story to go home to the "Blue World." WARNING: This isn't a family film. It's cliche'd and the story is silly but who cares, but this is Shyamalan's biggest ample imagination I have ever seen. Maybe this isn't Giamatti's best work but he and Howard did tried and that's all the credit I can give them. This fantasy film is magnificent and striking. Grade A-
Lady in the Water feels very much like something its author made up as he went along; and, if it weren't so damn weird, it would most certainly put you right to sleep.
The result is a soggy swamp of nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah-nyahing, its only grace notes are Giamatti's fine, nuanced performance as Heep and Christopher Doyle's handsome cinematography.
It's as if on some semiconscious level, Shyamalan, who I do not doubt is a serious and self-serious pop-creative original, is calling his own success into question and daring his audience to gulp down larger and spikier clusters of manure, just to see if they will. Or he's lost his mind.
I felt inspired to write a review for this movie because it is so unfairly rated by the critics! Is it a brilliant movie? No, it has it's flaws such as not always being consistent but it's good! Is it childish? Yes, but it's story was clearly influenced by a children like fairy tale - it's meant to have that element! One of the things that truly stood out for me in this movie was that it did not play on the usual tropes, in fact the best twists in the movie work on this finely. The role the male protagonist is an example of this, the actor who plays him (Giamatti) isn't exactly a model. No, instead he's a typical man in an extraordinary situation and his "purpose" becomes one of the most heartwarming features of the movie.
This isn't a horror, it's a fairy-tale. It has a few funny jokes, the acting is strong enough to hold, it has some heartwarming moments and it also has a message. It may not be for everyone but I personally felt it had a heart-warming ambience; it's unusual and it truly gives of the feel that this is a an art piece that Shyamalan wanted to express.
Give it a try, you may just enjoy it.
I don't know what kind of mind set was the director on when writing the script but he must have been way over his head...
There are many things here that don't click together: i mean, there are some memorable character traits and the directing is actually competent, but the whole movie is stuck in it's own state of mind that is hard to fully sympathize with the circumstances, for example: why prolong the movie with unneeded conversations? they pretty much add nothing to the film, that doesn't classify has "character development", why all the weird editing and camera positions? they just make the movie silly to watch and what's up with shyamalan casting himself has the choose one? is he pretending to be the best? is he trolling us...?
The movie is memorable, has a nice soundtrack and the directing effort is where it counts, with it's actors who all do a good job in my opinion... however I can't help but scratch my head at all the weird choices and ridiculous style that make the movie more off a comedy than anything else. I can at least say that the movie made me watch it until the end and I can appreciate that the director wanted to break the common rules of storytelling.
No question this film is the start of a drop off for Shyamalan, but call me crazy I still enjoy watching this film as a ridiculous, bizzare, and overall nonsensical bit of fun.
M. Night Shyamalan returns again to direct another film and this time, we're going to the water to find the Lady in the Water. This seems to be a simple project for the entire movie cast to see where Shyamalan might live for the rest of his eternity no matter dead or alive.