Pithy Review: The Lady in the Water

On a different note. I went to the movies yesterday afternoon. I'm an M. Night Shyamalan fan. In my humble opinion he's the next best thing to still having Alfred Hitchcock in the world. Anyway. This movie, though PG, was not filled with the kind of language I would've been embarrassed to have God there with me watching-- He was, by the way. The Lady in the Water, unlike Shyamalan's previous films, was exactly what it was billed as... a fairy tale. A very good fairy tale.

There's quite a bit of humor in this film, but the humor is situational for the most part, rather than by construct. And there's several moments of scary. Parents be warned... this movie is rife with potential to make the kiddies scared of the dark... Assuming your children have not already been jaded by the fare Hollywood, and TV offers these days. And, as with all of M. Night films, there's a big pay off at the end, one I won't spoil here.

What was different from previous films is M. Night's on camera role, which was quite extensive, and more generous glimpses of the creature stalking, Story, the lead character.

I would have felt M. Night was abusing his privilege as writer, director, and producer for casting himself in a major role, except for the fact that he did a remarkable job on camera, and as he tends to be quite enigmatic in the real world, this was an opportunity to see him walk, talk, breath, and interact, albeit through the artifices of a script.

Lastly, the main character, Story... Story is played by Bryce Dallas Howard the same actress who played the blind girl in The Village. M. Night seems to love doing this... Reusing actors. Joaquin Phoenix in Signs and The Village was still Joaquin Phoenix. Bruce Willis is still Bruce Willis, with hair or without-- contrasting The Sixth Sense with Unbreakable. But were it not for my telling you Bryce Dallas Howard had the major role in The Village, you wouldn't have known it to see her on screen in The Lady in the Water. The difference is that remarkable.

Overall, this was a beautiful film... Slow to build as all of M. Night Shyamalan's films are, but in the end it didn't matter one bit to me. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I can't wait for this one to arrive on DVD. If you're the type who can afford it, and the kind who enjoys seeing movies more than once, I'd recommend it on this one. There's a lot to hear, and a lot to perceive visually, and contextually.

The ending was so completely satisfying, unlike many films these days. Despite the sadness revealed for some of the characters in this movie, there was a great sense of Hope at the end. And in the end, that's really all anyone wants, right?

Hope.