Lady in the Water: A Review

This is probably the best film based on a story that shouldn't have been made into a movie in the first place.  Inspired by bedtime stories M. Night Shyamalan told his children, this film is visual enticing with a runaway plot.  It is supposed to have a fairy tale feel but it is unlike any Brother's Grimm I have ever encountered.  It is part Gandhi, part Snow White, with a little bit of 'It's a Wonderful Life' thrown in for good measure.

The movie has too much back-story.  Bryce Dallas Howard, Ron's daughter, plays the 'lady' who is a sea nymph also called a 'narph' or something like that.  These narphs/sea nymphs used to tell humans our future until humans no longer listened and pursued private property on land.  Because of this, sea nymphs and humans parted ways.  Now the narphs have returned to save humanity from itself by offering the occasional young narph occupancy in bodies of water such as apartment pools.  Do you have that?  Good, because there are creatures that hunt narphs that look like a cross between Astroturf and wolves which I will refer from now on as an 'astrowolf.'  There are also monkeys that look like those trees from 'The Wizard of Oz'- the ones that talked and threw fruit at Dorothy and friends.  Of course, there are rules that govern the behaviors of narphs, astrowolves, and wood/tree monkeys (which may or may not be evil) but what if the narph is a special narph?  Gee, I hope I haven't spoiled the movie for anyone. 

It isn't so much that the audience doesn't accept the sea nymph story, but would an apartment building full of eclectic individuals and families readily believe that the girl doing late night laps in their pool is a narph sent to inspire and save humanity?  Even by Hollywood standards, would renters risk life and limb to help a narph they have just met escape the clutches of the astrowolf before she can fly home on a giant eagle (I kid not)?  This part of the story seems to channel bad Speilberg movies from the 80's (the ones where all the children were adorable and all the old people downright precocious).  The apartment complex is a United Nations of different folk who live in units that reflect their ethnicity like an exhibit at Epcot Center. 

My favorite neighbor is the guy who is conducting a fitness experiment on his own body.  He is building his right side up while leaving his left unchallenged so he resembles a lopsided Hulk.  We are told he is harmless, but come on, is this someone who you would really feel safe around when alone with him in the laundry room? 

Like a federal public school mandate, everyone at the complex has a special talent which is why they are preordained for this narph mission.  They must fulfill assigned roles (even if they aren't aware they have been assigned roles in the drama) to save humanity.  If all goes as planned humans will be better off and their personal pool narph can lead her ocean people…presumably after the giant eagle flies her home.

The acting is good.  If anyone can play a sea nymph, it is Howard.  She has a pale pallor that can easily pass for other-worldly or an arsenic eater.  Paul Giamatti is believable as the overworked apartment manager/maintenance man who stutters and has a secret.  Shyamalan casts himself, in his largest role yet, as a writer verged on writing a world-changing opus.  Wishful thinking perhaps? 

The script in 'Lady' is disjointed, there are some very clever scenes (the movie critic who is literally torn to pieces, a nod to his metaphorical power of tearing into movies) but there are too many scenes weighed down by the fine details of the story.  Comparing it to the 'Harry Potter' films, which also include weird details, it is easier to accept terms like 'muggle' and 'quidditch' because the original source was a well-known novel.  In many ways I wish Shyamalan had written this as a novel instead as a script because the tale would have worked much better in a longer version. 

Visually the movie works.  The idea of a sea nymph living in apartment pool is very cool.  Although the astrowolf sounds dumb, it is scary.  The thing has red eyes that stay with you as you drive home on a two lane highways that has little traffic.  Personally, I wish more had been done with the morally ambivalent tree monkeys.

I think this movie would have benefited from more initial script editing.  M. Knight Shymalan is one of my favorite directors because his stories always come from his unique perspective.  He sets trends instead of following them.  Even when I have guessed his signature twists I still find myself entertained.  I understand he left Disney, the studio that backed all of his previous films, when they balked at this movie.  This movie is an unfortunate example of an artist willing to risk much for a project that is not yet worth the effort.  It is his weakest film thus far. 

Still, a Shyamalan film is always better than most.  Overall, I would say this movie is worth catching when it comes to cable, maybe even when released as a DVD, but isn't worth the eight to ten dollars for a theater viewing.