Lady in the Water

I really wanted to like this movie more than I did. I’m a big fan of fairy tales and have long thought that there’s a lot of mileage in updating fairy tales to the modern day and attempting to tell new stories in the vein of a modern fairy tale.

Unfortunately, while “Lady in the Water” makes a run at it, M. Night Shyamalan’s (perhaps understandable) insistence on clinging to the original bedtime story he made up for his children hurts the film. For starters, Shyamalan’s clearly not one of those rare people who can come up with a clever nonsense word off the top of their head, so we’re stuck with “narf,” “skrunt” and “The Great Etlon,” the silliness of which undercut the sort of magical tone he’s trying to create, although their depictions in the film undercut the silliness almost (but not quite) enough not to overcome their awful names.

Secondly, things that can be taken as read in a bedtime story — “and the neighbors all agreed to help Cleveland Heep protect Story until she could be lifted up by the Great Etlon” — are jarring on the screen. Some of these cuts are restored in the deleted scenes, but there are still several outstanding instances of characters referring to bits that didn’t make it to the DVD or into the final version of the script.

Ultimately, the whole thing comes off like a very talented auteur not having someone around he can trust to tell him “no.” It’s the sort of thing that undoes lots of auteurs, but hopefully Shyamalan will be able to get back up after this stumble.

There’s a lot to like in “Lady in the Water,” including solid acting, otherworldly special effects, beautiful cinematography and a magical tone throughout. Unfortunately, it’s done in by the very mundane problem of a Swiss cheese script.

A recommended rental for fans of M. Night Shyamalan or any of the talented members of the cast.

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