Lady in the Water - Directed by M. Night Shyamalan
Rated PG-13 for some frightening sequences.

The trailers for this latest M. Night Shyamalan movie left me a bit skeptical. Having seen all of his previous supernatural thrillers in theatres, I had every intention of seeing this one as well. However, with the mixed messages I got from the various advertisements for Lady in the Water, I wasn't sure if I should expect a scary horror film or some kind of light-hearted bedtime story. Turns out it was a little of both.

In Lady in the Water, apartment superintendent Cleveland Heep (Paul Giamatti) discovers a strange being living in the building's pool. Heep soon learns that the creature, a fair-skinned nymph named Story (Bryce Dallas Howard), needs his help to get back to her home. Following the guidance of a bedtime story, Heep and his tenants must save her from mystical creatures determined to eat her alive.

As a film critic character points out in the movie, all originality is gone in Hollywood. But the uniqueness of Lady in the Water's story makes it hard to compare to anything else out there. If M. Night's goal was to give us something that we haven't seen before, then he succeeded.

At its core, Lady in the Water is good story telling coupled with just the right amount of laughs and scares. The strong cast, lead by Giamatti, Dallas Howard, and M. Night himself, performs admirably with the witty script. Though there's a word to describe a writer/director casting himself for the role of a writer that will go on to change the world--that word is arrogance.

With each touching or comedic moment followed by an unexpected jump-scare, Lady in the Water delivers a little bit of everything for moviegoers. Just don't expect to be blown away by a The Sixth Sense-style surprise ending.

Every bit as intriguing as M. Night's previous films Unbreakable and The Village (though not quite on par with The Sixth Sense or Signs), Lady in the Water is like a hidden gem of originality amongst a plethora of mindless summer blockbusters.

Pros:
+Good acting
+Good story

Cons:
-Dialogue occasionally comes off as arrogant

Rating: 3.5/5