My review of Lady in the Water

I have heard good and I have heard bad about this movie. More bad than good to be honest. From the really bad reviews I've gotten (Alex and Eddie) I already had my bar set really really low. So, I watched it.

It's always good to start with the compliments first so here I go.

This film, in my opinion is lit really well. I was really impressed by the mood Chris Doyle set. I really enjoyed watching that aspect. His use of reds were particularly a favorite. (As a side note, I found it interesting that he's member of the Hong Kong society of cinematographers. Perhaps Tak Fujimoto was unavailable . . . or uninterested)

I also really enjoyed the music. James Newton Howard is a great composer in my opinion and did a good job with the "lullaby" themes.

All good things must come to an end though. (Spoiler alert)

When I started this movie, I decided to suspend all my disbelief. I know to some degree we all suspend some sort of disbelief when watching movies but for Lady I purposely suspended it all. I thought to myself, "I don't care how unrealistic it is, how bad the writing, how bad the acting is, I'm just going to buy into it". I figured if I did that I would be able to really enjoy it.

And I was. I was really enjoying it.

Then something happened to the likes of which I never experienced before.

There was a scene in the movie where a little boy interprets the fate of every character from . . .cereal boxes. The final key to solving everything came from cereal boxes. Tony the tiger, magically delicious, and dig'em saved our heroes. I felt like I had been hit by something to wake me out of a semi-interesting dream. It went all downhill from there.

Like falling dominoes, thus went the movie. There were plot holes bigger than Texas, Bela Legosi things M. Night is a terrible actor, the story was so contrived it made Armageddon look like a Terrence Malick film.

I know M. Night did this for his kids. It's pretty amazing to think he gave up a deal at Disney to make the film. I think this would better serve as a bedtime story book, and not a feature film. M. Night, stop making ridiculously pompous movies. You've already cashed in all your credibility the Sixth Sense brought you. Time to make another good movie. If you forget what that is, just give up.