"Lady in the Water": Shyamalan's fairy tale is all wet

"It's all about faith," says a character in M. Night Shyamalan's "Lady in the Water," and bounding leaps of faith are required to believe Shyamalan's latest attempt at mythmaking. The talented creator of "The Sixth Sense" must now endure those who've lost faith in his storytelling.

Making matters worse, Shyamalan's knack for "self-promotion by proxy" (as defined in a recent New York Times commentary) has inevitably backfired. Written in fawning prose by Sports Illustrated reporter Michael Bamberger, the recently published book "The Man Who Heard Voices: Or, How M. Night Shyamalan Risked His Career on a Fairy Tale" shamelessly depicts "Night" as a misunderstood genius who felt betrayed when Disney executives rejected his screenplay for "Lady" — a sensible decision, in hindsight, that leaves Shyamalan (who then turned to Warner Bros.) in the hot seat.

Movie review

Showtimes and trailer

"Lady in the Water," with Paul Giamatti, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jeffrey Wright, M. Night Shyamalan, Bob Balaban, Bill Irwin. Directed and written by Shyamalan. 110 minutes. Rated PG-13 for some frightening sequences. Several theaters.

None of this is fun to report from a critic's perspective. I'm a Shyamalan fan who greatly admires what he's trying to do, but Shyamalan's desperate desire to be the next Steven Spielberg has grown painful to witness.

With his story of a sad-sack superintendent named Cleveland Heep (Paul Giamatti) who discovers a mysterious sea nymph in his apartment building's swimming pool, Shyamalan strives for the epiphanies of "E.T." but delivers a drab, uninspiring story for children that's nearly devoid of wonder and needlessly rated PG-13.

Burdened by tragedy, Heep needs the sense of purpose he gains when Story, a waterborne "Narf" (played by Bryce Dallas Howard, from Shyamalan's previous misfire, "The Village") rises from "The Blue World" for reasons revealed as Story's story unfolds.

As it happens, certain residents of Heep's apartment complex will play crucial roles in Story's survival, according to an ancient bedtime tale that's retold in tedious stretches of awkward exposition.

This is how we learn of Story, the Scrunts (vicious hyenalike creatures that stalk sea nymphs), the Tartutic (big tree-monkeys that are the Scrunts' worst enemy) and the Great Eatlon, a giant eagle that will return Story to The Blue World. It's a safe bet that most kids would prefer Dr. Seuss.

While casting himself in a substantial role as one of the apartment residents and wasting the talents of Jeffrey Wright, Bill Irwin and others, Shyamalan egregiously reveals his self-image as a put-upon victim in the character of Mr. Farber (Bob Balaban). Farber is a loathsome book and film critic (perhaps named after the esteemed critic Manny Farber), based on a tired stereotype and clearly intended as Shyamalan's clueless retaliation against critics who have in fact been, for the most part, honorably fair in their assessments of Shyamalan's previous work.

This transparent petulance is beneath the dignity of a respectable filmmaker.

"Lady in the Water" begs to be taken seriously, and its cast (notably Giamatti and Howard) do their utmost to breathe life into Shyamalan's fantasy, which is clearly borne of a sincere concern for the fate of humankind. Shyamalan has only himself to blame when that sincerity is so weakly expressed.

Jeff Shannon: j.sh@verizon.net