Lady In The Water

[HugeHarHar]

Anyone else seen it yet? I wrote this earlier for somewhere else, but here's what I thought of it.


I'd actually really enjoy writing movie reviews. Seems like it'd be fun.



I personally believe that this is one of M. Knight Shabamalamaanaa's greatest film. It's by far the most conceptual, and most fun to watch.

The cinematography is very unique, and very well thought out. Instead of simply seeing what's on the screen, you're able to see what Shamanalana wants you to, what images he wants to portray. The compositions, the focus of the lens, the colors, all set up so you know what you see and what you want to see.

The story was a bed time story he told his daughters over a short period of time. You can definitly tell it was, it feels like a bed time story. I wanted to hear the whole thing, see it all. Which, is incredable seeing as I walk out of movies all the time.

The characters we're incredably written. All of them with very unique and interesting personalities. The acting was also great, very fun to watch, and was easily pulled me in.

I won't call it a top ten movie, but I'll definitly buy it and watch again.

[Bammer]

Didn't entertain me. I wish someone had told me going into it that it was going to be a childrens bedtime story. Because IT SURE WAS! Wasn't a particularly good bedtime story. There was a lot to the story that you had to say "well it's just a weird little bedtime story. It can get away with that kind of junk."
But what made it non-entertaning for me was hoooooow haaaaard they had to work to tell this bedtime story. 90% of the movie was just trying to get this silly story told. You just have to sit and wait. It's not entertaining. It's just a hassle.
Other than that... there was some alright family friendly humor and characterization. A lot of breaking of the fourth wall (movies that talk about the art of making movies in the movies annoy me.) M. Night sure wrote a nice little part for himself (his character who is destined to save the world through his political ideals.)
But ya. His movies have been declining since Six Sense, and I thought he was due for a real gem this time. Since it wasn't, I'll probably opt to wait for his future movies to be rentable, or catch them on tv.

[Elwell]

I'll probably opt to wait for his future movies
You may have quite a bit of a wait there...

[HugeHarHar]

Bammer- I understand what you mean. I also realized my "review" seems pretty cheezy. I don't know really, I actually enjoyed it. I didn't take to seriously, just enjoyed watching it. I do agree that his movies have slowly been declining, but he may of just started off way to strong.

[Bammer]

Ya I hear you. I could see it being entertaining to movie go-ers less snobby than myself. Most of my friends liked it and the average conceptArt.org member will probably like it too.

Though, one other thing that cheezed me, was that even though M. Night is obviously doing well for himself and is racking in the cash, he still seems to scrimp on the special effects. Namely, the evil monkeys. The evil monkeys looked just like the aliens in Signs, which looked bad. Like, bad 3d or bad guy in silly costume, every time. And the wolf, while it looked alright in some shots, looked very... made of plastic... in other shots. And I don't think there's any excuse for that. The visual style also reminded me strongly of the monster costume in The Village, so from a concept artist point of view, the designs he brings to the table aren't very creative.

[0kelvin]

The visual style also reminded me strongly of the monster costume in The Village, so from a concept artist point of view, the designs he brings to the table aren't very creative.

Crash McCreery did the creature designs for this, and I thought they were fantastic. He also did the creatures for The Village, so that's why they're somewhat similar.

There were a lot of things I really liked about this movie, and other things I didn't like at all. It was much better than The Village, but still not as good as his other movies. Overall I still enjoyed the movie quite a bit.



0kelvin

[Scubasteve]

The previews make it out to be another one of his scary flicks, but when I saw the original trailer, it looked light hearted and comedic. Its probably a case where the studio wants to draw a specific crowd and will end up backfiring. I think its good that he'll make the movie he wants to make and not worry about the studios saying, hey you make scary movies, right?

[Interceptor]

I love Shyamalan. In fact he's my favorite director. But this was in my opinion his worst film, by far. A big problem I had was the fact that characters were willing to believe such a crazy story with no hesitation. That want the fact that I could'nt for the lfie of me beleive the story. Because the character Story did nothing to help. She's supposed to be some sort of goddess from the water but she did absolutely NOTHING fantastical. That does'nt mean I wanted to see more special effects, but she could have atleast looked the slightest bit different from your average human to make her seem different. She barely participated in any of the effort to get her back home.

[HugeHarHar]

I don't know. Personally I'm tired of watching movies where half the movie is justr trying to convince all the characters that it is real. Every movie about anything non-realistic has it.

"Look, it's a monster"
"Yeah right"
"No really...it's a monster"
"Pshh..."
"He's biting you"
"Oh no! I'm dead"
"Shit, now I have to convince someone else"

I do agree they could of done a lot more with the character Story.