Lady In The Water

It's such a joy when a fantasy film satisfies. I've read a couple of damning reviews of 'Lady in the Water', some suggesting that Shyamalan should give up making films, that he's become self-indulgent - but, for me, 'Lady in the Water' ticked all the adult fable/bedtime-story boxes.

It's creepy, it has mists, monsters, a beautiful other-worldly heroine with a quest who is in grave danger, a tortured but noble (if unlikely looking) hero, and a cast of daft, yet kindly 'villagers', inhabitants of the Philadelphia condominium where the tale is set.

It's a fabulous conceit. I even accepted the cod-mythology Shyamalan has concocted - usually made up mythologies make me cringe with embarrassment. The only bum note is the names he's made up for his fairy-tale characters: 'narf' for his water maiden is just clunky and, yes, naff. Not fantastical enough for my ears. The evil hyena-like monster is called a 'scrunt', which just about works, but 'tartutic'? But then, it's not my story.

So, self-indulgent it may be, fantasy-fluff it definitely is, but I was glued to the story and hardly aware of time passing.