Product Details

• Actors: Paul Giamatti, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jeffrey Wright, Bob Balaban, Sarita Choudhury
• Directors: M. Night Shyamalan
• Writers: M. Night Shyamalan
• Producers: M. Night Shyamalan, John Rusk, Jose L. Rodriguez, Sam Mercer
• Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• DVD Release Date: December 19, 2006
• Run Time: 110 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (383 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000JU7KAE
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #33,647 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Or, if you prefer, I See Wet People. M. Night Shyamalan's attempt at a newfangled mythology--about a depressed apartment superintendent (Paul Giamatti) who discovers a sea-nymph (Bryce Dallas Howard) who may hold the key to humanity's hopeful future--is intriguing enough to capture the imaginations of children and adults who haven't lost sight of their innocent sense of wonder. Cynics, on the other hand, will likely scoff at Shyamalan's awkward fantasy, which includes one victim--a film critic--widely interpreted as Shyamalan's revenge against reviewers who panned The Village. Shyamalan originally improvised this melancholy fantasy as a bedtime story for his children; unfortunately, it still feels mostly half-baked and ultimately ineffective due to a number of plot holes and inconsistencies that a writer as talented as Shyamalan should've been able to avoid. For those wishing to learn more about the film's troubled history, and Shyamalan's petulant split from Disney studios, The Man Who Heard Voices: Or, How M. Night Shyamalan Risked His Career on a Fairy Tale is an interesting read. --Jeff Shannon

Product Description
Apartment building superintendent Cleveland Heep (Giamatti) rescues what he thinks is a young woman from the pool he maintains. When he discovers that she is actually a character from a bedtime story who is trying to make the journey back to her home, he works with his tenants to protect his new friend from the creatures that are determined to keep her in our world.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Shyamalan All Wet, March 2, 2009

By	John Murphy "O, for a Muse of Fire" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Lady in the Water (Widescreen Edition) (DVD)

It took me awhile before I got around to seeing M. Night Shyamalan's much-disparaged "Lady in the Water." Virtually everyone I know who'd seen the film warned me against a viewing. Critics used the movie as target practice. The flick even managed to pick up two ignominious "Razzie" Awards (the opposite of the Oscars, to put it kindly), both of which went to M. Night as "worst director" and "worst supporting actor" of 2006. But how bad could a movie be directed by the guy who made "Unbreakable," an underrated masterpiece?

So see it I did, and (to quote P.G. Wodehouse) I'm not disgruntled, but I'm far from gruntled. "Lady in the Water" is silly, incoherent, unsatisfying, self-indulgent...and thoroughly watchable. Even entertaining. Because Shyamalan's movies are distinctively his own, and he believes in his own vision. The man's self-faith borders on lunacy, but the predominantly bland, marketing-driven world of modern movies could use a few more eccentric visionaries (even if that eccentric visionary believes WAY too much of his own hype).

Speaking of that, M. Night definitely laid an egg when he cast himself in the film as a writer whose words will change the world. Story (Bryce Dallas Howard) prophecies of a "great orator" who will one day read his (I mean his character's) book, and "your book will be the seeds of many of his great thoughts." Most viewers will consider this offensively hubristic. And so it is, but it's also strangely endearing. Shyamalan actually wants to change the world. When Cleveland, the lovable shlub hero (who else but Paul Giamatti?), is asked by a hermitic tenant whether he believes mankind is worth saving, he answers "Yes" without batting an eyelash. I appreciate a filmmaker who dares to invest his stories with an almost desperate need for the transcendent.

Maybe that quality is why I can't help but like his movies (haven't seen "The Happening" yet... heard it was even worse than this one!), even when they so clearly misfire, as in this case. "Lady in the Water" is so un-cynical, it's virtually begging for snide remarks. Shyamalan didn't help himself by trading in his trademark tight storytelling for something sloppy and ill-conceived. But his follies are on a grand scale -- here he aims to make a modern myth and falls precipitously short -- but he's trying, God bless him. The old saying goes: Aim for the stars, land on the barnyard roof. And you know what? The view from the barnyard roof's not always so shabby.

106 of 145 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bewitching allegory, August 23, 2006

By	- Kasia S. (New York City) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

M. Night Shyamalan doesn't do plain movies. As an artists he has his own unique approach of seeing extraordinary tales in mundane things whether its aliens, mythical beasts, ghosts or a mysterious azure pool. This tale is like no other, perhaps can be thought of as a tale of good and evil, of human purpose, common ground and understanding. When a mysterious pale woman with red hair saves an apartment superintendent, who looked like he gave up upon falling into the pool, simply because he didn't see a purpose to living, she brings hope and a sense of purpose to him and other tenants. Together they try to figure out who she is and why she came into their lives.

Story, is the name of the woman, perhaps those who save the Village, recognize her as the blind brave daughter Ivy Walker, takes on another roles this time as a narf, a word that does not really exist in an English dictionary but a word that takes on meaning by the time the movie ends. She is a fairy like creature that is on a mission and needs help from Cleveland Heep the stuttering superintendent who loses his stutter and finds his true calling. She needs to find a safe passage back to her own world, which is guarded by an evil wolf like beast, invisible to all but those who know how to find it. Together all the characters have to decipher the answers behind what she says and in all reality they have to save the modern world. She tells one of them that he will be a great orator and his book will change the world, cease wars and bring peace, she tells another that he can heal; others learn that they will have profound impact on the feuding life and who will improve life around them if they take the risks and do what she says.

This was a visually stunning and memorable movie, with hair rising music and some really jumpy special effects, especially with the wolf. Yes there are monsters and there are casualties but then there is a sense of purpose, of a mystery coming together brought upon this mysterious creature, who in my interpretation is an angel. She brings hope and love and unites those who sulk and lose their touch. It's a beautiful story that leaves one thinking long after leaving the theater, a story that feeds the soul and feeds a hungry mind ready for something different. It's a fairy tale that leaves one feeling good and light, with hope and understanding of the future. M. Night Shyamalan is such a fantasy wizard that no matter how outrageous his stories are they have a ring to truth about them. I can't wait to see what he cooks up next, for he is fabulous for those who like something special.

- Kasia S.

19 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fairy tale enchantment on film!, July 23, 2006

By	Snowbrocade (Santa Barbara, CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Shyamalan's latest film is a quirky art film with a fairy tale sensibility. The story revolves around a sad disillusioned man, Cleveland Heep, who has given up everything after the loss of his family. Heep discovers a mystical creature, a narf, in the pool of the apartment complex he manages. Malevolent forces lurk in the gardens around the pool which she must be protected against. Ultimately this magical creature must be restored from whence she came. This quest to save the narf ends up involving many of the oddball yet normal apartment dwellers Heep has come to know over time. In the process of saving this creature, he find his own redemption and possibly hope for the future of our world.

This move has an enchanting storyline with intricate plot twists. The main stars, Paul Giamatti and Bryce Howard, are perfectly cast. Shyamalan plays a small, yet compelling role in the film. The look of the film is unadorned-these are ordinary people pursuing ordinary lives. There is humor and pathos in the lives of these people. Yet, when galvanized by the hope of something out of the ordinary and an opportunity to do good, these "normal" people gather around and give their all. In essence this film shows the magic of the everday.

This is a fairy tale on film-with all the strangeness and skewed logic of the fairy tale world. Not for those who are looking for a slick Hollywood film.