Cleveland Heep (Giamatti) serves as the audience perspective throughout most of the movie, and serves as the only character Giamatti has played so far that this reviewer has actually enjoyed. Beaten down by life and circumstance, Heep serves as building superintendent to The Cove, an apartment complex full of even more complex residents. Fixing what he can, and providing what level of support he’s able, Heep provides the continuity throughout the movie, even when connectors are left out by Shyamalan’s storytelling style.

Quickly, we’re introduced to Bryce Dallas Howard’s Lady, named Story, a water Narph (sea nymph) living in the complex’s swimming pool. Her mission (as we learned from the prelude fable) is to provide an uplifting message to a human writer, and avoid the dangerous Scrunts who desire to prevent her message from being made known. Along the way, Story will need the assistance of The Guardian, The Healer, The Interpreter and The Guild, but she doesn’t know which humans will play what roles.

As in a typical Shyamalan movie, there is much suspense, concerning the Scrunt that we don’t see for the first half, except for fleeting bursts of movement and hints of eyes. Written as a children’s bedtime story, this provides much less horror-related violence than Sixth Sense or The Village, and more of the us against them in Signs. In this outing, the man himself steps from behind the camera to take the role of Vick Ran, source of inspiration for some. Shyamalan doesn’t just scare and inspire here; he also lends his sense of humor more prominently to the dialogue, especially in light of a movie critic character.

Beautiful film shots and typically grand character acting by Howard and Giamatti make for a meaningful modern day fable. Faced with his own historical problems, Giamatti’s Heep responds heroically without being a caricature-- he makes his share of mistakes. The fairy tale of the Narphs serves notice that the humans have stopped listening and can no longer take help from their longtime allies. Much like humans growing farther from God and each other, the audience is critiqued for its lack of community and faith. Heep himself is the target for the parable’s main lesson, “that no one is who they think they are.” The truly heroic individuals of this morality play are not those we expect--and that’s the beauty of a Shyamalan picture!

More pointedly, Howard’s Story inspires the writer with her message, but Story inspires others to be more than they believed possible. Because of Heep’s faith in her words, the community rises together in common, uniting their scattered lives to do something good for others. If we believe the parable behind the story or Story, we see that our own personal decisions can have far-reaching results or consequences. Each of the characters had the option to ignore Heep and therefore ignore Story, but each accepts their role and they triumph together.

Bill Irwin (as Mr. Leeds) cries out, “I want to believe! I want to be like a child again.” Each of us can learn something from him, in that moment of absolute wonder and belief, we may be the people that God calls us to be.