Nikki and I saw Shyamalan's Lady in the Water on Friday night.  I liked it, but compared to other Shyamalan movies I didn't like it as much as Unbreakable, The Village, or Sixth Sense.  I thought the acting was phenomenal - especially Paul Giamatti's performance.  As expected, the movie followed Shyamalan's formula of a twist or puzzle that drives the plot, but this "twist" wasn't very big at all.  The plot seemed to focus more on resolving the conflict rather than surprise the audience in a significant way as in his other movies.  Nothing wrong with that - I just prefer the big surprise that completely floors the audience. 

Many of his other movies deal with some sort of spirit or super-natural force.  This one does too, but it stretches more on the side of "fantasy" than spiritual or super-natural.  That's also something that I didn't really like either.  His other movies seem more believable even though they are truly based on impossible ideas.  This one just wasn't believable at all.  I doubt it was intended to be, but it's set in a believable place with ordinary, every-day people.  I just couldn't stop thinking about the line between "real" and "fantasy" while watching, and I think a better movie would have made me forget about that line. 

Everyone I've talked to that has seen Shyamalan's movies likes different ones than me and from each other, so don't take my word for it that most of his others are better.  I really enjoyed The Village, but Nikki hated it, and I think she liked Lady in the Water more than I did. Personally I wouldn't care on seeing this one again, but I'd recommend seeing it if you generally like Shyamalan's stuff.