The Water Man

This is basically a Disney-like story with a dying parent, an innocent child on a quest, and a strong morale towards the end. People here are harsh in their reviews, but it's a nice sunday night movie for 8 year olds. My kids weren't too bothered by the slight plot holes, but liked the adventure, the idea of the water man and what he turns out to be.

In the small town of Pine Mills, Oregon, there is a local legend about a mysterious figure called The Water Man. Gunner Boone is obsessed with death and draws his comic book. His father Amos (David Oyelowo) is often absent and is struggling to reconnect with Gunner. His mom Mary (Rosario Dawson) is sick and his parents are trying to keep it from him. Jim Bussey (Alfred Molina) tells him about The Water Man who may have discovered immortality. He goes searching with help from blue-haired girl Jo who tells stories to little kids for money.

This is David Oyelowo trying his hand at directing. It's fine. It's not anything special but I'm not going to trash it either. It reminds me of Forest Whitaker who also dabbles in directing. There is always the possibility of improvement and I look forward to it. I find this film a little flat. The action scenes need some more kinetic energy. The climax is a little bit anti-climatic. The story is relatively straight forward with the gentlest of twists and turns. All in all, this is professional work for Oyelowo's first effort.

Let's start with the acting, absolutely fantastic very likeable characters especially the 2 young leads. The story was predictable but that's Underrated if its predictable and has a happy outcome sometimes that's what we need. Sometimes I love a simple story done beautifully and shot in a beautiful setting. It's so sad that people have become so NEGATIVE that they give a beautiful film like this a 1. Sad!! If you have a family and want to watch a beautiful film its EXTREMELY family friendly. My wife and I saw this together just now and we both have great big smiles...

This was a good movie with a good message. It's geared for a younger/family audience but that's not a bad thing. The movie has a point at the end of it and that's better than most movies these days. Worth watching in my opinion.

Though it's a little murky towards the end, The Water Man tackles a hard subject (death) from a young man's perspective. On a quest for hope and a cure for his mom, he searches out the truth of The Water Man legend.