Attempting to address the larger questions of faith and religion, “Bee Season,” adapted from Myla Goldberg’s novel of the same name, reads more like a child’s superhero fantasy. While most kids erroneously blame themselves for the problems of adults around them, young Eliza Naumann finds herself capable of reuniting her fractured family.

Where other recent spelling-focused entertainments such as “Spellbound” and “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” capture the suspense of competitive spelling, “Bee Season” is more interested in spelling’s spiritual context. If that sounds a stretch on the page, it is even less expository on film.

Like the heroine of the Roald Dahl tale “Matilda,” in which a young girl is endowed with magical powers to better her lot in life, Eliza, a seemingly helpless girl, magically manages to heal her family’s existential wounds. But while “Matilda” is an inspirational tale for disaffected children, “Bee Season” attempts to offer spiritual fulfillment for adults.

The youngest child of Saul and Miriam Naumann, Eliza (Flora Cross) upsets the family balance when she wins her school’s spelling bee. Her father (Richard Gere), a religion professor at Berkeley, begins to take an interest in her newfound gift, but effectively abandons his wife (Juliette Binoche) and his former favorite, Eliza’s older brother, Aaron (Max Minghella).

As Eliza’s skills become more and more focused, the family unit fractures. Aaron turns to Hare Krishnaism and Miriam Naumann’s emotional problems threaten to break apart their happy suburban life. While Mr. Minghella and Ms. Binoche’s characters quest for existential answers and Mr. Gere postulates, it is Eliza’s duty to hold the center of her nuclear family.

Her father tells Eliza that “words and letters hold the secrets of the universe” and then attempts to focus her spelling skill into a religious context. It seems Eliza doesn’t quite understand the Kabbalist teachings he imparts, but she is intrigued to learn more and plods along. As does the audience.

Ms. Cross has a gift for the insightful silence this story demands. She gives her outwardly mundane character just enough insight to make her seemingly supernatural powers believable. The beautiful cinematography also helps create a feeling of magical realism. Directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel have crafted a nuanced picture of suburban Oakland. Their vibrant film sustains the enchanting creations of Eliza’s character, and the mysterious activities of her mother, as well as Aaron’s ingenue world and Saul’s intellectual cocoon.

As all the family members seek spiritual answers and drift apart, it becomes clear that the center will not hold. Eliza blames herself and her spelling for the destruction of her family. This seems naive until it becomes clear that that the filmmakers blame her, too. The jumbled Kabbalist teachings of the film come through Saul Naumann, who says: “We can restore what’s been shattered. In fact it’s our responsibility to try, each of us, to make our world whole again.”

While the adults around her uselessly seek enlightenment, young Eliza has gotten there effortlessly. And so “Bee Season” sacrifices her to save the family. But while the magical realism of “Bee Season” embarks the audience on a promising quest for religious answers, its interest in universality renders the spirituality it finds meaningless.

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There is a point in “Ellie Parker” when Naomi Watts’s character watches a tape of herself overacting in a soap opera, tears up the evidence, and denounces acting. If only Ms. Watts had done something similar with this flashback from her prefame career.

After befriending Scott Coffey on the set of “Mulholland Drive,” but before the David Lynch vehicle shot Ms. Watts to stardom, Ms. Watts agreed to work on Mr. Coffey’s short feature. Later (presumably after realizing the bankable prowess of Ms. Watts), Mr. Coffey reshot and stretched “Ellie” into a feature length film, released today.

“Ellie Parker” documents a struggling Los Angeles actress (Ms. Watts) on the verge of quitting the business. The film is full of humorous and telling portrayals of Hollywood life seldom seen on the big screen, but the realism of the shaky digital camerawork grows tedious all too quickly, and many jokes are buried by repetitive and overlong shots. The film is too long by half and entirely too pleased with itself.

As for the cast, Ms. Watts is a wonderful screen presence in a sea of Hollywood’s should-never-have-beens. Even she, however, can’t overcome the self-congratulatory meta-humor and bad editing of the film. Still, considering the budget and Ms. Watts’s star power, “Ellie Parker” will probably turn a large profit. While the film can be written off as a bit of youthful indiscretion on her part, it’s clear a friendship with Ms. Watts is worth its weight in gold.

mkeane@nysun.com