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The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep by Rebecca Jackaman
- Certificate: PG
- Director: Jay Russell
- Released: February 8th 2008
The Cast:
- Alex Etel - Angus McMorrow
- Brian Cox - Old Angus
- Priyanka Xi - Kirsty McMorrow
- Emily Watson - Anne McMorrow
- Ben Chaplin - Lewis Mowbray
The Buzz:
Based on the fantasy novel by Dick King-Smith.
An old man is telling a story to two American tourists, after they spot a newspaper cutting on the wall, it is a picture of the infamous Loch Ness Monster - but it is a fake.
It is the time of World War Two in Scotland, a young boy called Angus McMorrow (Alex Etel) is pining for the return of his father, who is currently fighting in the war.
However his life is turned upside down when he discovers a strange “rock” in a rock pool at the loch. He takes it home to his den – his father’s workshop – and tries to wash his find. That is until he realises it is actually a large blue egg of something – but what?
After a scene of over-the-top tension that could have put Steven Spielberg’s Jaws to shame, Angus realises a kind of water horse has hatched out of the egg, but it is injured and hungry and it is up to him to look after it or it will die. He decides to call it Crusoe.
Time goes by and the Water Horse grows at an amazing scale, it is soon too big to stay in the barrel in the workshop, so Angus moves it to the “out of order” bathroom in his mansion – where his sister Kirsty (Priyanka Xi) gets a nasty surprise when about to have a bath and when the new handyman Mowbray (Ben Chaplin) finds it swimming in the bath. Mowbray explains to Angus that Crusoe may perhaps be the legendary Loch Ness Monster and that only one can exist, to lay another egg (it can asexually reproduce) and die shortly afterwards. Therefore, the creature must go to the loch and stay away from Angus. Of course the young boy is defiant at first, but makes the difficult decision of letting his friend go, after seeing how large Crusoe has become.
But there is a problem. English soldiers have set up base at Angus’ family home, to help fight off German ships by building a giant net across the loch and introducing a weapon that fires thousands of shells at a time – endangering Crusoe’s freedom.
Captain Thomas Hamilton (David Morrissey) is in charge of the army and asks Anne McMorrow (Emily Watson) and family to watch them testing the weapon – much to Angus’ horror. Sure enough, Crusoe is terrified to see millions of explosions going off around it, turning it wild.
However, it shows Angus that he shouldn’t be afraid of water, taking him for a swim in the loch, where it is spotted by two fishermen, who report it to the army and assume it is a German ship. They start to fire at it, while Angus tries to get it past the net.
This scene is probably a little frightening for small children, it definitely shocked me to see such a peaceful-looking creature attacking a boat, eating a dog and nearly eating a soldier!
I was quite surprised to know that this film was based on a book by the author, Dick King-Smith, having read some of his novels in the past, but it definitely brought a tear to my eye when Angus has to let Crusoe go.
The Rating:
I give this film 3 STARS
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