The Water Horse (2007)

Beautiful, moving film.

A Major Disappointment

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I'm so surprised at the low rating that this wonderful movie has received on here.I just saw this and really enjoyed it. The story is great in the way that they wove a Scottish legend into it. The effects are great, too.This is the kind of movie that can be enjoyed by all ages. It's exciting and interesting enough for adults; and, it's not very scary but very 'cute,' so it's perfect for children.There is a very good cast as well, with solid characters and memorable performances...especially the child actor, Alex Etel, who plays Angus MacMorrow. The water horse, itself, is very life-like as well.I highly recommend this movie to all! :)

I have only one criticism of this excellent film. It could be said to be a family movie in an age when such things don't really exist any more, because the family audience doesn't exist as it once did. Children are brought up to expect fireworks and action - or violence - or inane and stupidly vulgar films. This film is none of that, although there is some moderate violence. It is a gentle and sentimental excursion into childhood innocence and friendship. It is one of my favourite films, and a good choice for anyone wanting something that will neither offend nor bore. It is also technically well done, and the acting is sensitive and shows emotional intelligence.

A real family that deals with friendships in a realistic fashion. The Water Horse isn't just a cute little creature. It starts off that way, with a number of comical scenes involving a baby monster. It soon turns a lot darker, where the monster is truly a wild creature and capable of great harm. The film holds up as we wonder if the friendship between Angus and monster will hold up. A lot of the film was rather slow, as it took a while to get anywhere. We are given some repetitive scenes, such as baths for the monster, and at least 2 chases involving the monster and dog. I also wasn't a fan of the movie being told as a story. It gave off a creepy vibe from Brian Cox, like he just sits in the pub all day rambling on. The CGI creature is very consistent, and the action scenes do have some dread to them. A nice watch for families, that doesn't patronize nor embarrass.

Directed by Jay Russell, "The Water Horse-Legend of the Deep" is yet another in a long line of "E.T.-The Extraterrestrial"-wannabes (heck, even the two movies' titles sound the same) – only in this case the adorable alien from outer space has been replaced by the only slightly less adorable and certainly far more unwieldy creature known in folklore as the Loch Ness Monster. It's almost as if little Elliot had wandered into "Jurassic Park" instead of the forest near his house.The Elliot of this tale is one Angus MacMorrow (Alex Etel), a lonely lad living with his mother (Emily Watson) and older sister in a lakeside village in 1942 Scotland. Angus' dad is currently off serving in the war and the young boy counts the days till his planned return. One day, while playing in a local tide pool, Angus uncovers a mysterious giant egg which he takes home with him, only to discover that out of it has hatched a strange and heretofore mythological creature known as a water-horse. Angus goes through the requisite routine of making friends with the creature, trying to hide him from the others in the household, frantically trying to save him from the military-industrial-complex forces out to destroy him, becoming all teary-eyed and emotional at their inevitable separation - in short, just about everything Spielberg did so masterfully in "E.T.," and that has been so dishonored in the imitation.Luckily, the movie does improve a bit in the second half, when the script turns away from the "E.T." parallels and towards the wartime aspects of the tale. But even here the military characters are largely two-dimensional in nature, with only Angus' mom and a newly arrived handyman by the name of Lewis Mowbray (Ben Chaplin) providing any real human drama. The script by Robert Nelson Jacobs, based on the book by Dick King-Smith, also employs the cheesiest story-framing device of them all – the now-grownup character spinning the yarn to a spellbound audience in the form of an extended flashback – to tell its tale.The special effects are wildly uneven, with some of the CGI looking mighty convincing and some of it looking like badly processed rear-screen projection from thirty-some-odd years ago. Moreover, one scene, involving Angus' activities with the creature in the water, is so utterly implausible that even a movie as based as this one is on asking the audience to suspend its disbelief can't quite pull it off.Even with an original theme song written and sung by Sinead O'Connor, this aquatic a-boy-and-his-dog story is all wet.