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The Water Horse
It may seem pedantic to complain about factual liberties in a film concerning a mythical beastie - the Loch Ness monster, no less. But it's one thing to ask us to imagine the monster living and breathing, and quite another to relocate the loch itself so that it becomes a saltwater estuary. Apparently Hitler's fleet could pop up at any moment (the bulk of the film is set in a flashback to 1941), which is why Capitan Hamilton (David Morrissey) and his men have been billeted on a nearby farm, keeping watch for German U-boats. The farm house - more of a manor really - is home to Anne (Emily Watson), the housekeeper, her daughter and her son, Angus (Alex Etel), an unhappy child, frightened of the water, and badly missing his dad, who is off serving with the Royal Navy. While Capt. Hamilton seems to take a shine to Anne, Angus is wary of the intimidating soldiers, but circumstances force him to take the taciturn new handyman, Lewis (Ben Chaplin) into his trust. Angus has another new friend, someone his mother knows nothing about. He's short (at least at first), naked, and he resembles a cross between a seal and a dinosaur. Angus calls him "Crusoe" and feeds him scraps from the mess. The trouble is, Crusoe keeps growing at an alarming rate. He's soon too big even for the spare bath, so Angus and Lewis cart him off to the Loch, and the rest is history; sort of. Based on a novel by Dick King Smith (best known as the creator of Babe), The Water Horse is a faux British film written, directed and paid for by Americans (the director is Jay Russell, who did My Dog Skip), and shot largely in New Zealand. But that doesn't matter. It looks lovely, the acting is excellent, and the storytelling is natural and unforced.
If ET: The Extra-Terrestrial is basically a "boy and his dog" movie with an extra special dog, the same is true of The Water Horse, which hits several of the same emotional buttons: the lonely, fatherless boy "adopting" an orphan who must be kept a secret to stay safe; the plot expanding to draw in more allies; near-death scrapes; an exhilarating ride with his new pal. It may sound formulaic, but Russell lets the scenes breathe, and while the special effects are only okay, we're happy enough to view Crusoe through Angus's eyes. You may remember Etel as the freckle-faced lad who talked with the saints in Danny Boyle's Millions, and he's just as good here.
It is a bit rum that the British army are basically the bad guys here, and really, they might have been better off not setting the thing in Loch Ness at all, in the circumstances, but this is a family film that will appeal across the board, and for that we should be grateful. Tom Charity 
More information about The Water Horse » Critics' Reviews
Theres backbone to spare in this superior family film aimed at the type of kids who like a wee splash of Scotch on... read more on www.timeout.com Members' ReviewsReviews Voted Most HelpfulMost Recent Reviews |
David Jenkins, Time Out