Mjeteconer Just perfect...
ActuallyGlimmer The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.
Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.
Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.
the-pyat I enjoyed this film. I loved the setting especially. Who wouldn't? Plus, the story line flowed well and the special effects were amazing. Indeed, this film would have received at least 8 stars IF it had bothered to cast more Scottish actors. Since it didn't, it gets just 3. I picked up on only two genuine accents: Brian Cox, of course, and probably one of the fishermen. Ben Chaplin puts in a noble effort, and the boy can almost be forgiven for limping along trying to shape his mouth like a Scot, but casting a bunch of Sassenachs muddling through the burr while accusing each other of being Sassenachs is incredibly lame. Emily Watson and I both were most at ease when her mouth was shut during a scene. Misery to watch her try to portray a Scottish mother. There are tons of excellent Scottish actors. What's the matter with you, Liz Mullane and Susie Figgis, that you thought this would fly? Big mistake for an otherwise wonderful movie.
classicsoncall There's something about legends of mythical creatures that make them endure - The Abominable Snowman, Bigfoot, and yes, the Loch Ness Monster. I didn't know "The Water Horse" was a whimsical telling of the origins of the famous monster, but it was readily apparent once the story got under way. It was rather innovative the way the writers came up with the background story with the egg and all, and I always marvel at the way film makers can make a computer creation look real on screen. The baby water horse in the bath tub looked absolutely real, becoming only slightly less so as it grew into the huge monster of legend. There's an element of whimsy at work in the picture to go with the magic, and as a family viewing experience this one entertains well enough. I would only caution those with young kids that the adult water horse can be a fearsome creature, so prepare the youngsters accordingly. I'd put this film in my list of 'Movies About Horses', but that would obviously be a bit of a stretch.
Armand the magic is the purpose in this case. not only the magic of images but , more important, the magic of relationship. an old legend, a meeting, a story. nothing too complicated but seductive at all. because it represents just a modern fairy tale. because it has good actors and a credible young character. because it is a war story. different by many others. but useful for the crumbs of clichés who are keep in right places. a film about friendship. in many nuances and attitudes and choices. the delicate British spirit, the not bad job of Alex Etel, a sensitive manner by Ben Chaplin to do the hero traces. short - a lovely film. full of magic.
Roland E. Zwick 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.
