The Water Horse: Legend Of The Deep

This film is based on the novel of the same name by the ever popular children’s book author, Dick King-Smith - who also wrote the book Babe was based on - and it tells the legend of Nessie from a slightly different perspective, mixing legend, superstition and folklore with a healthy dose of WWII realism.

The movie is obviously set in Scotland but was actually beautifully filmed in New Zealand and tells the story of Angus Macmorrow, a solitary child who finds a strange egg on the beach and takes it home only to find that it hatches into a cute sea creature with a huge appetite. Angus names the creature Crusoe and hides it in his father’s workshop (his father has been killed at sea but Angus refuses to believe it) but before long both his sister, Kirstie (played by Priyanka Xi) and the handyman, Lewis Mowbray (Ben Chaplin) are in on the secret, not least because every day or so it seems to double in size.

Lewis befriends Angus and Kirstie and helps Angus keep the creature hidden from his mother, brilliantly played by Emily Watson until eventually the water horse grows so big he has to help Angus take him to the nearest large stretch of water, which is, of course, Loch Ness.

The water horse itself, through the miracle that is CGI, has been endowed with more than a passing resemblance to ET and it also shares his natural exuberance and comedic talent as a fledgeling water creature but by the time it has grown to full size has a commanding and slightly menacing presence that only Angus can dispel.

This is a good old-fashioned British family film that does not make any allowances for its young characters and does not insult our intelligence as viewers. It explores many of the legends surrounding the Loch Ness monster with humour and insight, whilst introducing us to the folklore of the kelpie or water horse that is both male and female and can only exist alone.

The array of quality acting talent is refreshing, with excellent supporting performances alongside the recognised talent of actors of the calibre of Watson, Chaplin, David Morrissey (as the clumsy but well-intentioned Captain Hamilton) and Brian Cox (as the old Angus Macmorrow who narrates the story). And a special mention for Alex Etel who is on the screen much of the time and who puts in a performance that has us utterly convinced as a small boy who misses his Dad desperately, who is solitary and awkward and is misunderstood by his mother. A future in acting brightly beckons.

This is an engaging version of the Loch Ness legend, although there is a clumsy beginning and end, and there is a fairly obvious opening for a sequel.