The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep (2007)

Director:

Jay Russell

Writers (WGA):

Robert Nelson Jacobs (screenplay)
Dick King-Smith (book)

Release Date:

25 December 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Family | Fantasy

Tagline:

Every big secret starts small.

Plot:

A lonely boy discovers a mysterious egg that hatches a sea creature of Scottish legend. |

Plot Keywords:

Cook | Wilhelm Scream | Sea Monster | Fishing | Dog

Awards:

5 nominations

Cast

Bruce Allpress	...	Jock McGowan
Geraldine Brophy	...	Gracie
Eddie Campbell	...	Hughie (as Edward Campbell)
Ben Chaplin	...	Lewis Mowbray
Peter Corrigan	...	Jimmy's Buddy #1
Brian Cox	...	Old Angus
Carl Dixon	...	Gunner Corbin
Alex Etel	...	Angus MacMorrow
Nathan Christopher Haase	...	Male Tourist
Craig Hall	...	Charlie MacMorrow
Ian Harcourt	...	Jimmy McGarry
Rex Hurst	...	Jimmy's Buddy #2
Bill Johnson	...	Clyde (as William Johnson)
Megan Katherine	...	Female Tourist
Elliot Lawless	...	Beach Kid

Also Known As:

The Water Horse (International: English title) (informal short title)
The WaterHorse: Legend of the Deep (International: English title) (alternative spelling)
Dragon des mers - La dernière légende, Le (Belgium: French title) (Canada: French title) (France) (poster title) [fr]
Mi mascota es un monstruo (Argentina) (Peru) (Venezuela) [es]
Mein Freund, der Wasserdrache (Germany) (new title) [de]
Meu Monstro de Estimação (Brazil) [pt]
Mi mascota es un mounstro (Mexico) [es]
Mythos tis limnis, O (Greece) (DVD title) [el]
The Water Horse (Germany) [de]
Vattenhästen (Sweden) [sv]
Vesihobu (Estonia) [et]
Water horse - La leggenda degli abissi (Italy) [it]

MPAA:

Rated PG for some action/peril, mild language and brief smoking.

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

USA | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | DTS-ES | Dolby Digital EX

Certification:

Philippines:G (MTRCB) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Sweden:11 | UK:PG | Singapore:PG | USA:PG | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | Malaysia:U | South Korea:All | Brazil:Livre | Germany:6 | Peru:PT | Argentina:Atp | Taiwan:GP

Filming Locations:

Camperdown Studios, Camperdown Road, Miramar, Wellington, New Zealand

Company:

Beacon Pictures

Trivia:

The title, 'The Water Horse', is a reference to the kelpie, a malevolent beast of Celtic lore that would disguise itself as a horse to lure unsuspecting victims to it. Once the unfortunate soul had mounted the kelpie, it would drag him or her down to their watery death.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Lewis Mowbray ridicules the Captain's mission but not the War Effort noting that he has admiration for the British troops fighting on the front lines in Europe. By 1942, there were no British regulars left in Europe and the only front line was in the Soviet Union.

Movie Connections:

Spoofs Jaws (1975)

Soundtrack:

Garden in the Rain

The right balance . . .

CGI—of course: You can't depict the Loch Ness monster with just the putative photo of the famous myth. But after you accept the clever graphics, The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep is just plain ol' good story telling, fit for pre-adolescent kids and their young-at-heart parents.

Narrator Brian Cox (his character is not identified) tells of WWII era in Scotland at the famous loch, where young Angus MacMorrow finds an egg at the shore and nurtures the lovable monster until he has to go to the loch to survive. The Scottish regiment occupying the home and the new handyman, Lewis Mowbray (Ben Chaplin), complicate life and endanger the elusive monster. Although the usual clueless mom (Emily Watson) and dangerous thugs are here to further the horror genre staples, the challenges Angus faces are instructive about the collision of reality and fantasy for an adolescent.

WWII looms large, a fitting embodiment of the challenges the unknown and potentially dangerous can be to the stability of the world. The fantasy world, centered on the monster, who becomes his best friend, collides with the reality of people who want to destroy the monster and the boy's imaginative life.

Mix in all this with the father who has been away to war, never to return, and you have a child's romance with the right balance of love and hate, certainty and uncertainty, illusion and reality. It's all much less sophisticated than Shrek, and more like Whale Rider, also filmed in New Zealand. In the latter, a girl rides a whale as an embodiment of the country's hope; in Water Horse, the boy rides the monster to expunge his own fear of water and elude the malignant forces of the adult world. Pretty heady stuff, that.