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(About Our Ads) "THE WATER HORSE: LEGEND OF THE DEEP" (2007) (Angus Etel, Ben Chaplin) (PG) If you've come from our parental review of this film and wish to return to it, simply click on your browser's BACK button. Otherwise, use the following link to read our complete Parental Review of this film. QUICK TAKE: Fantasy/Adventure: A young boy discovers a water horse in a tide pool near his home and watches as the mythical creature grows from a few inches to several hundred feet long, all while sorting out his feelings regarding various father figures in his life. PLOT: In present day Scotland, a local man (BRIAN COX) tells the following story to a couple of young American tourists. In 1942, during World War II, a young boy named Angus MacMorrow (ANGUS ETEL) misses his sailor father desperately. Afraid of the water, Angus discovers a barnacle-encrusted, soon glowing blue egg near the shore, and hides it in his father's workshop, where he keeps a calendar to keep track of his father's days at sea. The egg hatches, producing a strange creature with flippers, a long neck, and a prodigious appetite. Angus names the creature Crusoe, after his favorite adventure story. Though Crusoe is at first small enough to keep hidden from his mother Anne (EMILY WATSON) and older sister Kristie (PRIYANKA XI), almost as soon as it begins to eat the garbage can full of kitchen scraps Angus finds for it, Crusoe begins to grow. At around the same time, the estate where Anne is head housekeeper (her absent husband was the groundskeeper) is commandeered by Captain Hamilton (DAVID MORRISSEY) of the Royal British Navy, who instructs his men to establish the loch as a last bastion against a possible Nazi invasion. As they are building up armaments along the shore, Anne hires Lewis Mowbray (BEN CHAPLIN), a former sailor who serves as the new groundskeeper. When Anne begins to accept attentions (and a dinner invitation) from Captain Hamilton, Lewis becomes jealous. But because he's very shy, he doesn't act on his obvious feelings for Anne, but instead focuses his energies on helping Angus work though his longing for his father. Angus finally has to reveal his pet to Lewis, who recognizes it as the legendary water horse, destined to live in the loch near Angus' home. Once they free Crusoe, Angus sneaks away to visit it in the loch. Crusoe then takes him for a ride underwater and across the loch, so the boy is no longer afraid of water. Eventually, however, Captain Hamilton's men spot the creature in the loch and believe it to be a secret Nazi weapon. From that point on, Angus tries to lead Crusoe away to safety. OUR TAKE: 6 out of 10 It might not seem the ideal start for a kids' film. In the first moments of "The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep," a pink-faced Scotsman (Brian Cox) sits alone in a pub, his eyes twinkling as he spots a couple of young American tourists. They're gazing on the most famous photo of the Loch Ness monster, showing a snaky shape and murky water. Just when the young man asserts for his girlfriend that the picture's "fake," the old man intervenes, saying, "There's more to that photo than meets the eye." The couple sits down, intrigued, and the old man smiles. And with that, the "true tale" of the monster begins to take on a more family-friendly shape. Based on a children's novel by Dick King-Smith (who also wrote "Babe: The Gallant Pig"), the story begins in 1942. Angus MacMorrow (Alex Etel) is missing his dad, a former estate groundskeeper, now gone for many months with the Royal British Navy. Still living on the estate with his mother, Anne (Emily Watson), who works as head housekeeper, and his sister, Kristie (Priyanka Xi), Angus spends his days on the beach looking out to sea, afraid to go too near the water. A brief fantasy scene in which Angus loses his footing in the shallows and plunges deep into shadowy waters suggests his fear is related to his worries about his absent father, a theme the film follows variously, as Angus finds several father substitutes. The first of these is the titular creature. Following his scary dream on the beach, Angus finds a barnacle-encrusted egg, which he hauls back to his father's workshop and tries to open with a knife. The crack he makes reveals an odd, glowing blue goo, at which point Anne calls him inside and the project is abandoned. Little does he imagine that on his return, the egg will have hatched, producing a floppy, bluish beastie with flippers that the boy names Crusoe, after his favorite adventure story. As Angus nurtures and feeds his new pet, he's careful to keep it hidden from Anne, whom he imagines will reject it out of hand, being distracted by needing to feed her two kids while her husband's away. Meantime, Anne's life turns upside down, first, by the arrival of a Home Guard company, bivouacking at the estate. Led by the handsome and self-regarding Captain Hamilton (David Morrissey), the group sets up tents and a kitchen unit, as well as a mighty gun atop a cliff along the loch, in anticipation of a Nazi submarine invasion. The second disruption is less odious. She finds a replacement groundskeeper, Lewis (Ben Chaplin), a former sailor, honorably discharged following a close encounter with shrapnel. The two men set up opposing possibilities for Angus' thinking about the war. While Lewis understands the trauma and loss involved, Captain Hamilton remains gung-ho and competitive (not least because he feels left behind at home, rather than being deployed to the front line). His resentment of Lewis takes a kind of jealous shape, as he attempts to mold Angus into a hardy boy (he makes him clean his jeep and pound his tent poles). Lewis treats Angus with more respect and gentleness, such that the boy feels able to trust him when at last he can no longer keep Crusoe's existence a secret. This comes about as the creature grows -- and grows and grows. Soon, it's no longer the size of a lapdog, but becoming a full-fledged "monster," in need of more space to swim and more food, beyond the table scraps Angus sneaks out of the kitchen. Designed by Peter Jackson's WETA effects workshop, Crusoe flaps about in the bathtub, making increasingly loud noises that Anne continues to miss, even as the Home Guard's mascot, a bulldog named Churchill, makes it his personal mission to hunt down and destroy Crusoe. As Angus enlists Lewis' help in moving it to the loch, the Captain presses his luck with Anne, hoping to win her heart and, more reluctantly, take over as father to her children. As the two human men provide alternative versions of a father figure -- best-friend and authoritative -- Crusoe provides yet another, enticing Angus to venture beyond his familiar surroundings, learning to appreciate and respect the broader world. When Angus first sees Crusoe grown all the way up to some 45 feet in length, with a long graceful neck and a persistently screechy sound effect, he's both startled and reverential. He's also thrilled, for Crusoe remains his beloved companion, no matter his size. Once reacquainted, Angus takes a ride on Crusoe's back, and they go diving, together, through deep and beautiful waters, so that Angus doesn't even remember to be afraid of the water -- or the truth of what has happened to his father -- any more. As narrator Cox sets up from the start, the tale of the monster is at once outrageous and charming. If the literal details are much like others you've seen in films involving little boys and majestic magical beasts (say, "Eragon," or more enchantingly, "Charlotte's Web"), "The Water Horse" also takes seriously the emotional underpinnings of such fantasies, the experiences and hopes that lead children to imagine other worlds, other friends, and other parents. The film rates as a 6 out of 10. (C Fuchs) Reviewed November 28, 2007 / Posted December 25, 2007