The Water Horse: Loch Ness movie's real mystery--Who's it made for?

* * * (out of 5)

Taking place during World War II, the movie starts off very well as a lonely young boy named Angus discovers an interesting looking rock on a beach in Scotland. He brings it home to find out it's an egg for some odd reptilian creature. The discovery of the creature is a great joy for Angus and it is very important that he keeps his new pet hidden.

His father is a sailor fighting for the King of England and his mother is in charge of maintaining a large estate for a Lord who is elsewhere. When the Army commandeers the estate for war reasons, it is more important than ever that he keeps his father's tool shed and the creature's home away from their snooping eyes.

The first half has a fun, sweet feel like ET, but with more mischief in its eye. But the second half reminds me of Free Willy too much. And is so loud and unsettling for small children, that a little girl was literally crying in my row. Her mother had to cuddle her for the last 20 minutes and I started to wonder, who did they make this movie for? If it's too predictable for adults and too scary for kids, who's left?

Funnily enough, it stars Alex Etel as Angus, who is fast becoming a great child actor and was in one of my favorite kid movies of the last few years, Millions. But Millions gave my friend's kids nightmares because of a certain scene. Therapists in years to come are going to talk about the Etel-Effect, a mental disorder caused by a series of disturbing movies that young Alex starred in.
This movie was directed by Jay Russell, who made a great animal feature called My Dog Skip. While this movie has some of the heart of that film, it lacks its originality.

The Freditor