Movie: The Water Horse is simply another name for the Loch Ness Monster, the idea being that "monster" is an inappropriate term to use on a movie focused primarily at children (and there were some moments that younger kids will find scary). Initially set in a modern day Scottish pub, an old codger is telling tall tales to a couple of wide eyed tourists, the narrative a bit clunky at times but so infrequent that you'll dismiss it as the least of the problems with the movie. Going back to the harsh realities of WWII, it details the coming of age story of young Angus MacMorrow (Alex Etel); a frightened little boy that has but one wish, his father returning from military service. Angus' mother Anne (Emily Watson) finds him a handful even though he is the only kid in the region that is so afraid of water that he can't swim, and his older sister Kirstie (Priyanka Xi) fights with him on a regular basis.

One day while on the shores of the Loch Ness, the shell collecting boy picks up a football shaped stone that is covered in seaweed and barnacles; bringing it home to the work shed where he and father used to spend time together. Dad was a handy man for the expansive estate, the entire family merely caretakers for some unseen rich folks that apparently didn't factor in as important enough to merit inclusion. Due to the war effort, there is a military detachment assigned to the area, including the boorish Captain Hamilton (David Morrissey) that has eyes for Anne. The Captain is the usual uptight commander that no one respects or likes, his inclination to bark orders and cower given as equally likely reasons for his assignment so far away from the real fighting, though it is alluded to that his wealthy parental lineage is just as likely for the assignment. Hamilton gets miffed when Anne shows preference for the local handyman (Lewis Mowbray played by Ben Chaplin) and it becomes clear that her husband is gone for good before too long into the movie.

Well, as expected, the stone is an egg and it hatches one stormy night; a trail of destruction left in the shed where the small critter has taken up residence. He eats anything placed in front of him, thankfully just the garbage at first, growing rather quickly to comic effect. His antics as a baby are requisitely cute with all the usual "hide him from the mean old military guys dynamic going on, and Lewis is let in on the secret since he has slowly become the father figure Angus so desperately needs. As the days pass, the creature, now named "Crusoe", grows to the size of a large seal and then about ten feet tall; requiring him to be kept in the large body of water known as the Loch Ness. Once fully grown, he takes Angus for lengthy (and implausible) rides to the ocean depths and soon becomes the target of the military who bombard the Loch with artillery shells. This drives Crusoe crazy and he becomes the threat they made him out to be, even attacking Angus with the predictable outcome of "love conquering all". The interim comedic spots were geared to the lowest common denominator while the attack on Angus provides a marked step up the age chain since it will scare a number of kids that the rest of the flick was designed for.

The acting was by the numbers, the ham-fisted dialogue and themes present like most such movies in how they treated the military, and the two dimensional characters never having been fleshed out as well as they should to make the audience care about them. The CGI Crusoe was mid-tier special effect level with the interactions it enjoyed with the human populace looking bad enough to merit a series of winces from me. The common complaints I recall from the theatrical release was how much it resembled Free Willy but in fairness, it borrowed heavily from dozens of older movies than that one, the formulaic approach taken probably enough for those of you that want something to satisfy the kids with while you grab a few beers in the other room. There is no need of nit picking the minor details about the movie either, the plot holes were sufficiently large to force such a suspension of disbelief that only those addicted to sappy sentimental tear jerkers will find anything worthwhile this time. I rated it as a Skip It for all the flaws but if you like this type of generic offering, it might merit a rental while your brain is on autopilot.

Picture: The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep (Blu-Ray) was presented in a crisp 2.40:1 widescreen ratio using the AVC codec as expected. For comparison purposes, I rented a copy of the standard definition version of the movie and I will be the first one to admit that as lame as the movie's content was, the visuals were pretty solid overall in the Blu-Ray version. The rocky seashore showed just how much detail could be had and the swimming lesson with Angus and Crusoe showed how superior that darker parts of the movie could look so much better (little macro blocking to be seen, no significant aliasing). The video bitrate was higher than average much of the time and my biggest complaint was related to how the CGI creature was always just slightly "off" enough to warrant my displeasure (in short, the clarity of the format made it more apparent that it was just a special effect). For those of you that have yet to jump on the Blu-Ray bandwagon, this might be another release to show you just how much you're missing too; the night and day difference such that there really was no comparison.

Sound: The audio was presented primarily in a Dolby True HD 5.1 with my selection being the English track (not the corresponding French or Portuguese equivalent). There was also a 5.1 for Spanish and Thai but even spot checking it led me to think they were afterthoughts. In any case, the high end frequencies fared the best this time as the bass was a bit on the light side. I tried increasing it beyond my usual parameters but that did little to assist in making it sound "right" and increased the distortion instead. The separation between the channels was otherwise well done, the little atmospheric noises enhancing the "being there" effect better than average. The vocals were handled at least as well and the score was often subtle in how it was mixed in (to be fair, there were other times it was too jacked up for my tastes). For those of you wanting to know about the subtitles, there were a whole bunch of them, including English, a few forms of Chinese, French, Spanish, Thai, Korean, and Portuguese.

Extras: Unlike so many re-releases (and re-re-releases) on Blu-Ray, there were some decent extras this time including a few deleted scenes of questionable merit. The best of these was Angus and Anne arguing about him getting a pet, something that might have established the role of Crusoe better in the movie, though one could argue a few other spots might have altered the perceptions of other characters too. They were not all as polished up and finished looking as the rest of the movie but looked okay enough to keep most of you happy. There were also some trailers to other kid shows, and the Blu-Ray exclusive "Virtual Crusoe Game" that was admittedly weak for a grown man to play (you raise the creature up from an egg to adulthood). If you want to play it, make sure your player is updated with relatively new firmware though or it will give you some problems. If the seven minutes of deleted scenes, trailers, and game were not enough, there were also six featurettes to enjoy, a few of which I liked more than the movie itself, though not enough to merit replay for the most part. The total running time of them was as long as many kid movies and they included: Myths and Legends (a look at the Loch Ness Monster by the usual hacks and the director), The Story (the director, producer, and writer of the far simpler children's book it was based on were all given a chance to relay how the movie was made from such limited material), The Characters (describing their roles in the movie and some of the efforts to blend them in, along with casting the movie), Setting the Scene (the movie was mostly shot in New Zealand), Water Work: Creating the Water Horse (the emphasis was on Alex Etel and the shooting of the water based scenes), and Creating Crusoe (where the CGI was shown step by step for the monster itself).

Final Thoughts: The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep (Blu-Ray) was a flawed film with a solid technical aspect presentation so if you are really desperate about finding content for your children, you might rent this one to consider if it is worth picking up but the generic nature of the story (weaned from a rather thin children's book about as shallow as can be) prohibits my suggesting it as such for a general audience. Given the lukewarm response at the box office, I suspect that there will be a series of direct to DVD sequels with substitute cast members taking the place of the better known names here (to cut costs) but you've almost certainly seen this all before, and seen it handled better, so don't waste your money unless you really enjoy "gimmick flicks" that fall short of where they need to be. In short then, The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep (Blu-Ray) looked like it wrote itself, the wooden acting showing the cast picking up their paychecks more than anything else, and the extras being the best part of the DVD, admittedly done better in the Blu-Ray format.