Alex Etel plays a Scottish boy named Angus who lives in a brooding mansion with his caretaker mother (Emily Watson) in the midst of World War II. When Angus discovers a water horse – sort of a baby version of the Loch Ness monster – he must hide it both from his mother and from the British soldiers who have taken over the mansion while on a mission to guard the lochs from German subs. Directed by Jay Russell, The Water Horse is handsomely made with a nice eye for detail (early on, the gardener pulls a dragon statue out of the estate’s fountain). The movie won’t make you toss out your copy of E.T. – one of its obvious models – but it does give the genre a magical, watery twist.
