Cryptozoology Meets Family Entertainment

This winter, The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep comes to theatres; while the movie could technically be classified as a giant monster film, it’s much more Free Willy than Godzilla in tone. The story concerns a young boy in Scotland who discovers a strange egg that hatches out a benevolent plesiosaur-like creature. The animal quickly grows to a size that makes it difficult to be kept indoors and so is moved to a nearby lake called... wait for it... Loch Ness.

My favorite scene in the newly-released trailer involves the full-sized creature (named “Crusoe”) breeching out of the water like a killer whale. If only the “real” Loch Ness Monster did something that flamboyant and obvious...