Dir. John Henderson , UK/Germany, 2005, 94 mins
Cast: Bruce Greenwood, Daniel Magder
Review by
Carol Allen
This is a likeable children's movie, whose real star is the creature of the title. On the human side the story concerns single parent Sean (Greenwood) and his ten year old son Mac (Magder). When Sean has to cancel their much looked forward to holiday in Florida because his firm sends him on an emergency job to Canada to recover a vital piece of oil drilling equipment, which has gone missing in a remote lake there, he takes Mac along for the ride. For Mac though the joys of the great outdoors are no substitute for the promised delights of Disney world and junk food and he goes into a big sulk. Until that is he makes friends with Pawnee (Jacinta Wawatai), daughter of Sean's assistant on the recovery project Custer (Tom Jackson). They tell him about the legend that the lake has its own version of the Loch Ness monster and Pawnee and Mac go searching for it.
The two children are appealing, even though Mac is a bit of a spoiled brat. Greenwood is Mr Perfect Dad doing his best all round under difficult circumstances, and there's a nice down to earth performance from Phyllida Law as a Scottish Mary Poppins figure doing her best to keep an eye on Mac, while Dad is working. But things don't really warm up until Mee Shee makes her entrance. Created by the Jim Henson workshop, she's a sort of cuddly cross between the aforesaid Nessie and something from Jurassic Park - very im press ive and very lovable. The relationship between her and Mac is the classic child and animal one. Though things do get a bit tricky and quite spectacular in the special effects department, when Mee Shee's distinctly uncuddly mum turns up to protect her baby. There's also a suitably green "save the planet" element to the story, largely personified by the local environmental officer Laura (Luanne Gordon), who doubles as Sean's love interest. And the scenery is spectacular.
The film was originally intended to be shot in Canada but all the suitable lakes there turned out to be overdeveloped with luxury homes and such. So the shoot was moved to New Zealand , which explains why the Native American characters are all played by obviously Maori actors. You will probably recognise Rena Owen, who plays Custer's sister and self appointed protector of Mee Shee, from her leading role in Lee Tamahori's feature "Once Were Warriors". It also explains why Laura has more than a touch of Kiwi accent and why that spectacular scenery will put you in mind of "Lord of the Rings". As the story with a few amendments could just as easily have been set in New Zealand as Canada , it's a bit of a mystery as to why the film makers didn't just do a bit of a rewrite to reflect the change of location. Maybe it's because the American audience just about know where Canada is but are a bit hazy about the whereabouts of New Zealand ?
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