Post by lilly on May 24, 2009 4:31:37 GMT
After not having seen any kids' movies in quite some time, I happened to watch The Water Horse and The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising within a week of each other, and even though for painfully obvious reasons I preferred the former film, I must assert with regard to the latter that any time Christopher Eccleston struts around in a cape and tight leather pants, it's a win/win situation for all concerned.
Nevertheless, after having just watched this a second time last week when visiting my parents (and forcing them to watch Captain Corelli's Mandolin as well--hilariously, they fell asleep during both, causing me to ruefully reflect on my own preternatural wakefulness when watching any of Mr. Morrissey's projects whatsoever), certain unassailable truths occur to me when it comes to The Water Horse, such as...
✓ The way certain men look in dress uniform completely validates why they were created in the first place.
✓ At the point after Captain Hamilton and his troops first arrive and he's surveying where the guns will be placed, one of his subordinates says something about the, "amazing view," causing me to think, "Couldn't agree with ya more, buddy, but I ain't lookin' at the loch about now..."
✓ And continuing that internal dialogue, when Angus has been deputised to act as the Captain's skivvy, I couldn't help wistfully noting, "Danged lucky kid! I would sooo polish his boots...or anything else he might require."
✓ Although I know absolutely nothing about CGI (I mean, I have a friend who works at ILM, but he's an accountant, fer crissake), I was really impressed with the effects in this movie, because so often CGI seems to draw attention to itself--"Check this out! Imagine how much this cost!"--but in The Water Horse, I thought they really hit a great balance in making Crusoe seem like a completely believable seal/horse hybrid without it being remotely show-offy.
✓ In the interviews, when Emily Watson characterises Mr. Morrissey as being, "a joke a minute," I thought, "Oh, DO NOT tell me that!" Because in the final analysis, gorgeous + funny = my Kryptonite. (And now after reading that MySpace blog, I'm even more aware of that statement's veracity.)
At least for the parts when my dad managed to stay awake, he said he really liked it, though because he was stationed in Scotland during the latter stages of WWII, he expressed his disbelief when I told him how most of it had been filmed in New Zealand. (I trust his opinion on what constitutes an acceptable facsimile of Scotland, since my own experience extends only as far as a week in Glasgow with a one-day trip to Edinburgh.)
Minor quibbles: Mr. Morrissey's hair was a bit too long for a 1940's military man (enroute to the Colonel Brandon mullet then, were we?), and even my usual capacity for suspension of disbelief was challenged by the fact that for the life of me, I couldn't figger out how the heck Angus was hanging on when he was riding Crusoe; it's not like he had a mane or even a pommel to grab hold of, after all, and given how slippery the great beastie looked, I found myself doing my usual Momish worry that the poor kid was gonna slide right off him and get propelled halfway across the lake like a watery comet.
All in all, while it may have been a children's movie, I nonetheless found myself distinctly in need of a cigarette afterwards...though admittedly that's pretty much par for the course where one of the male leads is concerned.
Alas, I've only been able to dig up one screencap online thus far, but since it's a scene kitty and I both are rather partial to, here it is:
Nevertheless, after having just watched this a second time last week when visiting my parents (and forcing them to watch Captain Corelli's Mandolin as well--hilariously, they fell asleep during both, causing me to ruefully reflect on my own preternatural wakefulness when watching any of Mr. Morrissey's projects whatsoever), certain unassailable truths occur to me when it comes to The Water Horse, such as...
✓ The way certain men look in dress uniform completely validates why they were created in the first place.
✓ At the point after Captain Hamilton and his troops first arrive and he's surveying where the guns will be placed, one of his subordinates says something about the, "amazing view," causing me to think, "Couldn't agree with ya more, buddy, but I ain't lookin' at the loch about now..."
✓ And continuing that internal dialogue, when Angus has been deputised to act as the Captain's skivvy, I couldn't help wistfully noting, "Danged lucky kid! I would sooo polish his boots...or anything else he might require."
✓ Although I know absolutely nothing about CGI (I mean, I have a friend who works at ILM, but he's an accountant, fer crissake), I was really impressed with the effects in this movie, because so often CGI seems to draw attention to itself--"Check this out! Imagine how much this cost!"--but in The Water Horse, I thought they really hit a great balance in making Crusoe seem like a completely believable seal/horse hybrid without it being remotely show-offy.
✓ In the interviews, when Emily Watson characterises Mr. Morrissey as being, "a joke a minute," I thought, "Oh, DO NOT tell me that!" Because in the final analysis, gorgeous + funny = my Kryptonite. (And now after reading that MySpace blog, I'm even more aware of that statement's veracity.)
At least for the parts when my dad managed to stay awake, he said he really liked it, though because he was stationed in Scotland during the latter stages of WWII, he expressed his disbelief when I told him how most of it had been filmed in New Zealand. (I trust his opinion on what constitutes an acceptable facsimile of Scotland, since my own experience extends only as far as a week in Glasgow with a one-day trip to Edinburgh.)
Minor quibbles: Mr. Morrissey's hair was a bit too long for a 1940's military man (enroute to the Colonel Brandon mullet then, were we?), and even my usual capacity for suspension of disbelief was challenged by the fact that for the life of me, I couldn't figger out how the heck Angus was hanging on when he was riding Crusoe; it's not like he had a mane or even a pommel to grab hold of, after all, and given how slippery the great beastie looked, I found myself doing my usual Momish worry that the poor kid was gonna slide right off him and get propelled halfway across the lake like a watery comet.
All in all, while it may have been a children's movie, I nonetheless found myself distinctly in need of a cigarette afterwards...though admittedly that's pretty much par for the course where one of the male leads is concerned.
Alas, I've only been able to dig up one screencap online thus far, but since it's a scene kitty and I both are rather partial to, here it is:
EVIL! YOU'S EVIL, I TELLS YA! 
