Magic in the Water

Magic in the Water
Directed by	Rick Stevenson
Screenplay by	Rick Stevenson Icel Dobell Massey
Story by	Ninian Dunet Rick Stevenson Icel Dobell Massey
Starring	Mark Harmon Joshua Jackson Sarah Wayne
Music by	David Schwartz
Studio	Triumph Films
Distributed by	TriStar Pictures
Release date(s)	August 30, 1995
Running time	98 minutes
Country	US, Canada
Language	English

Magic in the Water is a 1995 family film directed by Rick Stevenson and starring Mark Harmon, Sarah Wayne and Joshua Jackson. It is about a fictional lake monster in British Columbia. The film was distributed by TriStar Pictures and produced by Triumph Films.

Plot

Ashley (Sarah Wayne) is depressed because her father Jack (Mark Harmon) spends all his time focusing on his job instead of her and her older brother Joshua (Joshua Jackson). She constantly records his radio show and listens to it. One day, her father takes them to a remote Canadian lake that was popular with tourists due to a myth about an aquatic monster names Orky. They rented a cabin next to an elderly Native American man who was confined to a wheelchair. Jack meets a local psychiatrist named Wanda (Harley Jane Kozak) who is trying to aid some local men who claim that they have been possessed by Orky. When Ashley runs away, Jack also has the same experience whilst looking for her. As a result he becomes more devoted to his children.

Ashley and Joshua find out that the reason that Orky is possessing people is to try and tell them that he is dying because a businessman is dumping toxic waste into the lake. Ashley and Joshua help the old man in the cabin next to theirs to find a totem pole in the woods. With the help of Hiro (Willie Nark-Orn), the son of some Japanese monster seekers, they expose the businessman's illegal dumping. Orky, however, still dies from the poisonous waste. The old man summons a lighting bolt which enters a hole in the cave where Orky lives. Ashley and Hiro stay on the dock overnight and leave some cookies out. When she realises that the cookies have been eaten Ashley screams with joy which suggests that Orky is still alive.

Reception

The film won Genie Awards for cinematography and sound. However, critic Leonard Maltin wrote in his book that "All the magic must be in the water; there's certainly none on the screen. Routine family film feels like recycled Spielberg."^[1]

Film critic Roger Ebert criticized the film's special effects, describing the creature Orky as an "ashen Barney". He also notes that Orky barely appears in the film at all.^[2]

See also

• Loch Ness (1996)
• Mee-Shee: The Water Giant (2005)
• The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep (2007)

References

1. ^ Leonard Maltin, ed., Leonard Maltin's 2002 Movie & Video Guide. A Signet Book, 2001, page 845.
2. ^ rogerebert.com, "[1]"

External links

• Magic in the Water at the Internet Movie Database