Magic in the Water

What a great movie!

Saw this on HBO recently (11-15-2001) for the second time and it was wonderful. While not quite as good as "The Boy Who Could Fly", which is in a special class all it's own, I rank this movie right up there.

Sarah Wayne as Ashley Black especially stole our hearts. It is a shame that this is the only movie she has ever done according to IMDB's records. This little girl holds quite a bit of the movie on her own merit. Her smile captivated our entire family; her acting was excellent.

This is a decent, well centered story concerning a family at loss and their rediscovery of themselves in the community they are visiting to "get away". Through the magical help of a rather large friend, the local resident Indian shaman and local lore, miracles can happen.

A reflective, spirited movie ultimately about love and caring about others that lifts the heart and spirit of anybody who watches.

Well worth anybodies time. Two thumbs way up!

I enjoyed this movie, and still give it an 8, even though I wish one important aspect of the story had not been omitted: That of the clean-up of the hazardous waste. Without this facet addressed, Orky's survival is dubious. It is not a deal-breaker for me, but I am wondering why this important scene or dialogue was ignored.

I particularly liked the Native American mythology that was in the movie. The comments by Uncle Kipper about man being able to turn to animal and vice-versa established some important context to Orky and the communication and message it compelled some humans to take heed of.

We never did find out why Orky ripped the arms off of the two "gentlemen". Oh well. Perhaps the Japanese submergible team could have played a larger part in the movie, too.

Mark Harmon did a good job characterizing the transformation that he experienced. The ending was an excellent twist, and one that I did not forecast. The scenes of group therapy were good.

Although I wish we had witnessed the waste clean up, I will not detract a star for that.

I seldom worry too much about wasting three dollars, but I will always regret the time and the three dollars I wasted seeing this in a theater years ago.

The actors must have had some major bills to pay to accept their roles in this junk. The story is as hackneyed and cliched as any I have seen anywhere. Children definitely deserve better than this. Even THE MIGHTY KONG was better than this!

On vacation at a beautiful lake in British Columbia, Ashley (Sarah Wayne) and Joshua (Joshua Jackson), the children of workaholic radio host Jack Black (Mark Harmon), learn about its mythical inhabitant, a sea monster named Orky. Soon, the kids learn that Orky is not only real, he's attempting to communicate with humans to warn them that an evil corporation is illegally dumping pollutants into his home. They try to save Orky with the help of an elderly Native American (Frank Sotonoma Salsedo).

Very beautiful and passionate, how not to love Orky's cute face, cute, the script is all cute, the children are adorable (I'm suspicious, I love movies with brats), the dose of humor, that meeting of anonymous crazy adults children, cute, all very magical and charming, with that cute moral lesson about nature preservation, respect for culture and appreciation of traditions...

Rick Stevenson's "Magic in the Water" is the usual sort of family movie that they crank out, although it is worth seeing. I wouldn't recommend the movie as your first choice, but if there's nothing else it's definitely worth checking out. My favorite parts were actually the "digging to China" scenes; looking back on it, those scenes remind me of "God's Little Acre".

So, the movie is OK to check out. Stevenson now has a company called Official Best of Fest, that distributes film festival movies that most people would otherwise never get a chance to see. Interesting concept.

Yeah, I'm a sexy guy...