This is the story about a young boy and the Loch Ness monster. Alex Etel plays the lead character of Angus MacMorrow. He is a Scottish boy living on the edge of a big lake, which connects to the ocean, during the time of World War II. His father has gone away to fight for the war and is presumed to be lost at sea, so he lives with his mother Anne (played by Emily Watson) and his sister Kristie (played by Priyanka Xi). They all live in a big house. Anne hires a handyman named Lewis (played by Ben Chaplin) to help keep the vast estate from falling apart. To pass the time, Angus likes to wander the edge of the lake alone, to see what he may find. He loves to look at the water, but has a great fear of it, as he often dreams of drowning, so he is reluctant to go into the water. One day he finds what looks like an egg in the rocks near the water's edge. He takes it home. He puts it in his father's garden shed for safekeeping. When he returns he finds the egg has hatched and there is some strange creature running around the garden shed hiding from him. He decides it is best to keep the animal a secret.
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The military arrives on the scene and they take over the manor house for strategic military purposes, because of the possibility of German invasion of the coast. Angus goes to the kitchen to get something for the creature to eat, but he is denied now the military is in charge. His clever thinking, gives him the idea to offer to take out the garbage. He brings the garbage pail back to the garden shed and the creature, who he names “Crusoe” eats everything with a voracious appetite. The creature grows very quickly and Angus realizes it needs to be in water to survive. Not knowing what else to do, he tells both his sister and Lewis about the creature and asks them for help. Lewis recommends they let the creature go back into the water for it will be safest in the natural habitat. He tells Angus this is the fabled “Water Horse” and there is only one in the world at any time because it dies when it lays the egg for the next one to be born.
The military keep watch on the lake for the possibility of German submarines and they erect a metal net to trap any submarines if they attempt to enter the lake from the ocean. The military does practice firings of cannons into the lake which almost hit Crusoe. Crusoe is sighted by a couple of fishermen, who attempt to take a photo of the creature but they are not successful in getting a real photo. The make a fake photo instead which becomes globally famous. Some of the soldiers try to capture Crusoe by harpooning him. Crusoe reacts by overturning their boat. The Military commander Captain Hamilton (played by David Morrissey) arrives on the scene to see what is going on. In order to stop the military from killing Crusoe, Angus goes into the water to prove the creature is docile. But Angus slips on the rocks and goes under water. Angus goes down quickly because he is unable to swim properly. Crusoe rescues the boy. Captain Hamilton, Angus's mother and sister, and Lewis give chase now the creature has the boy on its back. They follow along behind in a boat. Angus coaxes the creature toward the open ocean in order to escape. There is a fierce rainstorm going on and communication by radio is not possible. The military guarding the harbor see the creature heading towards the harbor opening and they decided to attack what they think is a German submarine. They raise the submarine net to catch it, to stop it from escaping, and fire cannons on it. The boy and the creature come very close to being killed. Near the harbor entrance, the boat catches up to Angus. They convince the boy to leave the creature and return to the safety of the boat. They pull him out of the water. The creature makes a run at the metal net and jumps high enough out of the water to come down on the net. This breaks the net free from its onshore support, allowing Crusoe to escape into the open ocean.
A old man (played by Brian Cox) tells this story to tourists in a Scottish pub and tells them, even though others have claimed to see the creature since that day, the boy (which was him) never saw the creature again. On the shore of the lake in current times, another young boy finds a egg which looks exactly like the one which gave birth to Crusoe.
Best part of story, including ending:
This story is a nice, although made up by taking lots of creative liberties such as the lake in Scotland of the Loch Ness monster is connected to the ocean, which it is not.
Best scene in story:
I like the scene when the creature defeats the submarine net and escapes into the open ocean, because it reminds me of another story where a whale named "Willy" did this.
Opinion about the main character:
I like that the young boy, Angus, was able to get past his fear of the water in order to save his creature friend Crusoe from being killed. Nice touch.
A boy cares for a water horse, later known as the Loch Ness monster. Angus is a boy living in a manor in the Scottish lakeside of Loch Ness with his housekeeper mom who discovers an egg in the water. He then takes it home. When it hatches, he sees a creature that looks like an amphibious mammal and he takes care of it. The only ones who know his secret is his sister and the new handyman, Lewis. Lewis tells him the tale of the water horse, a magical creature that exists just once in every lifetime. It lays an egg, then later dies. One day, royal troops arrive at the manor and make it their base camp. The mouth of the lake is closed off with a massive net, to prevent subs from entering the area. Soon, the water horse, now named Crusoe becomes too big for the manor, making it harder for Angus to hide him. He is transferred to the lake, where he happily swims. Angus makes an effort to visit him daily, and they play, with Crusoe taking Angus on joyrides on his back. On one occasion, Crusoe is seen by some locals, who later drum up their sighting of a "monster." When some soldiers try to hunt Crusoe down, Angus arrives only to almost accidentally drown. Crusoe saves him. Angus realizes that Crusoe is now in danger and must leave the loch for good. He persuades him to swim out into the open water, but the soldiers, led by a ruthless Capt. Hamilton, try to block him by firing cannons and by raising the submarine net. Crusoe busts through and is free. Cut to present day, when the old guy in the beginning is revealed to be Angus all grown-up, recalling his amazing story of Crusoe in the Scottish pub. We then see a boy walking by the lakeside, stumbling upon another egg.
Best part of story, including ending:
I like the story because it creates an origin tale for the world-famous Loch Ness monster.
Best scene in story:
When Angus rides Crusoe for the first time, swimming under and over the water at breakneck speed.
Opinion about the main character:
I like that Angus is able to get over the sadness of losing his father through his friendship with this wonderful animal.
