Review of The Secret of Loch Ness

Young, grade-schooler Tim, is smart and, sometimes, smart-alecky. This is mostly due to his lack of a father, for he is being raised by a single mother. This doesn't prevent Tim from being very curious about his father, who took off long ago, and he often looks at the one photo available to him. But, wait! One day Tim catches a show on the television and finds out his dad is a famous scientist at Loch Ness, trying to find the answers to the monster's mystery. Since Tim lives in Germany, getting on a plane by himself is difficult but, pulling several stunts with his Grandpa's help, Tim makes it to Scotland. All too soon, the young lad learns his father is a busy man and may not want to meet the son he has NEVER known existed. So, Tim puts off the information for awhile. But, unhappily, when Tim falls in the water one day, he is rescued by an underwater gnome who has a significant golden treasure in an underwater cave. The mythological man knows quite a bit about the monster, too. The gnome trusts the little boy NOT to reveal his secrets but there is a traitor on the scientist's staff who sniffs out the possibility that the boy has discovered something valuable and this man resolves to follow the lad. Meanwhile, of course, Tim's mother is frantic but soon she, too, is traveling to Scotland to find her Tim and to come face to face with the man she thought betrayed her long ago. What will result? This German kids' film is okay but nothing outstanding. To make matters worse, the dubbing is not great. Yes, the film starts off at a face pace and has some good story lines about a very bright boy looking for his newly discovered father. But, instead of concentrating on Nessie, the plot shifts to gnomes, secret caves, and nonsense unrelated to the monster at all. In fact, Nessie appears VERY sparingly so kids wanted a big behemoth kind of movie will not be totally satisfied. Yest, for all of this, the flick is certainly an acceptable choice for children. Buy or borrow it at your own discretion.