The wonder of Loch Ness
The Miracle of Loch Ness is a German-Austrian fantasy film directed by Michael Rowitz from 2008 . Two years later, The Second Loch Ness Miracle was a sequel .
action
To the chagrin of his mother Anna, the eleven year old Tim Bender is different from boys his age. He can't do much with football, has no friends and prefers to write his mother's tax return in his free time . She works as a marine biologist and raised Tim on her own. Tim never met his father, who Anna claims was Dave Brubeck and who died diving in Borneo before Tim was born . Tim tries in vain to bring his mother together with other men and thus get a new father. One day Tim sees his supposedly dead father in a report about Loch Ness and the legendary creature Nessie . Instead of Dave Brubeck, however, the man's name is Erik Winter, who is a professor and head of the research group that wants to find the sea monster not far from Inverness .
Tim slaughters his piggy bank and flies alone to Inverness, covered by his crazy grandpa. A taxi driver, who later turns out to be the magician Merlin , drives him to join Erik Winter's research team. But he's busy, so Tim pretends to be a school newspaper editor who wants to interview him. He goes out on the lake with Erik. What Erik doesn't know is that Paul and Sheila from his research team are wrong. They want to find Nessie and the fabulous treasure of the lake themselves and have withheld important diving equipment from Erik, without which he cannot continue working. Both go on a dive alone and finally see the sea monster. Paul shoots it, but it keeps floating. It collides with Erik's boat and Tim goes overboard. Erik and his co-workers begin a large-scale search for Tim. It sank into the lake, but wakes up a little later in an underground cave. Here he not only sees Nessie in an underground lake, but also meets the gnomish, 603-year-old druid Oki, who dedicated his life to guarding the Druid's Stone. This stone gives great power to the holder. Oki and Tim become friends and the druid brings the boy out of the cave back to the research team a little later. Before they part ways, Oki gives Tim a precious bracelet.
Sheila and Paul have noticed from the transmitter that stuck to Nessie during the shooting, that the sea monster must live in a huge rocky mountain range. Paul shoots at the rock and actually a fine crack forms through which water runs in Oki's cave. Oki can close the rift with a spell, but now knows that he must bring the precious stone to safety. Since he has bad eyesight and the way to the altar, in which the stone has to be sunk, is full of dangers, he asks Tim for help. His mother Anna has since found out about Tim's whereabouts and has come to Loch Ness, where she meets her former boyfriend Erik. Erik believes that Anna quickly comforted herself with someone after her relationship ended and that Tim is out of the relationship. Paul, in turn, discovered the valuable bracelet on Tim and now knows that the boy knows the access to the secret cave. He wants to kidnap Tim, but Oki gets ahead of him: He pulls Tim into a cave that closes behind them. Erik and Anna manage to open the cave by chance. Paul forces her with a loaded pistol to follow the boy and Oki with him.
On their way to the altar, Tim and Oki pass through various doors into enchanted areas, such as the Death Gorge, where the air is poisonous, and into a forest, where every loud noise leads to attacks from nowhere. Anna and Erik are able to escape their guard Paul in this forest, as the gunshot causes the displeasure of the forest and is tied up by plants. Tim and Oki arrive at the altar and use a spell to sink the Druid's stone. The stone is now safe. Anna and Erik appear at the altar, but Paul followed them. He asks Tim for directions to the cave, and Erik, who by now knows that Tim is his son, attacks Paul. A shot goes off in the scramble and Erik falls. He dies in Anna and Tim's arms and Paul runs away. At Tim's request, Oki uses his life force for Erik, who comes back to life. Merlin explains to Oki that his life is over after the night, but Oki has no regrets. In the evening he shows Tim in his cave Nessie, who is actually a robot dummy. It was used to keep people away from the stone of the druids. Tim, Anna and Erik end up leaving Loch Ness together. You want to live together as a family in the future.
production
The Loch Ness Wonder was filmed in Austria from September 19 to October 27, 2006. Filming locations included Graz , the Nockalm , Vienna and the Weißensee . The underground grotto was found in the Lurgrotte near Semriach in Styria .
The film had its television premiere on Sat.1 on February 5, 2008 and was released on DVD on the same day. The computer-animated character of the druid Oki is voiced by Rufus Beck .
criticism
The film-dienst called The Miracle of Loch Ness an "undemanding fantasy (television) comedy about a family reunification of a special kind. Stereotypical entertainment off the shelf that relies on meager computer effects."
TV Spielfilm wrote: “Four authors sewed this Wolpertinger together from cheap family kitsch and fantasy monzette. It is accordingly overloaded and confused here. Nevertheless, we do not want to completely throw the work in the bin, as private broadcasters' own productions are almost as threatened with extinction as the good nessie. Conclusion: Infinitely harmless family fantasy quark. "
Awards
Dietmar Koelzer was nominated in 2008 for the German Television Award in the “Best Camera” category. Michael Coldewey and Simone Kraus from Trixter Film won the German Television Prize for the best visual effects and also received the Bavarian Television Prize as a special prize for the development and implementation of the Oki in film.
Lukas Schust was awarded the German Children's Media Prize in 2008.
Web links
- The Secret of Loch Ness in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ See crew-united.com
- ↑ The Miracle of Loch Ness. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ See The Miracle of Loch Ness on tvspielfilm.de