Loch Ness

Expect wall to wall effects, and you'll be disappointed. Here's a jaunty family fable where the power of legend and imagination, and the affection for people and place vanquish all-comers. Rarer than a sighting of Nessie is, of course, a sparkling movie performance from Danson, but that's what we get, self-deprecating and sympathetic as the has-been LA zoologist sent to disprove the existence of the mythic beastie once and for all. The witty script sticks to the formula in confronting him with Richardson's no-nonsense lochside innkeeper (to supply the romance) and her lively daughter (Graham, agreeably unprecocious). No, it's not original, but with terrific support from wax-jacketed water bailiff Holm, bright eyed expedition helper Frain, some perfectly judged shock moments from John Henderson (directing his first features after the children's TV series The Borrowers), and a lush, classy, folk-tinged score from Trevor Jones, it's a compact winner that hits the bull's eye in almost every department.