''Magic in the Water'' is a 1995 American

family film A children's film, or family film, is a film genre that contains children or relates to them in the context of home and family. Children's films are made specifically for children and not necessarily for a general audience, while family films are ...

directed by

Rick Stevenson Rick Stevenson is a writer, director, and producer from Seattle, Washington. Early life Stevenson holds a DPhil from Oxford University, a master's degree from the London School of Economics and a bachelor's degree in history from Whitman Coll ...

and starring

Mark Harmon Thomas Mark Harmon (born September 2, 1951) is an American actor. He is most famous for playing the lead role of Leroy Jethro Gibbs in '' NCIS''. He also appeared in a wide variety of roles since the early 1970s. After spending the majority of ...

Joshua Jackson Joshua Carter Jackson (born June 11, 1978) is a Canadian-American actor. He is known for his starring role as Charlie Conway in '' Mighty Ducks'', as Pacey Witter in The WB teen drama series ''Dawson's Creek'' (1998–2003), Peter Bishop in the ...

and Sarah Wayne. It is about a fictional

lake monster A lake monster is a lake-dwelling entity in folklore. The most famous example is the Loch Ness Monster. Depictions of lake monsters are often similar to those of sea monsters. In the ''Motif-Index of Folk-Literature'', entities classified as "lak ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. The film was distributed by

TriStar Pictures TriStar Pictures, Inc. (spelled as Tri-Star until 1991) is an American film studio and production company that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, part of the multinational conglomerate Sony. It is a corporate sibling of Sony ...

and produced by

Triumph Films Triumph Films (also known as Triumph Releasing Corporation) was a film studio division of Sony Pictures Entertainment that geared towards theatre and direct-to-video film production and distribution. History It was founded in 1982 as a joint vent ...

Plot

Ashley Black is depressed because her father Jack spends all his time focusing on his job instead of her and her older brother Joshua. She constantly records his radio show and listens to it. One day, her father takes them to a remote Canadian lake that was popular with tourists due to a myth about an aquatic monster named Orky. They rented a cabin next to an elderly

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

man who uses a wheelchair. Jack meets a local psychiatrist, Dr. Wanda Bell, who is trying to aid some local men who claim that they have been possessed by Orky. When Ashley runs away, Jack also has the same experience while looking for her. As a result, he becomes more devoted to his children. Ashley and Joshua find out that the reason that Orky is possessing people is to try and tell them that he is dying because a businessman is dumping toxic waste into the lake. Ashley and Joshua help the old man in the cabin next to theirs to find a totem pole in the woods. With the help of Hiro, the son of Japanese monster seekers, they expose the businessman's illegal dumping. Orky, however, still dies from the poisonous waste. The old man summons a lightning bolt which enters a hole in the cave where Orky lives. Ashley and Hiro stay on the dock overnight and leave some cookies out. When she realizes that the cookies have been eaten, Ashley screams with joy, which suggests that Orky is still alive, or reincarnated.

Cast

as Jack Black *

as Joshua Black *

Harley Jane Kozak Harley Jane Kozak (born January 28, 1957) is an American actress and author. She made her film debut in the slasher film ''The House on Sorority Row'' (1982), and had a recurring role as Mary Duvall on the soap opera '' Santa Barbara'' between 1 ...

as Wanda * Sarah Wayne as Ashley Black * Willie Nark-Orn as Hiro * Adrien Dorval as Wright Hardy *

Mark Acheson Mark Acheson (born September 19, 1957) is a Canadian voice, film and television actor. Career Acheson began studying acting at Langara College’s Studio 58 at the age of 15. He is a founding member of Janus Theatre and appeared on stage for eigh ...

as Lefty Hardy * Anthony Towe as Taka * John Procaccino as Frank *

Tom Cavanagh Thomas Cavanagh (born October 26, 1963) is a Canadian actor. He is known for a variety of roles on American television, including starring roles in '' Ed'' (2000–2004), ''Love Monkey'' (2006) and '' Trust Me'' (2009), and recurring roles on ...

as Simon

Reception

''Magic in the Water'' received generally negative from critics. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, it has an approval rating of 21% based on 24 reviews. Critic

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fil ...

wrote in his book that "All the magic ''must'' be in the water; there's certainly none on the screen. Routine family film feels like recycled

Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

criticized the film's special effects, describing the creature Orky as an "ashen

Barney Barney may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barney (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Barney (surname), a list of people Film and television * the title character of ''Barney & Friends'', an American live actio ...

". He also notes that Orky barely appears in the film at all.rogerebert.com,

At the 16th Genie Awards, the film won for

cinematography Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens to focu ...

and

sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

References

External links

* * {{Mojo title, magicinthewater, Magic in the Water 1995 films American children's drama films TriStar Pictures films Triumph Films films Canadian drama films English-language Canadian films Canadian children's films 1995 directorial debut films 1990s American films 1990s Canadian films

Plot

Cast

Reception

See also

References

External links