Main Cast: Sarah Wayne, Mark Harmon, Joshua Jackson, Harley Jane Kozak
Release Year: 1995
Country: US
Run Time: 100 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
Set in beautiful British Columbia, Canada, this magical family tale centers on a divorced radio talk show psychiatrist who has been so immersed in his career that he has neglected his two kids, Ashley and Josh. To rectify the situation, he takes them to a beautiful lakeside cabin in Glenorky, BC, the supposed home of a giant mythological reptilian monster. Though he has ostensibly come to spend time with the kids, the lure of working on his book is too strong and soon he is locked away in the cabin amidst papers, a cellular phone and a lap-top, busily clacking away while the children head out to explore. It is Ashley who first sees the mythical monster. She tells her dad, and of course, he initially disbelieves her, but the girl seems so earnest that he begins to wonder. His investigation of the matter leads him down a magical road to reconciliation with his children and the rediscovery that there is a wonderful life outside of his career. He even manages to find a little love along the way. This film is also known as Glenorky. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Thomas Cavanaugh; Brian Finney; Tamsin Kelsey - Sheriff Stevenson; Morris Panych - Mack Miller; David Rasche; Frank S. Salsedo - Uncle Kipper; Garreth Bennett; Will Sasso - Shy Young Orderly; Sarah Wayne
Credit
Clyde Klotz - Art Director, Stuart Aikins - Casting, Debra Zane - Casting, Lisa Towers - Co-producer, Monique Prudhomme - Costume Designer, Rick Stevenson - Director, Allan Lee - Editor, Karen Murphy - Executive Producer, David Schwartz - Composer (Music Score), David Schwartz - Songwriter, Thomas Burstyn - Cinematographer, Rick Stevenson - Producer, Tony Allard - Producer, Matthew O'Connor - Producer, Gene Warren, Jr. - Special Effects, Michael McGee - Sound/Sound Designer, Kelly Cole - Sound/Sound Designer, Dean Giammarco - Sound/Sound Designer, Paul Sharpe - Sound/Sound Designer, Jacqueline Christianini - Sound Editor, Marc Chiasson - Sound Editor, Sheena Macrae - Sound Editor, Anne Bakker - Sound Editor, Irving Mulch - Sound Editor, Sean Kelly - Sound Editor, Rick Stevenson - Screenwriter, Icel Dobell Massey - Screenwriter, Bart Mixon - Creature Effects
Ashley (Sarah Wayne), a young girl, is depressed because her divorced father Jack (Mark Harmon) spends all his time focusing on his job instead of her and her older brother Joshua (Joshua Jackson). She constantly records his radio show to audio tapes and listens to them. One day, her father takes his two children on a vacation to a remote Canadian lake, where a myth about an aquatic monster named Orky has resulted in a gratuitous amount of touristy souvenirs and advertising in the local area. They rent a cabin on the beach, next to a wheelchair-bound old man of Native American descent. Ashley's father meets a local psychiatrist named Wanda who is trying to "heal" some local men of the after effects of a bizarre and wonderful experience... they claim that their minds were inhabited by Orky's, thus momentarily becoming the aquatic creature. When Ashley runs away, her father has the experience too while he is searching for her. After that, he becomes much more childlike and devoted to his kids.
But the children realize that Orky is taking over minds because he's trying to explain that he is dying because an unscrupulous businessman is dumping toxic waste into the lake. Ashley and her brother, help the old man next door find a totem pole in the woods. Then, with the help of a third child (the son of one of the men among a group of Japanese monster seekers), they wreck the villain's plans and expose him. However, Orky dies soon after the children finally find him in his cave. But the old man, back at the totem pole, conjures up a lightning bolt which zaps down the hole into Orky's home. But when Ashley and the third child stay the night on the docks and leave cookies on a plate with them, they realze that the cookies were eaten, and Ashely screams in joy. Her reaction supposedly means that Orky is alive.
Reception
The film won Genie Awards for cinematography and sound. However, critic Leonard Maltin 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."[1]
Film critic Roger Ebert criticized the films special effects, describing the creature Orky as an "ashen Barney". Also he notes that Orky barely appears in the film at all.[2]
