Thirteen-year-old Alex Etel ("Millions") delivers a winning performance as a lonely Scottish boy who discovers a Loch Ness-like sea creature that grows to gigantic proportions in "The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep".

Unfortunately, the monster from the deep resembles one of those cheap inflatable toys designed to float in a swimming pool.

Jay Russell ("My Dog Skip") directed the fantasy in New Zealand and employed Peter Jackson's Weta Workshop, the special-effects company that provided the effects for the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

"The Water Horse" is rated PG and is showing at the Little Theatre