For all its years of Nessie-inspired legend, the secret depths of Scotland's most famous loch has not been plumbed too often on celluloid, certainly not in recent years. Shame then, that Loch Ness, a kind of Jurassic Park meets Local Hero, is at its best a pleasant enough movie that more subdued, narcoleptic children might well enjoy. At its worst, it's really rather dull.
Danson plays the proto-typical cynical Yank scientist, left emotionally bruised and just a touch negative by the fact that all his colleagues think his years chasing Bigfoot weren't the best way to spend a research grant (translation: "crackpot"). He's been sent to disprove the existence of the aquatic beastie and is all too happy to go through the motions, despite the protestations of his assistant Adrian (James Frain). Holm leads the locals against him, in a performance curiously reminiscent of a low-key Frasier from Dad's Army.
Richardson, meanwhile, offers comfort as the local hotel owner, eventually won over to the charms of the just-passing-though rogue boffin. He is just as intrigued by her daughter Isabel (Kirsty Graham), however, who lures him with drawings of dinosaur-like dorsal fins and the tale of two monsters in love.
The trouble with Loch Ness is you want it to be a lot more charming than it actually is. The set-up is intriguing, the locale glorious, the effects when the beasties eventually appear are adequate given the budget, and the scope is certainly there.