At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Well intended but pretty boring – especially since it's nearly three hours long – monster movie about a small fisherman community named Grace Point that has a bit of a sea creature problem. It starts with the disappearance of a young couple out on a sailing trip and then it takes an awful long time (again, this movie is freaking three hours long!) before anything remotely significant happens. Thanks to the discovery of one miserable little claw, however, highly respected fisherman Whip Dalton can derive they're up against a 60ft tall squid. With his knowledge, this guy should have been the assistant of Steve Irwin. Maybe then he would still be alive today! Anyways, because of the so-called "trap-fishing" that became quite popular in Grace Point, there's hardly any fish left near the coastal town and the octopus' natural source of food is as good as extinct. This leaves the creature no choice but to go after the inhabitants of Grace Point instead. Naturally, and in good old-fashioned "Jaws" tradition, the arrival of the squid coincides with the annual town's festival and there are obviously a lot of people that want to make tons of money on the account of the exceptionally large sea monster. Of course, you can't really blame writer Peter Benchley for ripping off "Jaws", as he himself was also the creator of "Jaws". Since this is a three hour long movie (not sure if I emphasized that little detail already) there's also a whole lot of tedious, dreadful and irrelevant nonsense going on in this film. Multiple romantic sub plots, for example, involving the leading man's slow progress towards a first new relationship since the passing of his wife. Ironically enough, he eventually falls for a female coast guard member who isn't ready for a new lover in her life either. Whip Dalton's teenage daughter discovers the meaning of love for the first time in her life as well, and her story is actually hilarious if you're a cynical bastard who finds joy in the agony of others. Throughout the entire first half of the movie, this girl nags that she's stuck in a small fisherman town without cute boys, yet when she meets the oceanologist's young assistant and spends a few romantic days with him, he subsequently gets eaten by the squid. There, I just summarized altogether 60 minutes of running time for you. The second half of the film is dragging and dull, with overlong and unnecessary sequences and a sub plot that is directly stolen from "Orca – the Killer Whale" (another "Jaws" imitation) suggesting that the octopus is killing with a grudge. For you see, a couple of over-anxious hunters claimed they eliminated the monster, whereas they only killed a baby species. In the second half of the film, mommy returns with a vengeance. The make-up effects and squid models are quite good, especially the baby-squid corpse that floats around on the water surface throughout the entire second part. Decent acting performances and good casting decisions as well, with Charles Martin Smith ("The Untouchables") as the obnoxious bureaucrat mayor and Larry Drake ("Darkman", "Dr. Giggles", "Dark Night of the Scarecrow") as the sleazy, drunken and loud-mouthed troublemaker in town. "The Beast" certainly isn't a bad film, but I just wished I watched the short and simple version instead.

This is not a Oscar winner by a long shot. It is pretty predictable. Good guys kill beast that is terrorizing a shoreline community. The hero is a widower named "Whip Dalton" played by William Petersen. Dalton has teenage daughter Dana, (Missy Crider). There is a love interest, Lt. Kathryn Marcus(Karen Silas) of The US Coast Guard. There is the usual bad guy Schuyler Graves(Charles Martin Smith) and his greedy cohorts, Dr. Herbert Talley(Ronald Guttman) and Osborne Manning(Denis Arndt). Crider gave a sincere portrayal of Dana and William Petersen was great as the ship's captain and was believable. One might even believe he belonged there.I think the saving grace of this movie is the chemistry between the actors. Petersen and Crider fit perfectly as father and daughter. Karen Silas portrayal of Lt. Marcus was flat made me grind my teeth as she spoke feminist rhetoric that a woman has to be twice as good as a man to get accepted, which may be true depending on who you talk to.The one thing I did notice was that the movie felt like it had no director and was left it's own devices.All in all this is a harmless movie that you can let your ten year old watch without supervision, though you might want to watch it as well.I did like this movie, but I'm still trying to decide if I want to buy it or not.

i read the Peter Benchley book The Beast a few years ago. When they came out with the t.v. movie, I thought "Wow! maybe it'll be like the book." Boy was I wrong! This worthless piece of dung can't even be described. These script writers must have been stoned to make the movie out like this. There are some strange going-ons in this small harbor town. A giant squid is attacking the locals, so the town officials hire a drunken, idiotic boat captain to kill the beast. Personally, I think they should have left it alone. It probably would have died of boredom after watching its rendering in this crap-fest. Trust me, go to your local library, and read the book. Much better!

This initially appears to be a televised version of author Peter Benchley ripping off his own book "Jaws". Actually though it's worse than that--if anything Benchley is actually ripping off "Jaws 3" (not to mention the infamously crappy 70's film "Tentacles" which was itself a rip-off of "Jaws"). Like "Tentacles" this TV movie has a giant squid terrorizing a seaside community. But it also borrows a ridiculous conceit from "Jaws 3" by having TWO giant squid--the first an over-sized baby and the second the even larger mother out for revenge. Well, I'm no marine biologist but even I know that sharks and squids lay eggs and then abandon them and wouldn't know their offspring from any other shark or squid, so neither would be too motivated by revenge. But, much like the movie, let's leave logic aside.As in "Jaws" the main appeal is supposed to be the cast. But this movie doesn't have the stellar cast of "Jaws", or even "Jaws 3" or "Tentacles" for that matter. William Peterson is okay in the lead, but his usual intense, overly serious performance, which works in a movie like "Manhunter" or "To Live and Die in LA", just seems goofy in a movie like this. Larry Drake and Charles Martin Smith are better in smaller roles which they seem to take a lot less seriously. I have always suspected that Missy Crider, who plays Peterson's daughter, is actually Amy Locane with her hair dyed red (think about it--has anyone ever seen the two of them together?). Of course, Peterson also has an improbable love interest who works for the coast guard (so the American TV audience wouldn't think he was gay or anything), and his best friend and partner is black to show that even in remote Washington state fishing villages racial harmony has been achieved. The squid looks more real than the one in "Tentacles" (but then again so does your average dust mop). But it's just not enough to carry a three and a half hour movie.