July 15, 2011 – The Animated Short Film The Ballad of Nessie Premieres in Theaters
“In the bonny blue highlands where the bagpipes play lives a creature called Nessie, but it wasn’t always this way.”
On July 15, the animated short film The Ballad of Nessie was released to theaters alongside the animated feature film Winnie the Pooh. The short features a tribute to famed animator Glen Keane, which is the name of the glen where Nessie once lived. It was written by Regina Conroy, Stevie Wermers-Skelton, and Kevin Deters, and directed by Wermers-Skelton and Deters. The short was narrated by Billy Connolly. It was nominated for an Annie Award for Best Short Subject, but lost to Minkyu Lee’s Adam and Dog.
The narrator introduces the audience to Nessie, a shy creature who used to live on the moors of Glen Keane. Although considered a monster, she had “no bark and no bite,” and lived with her best friend, a rubber duck named McQuack. One day, a developer named Tycoon MacFroogle arrives. He wishes to turn the moor into a mini golf course, which he quickly does, driving Nessie out of her home. A nearby seagull tells her to keep a stiff upper lip, and she decides to pack her things and find a new pond to live. She searches high and low, but can’t find anything suitable, and is always told not to cry. Finally, tired of fining nothing, she lets all her tears out, crying a literal flood of tears for weeks. After she finished crying, she noticed that she cried a great lake, and leaps out for joy, having found her new home. The narrator points out the important lesson: don’t be afraid to cry, as “sometimes it’s through our tears we find a better way.” Nessie is still in Loch Ness, and still playing hide and seek with McQuack. Meanwhile, MacFroogle is seen weeping in despair, as Nessie’s tears have completely destroyed his mini-golf park.
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