It's impossible not to compare this (or most water monster films) with "Jaws" (1975). Considering "The Beast" was produced about twenty years after the former, we start seeing the problems.
First obvious problems are the special and the visual effects. "Jaws" went with animatronics, which caused so much trouble on pre- and production stages that the whole script had to be remade, turning "just another monster film" into an all-time classic thriller. In "The Beast", they tried to show the monster as much as they could, using both rubber animatronics and visual effects. Usually, it works fine enough, but there are times when things go bad, like at the very ending of the first episode (it's a two parts series), when the "beast" jumps out of water, for no reason, to hit a buoy. The stop-motion used for that scene looked really dated, like ED-209 on original "RoboCop" (1987).
The second problem is the pace and the film run time. They could have cut a lot of drama out without hurting the story, reducing its run length of almost 3h and increasing its pace. There's even some romance, one so unnecessary that, after the beast is destroyed (yes, it's an American film, so it ends in a big explosion, but who couldn't have foreseen that), the film simply ends, without showing the surviving couple together or whatever.
Although the plot is interesting and the effects are fine, the film drags a lot, making it a one shot experience. There are no thrills or anything that makes it worth watching again. This is another of those films not too bad that have to be avoided, but not good enough to be watched more than once.
First obvious problems are the special and the visual effects. "Jaws" went with animatronics, which caused so much trouble on pre- and production stages that the whole script had to be remade, turning "just another monster film" into an all-time classic thriller. In "The Beast", they tried to show the monster as much as they could, using both rubber animatronics and visual effects. Usually, it works fine enough, but there are times when things go bad, like at the very ending of the first episode (it's a two parts series), when the "beast" jumps out of water, for no reason, to hit a buoy. The stop-motion used for that scene looked really dated, like ED-209 on original "RoboCop" (1987).
The second problem is the pace and the film run time. They could have cut a lot of drama out without hurting the story, reducing its run length of almost 3h and increasing its pace. There's even some romance, one so unnecessary that, after the beast is destroyed (yes, it's an American film, so it ends in a big explosion, but who couldn't have foreseen that), the film simply ends, without showing the surviving couple together or whatever.
Although the plot is interesting and the effects are fine, the film drags a lot, making it a one shot experience. There are no thrills or anything that makes it worth watching again. This is another of those films not too bad that have to be avoided, but not good enough to be watched more than once.