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MANITOUANA - WHEN TIME STANDS STILL

BIG BEAR ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY INC. - as PROD

Children's - Development 2025

Three siblings, Megan, Nicholas, and Brooke, think they are going on an uneventful family vacation. They couldn't be more wrong. They find themselves investigating the mysterious disappearance of their long lost great-great-uncle Jack.

- Year of production
- 2025
- Genres
- Children's, Fantasy, Action/Adventure
- Countries
- CANADA, ITALY
- Languages
- ENGLISH
- Budget
- 5 - 10 M$
- Duration
- 90 mn
- Synopsis
- 1963 - At a campsite on Lake Ontario, among many families with children, little JACK disappears under mysterious circumstances.
  Sixty years later, Jack's grandchildren decide to spend their summer holidays at that same campsite. A family consisting of mom, dad, three teenagers (Megan, Nicholas, Brooke) and infant Tanner.
  Dad warns the siblings about the presence of weird magic in those woods. Megan, the eldest daughter, believes it. Nicholas doesn't. Little Brooke, perhaps out of unconsciousness, suggests going to check, against Megan's opinion.
  Unbeknownst to their parents, the three leave the tent and set out in the moonlight, until they find a shoe and an old leather bag containing great uncle Jack's personal effects: an army knife engraved with the initials " J.T.", a bandana and a lantern.
  The mystery deepens when at the first light of dawn they glimpse the magical island on the other shore, trying to reach it with a makeshift raft.
  A storm arrives, creating a vortex of water into which Nicholas falls. The brothers struggle to save him.
  Once they land, Nicholas compares the shoe with the footprints that appear in front of him, while two sinister figures observe them: a monster and a shaman.
  Meanwhile, Dad teaches the art of fishing to the infant Tanner, unaware of the dangers that his family is facing.
  Little Brooke, thanks to the goodness of the sandwiches they have in their backpack, manages to tame the monster, now friendly and good-natured, to the point of baptizing him with the name "Marvin".
  On their path they find a Pandora's Box, from which a robust wind twists into a black funnel of fury, gyrating toward them.
  Marvin grabs hold of a deep-rooted stump, hovering over his new family in desperation to save them. Gritty sand and leaves blow all around them.
  Shaman approaches and struggles to close Pandora Crock. When he pronounces a long magic formula, a bright white light glows large and hearty and the ominous funnel drops into the crock, making an awful squealing noise.
  With Marvin's help they build a makeshift shelter, adjusting themselves to get comfortable.
  The happiness instantly turns to terror when they see a Narqueg, a mutant serpent engulfing Megan, as the pressure of the oversized reptile's
  flaky scales rapidly over and around her legs.
  Finding his weapon, Nicholas strikes on the head the Narqueg, still keeping Megan enveloped in his deadly coils, turning its attention to the attacker.
  In that tangle of bodies, Nicholas grabs his mini hockey stick and jams the bar into the serpent's mouth, also knocked over by the Narqueg.
  Shaman fights to save Brooke and Marvin, both sinking into quicksand, as he pronounces a magic spell that brings a wind and a sparkle, killing the Narqueg.
  Unfortunately, it lands on them a large, prehistoric, dark green creature. Its tail is dull, with murky feathers. It has olivegreen eyes and discolored teeth.
  Then into the wild nature, from what seem like unstable rocks, they face a water dragon with yellowing sharp teeth and a thick lengthy tongue. Nicholas jumps off, back in the water.
  The sisters helplessly watch at the dragon flinging Nicholas around like a play toy, his head jolted back and forth, his body full of saliva.
  While rinsing some clothes, Mom watches the terrifying scene of Nicholas shaken by the dragon, reflected in the water.
  The shaman comforts her by telling that people in the mirror always see what they fear most, however their children will be strong enough.
  The dragon splits in two: half dragon darts toward Nicholas and Marvin, as the other half snaps up the vine and traps Megan against the stone wall, his moist breath on her face.
  A rain of white bubbles submerges the group, revealing the Shaman, now visible and recognized as UNCLE JACK, nicknamed "Manitouana".
  He tells the story of his mysterious disappearance to his great-grandchildren.
  After many weeks, he was found and adopted by an Indian family, who practiced shamanism in harmony with the great mother earth, but had no radio or TV, so he didn't see the appeals made by Mom and Dad.
  One day, Grandma Hazel recognized him at the market, crying and hugging him.
  Proud of his great-grandchildren, he pushes them to come back home, as the spell's effect wears off, and Uncle Jack gradually disappears.
  The siblings swim up to the surface, realizing they are back at the waterfall, now guarded by two imposing griffins, apparently dormant.
  The winged quadrupeds have the body of a lion, covered with black feathers on the back, red feathers on the chest, a bird's head and large eyes, green at left and red at right.
  Megan slowly tiptoes off, signaling the others to be quiet so as not to wake up the griffins.
  Tanner and Dad are fishing on the jetty by the lake, where the current is slowly dragging an old abandoned raft.
  Megan, Brooke and Nicholas come out of the tent, stretching and yawning. Their clothes are dirty and ragged.
  Nicholas and Megan recognize, in the distance, the abandoned raft by the lake, not far from Mom.
  The three, stunned, incredulous but happy, rush towards the family.
  Tanner hugs the siblings. Mom also does, thinking: "Thank you, Uncle Jack".