The Mermaid (2016)

Very well executed

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

I very like to see thisSome argue that Stephen uses a lots of old jokes and routines in this movie that makes it a little bit weak on the script. However, I think it's one of his best. He doesn't make as many dirty jokes as usual, but you can really learn his philosophy through this two-hours movie and have a very good laugh at the same time.

In this environmental activist comedy from Stephen Chow, mermaids whose environment is being destroyed by an evil developer plot to kill him, using a pretty mermaid as bait. The complications are unsurprising.While lacking any comical martial arts, the movie still has Chow's usual slapstick humor and weirdness. This includes a very funny scene of a series of hapless assassination attempts, a goofy singing duet, and a cool special-effects driven scene involving splashing water into objects. Some scenes are a bit too dumb, but overall this is a reasonably amusing movie, although nowhere near as funny as Chow's masterpiece, Shaolin Soccer.The plotting doesn't make much sense. The developer unconvincingly shifts from fairly cartoony awfulness to general sincerity, and the mermaids are, weirdly, more concerned with vengeance than with fixing their problems. But within it's silly, slapsticky world, this isn't a huge problem.What is a huge problem is the shift into violence towards the end. It's both upsetting and nonsensical; a classic example of a movie that makes its villains evil to the point where they do terrible things that not only don't benefit them, but that would seemingly work against their interests. This whole part of the movie is pretty terrible, and to some extent ruined it for me. One last note. I had a dual audio version of this, and started off watching the English dub. I'm not someone who automatically rejects dubbed movies, but I strongly suggest that you do not, under any circumstances, watch the English dub of this, because it is horrendously bad. I think it's a shame that a successful director's biggest hit of all time doesn't rate competent English actors. If I were rating this based on the dub, I would take another star off. It's an embarrassment.

The Mermaid, or Mei Ren Yu in Chinese, is not just any romance and fantasy film, it's a film that blends together it's elements into a mixture of smart writing, strange moments and brilliant performances from the cast. All to deliver its timely environmental messages as well as entertaining the audiences simultaneously. Although I have not seen many Chinese movies, this one is truly no ordinary Chinese film. I had a very good time with the film, not only did it cheer me up with its irresistible humor, but I learned so much from the film while I was enjoying myself and having a good laugh while watching the film.The film weaves together a funny, brilliant, sometimes violent, powerful, and timely story about protecting the environment. Rather than using just drama or seriousness to express its important themes, it also uses comedy to do so while entertaining us. I have to say that I am a person who never laughs at explicit and black humor, and therefore there were moments that I wouldn't laugh at when a piece of media or a line of words spoken by a person in reality (there is not much of pitch black rude humor in the film, but maybe just a little bit.). But, man, for a person who doesn't like comedy, this film's humor really let this boy have a great time while injecting an important lesson of environmental preservation and the significance of protecting marine life.Does anyone believe that there are Mermaids out there? I'm not sure of my answer to that question that I have just mentioned myself, but I was definitely a fan of the story of "The Little Mermaid" by Danish Author Hans Christian Anderson, as well as Disney's 1989 Musical Film Adaption of it. This 2016 film also features a story about mermaids, and it, like the original story by Hans Christian Anderson and Disney's 1989 film adaptation, has the key element of romance within. But this film used the romance element in its story as a catalyst to strengthen the timely messages that it wants to tell it's audiences.The story (which I shall not spoil at all and leave it to the new audiences to discover the film's "Treasures" themselves instead) is about a beautiful mermaid lady named Shan (brilliantly played by actress Lin Yun), who is sent by her kind to seduce a rich businessman, but falls in love with him instead. Love is a powerful thing, it can bypass many barricades. And I while I am aware of the dangers of it, I am even more aware of the even deeper dangers and consequences of violence, and this doesn't exclude violence against other animals besides us humans. As a vegetarian, I deeply appreciated and applauded the environmental messages that this strange but funny fantasy live action film wished to impart to me and the rest of its audiences.How much I laughed at the film's comedic moments, most of which was, pretty much, harmless. Except perhaps for the moments of animal bodies present I wouldn't appreciate it much. As I have told you, a vegetarian I am. Where did I tell you? In the paragraph above this one. Anyway, for Chinese audiences (I am one of them) I am certain that it would appeal very well to. No matter which kind of audience you are, you will definitely laugh at the film's irresistible humor and enjoy yourselves in the process. I had a lot of fun, and learned a lot of important lessons from the "Fun" that I had.I smiled a lot, and I think you would, too. Even if you're reading the subtitles written in English(The film's spoken language is Chinese). I watched it on DVD, and after completing my first viewing of the film I had the wish of visiting the film again in the future to view its important messages alongside of its entertainment qualities once again.

'Mermaid,' the new offering from director Stephen Chow is a breezy fantasy romantic comedy in which a group of mer-people (the sub-titles only refer to them as "Mermaids," even though some are clearly men) decide the only way to save their lives is to assassinate the mega-tycoon behind the exploitation and destruction of their undersea home. They teach one of their young, erm, school-members, how to walk like a human (sort of) in order to turn her into a honey-pot trap for the tycoon, and the plot is off and running. This movie features some hilarious slapstick comedy as you would expect from this director, some beautiful visuals, sets and locations, and not an especially subtle pro-conservation/anti-whaling message. However, it's still fun enough that you don't feel you are being preached at the whole time, at least.