X
- 2016
- R
- Sony Pictures Releasing
- 1 h 34 m
- 2016
- R
- Sony Pictures Releasing
- 1 h 34 m
Summary Xuan's (Deng Chao) real estate project involves reclamation of the sea and threatens the livelihood of the mermaids who live there. The mermaid Shan (Lin Yun) is dispatched to stop Xuan, but they fall in love. Out of his love for Shan, Xuan plans to stop the project. Unfortunately, Shan and the other mermaids are hunted by a hidden organ...
Directed By: Stephen Chow
- 2016
- R
- Sony Pictures Releasing
- 1 h 34 m
- 2016
- R
- Sony Pictures Releasing
- 1 h 34 m
The Mermaid
69
7.0
Summary Xuan's (Deng Chao) real estate project involves reclamation of the sea and threatens the livelihood of the mermaids who live there. The mermaid Shan (Lin Yun) is dispatched to stop Xuan, but they fall in love. Out of his love for Shan, Xuan plans to stop the project. Unfortunately, Shan and the other mermaids are hunted by a hidden organ...
Directed By: Stephen Chow
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 16 Critic Reviews
69
81% Positive
13 Reviews
13 Reviews
19% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 16 Critic Reviews
69
81% Positive
13 Reviews
13 Reviews
19% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
In Chow’s hands, the lens becomes an elastic guidance tool for comic energy: fixate on a single image, pull back the band, let go, and snap, his story and characters launch forward in a blur of madcap amusement.
Mermaid is a very, very funny movie, but its caustic swipes at China’s nouveau riche, combined with its despairing look at the devastation of the country’s environment, suggest a filmmaker trying to find ways to reconcile his buoyant sense of fun with deeper, darker themes.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 45 User Ratings
7.0
67% Positive
30 Ratings
30 Ratings
20% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
13% Negative
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 45 User Ratings
7.0
67% Positive
30 Ratings
30 Ratings
20% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
13% Negative
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
I laughed. I cried. I'm surprised how good this was. And the story has a timely mortal too. This has made me curious to watch more Stephen Chow movies.
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A relatively straightforward comic love story/environmental parable, it’s a sharper bit of whimsy than CJ7 and less weighed down with mythology than Journey To The West.
Stephen Chow’s The Mermaid defies the time-worn nature of its material, concocting pure enchantment with the director’s own blend of nutty humor, intolerable cruelty and unabashed sweetness.
Newcomer Jelly Lin brings a delightfully quirky demeanour to her literal fish out of water.
The heat [Chow] conjures between his leads never rises above a low boil. That’s because Chow never bothers to pretend as if the romance really matters —it’s merely an excuse for a parade of blisteringly clever comic set pieces.
For all its aspirations toward movie magic with an activist bent, The Mermaid’s potential implications for the film industry are ultimately more noteworthy than the movie itself.
Mei ren yu or in English, 'The Mermaid', is my first Stephen Chow film. I am thoroughly impressed. Sure, the mermaid does follow many tired narratives around love and the protection of the environment. Despite this, The Mermaid is the catch of the day.
Its striking and unique visuals serve as an aid to it's rich and beautiful protagonist of the mermaid herself, it's all a bit over the top. This still blends well with the comedic moments that the film offers as well as the striking cinematography. The love story certainly feels rushed along with a stock villain that is shipped out at the last second, yet every issues the characters face are nonetheless overwhelmed by the gorgeous, rich and raw elegance that nature displays versus the glazed money machine metropolises. It's a relatively cheesy, one on one hilarious fight against ideals. It's glorious.
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Released along with a slew of Chinese films in cinemas to ring in the Lunar New Year, The Mermaid joins the impressive roster of comedies from Stephen Chow.
The films after Kung Fu Hustle seemed to have lacked that ol' Stephen Chow humour that made them misses. Some may argue that CJ7 or Journey to the West by Chow were pretty good productions, but to me they were not particular standouts.
The Mermaid, however, hits the right spot. The CG may not be the best but it's the cast and funny one-liners that will have the audience in laughter. In fact, many of the dialogue is reminiscent of Stephen Chow's older works, and Show Luo's turn as the Octopus is clearly one of the few highlights of the film.
It tries to be mature by touching on the topic of morality with the whole protecting the environment storyline, but it does so without being overly serious. The film is definitely one of the better flicks out there during the Chinese New Year holidays, and definitely deserves a viewing!
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This film is extremely enjoyable and entertaining. Totally worth watching! It's also fairly creative. However, it feels so much like the last half of this was written by a completely different writer than the beginning that it only leaves audiences confused and unsatisfied. The first half on it's own earn the first 5/10 points. It was creative, fun, and extremely well-written! However, it sets up for a completely different direction. I was expecting that the tension would continue to build solely from Liu and Shan's relationship continuing to build. I think it could have been much more well-rounded if the two were to fall deeper and deeper in love, and Shan would continue to struggle with her internal conflict: kill the man she loves to save all of her people from certain extinction. The way the movie begins, I was expecting for construction of the resort Liu had invested in to be put to the point where the builders are just about to start, still confident in his belief that Shan was just making everything up the whole time. It would have been far more interesting if more tragedy was put into the conclusion; that Liu was punished for his hubris by obliviously and inevitably causing the death of Shan and all the merpeople.
Instead, we get an extremely violent/action-film style act 3 complete with lots of murdering, and out-of-context stunts from Shan that don't really make any sense for her character. She and the merpeople are all seen only wading water and swimming peacefully at the beginning. Then, all of sudden (because it's the climax!) she's this incredibly agile action character.
And the ending? Falls flat. Very deus ex-machina.
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A modern Chinese fairytale.
This is from one of the renowned filmmaker from China, Stephen Chow. The film holds the numerous records, including the highest grossing Chinese film of all time. So anybody would be curious enough to check it out. This is highly inspired by the western fairytale 'The Little Mermaid', but totally a Chinese. It carries a strong message about the marine life and pollution, especially that coming from China is obviously not usual. A great theme for a Mandarin film to get exposed to the International stage. An appreciable effort with the decent graphics, but it's filled with lots of negatives than leaving a good impression on the viewers.
The story is very important for a film and this is a very simple and short, but the remaining is packed with the comedies and stunt sequences. The film opens with the introduction of a multi- billionaire Xuan, who unveils his new sonar project on the coast Green Gulf where marine creatures consider it as a paradise. On the other side the shrunken to a very few, the merpeople plot to kill him. So they send their finest young mermaid, Shan to seduce him, but instead it creates a chaos when she falls in love with him. The final standoff between the man and merfolks set to reveal who will be the victorious at the end and the fate of Green Gulf.
If you are a die-hard fan of Stephen Chow, be prepared for a big disappointment. He's out of his comfort zone here. Thankfully, he did not star in this crap. His strength are comedy and martial arts, but this film was none of them. I mean it is categorised as a comedy, but those parts were too sensitive to call them jokes. You won't be laughing much because of the killing, hurting, tortures, kind of upsetting events draws us away from enjoying it. So if you think it is a cute mermaid love story aimed for children just like CJ7 and if you allow them to watch it, you might regret it later.
"Love has no law. It is beyond any rules and boundaries."
I don't know what is the rating for the domestic release, but this is definitely an R. It is certainly for adults and not everybody going like it. Looks like a film made for the local market only despite the influence of the western fairytale. It might have done well in Chinese box office, but the rest of the world does not consider it Mr. Chow's one of the best works. I think he should stay away from such project in the future, instead make a sequel for CJ7 or for the 'Kung Fu Hustle' where his fans are very eager for the official announcement.
If you had seen all his film, especially the directed ones, then you might enjoy some of the jokes from this which is his trademark. The romance was underdeveloped and then the event followed by it that brings the grand finale was too violence. That is when this fantasy-comedy turns an action-thriller without a forewarning. I was shocked for such kind of transformation in the story. I wanted to like it, but could not because I expected something like a Disney film, but it was more like a semi Tarantino film.
The addition of a cecaelian character was good from the comedy perspective. But just one from its kind makes him the last survivor and have sympathy than as he's the centre of the comedy in the narration. The overall story as well as all the main characters were never established to its full potential. I'm disappointed with the writing, the director is known for genuine screenplay, but he terribly failed to please his international fans. Of all, I only hope there won't be a follow up to it because we want the old Stephen Chow. He's better than this and I'm sure he will come strong. I can't recommend this film for children or the families, the youngster who are not very sensitive might be the right audience.
4/10
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Production Company
Alpha Pictures,
China Film Co., Ltd.,
Hehe (Shanghai) Pictures,
Shanghai New Culture Media Group,
Shanghai Tianshi Media,
Shannan Enlight Pictures,
Star Overseas,
Xiangshan Ze Yue Culture Media
Release Date Feb 19, 2016
Duration 1 h 34 m
Rating R
Tagline Half fish. Half human. 100% assassin.
Website
http://www.ningyohime-movie.com/
Awards
Hong Kong Film Awards
• 8 Nominations
Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards
• 2 Wins & 4 Nominations
Chinese American Film Festival (C.A.F.F.)
• 2 Wins & 2 Nominations
