Mei ren yu

Nice movie, better than I expected. The film's main message is about saving the environment. Scenes can be quite disturbing as they show real life footage of marine animals like dolphins being caught, sea birds covered in oil and the attack on the merpeople... There was lots of comedic moments throughout the film as expected. Special effects were obviously not as realistic as Hollywood films. Movie storyline started off light-hearted then gradually become grim. Shows how greed can destroy our world. Last few scenes made me cry. Love the way they portrayed the relationship between the mermaid and the guy. 7/10 stars. Several inappropriate scenes not suitable for children.

Over all, I liked this movie.

I rarely watch Chinese movie. I actually watched this one because of its box office.

The movie is definitely a good comedy. You will laugh a lot and sometimes it will be difficult to stop!

Specially the scene in the police station.

But the special effect & visual graphics is very weak what will annoy you.

Not to mention the underwater scene(s).

Story is not that deep but you cant complain because its a comedy movie.

But you will definitely be entertained.

This may not be a Stephen Chow masterpiece.

It is not because this is a bad movie, it is simply because Stephen Chow has set a very high standard in classic like Kung Fu Hustle and Shaolin soccer.

Comparing to what is available in the cinemas since beginning of the year, this movie fares well. Complicated movie like Hateful 8 may be critic's favorite, but this movie does what a movie fundamentally should do, that is to entertain its audience.

Stephen Chow prove yet again a good director needs just to able to tell his story well, to make a good movie.

His visual sense is driven, not by a need to appear artistic and confusing, but to resonate with audiences.

The result, a well made movie that is entertaining and a simple story told well by a gifted film maker.

Chow has a gift for spotting talent and using them well.

Not only he is brave in casting a newcomer to lead role.

He is able to spot the that Deng Chao (better know as the Running Man) will be perfect as a comic male lead.

He is likable, even when he is acting like a greedy spoil rich brat. He certainly oozes charisma.

Under Chow's direction, he is able to master the act of comic timing and delivery. Best scene has to be the "failed assassination scene" where the interplay between Jelly (mermaid) and Deng Chao result in a stomach ripping experience for the audience.

I used to think his wife (Sun Li) is the only credible actress in his family, after watching Deng's performance here, I am convinced he is more than a Running Man.

I started to like Stephen Chow's movies since Shaolin Soccer. In order to maximise my enjoyment, I go for this movie without reading any reviews, especially from those who are always quick to write a review like a book. Anyway, I can trust that a Stephen Chow movie needs no reviews and quality is guaranteed. So being impressed with the poster, I set my hopes high. In order not to spoil anyone's fun, I will not describe the story or details. Generally, one can see that Stephen Chow's aim in this movie is to smash all China's box office and he did it successfully, with some good messages as usual; about love, humanity and environmentally friendly here, filled with romance, comedy, action and even a good old song. What else do you need for a movie to sell well ? Nothing else. For China audience who have not seen too much of Stephen Chow and where people do not have too high demand on artistic values, they are sure to enjoy it very much. For me, I don't like this style of "mo-lei-tao" comedy and I find them too much here. Much of the jokes are also old and predictable, although done in a good way. The male and 2 female leads are good. Most of the other supporting casts are poor. The 2nd male lead just cannot act and his face just don't match the role. Using that great classic HK song from the 80s is obviously to please the Chinese but made the movie less creative. This movie don't deserve any awards unless they give it for the same reasons like Titanic. Overall, I find this movie not as good as his last 4 because it doesn't give me much surprises.

Stephen Chow is one of my favorite directors in China, I have seen many wonderful films directed by him like KongFu Hustle, ShaoLin soccer.

An outstanding characteristic of Chow's film is tricking of comedy ( I don't know how to describe that style accurately).

However, this film, The Mermaid, is very different compared to the other two mentioned above. To conclude it in a sentence, that is a wonderful mixture of comedy, love, science fiction and environment.

Environmental protection is heavy point of this film, but unlike many other directors, Stephen Chow shows it in another way, which is love and comedy.

This film inherit many characteristics in Chow's old films, like 'XiaoQiang' and 'WangCai' and so on. Though Language comedy has intrinsically regional difference, many tricks can be conveyed from the simple actuation.

Stunts seem to be an fatal drawback of Chinese films, may be investment is the major problem. But stunts in this film is very nice, e.g. the tail of octopus and arresting of the mermaid under water.

Overall, this is a wonderful movie which will catch heart of a very general range of audience. I strongly recommend it.