A fishy tale from China

Film review: The Mermaid 

MANILA, Philippines – When I first heard that The Mermaid had, earlier this year, become the top-grossing Chinese film of all time, and that it was a fantasy/romantic comedy, my first thought was that it would most likely be some Chinese rehash of the Ron Howard/Tom Hanks film Splash. But with Stephen Chow of Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle at the helm, one realizes that the film would take us places Splash never even dreamed of going.

Campy, with absurd comedic set pieces, filled with special effects that are oftentimes downright laughable, but always suffused with cheeky and enthusiastic self-deprecation and “so corny you have to laugh” moments, one understands why the film is such a runaway success. With a budget approaching $60M, the film has already topped $551M in box-office revenues.

Liu Xuan (Deng Chao) is a seedy, playboy millionaire who has just successfully bid for an area known as Green Gulf, which he now intends to turn into a sea reclamation project along with erstwhile competitor, now strategic partner, Ruolan (the actress Zhang Yuqi). What he doesn’t realize is that the Gulf has become the natural habitat/retreat of not only dolphins, but merfolk as well. These merfolk include half-man, half-octopus Show Lou, and young, beautiful mermaid Shan (Lin Yun, who snagged the role via a much-publicized nationwide search for the Mermaid’s new title role ingenue).

What follows is a straight-up comedy of errors as Shan is recruited, adapts to walking and plays “honeypot” to assassinate Liu Xuan. Of course, from a nautical mile away, we can expect that love will blossom, and that all the initial furor over environmental issues will be overshadowed by “fish-out-of-water” comedic routines and strange bedfellows love elements.

It is the comedy and the sheer daring to be ridiculous and campy that brings the film to a different level. Sight gags such as the self-mutilating octopus whose tentacles keep reducing in number are just one example. As is the notion of sea urchins used like Ninja stars. The hokey SFX are like out of circa 1990s to 2000 Bong Revilla movies and would venture to guess that given the budget they had, this was all done on purpose, a tongue-in-cheek aspect of the film’s humor.

Cameos abound, and besides director Tsui Hark, I loved the one of a noted comedy duo who took on the roles of the two policemen who receive Liu Xuan when he escapes from the merfolk and attempts to report what happened to him. It is all suffused by humor so kenkoy that at one moment, you simply surrender, and subsequently appreciate why the film enjoyed its resounding box-office success.

It’s Adam Sandler blended with Tarantino, all given a Chinese slant and spin, with the winning attitude of forging on even when the premise is so ridiculous or babaw. This is Chinese popcorn with the emphasis on the second syllable of corn-y; and that’s precisely why it works. The Mermaid exclusively runs at Lucky Chinatown, Resorts World and Bonifacio Uptown theaters.