美人魚 (The Mermaid) is an 2016 film from director and producer Stephen Chow. The film was produced by both Hong Kong and Zhong Guo production companies. The film stars Deng Chao, Jelly Lin (Lin Yun), Show Luo, and Kitty Zhang (Zhang Yuqi). The supporting cast include a who's who of Chow's previous colaborators and cameos from Tsui Hark, Wen Zhang, and Kris Wu. The movie is currently the highest grossing film in Zhong Guo. Ever.
Deng Chao plays Liu Xuan, a rich business guy that buys an island. Because the island has dolphins inhabiting it, it is designated as a environmentally protected area where no development can take place. However, he uses technology to drive away the dolphins and gets a permit to develop. However, the mermaids live there and are now plotting to kill Liu. They want to kidnap him, figuring that his death will stop the development.
I'll only go so far with the plot. If I tell more, it'll ruin the surprise. I went into the movie having seen the terrible trailer that basically tells of a tail of a mermaid kidnapping Liu.
I loved this movie. I laughed out loud through out the movie. There was one scene that was so funny, that I was crying from laughing so hard. There were several scenes that are homages to classic TVB dramas of the 1980s and to the basic Kung Fu movies of the 1980s and 1990s. Similar homages are also paid in other Chow movies. This one is no different, just done differently. As a kid that grew up watching TVB and 1980s HK movies, came to age during the early 1990s HK kung fu films, I felt nostalgia to the nth degree watching this.
I watched the movie at an local AMC with a friend who isn't familiar with Chow and he thought it was one of the better films out of Zhong Guo he's seen. He laughed through out the movie too.
I am rambling here, but this movie isn't going to win any artsy fartsy awards. But it has won my laugher and will be on repeat viewings for years to come.
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