Mei Ren Yu (The Mermaid)

[Drunk Monk]

Meh.  Disappointing really.  Every Stephen Chow film has got a good belly laugh out of me somewhere, even the bad ones, but not this.  It had some giggles, but it was marred by really crappy CGI & 3D, and like his Monkey King flick, the lack of Chow himself.  No one can capture Chow's own comic timing.  Show Luo as the Octopus tries to do a Stephen Chow impression but misses the mark despite some decidedly Chow set-ups. I did like his octopus, but I have a soft spot for anything octopussian.  Chow still has a great eye for actresses.  Jelly Lin (yea, that's the name she's going with in English) is delightful as the mermaid, akin to a young Shu Qi with her China doll beauty, and almost carries it.  She too, is in Chow's shadow. Her most potentially funny scene, a botched assassination attempt, pales to Chow's knife throwing scene in Kung Fu Hustle (I still giggle just thinking about that). Zhang Yuqi, as the femme fatale, is stunning.  Chao Deng, the male lead, like Show, struggles to be Chow, but fails. It reminded me of Kenneth Branaugh doing Woody Allen in Celebrity, which actually worked because Branaugh could do a decent Woody. But Show and Chao just couldn't capture that deadpan comic timing of Chow.

Chiu Chi Ling is in this, along with many of Chow's stable from Shaolin Soccer/Kung Fu Hustle, and Chiu has some lines, but he, like the rest of the film, is rather underwhelming. I did like the overall message even though it was so heavy handing - pollution bad - it's what China, and the world, need to hear. But still, I was really hoping for a good Chow belly laugh and this film just didn't deliver.

[cranefly]

Wait a second.  I thought this was about some foreigners trying to steal Beijing's pollution, and Chinese martial artists must rise up to protect their national treasure. 

Or was that another movie?

[Drunk Monk]

There's really only one martial nod - inexplicably the soundtrack is from Fist of Fury. And in the beginning, there's a reference to Lee's 'Be like water'.

Honestly, I think Chow has gone Jackie's route. They make movies to snog hot starlets half their age (or with Jackie, a third of his age). That's the main objective, that and to make a whole lotta money.

The bottom line is that those hip mags like GQ & Slate that are describing this as some must-see sleeper are totally off base. It's only a must see if you're really into Asian film.

[cranefly]

Finally saw this.  DM's critique is spot on; not much I can add.

There is one scene where the male lead goes into a police station to report his escape from mermaids, wanting them to do something about it.  It simply does not fit the movie.  He's a billionaire, after all, with a minon army at his beck and call.  He would never have gone to the police.  However, those five minutes in the police station are perhaps the funniest in the movie, and Stephen Chow made the right call including it in the final cut.

Sometimes the magic just isn't there.  I'm hoping this was just a misfire for Chow.