THE MERMAID/ Mei ren yu

China, 2016, 94 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Stephen Chow.

As of August 2016, The Mermaid was the highest grossing film in China. It obviously appeals to popular taste – but, with its characters and situations and touches of mythology, it may not travel so extensively and popularly.

Stephen Chow made a great impression with his Chinese martial arts comedy, Kung Fu Hustle, and followed it up with Shaolin Soccer. Broad comedy seems to be his forte and it is in evidence here.

The film is very much for the environment and so its comic appeal may have a strong pro--environmental influence.

It opens with plans by wealthy Chinese to reclaim part of the sea for development. There are some bureaucratic bigwigs who are exploiters – but the central character is a wealthy playboy who gets in on the act but seems to have very little moral conscience. He is played up to buy several conniving go-getters, both male and female.

The reclamation of part of the sea has a significant effect on the colony of mermaids who feel that they are in danger. They must been brought up on martial arts because one of them is commissioned to go to assassinate the playboy. This leads to quite a number of comic episodes of danger and escape from danger.

The problem is – or maybe the resolution is – that the mermaid falls in love with the tycoon and he with her, which pricks his conscience and behaviour, making him reconsider all his plans.

In the meantime, there is a common enemy who send out assassins to be rid of the mermaid, leading the hero, by then becoming a hero, to save his beloved mermaid.

Obviously, this film is not a critic's choice – the style of a popular appeal may limit its being viewed by more serious audiences, adult audiences.

Nevertheless, it is a box-office champion in China, seen by millions.