Granted, I wasn't really harboring much of any expectations to the 2021 Chinese drama movie "The Mermaid", mostly because I never heard about it prior to watching it. And a movie about mermaids wasn't really striking me as all that grand. But still, since I hadn't already seen the movie, and wanting to give it a fair chance, of course I sat down and watched it.

I have to say that director Tong Wei and Dawei Zhang's 2021 movie felt like a watered down cash-in on the 1984 American movie "Splash", you know the one that starred Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah, except "The Mermaid" wasn't quite as outstanding and enjoyable.

The storyline in "The Mermaid" had a lot of similarities to "Splash" and on that account then "The Mermaid" felt more like a rip-off than anything else. But hey, chances are that if you enjoyed splash and have a craving towards mermaids, then you might get a kick out of watching Tong Wei and Dawei Zhang's movie.

The acting performances in the movie were nothing to write home about. It was mostly bland performances, but then again, the actors and actresses weren't really given much of any solid material to bring to life on the screen.

Visually then "The Mermaid" was okay. It wasn't a movie that used a whole lot of special effects though, and the effects that were in play on the screen came off as being adequate.

My rating of "The Mermaid" lands on a four out of ten stars.