Fishtales (2008)

Sorry, this movie sucks

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Dr. Thomas Bradley (Billy Zane) is a bumbling Oxford University professor of classical Greece. He is given one more summer to finish his database of ancient Greek. Another professor offers him a villa in Spetses, Greece. He travels there with his 12 year old daughter Serena. Captain Mavros sends him overboard. Thomas can't swim and he's rescued by mermaid Neried (Kelly Brook). Serena is looking for love for his father and asks Neried to translated old writings.This is sort of like a bad kids movie. It's got sloppy slapstick. Billy Zane is wrong for a bumbling professor but the little girl is perfectly fine. I can't believe this got shown in Cannes. That is the last place to show this. This is a weakly made kids fantasy. It's more straight to video.

This film was a massive disappointment. The set up is fine, but the mermaid turns out to have a spoiled brat nature that ruins the magic. The plot is chaotic and the characters seem fickle, if not just mentally ill. They weirdly insert a menacing cross-dressing shop keeper into the middle of the film, for no apparent purpose to the plot. The villain fisherman is also a peeping tom who gets his jollies spying on women in their underwear. The village matchmaker attempts to lure the Dad, by tossing a bucket of water on buxom village women. Then at the end, an old man suddenly falls in love with his male colleague and kisses him! I know there are parents out there that will not be expecting all of this, this or wanting to venture into the questions that may arise from it.

It is entertaining, yes, comic, made me giggle a few times. And the mermaid actress, Kelly Brook, is dead gorgeous. Her tale is a magnificent prop. And that is about it. This accounts for the two stars.None of the characters makes any sense. They are all collages of different personalities. And with them, the plot keeps flipping randomly as well.Amber Savva, the little girl, is such a bad actress it is annoying. Her character is a good swimmer, and yet makes no attempt at all to rescue her drowning father. She has a security-blanket bracelet she fondles with constantly in the beginning, but she doesn't notice it is lost till half a day has passed. There is a visible attempt to make her pass for a mature girl, but all the inconsistencies flunk this.Her father is such a confused and weak-willed fellow I don't know how he survived high-school, let alone become a professor near an intellectual break-through.This old Greek servant, if she doesn't live in the house, why was she there one time at night? Why don't people leave their clothes and wallets on a safe place at the beach instead of practically under the waves? This book on the mermaids is said to be really really very old, and yet there are Art Nouveau paintings on the pages. And etc.There is a strong hint that the mermaid is the lost daughter of the elderly professor, and that he knew of mermaids and had mated with one, and yet, nothing comes of it. There is a strong hint that the bad fisherman (played by the director Alki David himself) drowns and his good son will be adopted by the heroes, but no either. There is claim on the tail's jewels, and yet we hardly see them. There is no reason for a special breathing shell for swimming underwater if the wonder-cave is a few meters from shore and above water level. And etc.With all these reality flaws, I seriously doubt there is any fundamental truth or logic in the professor's studies on the Classical Greek spells and poems. I mean, the actors don't even look in the correct direction at times...!It is sad: the story could have been really pretty, but the characters and the plot were so ill-developed you can't but wonder which fourth-grader took over David's mind....I have just noticed: the movie is from 2007! Fancy that? I thought it was some twenty years old. Mr. David, get your story straight, and film it again properly. It will make a lovely movie.

exciting plot,funny characters,uplifting jokes ,ALKI David VERY PROMISING AS mr .MAVROS, BILLY ZANE seducing as usual, cinematography very fulfilling creates as many variants as the characters being realistic and magical the same time ,editing too cuty but works well, a slower pace would be probably more funny, script is strong and very inventive with good jokes and twisted story lines that do not allow the viewer to be bored in a linear narration. A down to earth mermaid completes the puzzle with her humanistic approach and tolerance of the mortals, worth seeing it more than once as pure entertainment,take your kids or date with you. visually one of the more exciting images combining oxford atmosphere with Greek island taste and smell,yes images work so well that you almost touch and smell the locations.