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Director: Ron Howard
Year: 1984
Rating: PG
Running Time: 1 hour, 51 minutes
Allen Bauer (Tom Hanks) either jumps or falls into the ocean off of a boat as a little boy. He is saved by a young blonde girl who turns out to be a mermaid named Madison (Daryl Hannah). Years later, Allen is a distributor of fruit from farmers to merchants. After his fiancee leaves him and becomes depressed after attending a wedding, he returns to the same spot where he drowned, manages to fall in again, and is rescued by the same mermaid. She runs away, and Allen returns home. She finds his wallet on the beach and comes to the short naked in New York City, where she is arrested. Cops find Allen's wallet on her person and call him to come get her. They begin to fall in love. Meanwhile, a crazy scientist named Walter Kornbluth (Eugene Levy) is madly trying to prove that Madison is, in fact, a mermaid.
This movies so quintessentially 80's. It has a fabulous cast, an great story, and hilarity throughout. It's a wonderful fish-out-of-water comedy (SEE WHAT WE DID THERE?????!!) for the ages, and is still entertaining today. It's fun to watch movies from the 80's and see the different fashion styles, commercials, sights, sounds, and nostalgia. It's also refreshing to watch movies with the late, great, sorely missed John Candy.
Another thing we wanted to mention was that the way Madison's tail looks in this movie, even today, is spectacular: it looks like a mermaid tail would if mermaids existed. The fact that it's a fabricated piece, not CGI or digital, which is what a mermaid tail would (mostly likely) be today, is very impressive. The scenes which feature the actors underwater for large amounts of time were put together so well that even now they look flawless. I know "movie magic" is obviously utilized, but even watching this film in 2013, viewers can see Ron Howard's brilliance as a director. He has a wide range of talent, from comedies like this to dramas, and continues to execute this same brilliance today.
My Rating: 8/10
BigJ's Rating: 7/10
IMDB's Rating: 6.2/10
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 92%
Do we recommend this movie: Yes!
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