Splash (1984)
Directed by Ron Howard
A successful businessman falls in love with the girl of his dreams. There's one big complication though; he's fallen hook, line and sinker for a mermaid.
22 connections found
View:
22 connections, in both directions
What critics compared Splash to
Aquaman and Mera snack on roses in an Italian market, with Heard tearing into flowers fish-out-of-water style, a bit reminiscent of Daryl Hannah chomping a lobster in “Splash.”
The former plays the hydrokinetic love interest Mera, while the latter recalls Daryl Hannah in “Splash” (1984) before kicking ass in Tom’s living room.
This fantastic vision, something of a blend of Daryl Hannah in “Splash” and Gal Gadot in “Wonder Woman” is, in fact, Nicole Kidman with a touch of CGI to make her look more in her 20s than her current vintage – not that she needs it.
The movie starts out feeling like 1984's "Splash" with Kidman's Atlanna washing ashore and being baffled by the human world before we meet Aquaman.
Effectively a remake of Ron Howard’s Splash with the first act excised, Water ’s a beautiful film with a touching turn from Sally Hawkins, that fails to engage the intellect on any level whatsoever.
What follows is a weird and wondrous romantic thriller that casts its inspirational web wide: from 50s monster movies such as Creature From the Black Lagoon to Ron Howard’s 80s mermaid rom-com Splash , via the 12th-century writings of Persian poet Hakim Sanai.
Michael Shannon dominates many scenes as the sadistic Colonel Strickland, who regards the creature as his personal property – putting him at odds with his colleague Dr Hoffstetier (Michael Stuhlbarg), an eccentric scientist perhaps partly inspired by Eugene Levy in Splash .
Playing an even less suave character than usual, Paul Giamatti stars as a depressed superintendent who stumbles upon a magical sea nymph (Bryce Dallas Howard) who seems to be the product of a drunken three-way between Ron Howard, Darryl Hannah in Splash, and E.T.
Daryl Hannah's mermaid in "Splash" (coincidentally directed by Howard's father, Ron) is positively earthbound by comparison.
The first 20 minutes or so of Luca briskly establish this outlandish-sounding but actually quite simple premise: It’s a kind of preteen Splash , but with a pair of mer-boys in place of Daryl Hannah’s displaced mermaid and a young human girl, Giulia (voiced by the newcomer Emma Berman) in place of the landlubbing character played by Tom Hanks.
There's also, as first-time feature director Enrico Casarosa has explained, a dash of Studio Ghibli's Miyazaki in there, while fans of the work of Ron Howard will be happy to hear about the splash of, erm, Splash .
Advertisement
The mermaids have legs on land, but as in Ron Howard's Splash, they sprout fins when doused with water.
It also highlights an anachronism; since Madison as a girl’s name only became popular after the 1984 movie Splash, the odds of anyone dating one in 1988 is slim.
That traditional obstacle-to-love vital to all romcoms (in Ron Howard's Splash , she's a fish) has been removed in this story of Hannah and her sister, leaving only the characters' neuroses, fears and inadequacies as their impediments.
Like Tom Hanks in Splash before him, Syracuse feels protective of the sea creature, or whatever she is, and honors her desire for secrecy, privacy and maybe a pretty dress or two.
Advertisement
In fact, the closest any previous film comes to this is Ron Howard’s hilarious Splash – and that fabled literal fish out of water tale had the late great John Candy around to keep things rib tickling.
His first starring role was in 1984's "Splash," director Ron Howard's mermaid-out-of-water tale.