FISHTALES

This movie totally snuck in under the radar. The title is Fishtales, and it was released in 2007. It didn't make much of an impact (or at all, it seems), but I predict that in time, it just might end up a cult classic with fans claiming that it wasn't given its proper due.

The movie is directed by Alki David, and you got to give props to a director who's willing to cast himself as the bumbling villain. The movie is gorgeous, with beautiful shots of Spetses, Greece, where most of the action takes place. But from a story point of view, I feel like I've stumbled on one of those movie that you either adore, or you just don't get. It's a bit hard to explain what's so unusual about it unless you see it for yourself.

The plot is simple enough. A bumbling professor named Thomas Bradley (that's Billy Zane) is working on a super difficult thesis on ancient love spells. He's hit with a bit of a writer's block, so one of his colleagues offers his house on the Greek island of Spetses, where Thomas can stay while he finishes his work. Thomas brings his daughter Serena there, and it's obvious from the get-go that Thomas suffers from severe social awkwardness, and it is Serena who has to take care of him.

While they're there, Serena encounters a mermaid named Neried (played the gorgeous Kelly Brook) who happens to have a very distracting English accent. A friendship is formed, and Serena gets it into her head to matchmake Neried with Thomas. As a side plot, a fisherman named Captain Mavros is out to catch Neried because her tail is encrusted with jewels.

That's the movie in a nutshell. There's actually quite a lot about the story that doesn't hold up if you look at it too closely (for example, the mysteriously unresolved plot of Neried's cross-breed origins, which is hinted at but not fully explained) and some of the scenes make absolutely no sense, but if you're okay with something frothy and out to watch gorgeous footage of Kelly Brook working that mermaid tail, you've got to try this. Kelly's grace while swimming in the tail is breathtaking... Though she may not have the realistic power of Daryl Hannah in Splash or the maneuverability of Christy Chung in Mermaid Got Married, she is flawlessly elegant and her swimming is perfectly at home in the underwater beauty of the sea.

Many thanks to Eric, who told me about this movie in the first place.