The precise English-translated title of this Chinese movie may be a mild mystery (I've also seen it as Legend of the Mermaid and The Legend of the Mermaid, among others) but anyway it's a historical fantasy-adventure-romance where the Ming emperor has sent a ship of men to find a mysteriously-appearing island that legend has it contains a spring of water with the ability to prolong life. The ship is sunk by a dragon, but its people are saved by Xi Yin (Vera Qiu), the last surviving mermaid of her clan who is able to use a special song to stun the dragon.

The crew are mostly violent, selfish men who are in it for themselves, lead by Eunuch Gao Dehai. But among them is Yan Lie, an imperial guard who is haunted by his past actions in service of his emperor, and he's the only one to protect Xi Yin, who also saved his life personally. Gao forces Yan Lie and Xi Yin to help him find the spring, so the group traverse the island and its dangers to get there. Along the way, Yan Lie and Xi Yin fall in love.

It's a pretty brisk movie with brief underwater scenes feat. a CGI tail, and Xi Yin has legs most of the time since here mermaids gain legs when on land. The story ends tragically, with Xi Yin sacrificing her life-giving mermaid pearl to save Yan Lie, but Yan Lie is unable to move on and grows old awaiting a reunion with her that never comes. (Until the sequel).

The full movie is on youtube HERE.

Gotta give the lovebirds an ambiguously better ending, so here's a fun sequel set not too long after Yan Lie survived the island of the first movie. Yan Lie is still searching for Xi Yin and has new water manipulation abilities thanks to Xi Yin's pearl, which is still lodged in his throat. It's because of these skills that Yan Lie is sought out by Shen Mei (Sun Zi Jun), one of the emperor's concubines, who wants to find Peach Blossom Island to ask the mermaids there for help in stopping the monstrous Dragon King from causing trouble in the Eastern Ocean.

At Peach Blossom Island, Yan Lie finds Xi Yin living with the clan of mermaids, but she has amnesia and cannot transform her legs into a tail because she's missing her pearl. Yan Lie sets about trying to win Xi Yin's love again, but some things cannot be forced. Further complicating things is Shen Mei's secret agenda, which is to get a specific mermaid pearl of her own to gain immortal beauty and power over all the Eastern Ocean.

Xi Yin doesn't have a tail for most of the movie, but this time there's a whole clan of mermaids who have a mix of CGI and practical tails depending on the scene (I think some brief shots might be of professional mermaid swimmers, but this is just a vibe, I don't know for sure). There's also the plot-relevant exploration of this world's mermaid culture (including a fun villain twist), plus there's the delightful Mermaid Matriarch as a new character who leads the clan and has additional powers tied to her staff.

The full movie's on youtube HERE.