Rating: PG (some violence and scary situations)
Run Time: 1 hour 32 minutes
Summary( Imdb.com): Siren Phillips has lived her life thinking she's an ordinary girl, in an ordinary town. On the eve of her twelfth birthday, however, she learns that she is far from ordinary. Destined to turn into a Mermaid at the age of twelve, Siren must struggle with her new reality, saying good bye to her mother and friends, while she transitions into the water. To make matters worse, a group of Hunters are after her, trying to catch her. She soon becomes friends with Adam Wilts, a new boy at school, who she turns to for help. He agrees to help her, but finds himself caught in the middle, when it's his own father who is after Siren. When Siren's mother is taken, the town must rally behind her, and help her make a peaceful transition into the water, before the hunters can find out where she is.
My Review:
Similar to A Mermaid's Tale, this new teen mermaid movie features beautiful fins and underwater scenery, but missed the mark on some plot elements.
The premise of the movie is intense, as the viewer follows alongside Siren, who is going through her transition from human to mermaid. While the town seems to be inhabited by Stepford Housewife-like mermaids, there are also hunters prowling for Siren, who want her for the incredible power she wields. One of my favorite scenes is when Siren goes through the first step of her transformation; feet to fins. The special effects were awesome!
Hannah Fraser, world famous mermaid performer and conservationist, also makes an appearance as leader of the mermaids and Siren's mother. Her tail is beautiful!
There were some problems with the plot and characterization that made this movie slow and rather violent. The first scene of the movie shows Siren randomly ditching school and rushing upto her room. When her mother tries to see what's going on, Siren yells out, "Mom, get out!" What kind of behavior is that?? Additionally, Siren's transformation process takes up a majority of the plot, making the process slow and dragged out.
The movie also has a lot of violence. There is kidnapping and use of a tranquilizer gun by the hunters against the mermaids. The lead hunter in the pack wants to kill Siren and use her blood to heal his son, who has a disability. The last scene shows Siren killing someone using her powers too! I was pretty disturbed that she was able to kill someone so easily without feeling any remorse or guilt afterwards.
With the amount of violence and dragged out transformation, I found the movie to be graphic and boring. I give this movie (**) 2 stars.
-Sirenita The Selkie