This is a cute story. It was beautiful in terms of the cinematography. Unfortunately, the pacing was exceptionally slow and awkward. Only the little boy seemed to behave and speak normally throughout the film, although some of his lines were a bit adult for his age. The tension between the hunters and the hunted seemed exaggerated. There was little understanding or compassion on either side except between the children. This could have been MUCH better, especially for a fantasy film. We liked the concepts about how the mermaids live and communicate with one another, particularly their unique songs, but a lot of story lines were left underdeveloped, which made the actions of the actors appear arbitrary, The star appeal attracted us originally, but their acting prowess never really materialized on screen. Finally, was no one else upset by the ethical issues presented by the actions of the mermaid girl at the end? This shocked us to our core. I hold the director accountable for the flaws of this cute little film. It could have been so much better in the hands of more experienced, knowledgeable leadership.
40 Reviews
The poorest story about mermaids
nethy-nho17 April 2019
With a confuse beginning, the movie starts introducing us a boring cast, without any personality, and go show a little bit about that mythology but all the things is too hard to believe, all is too fake, and the plot don't help, anyway, I just laughed with that horrible movie.
Could've been good
crazy-chicken-man28 September 2020
A Charming Film with Bad Acting and a Unsettling Death Scene
angryrg6 April 2018
Warning: Spoilers
This film is just another one of those little films produced, usually marketing to a single demographic, in this case, little girls. I watched this film with my two little sisters today after we ate dinner, and the film itself left a bad taste in my mouth.
That being said, there are some good parts of this movie, and the plot itself isn't all that bad. There are some really heartfelt scenes as well as few pretty shots, and some okay cgi for the mermaids. But the one thing about this movie that really set me off was the ending, in which one of the main villans of the story, a reasearcher on mermaids whose name I've forgoten, gets brutally muredered by the main character, Siren. How? Well, by having Siren use her mermaid powers to munipulate the 68% of water in his body to kill him, causing him to choke on his own fluids and disintergrate into a small pile of wet clothes. I mean, how else would you have a villan die in a kids film?
Now, how do the characters of this story react to such a dark death of a character? They literally just brush it off. One of the other mermaids even asks Siren if she can "teacher her that move." Overall, going into this, I knew I was probably not going to like it, and I was right, but I was not prepared for such a unsettling death in this film for little girls. Though, I guess its not as bad of a death as in some Disney films.
That being said, there are some good parts of this movie, and the plot itself isn't all that bad. There are some really heartfelt scenes as well as few pretty shots, and some okay cgi for the mermaids. But the one thing about this movie that really set me off was the ending, in which one of the main villans of the story, a reasearcher on mermaids whose name I've forgoten, gets brutally muredered by the main character, Siren. How? Well, by having Siren use her mermaid powers to munipulate the 68% of water in his body to kill him, causing him to choke on his own fluids and disintergrate into a small pile of wet clothes. I mean, how else would you have a villan die in a kids film?
Now, how do the characters of this story react to such a dark death of a character? They literally just brush it off. One of the other mermaids even asks Siren if she can "teacher her that move." Overall, going into this, I knew I was probably not going to like it, and I was right, but I was not prepared for such a unsettling death in this film for little girls. Though, I guess its not as bad of a death as in some Disney films.
Unforgivable
jhdenneracc13 July 2019
Terrible script, bad directing, things happening without explanation. I can forgive all these as just being a low budget family type of movie.
But. My girls and I did NOT see Siren's actions to the secondary antagonist at the end coming. That is far worse than just unethical, it is outright criminal. That is unforgivable and gives this the 1 rating.
Simply Terrible!
dan_slentz4 November 2017
Decided to give this movie a chance. My daughters (12 & 16) enjoy mermaids and we love family movies. A 5 out of 10 IMDb rating usually isn't very good.. but in this case it was far too generous.
I'm a huge fan of movies and studied film as part of my corollary sequence in college. I have a real appreciation for the work that goes into them (and I've helped on a few film school films and been in a few movies as an extra or with bit parts). A LOT of work goes into making movies, so I hate to not see something really great in most movies.
The story itself and script on this are pretty bad. But that's okay since you can't really figure out if it's the bad script or really bad acting. I wanted to think that maybe it was the fact that I'm an adult watching what I figured was a kids movie, but that never stopped me from really enjoying everything from Dolphin Tale to Shrek to Monsters Inc or any number of awesome family/kids movies. I asked my daughters what they thought (expecting an "it was okay"), but got a "it was really bad and cheesy".
It's really unfortunate that it was so bad because, to it's credit, it has some pretty shots in it (location shots), but the script and acting are so bad that it's not even tolerable. My 16 year old daughter even noticed the production music was (as she put it) "sounded canned". Actually now that she says it, it's really not very fitting to the events or scenes.
This ranks up there with "Hot To Trot" (Bobcat Goldthwait movie from '88)... not a good movie at all.
I'm a huge fan of movies and studied film as part of my corollary sequence in college. I have a real appreciation for the work that goes into them (and I've helped on a few film school films and been in a few movies as an extra or with bit parts). A LOT of work goes into making movies, so I hate to not see something really great in most movies.
The story itself and script on this are pretty bad. But that's okay since you can't really figure out if it's the bad script or really bad acting. I wanted to think that maybe it was the fact that I'm an adult watching what I figured was a kids movie, but that never stopped me from really enjoying everything from Dolphin Tale to Shrek to Monsters Inc or any number of awesome family/kids movies. I asked my daughters what they thought (expecting an "it was okay"), but got a "it was really bad and cheesy".
It's really unfortunate that it was so bad because, to it's credit, it has some pretty shots in it (location shots), but the script and acting are so bad that it's not even tolerable. My 16 year old daughter even noticed the production music was (as she put it) "sounded canned". Actually now that she says it, it's really not very fitting to the events or scenes.
This ranks up there with "Hot To Trot" (Bobcat Goldthwait movie from '88)... not a good movie at all.
Hysterical
joanitheuniquebeing4 August 2018
This movie is not for kids
mecke2325 February 2020
Warning: Spoilers
This movies is the tale of a girl who is turning 12 and becoming a mermaid that her adopted mom hide from her, her entire life, and go figure she is a special mermaid with special powers -gasp- what a shock! So she is going through " Metamorphosis" and almost dies oh but she doesn't and then turns out her new best friend belongs to a family of hunters who are after her -gasp- what a shock again! All because they need her special powers to help heal the boy who has brittle bone disease, she offers to heal him willingly but that's not good enough for the hunter! So he tries to kidnap her but Ooo PLOT TWIST! He fails and gets her adopted mom instead and then blah blah blah the girl finally gets into the water to become a full fledged mermaid but OH NO BOY IS SERIOUSLY INJURED MIGHT DIE!! So go figure she comes back to saves him and -gasp!- her real mom comes too! And all this time of the hunters is getting pissed because the leader of the hunters was convinced by his son to stop the hunting and the guy is pissed and wants a mermaid to finish his Scientific research and so after boy gets heal he makes another threat, it up to this point I was actually enjoying the movie Little it is a decent B-rated movie but The last scene at the beach happened and I no longer like this movie the little girl the 12-year-old little girl killed a man literally killed that last bad guy because he just didn't want to give up the fact that he was not going to get a mermaid... And it didn't phase her one bit she didn't contemplate on whether she should do it or not whether it was bad or not to kill somebody she just did it.... So I would not recommend this movie to anybody who has kids do not let your kids watch this at all in anyway shape or form.
Enjoyed it!
ts-000010 October 2020
Not good but watchable
pmwl-576-9695046 March 2020
Warning: Spoilers
I gave this a 6 because it was a dumb movie, however, I needed to see how it turned out. It's really sad, because I think this could have been a much better movie if the dialogue was better and had they not given the boy with the bone disease crutches, braces would have been more believable.
even my cat hated it
taylornfielder29 March 2020
On a Scale(s) from 1-10, it gets a zero. this movie made me lose braincells, my motor skills were severely harmed after watching all 92 minutes of this movie. terrible acting, an atrocious script that made exactly zero sense, and the plot was basically an offbrand version of "The Thirteenth Year." Man. this was ROUGH.
Rollercoaster of emotions - best movie I've ever seen
elliejamos16 February 2021
This is honestly one of the best cinematic masterpieces I have ever beheld. It was such a wild ride of emotions and feelings that I cried myself to sleep for 3 weeks after watching. Where should I even begin. Well to start, Siren was one of the most inspiring and amazing movies ever made. It greatly encapsulates how a few teens grow and change together and really made me appreciate my friends and family a little bit more.
Siren is an extremely deep and well-written character. She has had to go through a lot in her life and experienced things that are well out of her comfort zone. Some people say that her killing Brodie at the end of the movie has uncalled for and bad, but she was in an impossible spot and made the best and bravest choice she could.
My number one goal in life is to be more like the amazing, 5-star, respectable, brave main character in Scales. I am truly not lying when I say I have have never been in such an emotional rollercoaster in my life. 10/10 recommend.
Siren is an extremely deep and well-written character. She has had to go through a lot in her life and experienced things that are well out of her comfort zone. Some people say that her killing Brodie at the end of the movie has uncalled for and bad, but she was in an impossible spot and made the best and bravest choice she could.
My number one goal in life is to be more like the amazing, 5-star, respectable, brave main character in Scales. I am truly not lying when I say I have have never been in such an emotional rollercoaster in my life. 10/10 recommend.
Silly dialogue. Very very bad acting.
mcalhoon-1353624 April 2018
Warning: Spoilers
My daughters (9 and 12) like the Mako Mermaids, so we sat down and watched this. The acting was so bad, it is laughable. We laughed our way thru this, and its ridiculous dialogue. The mermaids start singing right in front of Siren...Siren asks "Are they singing?" ha. Another silly point: The bad guys seek Siren's blood. Siren offers to simply give them some of her blood, without a fight. But they still insist on trying to abduct her for some reason. ??? On the mermaid tail itself, costuming didn't spend much time nor money on it, to even attempt it to look real. Truly laughable. It's destined for "Mystery Science Theatre 3000". Yes, this is THAT poorly made.
Worst movie of all time
sam298211 April 2021
So, so Bad
s_l_simmons10 February 2020
Warning: Spoilers
The premise had potential but really as soon as I saw written & directed by the same person I lost hope. Not that there haven't been good movies written & directed by the same person but when there isn't anyone to say "hey, this doesn't make sense" and the main stars are children...
The script is bad, the acting in bad, the scenery is gorgeous. There are things that happen for absolutely now reasonable reason. The characters say & do things that make no sense. I kept asking myself if that was really something an 11-yr old would do and sometimes it was a maybe but most of the time it was nope.
Why would you not wear you new magical necklace especially after being told it is the same stone as the one in the stick that can be used to make a 6ft barrier around you???
Why on earth would you decide to tell the new kid who you met less than 24 hrs ago and who has already told you they moved there looking for some kind of cure for him that you are a mermaid and probably the one his father is looking for right after meeting his dad & creepy "associate"??
Why would you not take the aerator with you not only after you have been told you will get gills & will need it to breath but you see the gills forming?
Why do the mermaids decide you should spend 1 more night at your house before heading to the safehouse after seeing the truckload of hunters and knowing the brittle bone kid's dad is one of them?
Why would you decide to run to the abandoned desalination plant instead of your best friend of 11 years who also happens to be a mermaid house?
Why are these mermaids so completely useless?
Why doesn't the safe-house have a secret route to the ocean?
Why doesn't the adopted mom notice the guy running right behind her???
So many whys that should have been asked when this was being made!!
The script is bad, the acting in bad, the scenery is gorgeous. There are things that happen for absolutely now reasonable reason. The characters say & do things that make no sense. I kept asking myself if that was really something an 11-yr old would do and sometimes it was a maybe but most of the time it was nope.
Why would you not wear you new magical necklace especially after being told it is the same stone as the one in the stick that can be used to make a 6ft barrier around you???
Why on earth would you decide to tell the new kid who you met less than 24 hrs ago and who has already told you they moved there looking for some kind of cure for him that you are a mermaid and probably the one his father is looking for right after meeting his dad & creepy "associate"??
Why would you not take the aerator with you not only after you have been told you will get gills & will need it to breath but you see the gills forming?
Why do the mermaids decide you should spend 1 more night at your house before heading to the safehouse after seeing the truckload of hunters and knowing the brittle bone kid's dad is one of them?
Why would you decide to run to the abandoned desalination plant instead of your best friend of 11 years who also happens to be a mermaid house?
Why are these mermaids so completely useless?
Why doesn't the safe-house have a secret route to the ocean?
Why doesn't the adopted mom notice the guy running right behind her???
So many whys that should have been asked when this was being made!!
Put this movie in a volcano
wolvessharksalpacas31 January 2020
Warning: Spoilers
The only good parts of this movie are from the kud from 'IT.' I am a 20 year old that like mythology movies but wow this is bad I'd rather watch the annoying disney mer boy movie. (I don't like it but still I'd watch that more). Hey news flash a little girl killing a grown man is not a good scene to end on for anyone. It's not good I was lucky to watch this to make sure it was okay before my little cousins come over. I need some eyewash after this
Not Good Enough
PennyReviews29 August 2019
There isn't much to say about scales. The whole movie was a waste of time. There were so many plot holes that the actual story got lost in probably one of them. The acting was bad, the presentation of the story was bad, the ending was bad. So, it was laughable to watch, as it is that ridiculous, but not to be taken serious.
Worse than the smell of fish that's been sitting out since 1962
jordybee16 February 2020
Are they not aware they can make a movie for children, but also give it a decent plot that doesn't raise more questions than it gives answers? Probably not. This movie made me laugh. The acting made me uncomfortable. The plot holes will haunt me. All around don't recommend, unless you love to suffer-then definitely watch this movie.
Scales: This Movie Is Awful
eivissa_0718 January 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Everything in this movie, if you can even call it a movie (it's just some random videos mixed together) is terrible. I don't think even little girls can have some fun watching this. It's not a kids movie, it's not a family movie, it's just a bad movie is what it is.
The whole story doesn't make any sense. There are these mermaids in some small coastal town, and it's like this big secret. But some of them are only half mermaids half human, so they just disappear from town when they have to go and live for 3 years in the water (because it's a rule!). And no one seems to care where they are during that time. Also it turns out all of the teachers in the local school are mermaids, and they have these "top secret" meetings in the "river room" which is not a room, but some roof on a power plant. Why not? And they carry these ridiculous spears around which they call "wailing sticks" like it's totally normal. No problem. And the lead girl has to constantly drink water in the movie and people to throw stupid fish jokes at her, so we don't forget she's a mermaid. What? There's just far too many flaws in the script and the dialog is dreadful.
The acting is just plain bad, with the only fresh face in this movie being the kid from 'IT', Jack Grazer. All the other actors are not good at all, especially the guy playing his father and the crew of mermaid hunters...oh my .. they are just unbelievably awful, all of them, it's just painful to watch.
The directing, the cinematography and the editing are just as bad as the script. Some of the shots are like someone took his phone out of his pocket during break and said 'Let's just shoot this scene right now'.
I don't like being this negative about things, but come on people, you could have at least not made the little mermaid kill a guy at the end. Ridiculous.
The whole story doesn't make any sense. There are these mermaids in some small coastal town, and it's like this big secret. But some of them are only half mermaids half human, so they just disappear from town when they have to go and live for 3 years in the water (because it's a rule!). And no one seems to care where they are during that time. Also it turns out all of the teachers in the local school are mermaids, and they have these "top secret" meetings in the "river room" which is not a room, but some roof on a power plant. Why not? And they carry these ridiculous spears around which they call "wailing sticks" like it's totally normal. No problem. And the lead girl has to constantly drink water in the movie and people to throw stupid fish jokes at her, so we don't forget she's a mermaid. What? There's just far too many flaws in the script and the dialog is dreadful.
The acting is just plain bad, with the only fresh face in this movie being the kid from 'IT', Jack Grazer. All the other actors are not good at all, especially the guy playing his father and the crew of mermaid hunters...oh my .. they are just unbelievably awful, all of them, it's just painful to watch.
The directing, the cinematography and the editing are just as bad as the script. Some of the shots are like someone took his phone out of his pocket during break and said 'Let's just shoot this scene right now'.
I don't like being this negative about things, but come on people, you could have at least not made the little mermaid kill a guy at the end. Ridiculous.
Why are so many adults rating this movie???
calisparkz24 February 2020
My 8 year old daughter loved this movie, she doesn't care about plot holes etc... but I have no idea why there are so many obvious adults rating this movie like it's been made for their viewing pleasure lol it's a kids movie and should be treated as such!
Not really worth watching
darkfox17316 May 2020
I was in the mood to watch something about mermaids, it being May, but I regret watching this film. The acting was terrible and all of the characters seemed to be complete idiots. The whole story was poorly written and the special effects weren't that good. What bothered me most though was the fact that the leading actress looked nothing like the girl on the cover. It's obvious which girl is meant to be the main character in the story just by looking at the cover image but at the beginning of the film I was constantly asking "Well, where is she?" because I couldn't find her. Unlike the girl on the cover the girl actually playing the leading role, despite the movie's claims of her beauty, is actually quite homely. The actress playing Crystal would have been better suited to play the role of Siren. Combine that with her bland emotionless acting and I can't see this leading actress going very far in the movie business.
WHAT A MASTER PIECE
ishipbumblebee21 November 2023
This movie was so bad that I had to watch it again The main character siren is so thoughtful that i even forgot about her story no ones acting was good everyone did so well I found the DVD version in the garbage and I really had watch it.and let me think oh I almost forgot I made cookies today they where warm i think i need to get the beehive anyways i pirated this movie too because I feel it wasnt worth paying 20 dollars We should request a second movie because it was so good i watch this movie every single day because because i like snow globes and my mom its time for bed but scales bad my least favorite character is siren because she pulled out a gun mid recording. Thank you for reading.
Scales: Mermaids aren't real we just couldn't come up with any ideas guys
elizabethrenz29 August 2022
Warning: Spoilers
I remember I went into this movie thinking it would be good until the main character started talking about how she described how she felt about water. Just take this in: "not just drinking it- or swimming in it... loving it,tasting breathing it." And I just thought of a human going on about oxygen like that that. Like if you just made a new friend and they just start being turned on by air that's when you need to run. Because it ain't normal. But then we get to see the main character and that's when I had flash backs from bridge to Terebithia and Aweegaway. And I was like OH MY GOOOOOD ITS THAT AWFUL ACTRESSSSSSS THAT RUINS EVERY MOVIE AND MAKES BAD MOVIES EVEN WORSE. And then she says that she stays pretty far from it even though her house is beach front. And then there are other wierd scenes we must speak of because they made me rethink all mermaid movies and shows I ever watched as a small human like when the mermaid hunters who's leaders where Sirens best friend where like littarly giving off obvious hints they hunt mermaids and then while Siren and Adam where walking he said his dad hunts mermaids and Siren says that's wierd and proceeded to TELL ADAM THAT SHE WAS ONE. I mean I know we are trying to get to the climax of the story but that's just being cheap and cutting corners on script. Then Adam tells his dad and the hunters kidnap Sirens adoptive mother right after she goes to school and her gills decide they want to really have water. After that a few scenes later Siren is with her aunt in the safe house and we get a scene nobody thucking asked for because it is so gross. Ya da ya da ya da unimportant crap they threw in to make the movie longer and then we get to the ending scene when Siren MURDERS A MAN BY SUCKING ALL HIS BODILY FLUIDS OUT. Yah. That just....... Happens. And then her friend just says "Woah! You gotta teach me how to do that!" 👁-👁. What now- this girl just straight up asked how to COMMIT THIRD DEGREE MURDER. And she wasn't even being an immature middle schooler. She was genuine about this question. And then they all move off the beach all smiley like nothing thucking happened.
This movie ruined my life
emilias-527006 July 2019
Warning: Spoilers
This movie is so awful its hilarious. Things just happen for no reason. Why is everyone a mermaid? Why do they sing? Why is her adoptive mother a mermaid when she only takes carr of Siren because her actual mother is a mermaid? Couldn't she just be the actual mother? Why did they have to make that hunter at the end be evil and why did they make Siren choke him to death? Things just happen. The acting is so bad it's so funny. The script is atrocious. The concept isn't that bad, but the way they show it is just terrible. Not a lot of peoplr have seen this disaster of a movie, but I still want to tell them how awful it is.
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