The Thirteenth Year. I guess Disney really had a thing about turning kids into mer-people
Didn't they. Well kind of like Little Mermaid 2 - this one is kind of as least
Interesting as that one was. Not to say it's awful. It's just not really anything, which is a shame because again
I don't think this is that bad of premise A mermaid is swimming with her young, baby
But a man sees her in a boat
Afraid for her son's safety she drops him off and tries to distract the man in the boat only to have a couple one of them
Played by Dave Coulier pick him up take him to the police and when nobody claims him they decide to adopt him. The Mermaid mother
Surprisingly, just kind of stays away for 13 years until suddenly the boy named Cody starts to notice certain changes
He's swimming faster. He's growing gills. He has
Electricity? Oh and he can stick to walls um yeah
And vampires sparkle. His parents don't know what to make of it. The doctor just says it's puberty
Yeah, second opinion much? Only his nerdy best friend can figure out what it is. He's turning into a merman
How does he know? Because his father is the one that saw his mother years ago!
Oh small world
The rest of the story is just him coming to grips with his
powers trying to find his real mother while also keeping his girlfriend while not embarrassing himself while also trying to make the swim team and
the championships
Blah-blah-blah-blah-blah, it's about as generic as it gets
There's a ton of things that don't make sense in this movie like I said before the mother staying away for 13 years come on
She couldn't flop on to the beach and get someone's attention or something just
Destroy the mystery. It's your freaking kid
Hell she distracts the man in the boat by showing off what she is and he's like oh my god
I gotta prove mermaids are real and everything what she showed off to that guy why couldn't she show off to other people?
Keep it a secret. Why is it even a secret? Why don't you use your?
Electric powers that you suddenly have yeah, I guess they kind of make a connection to electric eels
But that doesn't explain why they can stick to walls
Everyone is just a little off too. Like the swim team makes fun of him because he always comes in second.
Comes in second that's impressive Even the girlfriend for his birthday. Just gives a picture of herself
that's
Strangely narcissistic, and then she just closes her eyes waiting for a kiss everything this movie is just a little off
There's another scene where his hands are sticky, and he's shaking him off, and then the mother just starts doing it, too
And then the father comes in and starts doing it, but what's even going on here? This isn't quirky strange
This is just strange strange even Cody's performance is a little strange. I mean it's not laughably bad
I mean he's not over-the-top or too goofy, but maybe that's kind of the problem, too. He doesn't really stand out
He's just kind of boring. He's the every kid to a fault
You can't really imagine yourself in his shoes because he doesn't have much of a reaction
I don't know if he was written that way or directed that way
But it just doesn't come across as anything the only thing
I really took out of this movie strangely enough is the guy that sees the mermaid?
Originally you may recognize him from a few Sam Raimi movies like a simple plan
And he always kind of plays this southern redneck bumpkin
He always does this part really well to a point where it's actually
Legitimately dramatic the part where he's talking to his son about what he believes and he can help it
And is he crazy looking for other people crazier than him. It's actually kind of touching. I always got a perk up every time
He's in a movie. It's always interesting but aside from that when Dave Coulier is your next most credible actor
You kind of know you're not in a good spot like I said, I can't say this movie is terrible
It wasn't awful watching it. It's just kind of like watching nothing. It's really a shame
Not only is this an interesting idea. I mean the ocean underwater fish life
I mean, it's interesting, but it's also unique that took an idea. That's usually meant for girls
You know mermaids are usually girls and gave it a little bit of a spin by making it a boy
You think these little touches would help it stand out, but it just kind of gets lost in the mix
I don't know if it was just an uninteresting script
Or if there wasn't time to direct it in an interesting way or shoot it in an interesting way
But it's mostly just forgettable aside from a few dedicated fans. It's unlikely this one's gonna stay afloat for very long