Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3736 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-06-15
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 105 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Tom Hanks was a relatively unknown TV actor with a sitcom as his biggest credit when relatively unknown director Ron Howard (best known for his own sitcom acting) cast him in this surprise hit. It made stars of Hanks, Daryl Hannah and John Candy and an A-list director out of Howard. Hannah is a mermaid who comes to Manhattan in search of Hanks, the guy she has twice saved from drowning. Hanks runs a business with his loveable, blowhard brother (Candy), whose goal in life is to have a letter published in Penthouse. When this perfect woman shows up, Hanks can't believe his luck and plunges into a dizzyingly romantic relationship, unaware of her sea-water secret. But the mermaid needs to soak and unfurl her tail from time to time, which leads to complications, including her capture by the government for scientific study (what else?). Hanks is winningly charming and Hannah is a perfect match in this enjoyably high-spirited comedy, though the biggest laughs belong to Candy. --Marshall Fine

Amazon.co.uk Review
Splash was big news in 1984. It was the sole reason for a renewed Disney Studios forming its Touchstone Pictures subsidiary. This was so they could get away with displaying Daryl Hannah's nude bottom! It was also big news for launching the film career of Tom Hanks, who immediately became a massive box-office comedy draw in the 80s. For Ron Howard, it was the breakaway success that guaranteed he'd be able to pursue as diverse a directorial career path as he wanted to. It's a simple romance tale, spiced up by making the female lead a mermaid. The stroke of brilliance in the script was in making the comedy happen around the two leads, while letting them believably convey they are hopelessly lost in love. The comedy comes from the ever-reliable John Candy as a larger-than-life womanising older brother, and Eugene Levy as a scatty scientist. Although New York looks a little different today, the movie has hardly aged at all. Which is just as well since it boldly begins "This morning."

On the DVD: Splash offers a transfer that has some defects, but colours and dark areas seem just about right. We're spoiled for extras, with a warmly nostalgic Howard joining a key production crew commentary in reminiscing on how much fun they had making the movie. There's a half-hour documentary ("Making a Splash") interviewing everyone involved, including some archival footage of the late Candy. Best of all are the original Audition Tapes for Hanks and Hannah, which reveal the consummate professionals these once-hungry stars really are. --Paul Tonks

Video Description

DVD Special Features:

Audio Commentary

Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah Auditions

Making a Splash

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Customer Reviews

SPLASH Smart, Perfect, Loveable, Awesome, Smitten and Heart-warming
In the first of Ron Howard's and Tom Hanks' collaborations, Hanks stars as Allen Bauer, an unlucky in love man who travels to Cape Cod, where he meets a beautiful woman, who has a secret, she is a mermaid.

In perhaps a forgotten gem of the 80's, Howard delivers a heart warming tale about one man and his unlucky in love life, and how the extraordinary can bring out the hearts desires in a truly good funny and ultimately tale.

Hardly his best role, Hanks still delivers in a cliché hero role as Allen, someone all men can relate to. A man who needs to get over his own personal fear in his pursuit for happiness.

Daryl Hannah (Kill Bill) is excellent in the role of Madison the mermaid. The way Hannah portrays her makes you wonder how a real person would feel coming into an unknown environment and having to learn someone else's language. She is a joy to watch and the onscreen relationship with Hanks is perfect, exactly what was needed to produce the wonderful outcome.

Who says romantic comedies are soft mushy stuff? There is plenty of action and suspense in this 1984 comedy to keep everyone entertained.

This is a true family classic, an old fashioned soft tale that is consistently entertaining and funny, something which is rare in modern day cinema.

Eugene Levy (SCTV Network 90) is the funniest in the entire film with a daft character who is simply loveable despite being the villain of the picture.

The whole concept of scientific experiments and animal cruelty is an intriguing side story, and makes you think what would happen today if an unknown creature was found.

Though consistent and funny, it is so by following plenty of conventions, which can give an essence of predictability, but nonetheless it is a heart warming entertaining tale.

8/10

ITS A SPLASH
Before Tom Hanks hit the big time with BIG he teamed up with a very sexy Daryl Hannah in this feel good classic with love of a different kind. At the start Hanks is a young boy who accidently falls off a boat whilst holidaying with his family, just when all seems lost he is rescued by a young mermaid but after being pulled away by the rescuers fears he will never see her again, that is until some years later a reoccurence of the same event brings them both together again. Now Hanks must keep this affair secret or risk losing her forever. The film also stars John Candy as Hanks's rich and much different older brother...This wonderful comical story may have you reaching for the tissue box...

Funny, Magical, Loving - Fantastic Family Movie!
A must-see for lovers of Disney's The Little Mermaid and Forrest Gump. The great cross between the two makes this film heart-warming and magical. It isn't babyish at all though, it's one of the films or the eighties that are just overlooked and forgotten. It just doesn't get the credit it deserved!

One of my ABSOLUTE FAVOURITES! ^_^

It's about a mermaid who goes on land to see what it's like. She is like Ariel and can't talk, but it's rather funny as she walks around the city naked! She is taken in by this guy (Played by Tom Hanks) and they fall in love. Word suddenly gets out that she's a mermaid and she is taken to a museum and kept in a large fish tank. The guy saves her and they swim off into the ocean at sunset. YAY!