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The Little Mermaid Live-Action: A Film Review

Is it just another CGI-laden Disney remake, or is it something a bit deeper and emotionally charged?

By Taylor BitzPublished 10 months ago 11 min read
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Ignore the fact that this isn't the theatrical poster, its the promo poster. But I think you knew that.

WARNING: Includes minor spoilers for The Little Mermaid (2023) live action film

Cast: Halle Bailey, Jonah Hauer-King, Javier Bardem, Melissa McCarthy, Jacob Tremblay, Awkwafina and Daveed Diggs

Directed by: Rob Marshall

Runtime: 135 minutes

Rating: PG (some scenes may be scary for younger children)

Release date: May 26, 2023

Based on: The Little Mermaid (1989) by Disney, and the 1837 fairy tale of the same name by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen

To be frank, I wasn't totally fond of this idea: Disney adapting The Little Mermaid. I've had some mixed feelings on the original film for quite some time, ranging from the oft-quoted complaint of, "Ariel just gave up her voice for a guy that she'd only spoken to once - and she's only sixteen!" to utterly being so in love with Poor Unfortunate Souls that it's literally the only Little Mermaid song I ever sing to in the car. And I love Disney villain songs. Like, love love them. But despite my little hesitancies about the film and its subject material, I loved the original film. Maybe it was the songs. Maybe it was the colour in the animation. I don't know, but it certainly feels like a film that draws you in time and time again.

The live action, however, is a totally different story. I was okay with the race swap because - hey, it's a mermaid. They're not real anyway, what could go wrong? There's more than just the race swap that was bad, and that was even before I saw the film in cinemas. In fact, in the leadup to the release of this contentious live action film, I very loudly declared to my boyfriend that I would not be watching The Little Mermaid live action adaptation because I felt it would be a waste of time and money to see a film that will probably be a flop. That was me going off of what most of Disney's live action films have been recently.

Cinderella was utterly brilliant. Perfect acting, costuming, casting, the lot. Cate Blanchett is positively wicked as the evil stepmother.

The Jungle Book. Also brilliant. It still baffles me how Jon Favreau went from Jungle Book to the utter disappointment that was The Lion King remake.

Beauty and the Beast. I fell utterly in love with this film. It's funny, it's charming, and I always love Emma Watson in literally anything. I'm gonna see Harry Potter one of these days!! And the singing was simply perfect. I've got some minor complaints about some of the CGI, but I can excuse that in the light of everything that is perfect about this movie. And Luke Evans as Gaston is literally chefs' kiss. Real ones know him as Bard from The Hobbit, though, so that was a real treat. But before this spiel turns into a Beauty and the Beast live action review, I'll turn to some of the other live action remakes.

Alice in Wonderland. Not bad, but not great either. I think it's really only saved by the fact that Johnny Depp lends his acting chops towards only playing eccentric characters like the Mad Hatter or Gellert Grindelwald. The CGI is really terrible, and you don't feel too attached to the characters.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice (based loosely on Fantasia). I'm going to completely skim over this one because I haven't seen the movie in years. But I hate Nicholas Cage and love Jay Baruchel, so that should tell you enough.

Maleficent. OMG. Love, love, love this movie! The sequel is okay, not the best, but I did cry at the end because it was so sweet, so I think that's a plus. Perfect spinoff of Beauty and the Beast, and it brings so much depth to the villain behind the evil deed that cast Princess Aurora into a deep sleep. And Angelina Jolie plays her brilliantly.

Christopher Robin. It's - good. It's okay. It's cute enough that you love the characters, and charming enough that you might shed a tear or two, but I haven't seen the movie in years, so I really wouldn't remember too much about it.

The Dumbo remake - it is hopelessly bad. Not even Colin Farrell could save it. Michael Keaton as the villain, let alone Eva Green in a side role, barely saved this movie. The CGI is alright, but it's really not nice to look at either.

I have mixed thoughts on Aladdin. It's pretty to look at, and there are great songs (I love Naomi Scott and her expansion of Princess Jasmine as a character, and Mena Massoud is just utterly brilliant as the young Aladdin). But this version of Jafar is really not that scary, and Will Smith just isn't Robin Williams. I did find Will quite funny as the genie, but he just ain't it.

The Lion King. What a miserable heap of crap that was. Shortened my favourite villain song of all time, Be Prepared, and the faces on the "photorealistic" animals are so expressionless. I'll give props to Scar's face because he does look decently scary, but the expression, where it once was in abundance with the Jungle Book live action characters, falls so desperately flat that it's almost painful to sit through the 2-and-a-bit hours of. I didn't even know whether to love or hate Beyonce being in the movie. I think that might have been the only thing to save it.

Lady and the Tramp. It's also okay. Not great. I've only watched the film once, and it was cute. It made me shed a couple of tears by the end.

Mulan. Also mixed feelings. Love Christina Aguilera coming back for another rendition of reflection 22 years after the original, but the CGI is bad, the storytelling is not great, and the entire training montage really cheats our main girl Mulan out of having to actually earn her place by giving her some mystical "chi/inner power" crap.

Cruella. Utterly brilliant. I've never actually really seen an Emma Stone film, and she slayed this role with all the deranged delightfulness that we see from the original version of Cruella. There are some nice nods to the original when they feature Dalmatian puppies, and Roger and Anita (the two main characters of the original), and while it's a bit plot holey, I salute it. Also, Florence + the Machine is just - chefs' kiss.

And while there's a ton of other live actions that I haven't yet covered because I haven't seen them yet, let's return to the Little Mermaid. While I had loudly declared I wouldn't be seeing it, I soon went back on my word when my brother wanted to go see it as well. I wanted to watch it at least before I became hypocritical, ahead of early reviews that the film wasn't that good. And I was pleasantly surprised. This is possibly the first time I've ever gone to a film expecting it to be bad and being very much surprised. Unlike the film Doolittle, starring Robert Downey Jr. of Iron Man fame - that was the complete opposite. A fun ride I was expecting, but alas, I got a flop in return. With a Sia song attached.

I digress, though. Although The Little Mermaid does have some things that I'm a bit nitpicky about, like the fact that they changed Scuttle from a boy voice to a girl voice and made him a gannet instead of a seagull, and the fact that Sebastian's character isn't even a freakin' lobster, and has been turned into a crab, and cannot breathe underwater, and Flounder doesn't look like - well, a flounder - *takes deep breath* - it's actually a pretty good movie. I'll probably watch it again when it comes out on Disney+, but that being said, it is well and truly meant to be a movie that you are supposed to enjoy in cinemas only. Below, I'm going to list 5 things I liked about the movie, and 5 things that didn't work. This is how I'm going to go about doing my film reviews from now on (of new films only, not the old ones).

5 things about The Little Mermaid that I liked:

1. The casting. I absolutely loved Halle Bailey, Jonah Hauer-King and Melissa McCarthy in their roles. Special note to Awkwafina for her rendition of Scuttle. She's a super funny actress, and I love seeing her in movies.

2. The songs. The songs are just wonderful. My special favourite is the newer take they did on Part of Your World, and props to Alan Menken and Lin-Manuel Miranda honestly. I've loved Lin ever since Hamilton days, and seeing how much work he's put into films like Moana, Encanto and now the Little Mermaid live-action, it's really reaping the rewards. And the song change for Kiss the Girl is much appreciated. Gotta start the kids young teaching them about the value of consent. And special note again to Awkwafina for her rap song Scuttlebutt. I found that particularly hilarious.

3. The villain. Melissa McCarthy utterly shines as Ursula, and it's such a lovely change from the original. And her change into Vanessa is just as dramatic as the original, and side note: they used Halle Bailey's voice for that small Vanessa singing part, which is just amazing.

4. The romance. I love how they've really expanded Eric's part in the film, and they've given him a bit more of a motivation to be with Ariel, rather than just putting all the hate on Ariel for wanting to be with a man even though she's only sixteen. This version of Eric has at least two songs in the film, is wonderfully acted by Jonah Hauer-King, and he's a bit funny and is very charming.

5. The father-daughter relationship. Between the acting chops of Halle Bailey and especially Javier Bardem as King Triton, they've really expanded the father-daughter relationship here, and it culminates in a beautiful, tear-worthy scene at the end of the film. You really see Triton begin to understand his daughter, and her fascination with humans, and eventually her motivation for wanting to be with Eric. It's definitely something they improved upon from the original film.

Now, for what didn't work with the film.

1. Some of the songs. This version of Poor Unfortunate Souls is nice, but I feel that the original just hits differently. I feel as though Melissa McCarthy's version might be just a bit too sympathetic and sweet, but I think that's the manipulation aspect of it, which is brilliant. This new version of Under the Sea is nice, but it doesn't quite hold the same flair as the original version. Kinda feels like an underwater version of the live-action Beauty and the Beast's Be Our Guest.

2. The CGI. Some props for the CGI - at least they showed the water getting darker the further you go down into the water. And it really is kind of pretty in Triton's kingdom, and everywhere else. But it's just a touch too realistic, and at points, seeing the coral reefs and the water wildlife, it feels more like a David Attenborough episode than it does an actual fantasy movie about mermaids.

3. The costuming. Need I say more? Okay, I will. It was bad. Awfully so. Whatever the queen was wearing looked like it was pulled of Bridgerton's costuming wardrobe - which none of Bridgerton's regency era costumes are time period accurate, by the way, and Ariel's dress on land was so drab and dull. Like, was it too much to ask to make her dress look like the one in the original? It's so much prettier in the original. At least Eric's clothes are alright.

4. The way they've done the animals. I got used to it as I watched the movie, but that doesn't mean it's still horrible. The crab they used for Sebastian can't even breathe underwater, not to mention he's not even a crab in the original. He's a lobster! And the colouring they did on poor Flounder was simply criminal. At least Jacob Tremblay does a good job of voicing Flounder, and Daveed Diggs from Hamilton does a good job of voicing Sebastian. And the amount of time they kept Scuttle underwater, she might as well have been a cormorant, or a penguin. Not a freakin' gannet! Besides, Scuttle was the whole reason Ariel went up to the surface, even before she saw Eric.

5. The movie goes really slow in the first 15 minutes, and I don't like it. Between the ocean scenery that looks like a David Attenborough episode, and then introducing us to Ariel's sisters and King Triton, and then Flounder and Ariel exploring the shipwreck - like, it's so damn slow! There's like one small action scene where the shark chases them, and then it's right back to slow again, at least until we fully meet Ursula for the first time. Even Ariel watching Eric's ship and seeing the fireworks and stuff - that's also way too slow. I feel as though there's far too much exposition and setting up the characters to actually get attached to the story as a whole.

My verdict? I feel as though this film is deeper than just a CGI-laden fantasy mermaid romance flick. It's got good moments, the changes to the songs are appreciated, and taking everything in stock, it might be slightly better than the original film. But not by much. Like any film, there are problems, although I feel that this film was incredibly over hated. I hope it really does get more popularity, because this isn't quite a remake. It's something much different. Same storyline, same characters, but it feels different. It's that feeling of difference which makes the film that much better.

As always, please support me through subscribing to my page, liking my posts, and staying tuned for more! I'm going to next be offering my honest thoughts on the Cat and Mouse duet by H.D. Carlton, which is not for the faint of heart if you ask me. I might be doing some more book reviews in future.

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About the Creator

Taylor Bitz

Hi!! My name is Taylor.

I'm big on writing about fanfiction, movies, TV and of course my own original stories (mostly fantasy stories, featuring bad-ass female characters)

My Wattpad profile:

https://www.wattpad.com/user/WinterPhoenix123

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