Disney's newest live action remake of the classic animated film The Little Mermaid is here. While it doesn't quite capture the magic of the original, it comes close with some of the original musical numbers.
“In this breathtaking live-action reimagining of the beloved animated musical classic, a spirited young mermaid must follow her heart. She makes a deal with an evil sea witch that allows her to experience life on land, but that ultimately puts her life in jeopardy. Warning: Some flashing-lights scenes in this film may affect photosensitive viewers.”
As I’m sure the case is with many others, Disney films were a staple of my childhood. Growing up in the animation boom where a major Disney animated film was always on the horizon, the genre, both animated and musical, were some of my favorites. Seeing all my favorite childhood films be remade in live-action or get sequels decades later has been a mixed blessing, about as mixed as the receptions of some of the live-action films have been. It’s great seeing these films from a new perspective, new additions that reflect the changing times in our society, but it’s also easy to become protective of the things you love and be resistant to change.
As of now, we’ve gone through the large majority of the most popular animated films being converted into live action, and Disney has struggled with getting their formula just right for these conversions. With The Lion King the film was a shot-by-shot remake, trying stylistically to capture the magic of the animated film, but, in my opinion, utterly failing at the execution of just about everything else. Aladdin was another to get massive backlash on a simple leaked image of a blue Will Smith. While this looked pretty ridiculous out of context, the film I felt was really well executed, not relying heavily on some things that may not have translated well to live action, such as Iago being able to speak like a human, albeit a somewhat crass and loud one. Having him just be a parrot was the right move, with some other subtle changes interesting, giving the fans something new to catch on to while still enjoying some of the best songs Disney has to offer.
Now, for The Little Mermaid, which I felt would suffer from some of the same problems as Lion King: portraying talking animals exactly how they are supposed to look. While the film has a lot of good things going for it, this one will always be on the forefront of my issues with the live action remakes; you cannot convey the same type of emotions from a CG fish or crab that simply has no expressions. Sebastian was by far my favorite character of the film, his face looked nothing like a crab, but he was able to express so many different types of emotions in the animated film. In this one, he’s fairly lifeless, as is Flounder. The leap of faith that you take as a child to believe these characters have come to life is utterly lost in all the creatures in the film, and I say that with such a heavy heart.
Despite not being overly impressed with the animal-friends, I will say there are moments in this film where I felt like I was a kid again; all the songs you know and love are done extremely well, have some new elements to them, but treat them with the respect and admiration they deserve. The small differences most will notice give them some unique qualities that certainly left me smiling. On the other hand, some of the newer songs feel so out of place, they grind the film to a halt. While there are several, and some that do feel like they belong, the Scuttlebutt song almost made me turn off the film and never finish. I’ve personally never cared for anything Lin-Manuel Miranda has ever done, and this is even further proof that I never will. It’s moments like these that make me go back and forth on this film. One moment I will have the biggest grin on my face, enjoying some of the new directions they’ve gone in this updated version, and others I’m wondering why I’m still subjecting myself to this.
As far as the casting goes, Halle Bailey does a fantastic job as Ariel. She captures the curiosity and amazement at the world she doesn’t know beautifully, as well as acting the part of a fish-out-of-water, literally. The supporting cast is good too, even Daveed Diggs as Sebastian. While I didn’t like the look of him, he did a great job at embodying one of my favorite characters of the film. I wasn’t a huge fan of Awkwafina as Scuttle, or even the character that much at all, she just seemed unnecessarily annoying. Lastly, I never thought I would ever say these words, especially from not being a fan of hers, but Melissa McCarthy is the absolute best thing in this movie. Her Ursula is utter perfection. While there were tidbits of new additions and dialogue here and there, the majority seemed verbatim, and I was kind of wishing she’d inject a little bit of her own humor into the character, or even showing up as herself with the Ariel voice to bewitch Eric instead of someone completely different. Still, I’m sure her performance would make original voice actor Pat Carroll most proud.
While I can’t say that I am the biggest fan of this live-action remake, it’s hardly the worst. I honestly enjoyed the diversions from the original, especially the final battle with Giant Ursula. They work extremely well and are in line with a lot of the thematic elements Disney has going. You’ll love the songs from the original, maybe not the new ones, but if you’re a fan in any way from the original animated film, watch this one for yourself and see if it can capture just a little bit of the magic and excitement we all held seeing it for the first time.
We were given a digital code to review this film, which is currently available only for purchase digitally. The release date for physical is September 19th, almost two months away, and no release date currently for Disney+. If you’re interested in checking this out, you’ll have to purchase it digitally, or wait several weeks when it gets a wider streaming release.
