The Little Mermaid live action re-make

[Peter]

I agree - and I’m certainly not trying to create or promote a false narrative or any such nonsense - that that is exactly what that scene is about. All I can think from the quotes presented so far is that maybe a few of the lyrics don’t clarify or support that, or (more likely) that perception of how they come across has changed in the intervening years so that they need a rewrite to ensure the scene remains focused on that. I have no idea which lines or to what degree - all I can think is that maybe this verse could be taken the wrong way:

Yes, you want her
Look at her, you know you do
Possible she wants you too
There is one way to ask her
It don't take a word
Not a single word
Go on and kiss the girl

[theatrefan62]

The funny thing about consent and the little mermaid is if anyone should get it it's Eric. Ariel is the one who is chasing him to kiss her.

[anthony40]

So, I have had a look at the cast list on IMDB. Also in the upcoming soundtrack in Apple music.

I can confirm the the character of Grimsby has carried across to the new film. He'll be played by Art Malik.

Chef Louis and Prince Eric's sheepdog are still unknown.

Although there are four songs that (as of date) are unlisted, I couldn't see a listing for Les Poissons.

[anthony40]

Here's a clip of Kiss The Girl

[oxfordsimon]

That looks so cheap

[anthony40]

Here's a first look at Under The Sea

[anthony40]

UK premiere screening last night in Leicester Square

[d'James]

May 13, 2023 17:12:38 GMT anthony40 said:

Here's a first look at Under The Sea

It looks really good. The only thing I’d say is that Sebastian sounds a bit flat, not musically, but lacking oomph.

[oxfordsimon]

I know it is impossible to have live action singing fish and so forth but the amount of animation in this makes me wonder why on earth they bothered when a brilliant animated version already exists and has been enchanting audiences for decades.

It isn't a live action film in any meaningful sense and the joins between the live and the animated are too obvious for me.

Very hard no on this one.

Disney should drop these remakes in favour of creating new musical animated films. The talent and the stories are out there. Remakes are not the way forward.

[Jon]

May 16, 2023 14:28:19 GMT oxfordsimon said:

I know it is impossible to have live action singing fish and so forth but the amount of animation in this makes me wonder why on earth they bothered when a brilliant animated version already exists and has been enchanting audiences for decades.

It isn't a live action film in any meaningful sense and the joins between the live and the animated are too obvious for me.

Very hard no on this one.

Disney should drop these remakes in favour of creating new musical animated films. The talent and the stories are out there. Remakes are not the way forward.

Disney already do new animated films, see Wish later this year. The live action remakes are mining the IP, no difference to adapting them for the stage.

Clearly it's working, making loads of money and being noticed as Universal and DreamWorks are doing a live action version of How To Train Your Dragon and I would bet Shrek is in the pipeline, the latter would make a ton of money.

[christya]

I cannot forgive the hair. Just a couple of shades more red would have done! And I really dislike how she sings Part of Your World. Plus, Sebastian sort of looks like a paper cut out, it's weird.

[sukhavati]

May 16, 2023 14:51:37 GMT Jon said:

May 16, 2023 14:28:19 GMT oxfordsimon said:

I know it is impossible to have live action singing fish and so forth but the amount of animation in this makes me wonder why on earth they bothered when a brilliant animated version already exists and has been enchanting audiences for decades.

It isn't a live action film in any meaningful sense and the joins between the live and the animated are too obvious for me.

Very hard no on this one.

Disney should drop these remakes in favour of creating new musical animated films. The talent and the stories are out there. Remakes are not the way forward.

Disney already do new animated films, see Wish later this year. The live action remakes are mining the IP, no difference to adapting them for the stage.

Clearly it's working, making loads of money and being noticed as Universal and DreamWorks are doing a live action version of How To Train Your Dragon and I would bet Shrek is in the pipeline, the latter would make a ton of money.

I would go to see a live action remake of "How to Train Your Dragon" providing David Tennant and Craig Ferguson both reprised their roles. I could never understand why the teenaged characters in the film had to sound like Southern California mall rats, but it was charming.

Obv the decisions to keep doing live action remakes at Disney are not just financial, but also to maintain IP copyrights. Plus it gives them an entire new look for character design in conceptualising new merchandise. Frankly, I didn't see the point of doing photorealistic animals in "The Lion King" remake, and here I'm finding the singing sea life kind of creepy. Give me the anthropomorphized cartoon animal sidekicks any day. We have Disney+ so it will be on our menus eventually, but I don't think I can bring myself to watch this, just as I haven't seen any of the remakes other than "Cinderella" and "Beauty and the Beast."

[dan28]

I went to see this film yesterday. Overall it is enjoyable and Halle Bailey's Ariel is quite charming (even though the lack of acting experience shows). In some scenes it seems like the material is on top of her instead of the other way around and in other scenes she comes across as very sincere and real.

The film starts with a very big disappointment, as the first 2 songs are cut. Both the beautiful instrumental climax of the castle/swimming merfolk and the song "daughters of Triton" are no longer there. We see the ship in the waves and the camera goes underwater and we hear a few seconds of orchestra building up, and I felt my eyes getting a little wet, and then the shot and music was cut to another shot (with just noise) of the ship again. Which was weird, and then we saw another underwater shot for the 2nd time, and again, a little hint of the instrumental melody of part of your world started and I felt my eyes almost getting wet again. And then it suddenly stopped again?! And then there was a silent shot of Triton and his daughters sitting on the underwater "stools", having a chat without music. And that was that. So basically, the melody went nowhere and stopped out of nothing. This was like a hard slap in my face. This would have been a glorious opening, they even gave us 2 setups towards that melody and they threw it away. Why? I was beginning to ascend out of my seat and then hit with a baseball bat. This really should have been the moment to captivate the audience right away and make them fall in love with the beauty of the film. Now I could tell the audience wasn't charmed at all yet.

What follows is a couple of scenes with dialogue to set the story and setting. The whole story line is the same as the original film, with little changes in details here and there. Sebastian, flounder and scuttle are really not funny anymore and do add little to the film. What I also didn't like was the unnecessary changes in female empowerment, Ariel is now the one who kills Ursula and saves the damsel in distress called Eric. Ariel is the one who refuses the kiss first. Ariel doesn't sign anything with Ursula, she is just turned into a human without proper consent, so we can't really blame her, Ursula also put a little extra something in the potion which makes Ariel know nothing about a kiss or the actual agreement. So we as the audience could never think that Ariel actually wants a man and tries him to kiss her, etc. This all felt a bit unnecessary.

Aside from this forced tweaks, I actually did like the film. There were many moments that put a smile on my face, such as the "Part of your world" scene, the "Under the sea" scene was really endearing and the photo realistic animals made me giggle. The reprise of part of your world had me in tears, it was really well sung and acted. The desire and urge she portrayed was so sincere that she was almost shaking. Like a primal instinct that nobody in the world could stop. Very impressive.

I especially appreciated the scenes between her and king Triton, very intense and emotional and I love the extra dialogue and backstory details. Some of their scenes together had me in tears too.

What also was very lovely was the romance and meetings between Ariel and Eric, it was just very charming and well done. Added little moments that I appreciated. The scene "Kiss the girl" was such a beautiful sincere moment, which caught me by surprise. I never really had a particular interest in that scene. But it felt so sincere and beautiful, like the whole world was good at that moment, maybe a part of it was also the nostalgia, but it was just very peaceful, wholesome and well acted and the song was much more beautifully arranged than the original version. It felt real.

I really began to root for Ariel and Eric here and was getting into the story. I generally liked the scenes on land more than the scenes under water. I also liked the portrayal of Ursula (except for a few added, too modern and popular lines), and she sang "poor unfortunate souls" quite well. I also liked the character of Vanessa.

The final few scenes between Ariel and Triton had me in tears. I have never cried or gotten even slightly emotional with any of the Disney remakes before. But the tears were gone soon when there was no ending music and a very cheap version of "Under the sea" was played during the end titles. Also there are 3 new songs, one for Eric, one for Scuttle and one for Ariel. All 3 are terrible. They pull the film down quite a bit. It feels like they are written by non-professionals.

In my opinion the film was enjoyable overall, with 4 emotional moments, a few funny and endearing moments but also many not so enjoyable moments. All in all, I think these kind of remakes are enjoyable to watch once, but will never live up to the quality, class, basically to the legend that the original animated film is.

[karloscar]

My favourite review of the original Little Mermaid came from my five year old niece: "She should've just stayed under the sea with her friends!"

[ilovewemusicals]

Just seen The Little Mermaid. It opens with a nod to the story’s origin and some stunning underwater and above water shots. Then we get Halle’s stunning Part of your World.

Then Prince Eric gets a new I Want song but for me it was nowhere near as good as Ariel’s and visually it seemed rushed and a bit bland. I’m not sure that it came at the right point in the story. Maybe his song would have been better when he was choosing between Ariel and Vanessa. Jonah, the actor who plays Prince Eric, has a way of showing love in a deep, meaningful way and his friendship with Halle in real life came through on screen to produce some really beautiful moments.

I thought Javier Bardem was great as King Triton. They could have cast so many people as Ursula and they would have all been wonderful. They went for Melissa McCarthy who was clearly having fun with it and struck a good balance between being evil and making you feel that there’s more to Ursula than just a villain. And she really acted Poor Unfortunate Souls for all it was worth.

I also really enjoyed Daveed’s Under the Sea; again because he acted every line and made it his own. The visuals that accompany the song sold me on the beauty of the sea but there were no visuals to suggest the threats above the water; so I felt like the song’s meaning was a bit lost. Kiss the Girl, however, was perfectly shot and delivered.

As the seagull who thinks she knows humans but doesn’t, Awkwafina does a great job with her new comedy song Scuttlebutt. But editing it out in favour of a shorter running time might have been a better option.

At 2 hours and 15 mins, the film is too long and by the time it got to the final battle I just wanted it to be wrapped up. However, you must see it for Halle’s Ariel, the chemistry between her and Jonah, plus the performances of Melissa McCarthy and Daveed Diggs.

[WireHangers]

So I’m obviously not the films intended audience, being a 30-something year old man, but I had a great old time.

The film is seriously clunky at times. The CGI pulls you right out of the story at certain moments and I suspect film technology just isn’t as good as the creators thought it was when envisioning this remake. There’s a few sequences where Ariel’s head is clearly not attached physically to her digital body or her hair moves as one solid block.

That said, Halle is wonderful. She isn’t a skilled enough actor to act through the CGI, she was somewhat bland during the earlier emotional moments, but she does show some solid range during the more dramatic moments later on. I think she’ll be a terrific actor down the line but this was a solid start.

Melissa is fantastic and is clearly channeling drag. I would have liked to see her lean more into the camp as she gives a slightly more serious performance that what I’d have hoped for but she is fabulous none the less, and what a voice! I’d have liked her backstory to be explored more. Through her dialogue it sounded like they were setting up a scenario where Ursula was the eldest, and therefore heir, but was passed over for her practise of dark magic which would give context to her evil but she mentions in the third act that Triton is her elder brother so that theory went out the window. If you’re going to give her a history then go all the way.

Jonah as Eric was decent, they made him somewhat more interesting than the traditional Disney prince but not much. They give him a backstory that sounded very much like a breadcrumb for a potential sequel, should the movie do well.

Triton was okay. He merely just existed in the film. There was potential to make the role an emotional one but he seemed very disconnected and you never get the impression he liked Ariel, let alone loved her.

Honestly, I’d have cut Flounder, Scuttle, and probably Sebastian. Easiest money the three of them made. I’m with everyone in regards to Scuttle’s song, it’s the worst Disney song I’ve ever heard. My husband liked it though and the kids around me were giggling.

I loved the addition of the Queen and the reworked Carlotta character.

One of the more frustrating aspects of the movie is Ariel’s sisters. They’re all rulers of their own oceans which I think is a fantastic premise but it’s never explored and they’re relegated to fancy looking background actors. It’s very much like Princess Irulan in the 80’s version of DUNE, just a very expensive background actor.

I loved the land settings and found myself wanting to walk around the island, the market scene and lagoon were something straight out of a Disney park. Jodi Benson’s cameo is really cute and very much a wink to Ariel. It did make me miss a Paige O’Hara cameo in Beauty and the Beast.

Surprisingly, one of the major scene stealers is Vanessa. Even though she’s on screen for about three minutes she really makes the most of it! She’s very physical and animated. I wouldn’t be surprised if Disney reuse her for future products.

Overall, the movie is positive experience. It’s gorgeous to look at, at times, and is a perfect escape from a cruel world. The film had far more interesting ideas than it actually executes. The third act is the strongest part of the movie. Not perfect by a long shot but I’d say it’s the best princess remake bar Cinderella. Although Halle’s Ariel is FAR more interesting a heroine than Lily’s Cinderella.

[Jon]

Saw it tonight and while it's not better than the original film, it's still enjoyable. The stars of the films are Halley Bailey, Melissa McCarthy and Daveed Diggs who bring so much when they are on screen, the sequences underwater were good but the scenes on land were surprisingly better because the Kingdom felt like a real living place and not CGI.

The only real weaknesses were Flounder and Triton which I don't blame the performer for but Flounder is restricted by being a fish so can't do much once they get to the land scenes and Triton came across as fairly cold as a character.

Overall I think this is one of the better Disney live action remakes, I do want to see Snow White next year and interested what they plan to do with it.

[anthony40]

So, I saw this and liked, very much.

The Little Mermaid is in top two of my favourite Disney movies.

A couple of observations; the included the dinglehopper, but not the snarfbuffler.

I was little disappointed by the use of CGI and blue/green screen- especially the shark and one scene where Prince Eric was on the rigging.

When underwater, I loved the consistent fluidity.

Under The Sea- the colours, the dolphins, the turtles- even the (blink and miss it) manatee.

It's interesting that all merfolk can breathe just as easily above the water as what they can under the water- despite not having gills.

What I found interesting about the songs, is the write this bloody great score and song that were good enough for the original film that had stood the test of time all these years.

I remember at the time both Under The Sea and Kiss The Girl being performed at the Academy Awards.

Then they decide to put the show on Broadway so write some additional songs- some of which are pretty good. However when the remake the film, none of these new songs make to cut- only to be replaced by additional songs.

I felt that Melissa McCarthy was loving ever second as Ursula and Javier Bardem was perfect as King Triton.

I also found it interesting that when she grew to gigantic proportions how Ursula was skewered by a sunken ship. No I appreciate this is what happens in the original film however on my DVD extras of the original film, it was the one thing they said that they would change if they could.

Even though good will always overcome evil,despite the fact that Ursula is a witch, having her perish in the ay that she does is not something that sits comfortably with Disney.

[theatrelover97]

I quite enjoyed it through the land scenes where the film has its heart rather than the underwater scenes (arguably the best parts of the original).