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This movie is a little bit controversial of course because of Disney's decision to cast a Black girl as the lead mermaid, when the mermaid in their original movie was a white girl with bright red hair. And of course anyone who objects in any way to them changing a classic character in this way is called a hateful racist, which in some cases may be true, but it's just as likely the objector just doesn't want to see an existing famous Disney character substantially changed. The same objector might have a problem with "The Princess and the Frog" being remade with a white redhead playing Tiana. The only reason they didn't remake that movie instead of "Mermaid" is because it was not very successful upon its original release. "Mermaid" looked much better from the marketing standpoint.
That said -- is the new "Little Mermaid" good? Yes, I enjoyed it a lot. Does it have problems? Yes, but the good stuff generally outweighs the bad.
The story, for anyone who needs to know, is about a mermaid, Ariel, who longs to live "like humans do" and see the world above the water. Her father, King Triton, is against this and wants her to stay underwater where she belongs because humans are hateful creatures who are destroying the planet. Ariel of course disobeys Dad, goes fooling around above the water, and rescues a handsome dude, Eric, who is injured during a shipwreck, and they immediately fall in love. Ariel, who really wants to reconnect with Eric, is convinced by the very evil sea witch, Ursula, to make a deal whereby she can grow a pair of legs and venture to the surface to track down her beloved. The conditions: She'll have to do it without her voice, which Ursula keeps locked away, under the condition that Ariel needs to get "true love's kiss" from her beloved within 3 days in order to recover her voice and live happily ever after. The wrinkle: Ursula throws in another feature to the evil spell, which is that Ariel won't know that she needs the crucial kiss.
So what's good? The biggest positive here is the overall production. The picture is gorgeous to look at right from the very first shot, of a stormy ocean in slow motion. But the underwater scenes are where it really pops. Between this and Avatar and the Nemo series, Disney is really cornering the market with underwater movies. I was left wondering where the live action ended and the animation began, especially when it came to the mer-people.
Melissa McCarthy is the movie's secret weapon, and is outstanding as Ursula, the evil sea witch. She is pretty fearsome and will probably induce a nightmare or two. There's a little talk about "why" she is as evil as she is, but it's not fleshed out enough. I suspect there's a movie all about her brewing, along the lines of "Maleficent."
Halle Bailey does a credible but not outstanding take on Ariel. She's basically your typical Disney princess. She's got a great singing voice and carries the part well. She's less convincing during the long segment of the movie where she can't speak.
Jonah Hauer-King is good as Eric, but he's got the world's blandest singing voice ever. They should have overdubbed him, although the overblown arrangement of his big showcase song might be just as much the cause of the problem with it.
My least favorite character was King Triton, played by Javier Bardem. For one thing, he looked to be in his mid-30s with long gray hair and beard pasted on, so I think that's what bugged me about him. He didn't seem old and wise like the typical "Disney dad" is.
I also thought the sidekick characters, Sebastian (a crab) and Flounder (a flounder), were much better and funnier, and looked better, in the original animated movie. The exception was Scuttle, played by Awkwafina, who was funny and had great "attitude." They could have used more of her in the movie.
Next, there are three new songs which pale in comparison to the originals. One, "The Scuttlebutt," is a rap that seems out of place in the movie. It's performed by Awkwafina. The rap goes by so fast that it's hard to understand the words. The kids might really dig it though. These songs, and other scenes which seem to drag, make the movie feel padded. Why do filmmakers today feel like every movie has to be 130 minutes or more? They could have easily lopped at least 20 minutes off of this movie and improved it substantially.
All Disney movies these days are required by law to contain at least one of every race of people known to mankind whether it makes sense to the story or not, but how to accomplish this in a movie about sea creatures? Easy, give King Triton seven "daughters of the seven seas," and who therefore are all different nationalities. This has the effect of making him look like the biggest man-whore ever. This group of mermaids are the sexiest Disney females this side of Jessica Rabbit, with a lot of the costuming appearing to be just painted on, but they're completely unnecessary to the story and are merely window dressing.
Overall I enjoyed it and I think it will be a crowd pleaser. Our first night crowd stayed riveted to their seats, which is a good barometer for a kids' movie; if they're running around a lot, they're bored. They sat still for this one.
Three out of five stars from me. Out of all the live-action Disney remakes, Cinderella remains my favorite.
That said -- is the new "Little Mermaid" good? Yes, I enjoyed it a lot. Does it have problems? Yes, but the good stuff generally outweighs the bad.
The story, for anyone who needs to know, is about a mermaid, Ariel, who longs to live "like humans do" and see the world above the water. Her father, King Triton, is against this and wants her to stay underwater where she belongs because humans are hateful creatures who are destroying the planet. Ariel of course disobeys Dad, goes fooling around above the water, and rescues a handsome dude, Eric, who is injured during a shipwreck, and they immediately fall in love. Ariel, who really wants to reconnect with Eric, is convinced by the very evil sea witch, Ursula, to make a deal whereby she can grow a pair of legs and venture to the surface to track down her beloved. The conditions: She'll have to do it without her voice, which Ursula keeps locked away, under the condition that Ariel needs to get "true love's kiss" from her beloved within 3 days in order to recover her voice and live happily ever after. The wrinkle: Ursula throws in another feature to the evil spell, which is that Ariel won't know that she needs the crucial kiss.
So what's good? The biggest positive here is the overall production. The picture is gorgeous to look at right from the very first shot, of a stormy ocean in slow motion. But the underwater scenes are where it really pops. Between this and Avatar and the Nemo series, Disney is really cornering the market with underwater movies. I was left wondering where the live action ended and the animation began, especially when it came to the mer-people.
Melissa McCarthy is the movie's secret weapon, and is outstanding as Ursula, the evil sea witch. She is pretty fearsome and will probably induce a nightmare or two. There's a little talk about "why" she is as evil as she is, but it's not fleshed out enough. I suspect there's a movie all about her brewing, along the lines of "Maleficent."
Halle Bailey does a credible but not outstanding take on Ariel. She's basically your typical Disney princess. She's got a great singing voice and carries the part well. She's less convincing during the long segment of the movie where she can't speak.
Jonah Hauer-King is good as Eric, but he's got the world's blandest singing voice ever. They should have overdubbed him, although the overblown arrangement of his big showcase song might be just as much the cause of the problem with it.
My least favorite character was King Triton, played by Javier Bardem. For one thing, he looked to be in his mid-30s with long gray hair and beard pasted on, so I think that's what bugged me about him. He didn't seem old and wise like the typical "Disney dad" is.
I also thought the sidekick characters, Sebastian (a crab) and Flounder (a flounder), were much better and funnier, and looked better, in the original animated movie. The exception was Scuttle, played by Awkwafina, who was funny and had great "attitude." They could have used more of her in the movie.
Next, there are three new songs which pale in comparison to the originals. One, "The Scuttlebutt," is a rap that seems out of place in the movie. It's performed by Awkwafina. The rap goes by so fast that it's hard to understand the words. The kids might really dig it though. These songs, and other scenes which seem to drag, make the movie feel padded. Why do filmmakers today feel like every movie has to be 130 minutes or more? They could have easily lopped at least 20 minutes off of this movie and improved it substantially.
All Disney movies these days are required by law to contain at least one of every race of people known to mankind whether it makes sense to the story or not, but how to accomplish this in a movie about sea creatures? Easy, give King Triton seven "daughters of the seven seas," and who therefore are all different nationalities. This has the effect of making him look like the biggest man-whore ever. This group of mermaids are the sexiest Disney females this side of Jessica Rabbit, with a lot of the costuming appearing to be just painted on, but they're completely unnecessary to the story and are merely window dressing.
Overall I enjoyed it and I think it will be a crowd pleaser. Our first night crowd stayed riveted to their seats, which is a good barometer for a kids' movie; if they're running around a lot, they're bored. They sat still for this one.
Three out of five stars from me. Out of all the live-action Disney remakes, Cinderella remains my favorite.
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