I had my title all ready to go if I really didn't like this movie: 'The Little Mermaid' REVIEW: The human world, it's a mess. Alas, it wasn't meant to be, as this is my favorite of the live-action Disney remakes thus far.
This adaptation follows its source material, the 1989 Disney animated film The Little Mermaid, fairly closely with some changes that complicate a few key characters and relationships. Ariel (Halle Bailey) is a young mermaid princess whose father King Triton (Javier Bardem) has forbidden her from going to the surface and interacting with humans after one killed her mother. Ariel, however, is something akin to a budding anthropologist who religiously studies and collects human artifacts. One night, she watches a shipwreck and rescues a handsome young sailor from drowning with her siren song. This sailor, Eric (Jonah Hauer-King), is the wanderlust-struck prince of the island and is completely bewitched by the song, sending out daily search parties to search for the mystery girl who saved him.
Ariel, too, is taken with the young man and, after her father destroys her collection of human artifacts, she makes a deal with sea witch Ursula (Melissa McCarthy) to become human. In this version, Ursula is Triton's banished younger sister hellbent on getting back at her big brother for banishing her. Additionally, this time around, Ursula adds a second secret spell to her potion, one that makes Ariel forget about the true love's kiss aspect of their bargain.
Ariel heads to the surface as a human and although she cannot speak, the audience is privy to some of her inner thoughts by way of song. She is found by a fisherman and conveniently brought to the castle. She finds a room similar to her own cavern of treasures filled with things Eric has collected over his journeys, establishing a deeper connection between these characters than is shown in the animated film. The next day, Eric shows her the island (peep the original 1989 voice of Ariel, Jodi Benson, in a cameo during the market scene) and the two end up in a rowboat in the lagoon where Ariel's animal friends try to orchestrate the kiss on her behalf.
Ursula decides her plan is too close to failing and heads to the surface in possession of Ariel's voice and siren song, disguised as a pretty brunette named Vanessa. Eric, already conflicted between Ariel and his mystery girl, hears the song again and is bewitched, bothered, and bewildered. The next morning, Ariel finds Eric and Vanessa engaged and there's a lot of back and forth before Ariel and Co. break up the engagement party. Ariel gets her voice and tail back and Ursula drags Ariel back into the ocean. Triton confronts Ursula and gives his triton in exchange for Ariel's freedom. Ursula immediately kills Triton (lol) and Ariel and Eric fight in the water to kill her.
The sea witch sizes up to Godzilla proportions (something that in the animated movie did NOT give me a kick of megalohydrothalassophobia, or fear of large objects in water, but certainly did in the live-action) and creates the iconic whirlpool that raises the sunken ships from the seabed. Breaking from the animated version, Ariel is the one to steer the ship that pierces Ursula's heart, killing her and restoring Triton.
Ariel and Triton reunite but it takes some time before Triton changes her back into a human. The movie ends with Eric and Ariel marrying and sailing off to find unchartered oceans, their two worlds uniting to send them off.
There's been buzz surrounding this adaptation for years, often hinging on the fact that some racist people don't like the idea of a black woman playing a fictional half-fish/half-human character that was originally drawn as white. If you're one of those people, I truly hope you see the movie and are confronted with how talented Halle Bailey is, how deserved this role was, and begin the journey of unlearning your racist beliefs.
More recently, there's been buzz about the character design of Ariel's animal friends, Sebastian (voiced by Daveed Diggs) and Flounder (voiced by Jacob Tremblay). In the animated movie, these characters have a friendly, stylized appearance. The characters in this version look anything but friendly. Flounder is downright emaciated. Sebastian looks like an actual crab, which I wouldn't have said is a bad thing until I saw him. Let's just say I prefer the animated buddies to the CGI ones. A lot of the CGI across the movie was fine if a little jerky. I could see whole segments of twisting B-roll CGI that looked ready-made for a new ride at a Disney theme park. The underwater bits, especially the background fish and merpeople, were realistic enough but these main characters were unsettling and definitely something I chose to gloss over while watching.
The soundtrack was another aspect to receive revisions. The original score by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken remains beloved even 30+ years on, but this adaptation decided to switch things up. No "Les Poissons," the song sung by the French chef as he tries to cook Sebastian. No "Daughters of Triton," although Ariel's sisters do get more screen time in the live-action version. A revised sea shanty version of "Fathoms Below" that is far earthier and doesn't open the movie. Additions to the soundtrack include a ballad for Eric, a rhythmic song sung by Ariel as she discovers land, and a rap performed by Scuttle (Awkwafina) and Sebastian informing Ariel of Eric's engagement.
Lin-Manuel Miranda worked with mixed results alongside Alan Menken to write the new songs. Ariel's song "For the First Time" is the best addition, giving us insight into her emotions as she is unable to speak. It's catchy, dynamic, and importantly feels in-character. Eric's ballad "Wild Uncharted Waters" is fine but certainly not memorable. He sings about feeling drawn to the mystery girl using various sea-related metaphors. I like the idea of Eric having a song to add depth to his character, but this was just bland. The worst addition is without question "The Scuttlebutt," a song that sounds like it was written by Lin-Manuel Miranda in the most egregious way possible.
I wouldn't say that I'm inherently a Lin-Manuel Miranda hater. I listened to Hamilton along with the rest of the world and can still sing every word of "The Battle of Yorktown." But what was originally so cool and different has now been regurgitated over and over again. Ironically, I think that my opinion of Lin-Manuel Miranda is very similar to my opinion of Awkwafina, the main performer in "The Scuttlebutt." I think both are talented individuals, but I like them best when they are actively trying to do something outside of their repertoire. Both are good enough to give us something more, something different, but settle for giving the same performance over and over again just because it's commercially lucrative. Nowhere is that more visible than "The Scuttlebutt," a song so out of place in this soundtrack that it's distracting.
The rerecords of the original songs fared much better, with one notable exception that I'll get to later. First, let me just say that Halle Bailey sounds so good in Ariel's numbers. "Part of Your World" was every bit the standout I Want Song that Ashman intended it to be. I wish they'd written her five more songs, including a song with Eric. I liked Jonah Hauer-King's voice and would have loved to be given a new classic Disney duet with these two specifically.
I'd heard somewhere that Disney had decided to scrap "Kiss the Girl" completely over objections based on how the song portrays consent. I'm happy to report that this is not the case. The song is still there, just with some lyrics adjusted to portray a more consenting interaction between Eric and Ariel. Although I probably prefer the original more for both "Kiss the Girl" and "Poor Unfortunate Souls," these versions did hold up.
I wish that could be said for "Under the Sea."
While watching "Under the Sea," I tried to pinpoint what exactly was wrong with it (as if there was only one thing wrong with it). After the movie, I listen to the original version and the live-action version a few times to compare. Because while I couldn't put my finger on all of it in the theater, I immediately knew something was wrong. My conclusion is that the live-action is lighter, higher, softer, and the vocals aren't as punchy. The chorus of fish and brass instruments are missing from the first 75% of the song, meaning it's Daveed Diggs, steel drums, and electric bass carrying the number. Even when the brass comes in, I don't hear the super low tuba notes in the live action that roots and punches the bass of the animated version. It's just way weaker, which is disappointing from the high-point musical number. I wanted to see and hear the explosive joy of the ocean, but it fell short.
Aesthetically, the movie made some interesting choices that I enjoyed. It's definitely a Pretty Background Movie, with a lush undersea world and hybrid Caribbean-Mediterranean vibe above the sea. I loved the tilework in Eric's palace and the shots of deep blue waves. The location is undefined, much like the animated movie that blended the Danish setting of Hans Christian Anderson's original story and the Caribbean-inspired music of Ashman and Menken. It certainly leaned more heavily Caribbean above the sea than the original movie, but that worked visually. The design of the castle and market kept the land scenes as visually vibrant as those under the sea. The score leaned into the shift with a lot more steel drum action than before. I like steel drums a lot and didn't think much about them being included until they were actually shown onscreen, which drew me out a bit because steel drums as we know them weren't invented in the 1930s. Still, I can appreciate using them as shorthand to establish a locale.
One critique that has arisen over the last 30 years about the original Disney movie is that the movie portrays an antiquated message for little girls. Ariel changes herself significantly, giving up her voice, to be with a man—even worse, a man she doesn't know at all. I would argue that "Part of Your World" negates that analysis, showing Ariel is fascinated with the human world long before she claps eyes on Eric. Ariel can't turn herself into a human and only has the opportunity presented to her after meeting Eric, but I would imagine given the textual evidence in her I Want song that she'd have taken it before seeing Eric anyway.
Still, this version does attempt to address these objections from the get-go. Ariel sings "Part of Your World" before seeing Eric, firmly establishing her desire for human life outside of a romantic attachment. Then, in "For the First Time," Ariel questions internally what she has given up, even as she is excited by various mundane aspects of life above the surface outside Eric. After meeting, the two spend far more time on-screen together and have shared interests and hobbies. It's still abbreviated, but these scenes do offer more of a foundation for their relationship than the "love at first sight" trope. The use of the siren song was at first an odd choice to me, seeming to indicate that the love Eric feels is just a spell. The movie, though, goes out of its way to show the conflicting feelings that arise when he spends time with Ariel, indicating that their connection is true and far stronger than any magical love song/spell.
Finally, Ariel is given agency in the final battle, being the one to steer the ship into Ursula. I assume this was a choice made to firmly establish Ariel as a strong female lead that doesn't need to be rescued. I didn't think it was necessary. Ariel has always been headstrong, rebelling against her father and venturing out into the unknown simply because she wanted to learn more about a different culture. If anything, I thought this was a bit of a Mary Sue moment because how would she know how to steer a ship? She has presumably watched one ship wreck (and she was mostly preoccupied with watching Eric) and her knowledge of human artifacts has exclusively been provided by Scuttle and has been grossly inaccurate. I don't buy it. I also felt like that was the one thing Eric was good at and could contribute. Without it, he becomes a bit of a damsel in distress himself. But, ultimately, it didn't detract from my enjoyment and the scenes of the two bonding over their love for treasure and knowledge did greatly add to my enjoyment.
Halle Bailey was a wonderful Ariel, keeping my attention even during the portions where she couldn't speak. Jonah Hauer-King was very good if a little nondescript. I bought their chemistry together, though. Melissa McCarthy was an enjoyable Ursula, not straying too over the top but still retaining Ursula's chaos and dramatic flair. Javier Bardem was different from the Triton I had envisioned but still made it work. Noma Dumezweni and Art Malik as Eric's mother and Grimsby respectively were enjoyable although their characters never fully rounded out. The voice performances are, on the whole, best forgotten, although Daveed Diggs did deliver some funny lines.
Overall
3 stars out of 5.
End Credits: 2/5
The end credits rolled through scenes of the ocean floor that really *dove* out of the established art style. It was a few degrees more stylized than the rest of the movie, which came across as very Uncanny Valley. I would have enjoyed a new end-credit song (maybe something with Jodi Benson and Halle Bailey?), but instead, we just ran through "Under the Sea" again and then got hit with orchestration. I appreciate the effort but it fell very flat.
Soundtrack: 3.5/5
This is a toughie because when it's good, it's good. And when it's bad, it's Awkwafina singing Lin-Manuel Miranda. The orchestrations are lovely and fuller than I remember the first soundtrack being. The instrumental numbers along with the original Howard Ashman/Alan Menken songs override the pleasant-but-bland addition "Wild Uncharted Waters" and the complete travesty that is "The Scuttlebut." But then, they also butcher "Under the Sea" and force you to listen to it twice. Upsetting.
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