The Little Mermaid (Live-Action)

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robster16
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Re: The Little Mermaid (Live-Action)

Post by robster16 »

Marce82 wrote: Sun Mar 19, 2023 10:57 pm POYW with footage! Sorry if it's already been shared:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUYjfKmXQYw

I find her performance at the end of the song... laughable.
"laughable" ... might I ask why?!
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DisneyFan09
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Re: The Little Mermaid (Live-Action)

Post by DisneyFan09 »

Well, the sequence is not bad. Despite how it would`ve looked better in full-screen form. My favorite part was when Ariel looked at the book.
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Re: The Little Mermaid (Live-Action)

Post by Disney Duster »

PatchofBlue wrote: Sat Mar 18, 2023 12:32 am
Disney Duster wrote: Fri Mar 17, 2023 10:19 pm What did Halle say about her hair flip in the trailer reaction? I couldn't hear.
Something like "I almost broke my head doing that. My hair was so heavy."
I forgot to say thank you!
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Farerb
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Re: The Little Mermaid (Live-Action)

Post by Farerb »

HALLE BAILEY DIVES RIGHT INTO HOLLYWOOD
https://editionml.com/halle-bailey-cove ... le-mermaid
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PatchofBlue
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Re: The Little Mermaid (Live-Action)

Post by PatchofBlue »

Disney Duster wrote: Mon Mar 20, 2023 9:01 am
PatchofBlue wrote: Sat Mar 18, 2023 12:32 am

Something like "I almost broke my head doing that. My hair was so heavy."
I forgot to say thank you!

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Anyway, Bailey is quickly proving her mettle with me. Between the brief glimpses of her acting from the trailer and hearing the full rendition of "Part of Your World," I'm starting to appreciate how she balances Ariel's innocence with an undeniable wisdom that is often lost on people. Not every performer knows how to bridge that divide with Ariel, and it bodes well for this movie that Bailey is playing Ariel as a whole character.
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Re: The Little Mermaid (Live-Action)

Post by PatrickvD »

Halle pulls off some seriously amazing vocals. The way she transitions into singing is indicative of great musical sensibilities. She makes it her own in certain places but largely honors the song as it is. She belts towards the end in much subtler way than Sierra Bogges. I honestly love it.

People are so hung up on the culture war debate, they can’t see what’s right in front of their eyes: Halle is going to absolutely eat this up.

She’s probably the most perfectly cast actor in any of the live action remakes thus far. Unlike the stunt castings of Emma Watson, Will Smith and Beyoncé. There’s no distracting star power. Just pure talent and charisma.
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Re: The Little Mermaid (Live-Action)

Post by Disney Duster »

Interesting opinion, PatrickvD. Maybe you're right.

PatchofBlue, what kind of things are Ariel's wisdom? I just never thought of her as wise before. Is it that she knows humans aren't bad?
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PatchofBlue
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Re: The Little Mermaid (Live-Action)

Post by PatchofBlue »

Disney Duster wrote: Mon Mar 20, 2023 10:59 pm
PatchofBlue, what kind of things are Ariel's wisdom? I just never thought of her as wise before. Is it that she knows humans aren't bad?
At its root, I guess.

Ariel occupies this weird space where she is lacking in life experience, which obviously leaves her vulnerable to someone like Ursula, and her wide-eyed enthusiasm is just such an intrinsic part of who she is. At the same time, she naturally comes across and internalizes human truths that are lost on more experienced people in her network. It's one of the fun contradictions within her character that makes her so interesting.

As it pertains to Bailey, from the few clips we've seen of her acting, I just feel like she's leading with Ariel's curiosity over something like Ariel's hyper-activity, and I don't feel like that's the natural instinct of every performer.
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Re: The Little Mermaid (Live-Action)

Post by Marce82 »

Hey Robster16,

When she goes "love to explore that shore up abo---oohh---oohhhh---ve"... the way she extends her hand (which she syncs with her changes in notes/flourishes), combined with the (ridiculous) horizontal shot of her hand coming out... makes it seem like she is reaching for something tangible, as opposed to the abstract concept of a world beyond her reach.
And then when she goes into "out of the sea, wish I could be"... she is doing nothing facially or with her body. She is clearly trying to match her "pretty vocals" instead of acting what the character is feeling in the moment. And even when she closes her eyes during the "beee-eee-eeeee"... that is a singer at a studio in front of a mic. C'mon...

Goes back to my reading of the way the song was sung here: pretty, slightly intended to show-off her vocals. The emotions of the character are secondary, if there at all.

And... continuity thing: she swims up to the point where she extends her hand... but the final shot, the camera pulls away and she is sitting. What happened there?!!?
Or for that matter... when her hands extends out, the horizontal shot shows her hand going through an opening in the rocks... but in the other shots, there is clearly no rocks around her hand.

As for her acting in general... in the trailer, when she says "A man was drowning; I had to save him". Boy... that is wooden. This is a teenager who has been caught breaking a major rule, and knows there is about to be a big reaction from her father. And there is zero emotion there. Shouldn't she be worried? Hesitant? Ashamed? Apprehensive? ANYTHING????

Or when she says to Ursula "is that even possible?".... no expression. AT ALL. Facial or body.

It's not that I'm trying to bash her. I was hopeful for a good performance. And I don't even fully blame HER...
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Vlad
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Re: The Little Mermaid (Live-Action)

Post by Vlad »

I noticed that too, Marce. She just swims up, extending her hand, but on the next shot, she's already sitting down. I don't get it. I do like her performance of the song, especially during the "wanderin' free, wish I could be part of that world." But yeah, I hate the last "wish I could beeeeeeee", it kinda ruins the moment for me.

I agree about the "Is that even possible?" line, it sounded kinda bland, emotionless. I did like how she delivered the "A man was drowning, I had to save him". Her voice kinda trembled, and she sounded scared of her father, I did like that. But there was a picture of her and Eric in a carriage, and they both looked like they wished they were anyplace else than there. :lol: :lol: :lol: I hope that that was a behind the scenes picture, and now how they actually looked in the scene itself.

They keep saying that the love story is not the central point of the story. I wonder if Ariel and Eric will get married in the end in the remake. Will they remain friends? Will they make up a story of her wanting to travel the world and experience everything it has to offer? I'm really curious about it.
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Re: The Little Mermaid (Live-Action)

Post by Disney Duster »

Ok, PatchofBlue, you may be right, but, could I have examples?

Oh, Marce82...yeah, you may be right, but I do understand she was doing, "A man was drowning; I had to save him" all serious because she thought it was a matter-of-fact thing.
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Re: The Little Mermaid (Live-Action)

Post by Marce82 »

Hey PatchOfBlue,

What are the "human truths" you are referring to?
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PatchofBlue
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Re: The Little Mermaid (Live-Action)

Post by PatchofBlue »

What human truths? I guess that it's better to live by hope rather than by fear. That communities you don't understand might actually be deserving of your respect. Things like that.

Don't know if I can parse out specific actions from the film that I'd classify as "wise" except her general ethos to see goodness and humanity where her culture refuses to. If we wanted to look beyond just the animated film, though, I can think of a few instances of her showing similar attributes.

In an episode of the animated series, "Thingamajigger," you have the entire kingdom in a hoopla when they think that a human boot that fell from the surface is actually some weapon of mass destruction. The Evil Manta (I think that's his name) is basically using it to hold all of Atlantica under siege, and when Ariel figures out that the boot is just a boot, she dupes him into surrendering by flashing two boots at the same time. I'd classify that as more cleverness than wisdom, but it still shows that she has a sharp mind.

I'm also running through the Kingdom Hearts games on Switch, and in the "Chain of Memories" storyline, you have that denouement where Sora suggests that Ariel just blame Ursula for taking the trident so she won't get in trouble. Ariel decides that she's instead going to take responsibility for stealing the trident, reasoning that even if it wasn't the wisest choice, she did it because she thought it would save Flounder, and that's something she's proud of. She reasons that pinning it all on Ursula would somehow be a betrayal of those feelings, which ... I'll give her that one.

If I sat here long enough, I could probably think of more, but for now that's my case for Ariel.
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Re: The Little Mermaid (Live-Action)

Post by Disney's Divinity »

I agree with others, that Bailey seems very wooden in most of her line readings. We already knew her vocals were her only selling point and that she probably wouldn't be a notable actor. It's just a shame her vocals aren't more of a theatrical lane.

I'd say her voice on its own is capable of doing much more technically than someone like Naomi Scott, for example, but Naomi Scott was a better singer as far as giving maximum emotion, imo. I'd rather have had weaker vocals with some emotion over octave jumps and key changes that are largely lifeless for songs like POYW in particular. Not being able to give off much emotion is probably tied into the acting limitations, I suppose. Even someone like Mena Massoud--who's singing ability was mostly non-existent like Emma Watson--gave off a lot of emotion just from talk-singing in the OJA reprises. Personally, I thought Beyonce, Will Smith, and Emma Watson were all strong picks for the roles they had unlike most of the actors cast in this movie aside from Tremblay and Awkwafina. :shrug:
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Re: The Little Mermaid (Live-Action)

Post by Farerb »

Halle Bailey Spent 13 Hours a Day in Water Filming Parts of ‘Little Mermaid,’ Praises Disney for Story Update: Ariel Doesn’t ‘Leave the Ocean for a Boy’
https://variety.com/2023/film/news/hall ... 235561966/
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Re: The Little Mermaid (Live-Action)

Post by Sotiris »

Does Disney not realize that focusing on this type of narrative to promote the film does more harm than good? They just give more ammunition to the detractors. Criticizing the beloved original is not a good strategy. You're not going to win people over doing that.
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Re: The Little Mermaid (Live-Action)

Post by Disney Duster »

Oh, ok, PatchofBlue. Well, I wanted to just know what about Ariel from the original film is wise because that's canon, but I think you did explain why she has some wisdom in that film. She was also clever with the shark.
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Marce82
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Re: The Little Mermaid (Live-Action)

Post by Marce82 »

Ok, a lot to address here, so I will try to go in order:

Vlad (teppy!): there may have been a mild tremble in her voice during the "a man was drowning" line... but there is zero expression her face and body. Right now, I am more concerned with her acting than her singing.

Duster: It may have been matter-of-fact... but this is a teenager getting caught. No way that would be her state of mind.

PatchofBlue: hmmm... not sure I agree with your perception of Ariel as wise. Maybe open minded, based on her lack of experience (like you commented). She may be less bigoted against humans than her father, but Triton does have a reason for his disdain: "harpooning fish-eaters" is a pretty fair perception of the human world, particularly a seaside kingdom. I wonder how Ariel would feel if flounder had been fished and served for dinner...
I think Ariel is not knowledgeable about humans, but more curious about them BECAUSE she doesn't know much about them.

I'm afraid I, like DisneyDuster here, only consider the film to be canon. All other iterations are of no value to me when considering her character.

One thing I saw on a video recently: during the shark chase, Ariel loses her bag, and goes back to get it, even though the shark is close. She recklessly puts herself at risk to get "her treasures" back. And yet later in the same scene, when Flounder is at risk, she drops her bag like it's completely unimportant to go save him. Flounder's safety matters way more to her than even her own safety. What a great character moment!

Disney's Divinity, I fully agree with what you say about Halle Bailey in general, and the comparison to Naomi Scott. (not so much about Emma Watson hehe).

Interesting they haven't released any of the other songs...

I am very curious about this film, and yet I am pretty sure I won't like it.
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Re: The Little Mermaid (Live-Action)

Post by Farerb »

Marce82 wrote: Thu Mar 23, 2023 12:44 am I am very curious about this film, and yet I am pretty sure I won't like it.
I WAS curious about this film until that trailer, now I'm not sure I'll go watch it at all. I still promised my nieces I'd take them but it feels like such a waste of time. I still want to listen to the score though. The score in Beauty and the Beast was the only thing I liked about it, but then Disney was cheaper with The Lion King and Aladdin so it might be more similar to those and then I wouldn't care about it.
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Re: The Little Mermaid (Live-Action)

Post by Marce82 »

Oh, fareb... I'm curious, but I decided a while ago I am not paying to see this film. I will just wait for it to be on Disney+. I refuse to give money to Disney for yet another crap-remake.
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