The Little Mermaid (Live-Action)

[Disney's Divinity]

Apparently the "All Critics" score is 67% and the "Verified Audience" score is 95%--the "top critics" score and "all audience" scores are both 47%.

TBH, I'm not surprised about critics, but I thought the audience would be higher (even accounting for "review bombing"). That said, this one was still what I'd call more unfaithful than B&tB and Aladdin (and of course TLK, which is more extreme in its faithfulness than those) even if thank God it wasn't massively overhauled like the godawful Mulan (among others), but I get how someone's perception of the changes may feel different depending on who you are. To me, the biggest things are cutting three of the original songs, no sea palace, no scroll or rainbow at the end, the sisters' and Carlotta's name changes--otherwise, I was sort of fine with everything else, but there are other things that may hit you harder depending on who you are. None of Ariel's outfits or Eric's outfits from the original making an appearance, for example--the only ones I majorly miss are the wedding outfits, I always loved those especially Eric's.

Honestly, I think the only reason the film ended up being as faithful as it was was because of the massive backlash throughout development over the initial changes making them nervous--I think Ursula-Triton's backstory, Ariel's mother, Eric's adoptive mother, the Coral Moon, etc. all would've been more dominant in the story if that hadn't happened. It was obvious throughout that Disney was keeping eyes on the fandom online. Almost any time there was something posted here that was critical, there would be some article or PR response to that criticism somewhere in the media (that was then posted here) like a call and response. But of course I know there are Disney employees who watch here and even post, so I'm not surprised.

[Farerb]

China Box Office: ‘Fast X’ Wins Second Weekend, While ‘The Little Mermaid’ Flop Sparks Debate on Racism, Casting and Political Correctness
https://variety.com/2023/film/news/chin ... 235627599/

[The_Iceflash]

Apparently the "All Critics" score is 67% and the "Verified Audience" score is 95%--the "top critics" score and "all audience" scores are both 47%.

TBH, I'm not surprised about critics, but I thought the audience would be higher (even accounting for "review bombing"). That said, this one was still what I'd call more unfaithful than B&tB and Aladdin (and of course TLK, which is more extreme in its faithfulness than those) even if thank God it wasn't massively overhauled like the godawful Mulan (among others), but I get how someone's perception of the changes may feel different depending on who you are. To me, the biggest things are cutting three of the original songs, no sea palace, no scroll or rainbow at the end, the sisters' and Carlotta's name changes--otherwise, I was sort of fine with everything else, but there are other things that may hit you harder depending on who you are. None of Ariel's outfits or Eric's outfits from the original making an appearance, for example--the only ones I majorly miss are the wedding outfits, I always loved those especially Eric's.

Honestly, I think the only reason the film ended up being as faithful as it was was because of the massive backlash throughout development over the initial changes making them nervous--I think Ursula-Triton's backstory, Ariel's mother, Eric's adoptive mother, the Coral Moon, etc. all would've been more dominant in the story if that hadn't happened. It was obvious throughout that Disney was keeping eyes on the fandom online. Almost any time there was something posted here that was critical, there would be some article or PR response to that criticism somewhere in the media (that was then posted here) like a call and response. But of course I know there are Disney employees who watch here and even post, so I'm not surprised.

Tbh, I feel like if there were actually employees reading and making decisions based on backlash we wouldn’t even be seeing remakes being made anymore.

[carolinakid]

The Little Mermaid 2023, not a huge hit, but not a disaster.
Strange World....THAT was a disaster.

[D23ExpoVisitor25]

The Little Mermaid 2023, not a huge hit, but not a disaster.
Strange World....THAT was a disaster.

At least TLM won’t be as big a disaster as Elemental and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny now look to be.

And with Haunted Mansion (which is said to be good) and The Marvels looking like wild cards, Disney better start ampin’ up all the marketing & promotion for their big finale event film for Disney’s 100 Anniversary in Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Wish. And they’d better do it ASAP.

[Disney Duster]

You still don't think this was faithful, Divinity?! At least you liked the remake of your favorite film, no surprise there! I liked Ariel touching the fire, too, by the way. There's other things we agree on, but I say them below.

Lord-of-sith, yes, you were so right about how Ariel defeated Ursula when we were afraid how stupid it would look based on that illustration.. They made it work, it wasn't silly! Well, except I didn't think it made much sense for Ursula to target Eric so much over Ariel.

DisneyFan09, actually, about Ariel's mother, Ursula is responsible for her death by disguising herself as her and making the humans on a ship get mad, and then they end up throwing a harpoon at Ariel's real mother who is also there!

SPOILERS, DON'T READ THE REST OF MY POST IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS: Ok, so TLM was a better remake but still very meh. Halle was ok. She was not amazing nor awful. Melissa was the best. I liked Havier and Jonah a lot. I liked Jonah second most, but it could have been just because he was cute. I think "Wild Uncharted Waters" is a good song and like this film's "Evermore". Jonah sounded beautiful to boot. I liked the second meeting of Ariel and Eric, it almost added to their relationship. It was funny, it connected to the all-important kiss and some suspense/tension, and it was a clever scene. Halle really acted well when Ursula made Triton disappear. Melissa really acted well when her eels got destroyed. A lot of scenes were in a bad re-ordering or bloating, like Ariel mis-managing the carriage for so long, way unnecessary, or Vanessa appearing after the Triton "What have I done?" scene coming between that and Ursula casting the spell to make herself Vanessa. I liked some of "For the First Time", but towards the end the music got all over the place. "Scuttlebutt" was terrible. My favorite parts from the original, the transformations, now sucked ass in this version. And I know Rob Marshall is gay but this was clearly made by a gay guy because Ariel just sees guys' butts and crotches through the railing when she gets on the ship for like three minutes before Eric talks. All in all, I will probably not buy this. It doesn't have the great visuals of the Cinderella or Beauty and the Beast remakes, nor as good magic scenes. It was a lesser version of the original. Oh, but there was one nice thing on its own. The directing showed the statue of Eric land on the ocean floor and then cuts to Ariel laying Eric on the beach. That was a nice touch, and there were a few other things like that, like Ariel eating stuff she shouldn't, that were nice additions but they were so small they didn't make me want to buy this thing. Oh, but I did love Ariel's tail, and her dresses, and Vanessa's two costumes, plus the scene where Scuttle realizes Vanessa is Ursula was actually one of the good alternate versions of a scene from the original, to me. Oh, and I didn't get why Ursula targeted Eric in the end battle so much. Oh, and I thought Ariel should have cried in "Part of Your World (Reprise II)". Well, that's what I thought.

[Sotiris]

‘Pennyworth’ Star Paloma Faith Slams ‘The Little Mermaid’: “Not What I Want To Be Teaching Next Gen Women”
https://deadline.com/2023/05/pennyworth ... 235382430/

The New York Times Draws Twitter Ire for Complaining ‘The Little Mermaid’ Lacks ‘Kink': ‘Go to Horny Jail’
https://www.thewrap.com/the-little-merm ... -reaction/

[Vlad Sicoe]

The first article is amusing in an ironical sense, because that's precisely what the filmmakers wanted to avoid doing in the new version.

SPOILERS, DON'T READ THE REST OF MY POST IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS: Ok, so TLM was a better remake but still very meh. Halle was ok. She was not amazing nor awful. Melissa was the best. I liked Havier and Jonah a lot. I liked Jonah second most, but it could have been just because he was cute. I think "Wild Uncharted Waters" is a good song and like this film's "Evermore". Jonah sounded beautiful to boot. I liked the second meeting of Ariel and Eric, it almost added to their relationship. It was funny, it connected to the all-important kiss and some suspense/tension, and it was a clever scene. Halle really acted well when Ursula made Triton disappear. Melissa really acted well when her eels got destroyed. A lot of scenes were in a bad re-ordering or bloating, like Ariel mis-managing the carriage for so long, way unnecessary, or Vanessa appearing after the Triton "What have I done?" scene coming between that and Ursula casting the spell to make herself Vanessa. I liked some of "For the First Time", but towards the end the music got all over the place. "Scuttlebutt" was terrible. My favorite parts from the original, the transformations, now sucked ass in this version. And I know Rob Marshall is gay but this was clearly made by a gay guy because Ariel just sees guys' butts and crotches through the railing when she gets on the ship for like three minutes before Eric talks. All in all, I will probably not buy this. It doesn't have the great visuals of the Cinderella or Beauty and the Beast remakes, nor as good magic scenes. It was a lesser version of the original. Oh, but there was one nice thing on its own. The directing showed the statue of Eric land on the ocean floor and then cuts to Ariel laying Eric on the beach. That was a nice touch, and there were a few other things like that, like Ariel eating stuff she shouldn't, that were nice additions but they were so small they didn't make me want to buy this thing. Oh, but I did love Ariel's tail, and her dresses, and Vanessa's two costumes, plus the scene where Scuttle realizes Vanessa is Ursula was actually one of the good alternate versions of a scene from the original, to me. Oh, and I didn't get why Ursula targeted Eric in the end battle so much. Oh, and I thought Ariel should have cried in "Part of Your World (Reprise II)". Well, that's what I thought.

I agree with what you said, Duster, especially your comments on Ariel driving the carriage. It went on for too long. The thing about Ursula targeting Eric in the final battle really didn't make sense at all. What I would have wanted in that sequence would have been to hear Melissa McCarthy laughing maniacally as she rose from the ocean, like in the animation. But otherwise, I thought it was an awesome climax. About the visuals, I agree about the land scenes, those were kinda bland, but the underwater scenes looked great.

[Disney's Divinity]

*SPOILERS* Yes, I do think the film was "less faithful" than B&TB and Aladdin (and of course TLK which is a little too faithful), but thankfully it was still mostly faithful overall, I would've hated it otherwise.

I also agree with McCarthy doing well after F&J are killed. If this film was PG13, I could just hear her saying, "Oh, you little bitch..." as Ariel is swimming away. But in a serious mood. It makes sense to me she might target Eric if he's the first one she can "find" in the open. Plus, to take away what Ariel loves since she killed F&J. Ursula likes to see suffering, nothing would make Ariel suffer more than killing Eric at that point. Anyway, I wouldn't say Ariel using the steering wheel is "not silly," so much as it happens so fast it barely registers. I can't remember if they showed Ariel climbing up the ship or if it just rose underneath her with her already on deck.

Also, where did the movie say Ursula killed Ariel's mother? I thought it only said she died from humans by Triton and the sisters in the scene they have with Ariel and the confrontation scene in Ariel's grotto, nothing about Ursula??

NON-SPOILERS: Anyway, I bought a few 2-packs I don't have on Blu yet from DMC with the whole 60% off deal there, hopefully the posters will still be in stock on DMI when they come, I can get the cliparty one and the other more artsy one. The Funko of Ursula is also there, maybe I might be able to get it for free, too.

[DisneyFan09]

DisneyFan09, actually, about Ariel's mother, Ursula is responsible for her death by disguising herself as her and making the humans on a ship get mad, and then they end up throwing a harpoon at Ariel's real mother who is also there!

Okay. But it`s still a pity that it was never explained in the movie.

[PatchofBlue]

‘Pennyworth’ Star Paloma Faith Slams ‘The Little Mermaid’: “Not What I Want To Be Teaching Next Gen Women”
https://deadline.com/2023/05/pennyworth ... 235382430/

WHAT?????? You mean after all the promotion Disney put in about this being a newandimproved Ariel, people STILL feel an incentive to talk down about a movie they don't bother to understand because they think their microwave insights will somehow earn them social capital??????? Who could have anticipated this???????????

[Sotiris]

^

[Disney Duster]

Thanks, Vlad. I read your review, too, and I agree with pretty much everything you said, actually. The only thing I disagree on is that fairy tales are best in animation. I think both mediums can do them well. I mean there's Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast, and Ever After. Disney's remakes have just sucked ass (I still love 2015 Cinderella though). But the under the sea parts of Mermaid I actually enjoyed more than the land (except the climax, which is above the sea, I also liked that). So we also agree there.

I have read everyone's review so far, but shout out to UmbrellaFish and Divinity, glad you liked the live-action version of your favorite film ever!

Ok Divinity, on faithfulness, just...ok! Lol You do have a very good point about Ursula making Ariel suffer if she kills Eric, and because she killed her eels. However, I feel like Ursula should have been trying to find Ariel to kill her because, I dunno, that just seems like what Ursula would do. Maybe we just disagree there. Oh, and I must say told ya so, Flotsam and Jetsam were in the film so much, with characters interacting with them, so Disney didn't put them in because of backlash! They probably didn't do anything because of backlash.

Divinity and DisneyFan09, yes, how Ariel's mother died is detailed in a book for this film, not in the actual film.

PatchofBlue, you're funny!

[Marce82]

Wait wait... was there backlash about Flotsam and Jetsam??? What happened???

[Vlad Sicoe]

Thanks, Vlad. I read your review, too, and I agree with pretty much everything you said, actually. The only thing I disagree on is that fairy tales are best in animation. I think both mediums can do them well. I mean there's Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast, and Ever After. Disney's remakes have just sucked ass (I still love 2015 Cinderella though). But the under the sea parts of Mermaid I actually enjoyed more than the land (except the climax, which is above the sea, I also liked that). So we also agree there.

Oh, I didn't mean fairy tales in general, I meant the Disney versions. I agree with you about Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast and Ever After. I meant that Disney's versions are best told through animation, because they have so many elements that don't look particularly appealing in live action.

[UmbrellaFish]

I have read everyone's review so far, but shout out to UmbrellaFish and Divinity, glad you liked the live-action version of your favorite film ever!

That’s sweet of you to say, thank you!

A few days since seeing the movie and I think the only thing that really disappointed me was the underwater scenes. It should have been a lot more fantastical like the original film— more light, more colors, the animals should have been anthropomorphized, more mermaids, Atlantica should have looked more like the movie.

It’s kinda the opposite of the original in that way— in the original the underwater scenes are the best, in the remake the land scenes are the best (omg! when Ariel helps Eric guess her name!).

[Mooky]

Having now seen the movie, I can say that I mostly liked it. Save for one major plot change, there's nothing in it that I outright hated, some story choices were odd and some supporting cast could have done better (I'll get into it below), but Halle Bailey's performance is what made this movie for me and why I'd place it in the upper echelon of these live-action remakes. She WAS Ariel -- a perfect combination of childlike wonder, adventurous spirit, and the emotional center of the movie with those wonderfully expressive eyes of hers.

I understand they needed some story-padding when translating from animation to live-action, but some plot additions didn't really do anything other than help bloat up the running time. The whole Triton-Ursula sibling subplot doesn't really expand the story so I don't understand the reasoning for its (re)inclusion at all. I struggle to even call it a subplot because outside of a couple of Ursula's lines it's never even addressed or referenced by any other character, least of all Triton, nor does it forward the plot in any meaningful way. All this to say that it was cut from the original for a reason!

Amnesia spell: not only does it add nothing to the plot, in fact it actively takes away from it, and for that reason I'd say it was the most misguided and egregious one. I'm not even sure I understand how it works because no matter how much I think about it, it doesn't make sense to me. Ariel makes a deal with Ursula but then the amnesia spell makes her forget about the crucial part of said deal, the one exact part that makes or breaks it. Like, how? Shouldn't Ariel wonder what she's doing on land in the first place then? I understand why they included it -- it's to make changes to "Kiss the Girl" more palatable and make the interaction between Ariel and Eric less about the kissing and more about them connecting in a deeper way. However, in doing this they made things worse -- they took away Ariel's agency and took out the urgency out of the whole three days rule. And in the end Ursula still sabotages them, so again, what was the point of it?

Changing the confrontation on the third day from a wedding to an engagement party was laughable. Another one of those changes that was obviously in response to the wedding scene in the original but they misunderstood which wedding scene the internet was complaining about. What were they even trying to accomplish with this? There's a sense of finality that exists with weddings that just doesn't work with an engagement (the reason why in rom-coms you never see anyone run and try to stop an engagement party). Grimsby kicking the ring away was funny as if the ring being gone would suddenly stop the engagement. It's also funny to me that the Queen and Grimsby were like, "It's so out of character for Eric to do something sudden like this" and it's an effing engagement party. Wouldn't it be even more out of character for him to request an actual wedding ceremony?

I loved most of the other story changes, or should I rather say story expansions, basically anything that further developed Ariel and Eric's personalities and relationship. I think they did a great job by giving them common interests (exploring and collecting) and similar family dynamics. When the Queen said that Eric was taken in after a shipwreck, I was half-expecting him to be revealed a mer-man in the end I didn't like it on the first listen, but "For the First Time" works so much better in the context of its scene, and it does a great job showing Ariel adapting to the life on land and potentially regretting her decision (another reason why the amnesia spell is redundant). „Wild Uncharted Waters“ also works better. "Scuttlebutt" on the other hand is still terrible and it should have been cut. References to the original fairytale were great; in fact I think this is the first time any of the remakes actually went back to the original original source.

As I previously wrote, Bailey was the standout. Whether speaking, singing, or silent, she was charismatic and magical, and definitely made the role her own. It wasn't a lazy copy/paste job of the animated version, and both versions have retained distinctive personalities (Benson's being more energetic and bubbly, Bailey's more introspective – another callback to the fairytale), yet they're both unmistakably Ariel. I don't think this type of complementary casting/performance between animated and live-action versions has happened since the 2005 Cinderella where Lily James imbued the role with so much charm and loveliness, just like Bailey did here.

Melissa McCarthy, hoo boy... I feel like it's an unpopular opinion across this board because most of you seem to have loved her in the role, but she was... well, not exactly terrible, but not great either. When she was good, she was really good, but when she was bad it almost collapsed any scene she was in. So performance-wise, she was very uneven and at certain points I really struggled to understand her. She didn't really enunciate well and the faux-Italian/mafia-style of speaking didn't help either.

I really liked Jonah Hauer King as Eric and his chemistry with Bailey.

Supporting cast: Javier Bardem was super-wooden and dull, and gave probably the single worst performance out of anyone in the movie; Noma Dumezweni was lovely and warm as the Queen; and Art Malik made for a great Grimsby. I wasn't blown away by the animal cast, they were serviceable I guess, and the best I can say is that Awkwafina wasn't as nearly annoying as I feared she'd be.

Things lost in translation and a prime example why animation does things better: the whole "Under the Sea" sequence. It was mostly just sad listening to Sebastian naming all these different creatures and what they do and how much fun they have under the sea, and yet none of the lyrics corresponded to things shown onscreen, because photorealism . It got more colorful and dynamic as it went along, but the whole sequence was this movie's equivalent of a tumbleweed rolling across the screen in a western's ghost town. No wonder Ariel wanted to leave.

A couple of changes from the original I quite liked and low-key wish they were in the original: Ariel having to give up one of her scales for Ursula's spell to work, and the contract now being "in blood" rather than physical. It's more fairytale-like and we'd be spared of years of YT videos saying how Ariel could have just written a letter to Eric explaining everything.

Two things I missed the most from the original -- the lovely "Tour of the Kingdom" piece of score and Grimsby's line "If I may say, far better than any dream girl is one of flesh and blood, one warm and caring and right before your eyes". Oh well.

All in all, it could have been better, but it also could have been so much worse (looking at you Beauty and the Beast). At the moment, on the enjoyment scale I'd rank it just below Aladdin, but I'll probably have to give it another watch. I'll wait until it's on Disney+ though.

[Disney's Divinity]

They probably didn't do anything because of backlash.

Probably another thing we'll have to agree to disagree on. I may end up being right about the box office in the end going by how it's doing overseas, but I won't feel the need to bring it up if/when it happens since...our opinions on the subject are irrelevant to one another? And, anyway, it won't give me joy to be "right" about the box office, I would've rather they hadn't screwed things up for TLM yet again. It easily could've hit a billion if something like Super Mario Bros can.

Yes, I'm grateful I enjoyed the movie. I think as the initial view fades, it's probably not going to measure up to Aladdin and B&tB for me as time goes by, I think it being a remake of my favorite film simply amps my reaction to it more than those is all. At least it is fairly faithful, even if I wish it was closer to the original like those two were to their films. As for the other thing, I'm very glad that's only in a book, I can pretend it doesn't exist because the idea of Ursula killing Ariel's mother is so dumb.

I bought the soundtrack for this and B&tB Live! (still hadn't got around to it, bought them at the same time), listening to it again now. I agree that the score is lesser than the original's. I think I was reading something somewhere about how it might've been an attempt to keep the film from being disqualified at the awards somehow? Something about a song refrain being repeated too much--the whole reason Main Titles and Happy Ending from the original are so fantastic--who knows. I know some mentioned wanting to hear a full orchestra for TLM's score for once, but that would've only worked if all the best pieces of score from the original had been in this.

*SPOILERS* The amnesia thing didn't bother me in the end. I mean, admittedly I was one of the few who was open to the idea of it when it was first revealed, but they ultimately did little with it in the end, the film operates pretty much the same way. I feel like "the changes" to Kiss the Girl ended up being just a song and dance for the media, since it still plays out mostly the same and Ariel still pursues Eric throughout the film. So my personal thought is they added the amnesia simply to make Ursula more innately evil here...? I mean, yeah, she sabotages Ariel by turning over the boat and then hypnotizing Eric in the original, but she never said she couldn't involve herself when describing the deal (and she never pretended she didn't have an incentive in Ariel losing even if she didn't reveal her intention to use her to get to Triton). I can't remember right off if Ursula here tells Ariel about the amnesia though--I don't think so? To me, that was what made the whole deal broken because there's no way a person can make good on something if they don't even know they have to make good on it in the first place? How would a deal like that be binding in any context? Whereas in the original, Ursula tells Ariel everything about the deal--even the parts that made Ursula look suspect (like Ariel being her property if she loses)--and doesn't even technically do anything wrong in the climax either since she only reacts to Eric attempting to murder her and then Ariel causing F&J to be killed. Whereas the amnesia here makes Ursula undeniably in the wrong.

[Marce82]

I found this video very interesting, it points out a lot of the issues with the remake (also points out some of the good):

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

The amnesia spell.... so in this version, if Ariel doesn't know about the kissing clause, does she think Ursula turned her human forever? Or how does she think she can accomplish that?
It also severely lowers the stakes when she finds out the prince is marrying someone else: in the original, she is losing the man she loves, her legs AND her freedom. That is a big loss. Sounds like in this new version, it is only losing the man.

[D82]

• Featurette from Disney Italy about the shooting in Sardinia.

• Anatomy of a scene with Rob Marshall.

• Twitter thread that compiles the behind-the-scenes photos and videos shared by the cast and crew on social media.

• Twitter thread about the references to the original fairytale.

• Two posters inspired by the movie and two international ones:


Source: https://twitter.com/LittleMermaid/statu ... 1898390529


Source: https://twitter.com/LittleMermaid/statu ... 6917826576


Source: https://www.facebook.com/afishameloman/ ... Gi2PniUR1l


Source: https://twitter.com/DisneyStudiosBR/sta ... 7077609474