The Little Mermaid (Live-Action)

[UmbrellaFish]

Ahh that’s a shame they’ve cheaped out on voice actors.

[Farerb]

New Trailer with Poor Unfortunate Souls:
https://youtu.be/uzljkahx7OQ

[PatchofBlue]

I'll admit I was deeply concerned when it was announced that they were casting a comical actress like McCarthy for Ursula, but she's quickly proving to be one of the most promising aspects of the film.

Still really want to see some footage of her as a giant in the climax.

[UmbrellaFish]

I'll admit I was deeply concerned when it was announced that they were casting a comical actress like McCarthy for Ursula, but she's quickly proving to be one of the most promising aspects of the film.

I agree, I was very skeptical. But everything we’ve seen so far seems pitch perfect. I also appreciate, judging from her interviews, that she has a respect and understanding of where the character came from.

[carolinakid]

I admit McCarthy seems to be a fantastic Ursula but I was surprised how wooden Bailey’s line readings sound....

[Woodrow Pride]

[...] I was surprised how wooden Bailey’s line readings sound....

I was thinking the exact same thing. You can feel she's trying, but it's just not coming off right. It doesn't sound like she believes she's Ariel and that she's actually there. Or maybe it's just me...

[Disney's Divinity]

I'm not surprised. McCarthy, Awkwafina, and Tremblay were the only good casts they made. Still, McCarthy has no control over things like the collar, the lack of golden contract and polyps, voiceless F&J, the ripping apart of "PUS"--those things aren't within her control, it's on others. Not surprising they used one of the only lines not changed in the second half. Gaslighting, thy name is Disney.

[Sotiris]

I'll admit I was deeply concerned when it was announced that they were casting a comical actress like McCarthy for Ursula, but she's quickly proving to be one of the most promising aspects of the film.

She ended up proving us all wrong. She's doing the best acting out of anyone in the film.

I was thinking the exact same thing. You can feel she's trying, but it's just not coming off right. It doesn't sound like she believes she's Ariel and that she's actually there. Or maybe it's just me...

It's not just you. I guess that's what you get when you hire a very inexperienced, untested actress to be your film's emotional anchor.

[D82]

A new promo which shows Melissa McCarthy's make-up process to be transformed into Ursula, reveals her skin wasn't that purple when filming. That's why I think in some stills it wasn't clear whether it was really that color or if it was just the lighting. As Mooky pointed out, though, the Ursula dolls have purple skin, and so does she in illustration form, so I guess she's meant to look that way, and they probably accentuated it thanks to the lighting or the VFX.

[cuau_cg]

Have any of these voice actors returned to dub the live action remakes?

For The Lion King they used the actors from the theatre version which was in Teatro Telcel one year before. The most important in that dub is the mexican singer Carlos Rivera, he did "Recuerdame" for Coco, also in theatre he did adult Simba in TLK Spain, then TLK Mexico. He has an important singer career, lots of albums and sales and concerts. The others are Mateo Ramírez Velasco (young Simba), Fela Domínguez (adult Nala) y Sergio Carranza (Pumba), all of them from theatre.

[D82]

• "Poor Unfortunate Souls" leaked clip: https://twitter.com/nickmontejano/statu ... 4904183810

Melissa's take on the song is different from what I expected, but I think it's not bad. Something I didn't like, though, is the part where she says "pathetic". In the original she secretly says it to Flotsam and Jetsam, but here it doesn't seem she's hiding that from Ariel, which doesn't make any sense.

• New TV spot and more promos about Ursula:

https://twitter.com/LittleMermaid/statu ... 5595208704
https://twitter.com/LittleMermaid/statu ... 1208685570

• Melissa McCarthy and Jonah Hauer-King on BBC The One Show:
https://twitter.com/BBCTheOneShow/statu ... 1045013504
https://twitter.com/BBCTheOneShow/statu ... 6120440832
https://twitter.com/BBCTheOneShow/statu ... 9170601985
https://twitter.com/BBCTheOneShow/statu ... 6474322961
https://twitter.com/BBCTheOneShow/statu ... 3637776384
https://twitter.com/BBCTheOneShow/statu ... 8649998338
https://twitter.com/BBCTheOneShow/statu ... 0800139264

• SFX Magazine article: https://twitter.com/v_erpleger/status/1 ... 9226975235

Couldn't Vanessa speak in Ariel's voice as well as sing? It was like that in the original movie. There's a big difference when Vanessa says, "Eric, get away from her!" in Ursula's voice after her seashell necklace that Ariel's voice was in breaks.

Technically, they could do that, but normally actors aren't dubbed in live-action films.

Thanks for your comments about the dub. I grew up with the neutral one as well; I do think the performances are superior to the Spaniard one (specially Ursula). The lyric adaptations in the Spaniard one are very good though. I have only watched the songs, never the entire movie. I happen to think the neutral dub is one of the best dubs Disney ever made in Spanish.

I did know that trivia about the original dub! I actually think Ursula has a more manly voice in English than Spanish. And I think her voice is supposed to get lower in both versions when Ursula gets huge. Pretty progressive for them to get a real drag queen to voice the character back then! From what I understand, the dub director had been listening to women for the part, and came across one of Serena Olvido's performances and felt the voice was perfect for Ursula.
He/They/She (?) was brought back to voice the character in a couple of episodes of the TLM series.

I agree the neutral Spanish dub is really good. I'll have to watch the songs in the dub made in Spain then since you say the lyric adaptations are so good.

Well, it's true Pat Carroll had quite a deep voice. Maybe more than Serena Olvido as Ursula. I can see why it might have been difficult for the dub director to find a woman who could fit the role. Yeah, it's surprising they cast a drag queen back then. Something like that would even be controversial now. Maybe they got away with it since people don't know much about voice actors and the Internet didn't exist back then.

I am told that the 1998 VHS release in Spain, there were so many complaints and returned VHS tapes, that they recalled the VHS and re-released it with the neutral 1989 dub. Since then, Spain always get both dub options on home media/streaming.

Oh, I didn't know that. That's really interesting. I'm glad there was backlash and people even returned their VHS tapes. I wasn't aware they released it with the new dub first. I guess I didn't buy it the first day of release then. I remember the VHS had a sticker that said it featured the original dub. Now I know why they added that. I was so relieved when I saw that, as I thought it would have the new one and I still didn't have the film on VHS. When it was first released on home video in the early nineties, I hadn't started collecting Disney films on VHS yet; my family and I just used to rent them at first.

Regarding why they decided to re-dub the film for its re-release, I noticed on the thread Farerb created to choose our favorite non-English Ariel, that not only Spain, but many countries made a new dub for the re-release. So, I guess it was Disney's decision to do so, and not each individual country's. Does anyone know why?

[Farerb]

I didn't like her version of the song, I'm sorry.

[Disney Duster]

I actually do like McCarthy's version of the song! I just wish she was singing it more than speaking it. She is singing, but not fully.

[D82]

Well, the original is much superior; that's for sure, but I found some of the choices here interesting. I liked the snippets of "Under the Sea" and Kiss the Girl" more, though. By the way, I forgot to post a couple of things.

Halle posted a very brief clip of the end credits on her Instagram stories and it seems "Under the Sea" will play over them as it happened in the original. That probably means the Diane Warren song is not in the movie. The video also reveals the roles of some members of the cast.

And this is just a little fun fact. Hayley Mills was at the London premiere of the film.

[Sotiris]

Melissa's take on the song is different from what I expected, but I think it's not bad. Something I didn't like, though, is the part where she says "pathetic". In the original she secretly says it to Flotsam and Jetsam, but here it doesn't seem she's hiding that from Ariel, which doesn't make any sense.

I liked her take, but I agree with the "pathetic" line not making sense now.

The video also reveals the roles of some members of the cast.

They could come up with a bunch of new names for Ariel's sisters, but couldn't bother giving Eric's mom a name?

[Sotiris]

‘Little Mermaid’ Star Jonah Hauer-King on Beating Out Harry Styles and Standing Up for Halle Bailey
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movie ... 235483400/

‘The Little Mermaid’ Stars Halle Bailey and Jonah Hauer-King on Recreating Ariel’s Hair Flip, Singing Live and Prince Eric’s Dangerous Boots
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movie ... 235493365/

‘Little Mermaid’ Director Breaks Down Filming ‘Under the Sea’ in Live-Action
https://www.thewrap.com/little-mermaid- ... -marshall/

‘The Little Mermaid’ Director Rob Marshall On Turning Animated Classic Into Live-Action Summer Disney Musical
https://deadline.com/2023/05/the-little ... 235370539/

[Farerb]

Isn't the Queen's name Selina?

[Marce82]

General comment:

As many of you may know, I am not keen on Disney remakes, and I am not planning on seeing this one in theaters. But I must admit it is looking better with each new trailer.

This one released earlier today (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzljkahx7OQ) ... I must admit looks pretty good, and McCarthy really works as the character. Sadly, like others here have said, Bailey acting comes off wooden, in every trailer (and this has nothing to do with her skin color or the design of the character)


D82,

What do you mean actors aren't dubbed in live action films??? (they are... maybe not for theatrical release, but definitely for home media/tv)

Actually, I take it back: only certain elements of the spaniard POYW are good... Ursula's lyric adaptation is bad.
That is so cool about the sticker on the VHS cover! I didn't know that part!

Agreed about the spanish voice of Ursula. Also, as far as I know, Serena Olvido made it a condition in his contract that he should only be credited by his drag name, and never his real name. Hence, "Serena Olvido".

If you are interested in facts about dubs, go to doblaje.fandom ... it's a website where you can search almost any film about the latin dubs (often has info about the spaniard ones too)

[Sotiris]

Isn't the Queen's name Selina?

Is it? She is only credited as "The Queen" in the film.

[Disney Duster]

She ended up proving us all wrong. She's doing the best acting out of anyone in the film.

I just want to say, I liked McCarthy's casting and had faith in her from ths beginning. If you don't believe me just re-read all my posts in this thread.