The Little Mermaid (Live-Action)

[Farerb]

‘The Little Mermaid’ Review: Rob Marshall’s Live Action Take On Disney Animated Classic Is A Winner Both Above And Under The Sea
https://deadline.com/2023/05/the-little ... 235368418/

‘The Little Mermaid’ Review: Halle Bailey and Melissa McCarthy Erase Any Doubts About This Remake’s See-Worthiness
https://variety.com/2023/film/reviews/t ... 235620560/

‘The Little Mermaid’ Review: Halle Bailey Charms, But Rob Marshall’s Live-Action Remake Nearly Drowns in Déjà Vu
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movie ... 235484161/

[Sotiris]

More reviews.

‘The Little Mermaid’ Review: Halle Bailey’s Star Performance Anchors Rob Marshall’s Dark Disney Remake
https://www.thewrap.com/the-little-merm ... le-bailey/

‘The Little Mermaid’ Review: Disney’s Latest Live-Action Remake Desperately Wants to Be Part of Your World
https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/mov ... 234864226/

The Little Mermaid review: Halle Bailey swims (and sings) her way to stardom
https://ew.com/movies/movie-reviews/the ... le-bailey/

[Sotiris]

This is disappointing, especially since remakes of the other Fab4 performed really well in China. I guess Chinese audiences don't like racebending?

Report: The Little Mermaid Poised to Flounder as Disney's Worst 2023 Opening in China
https://www.cbr.com/the-little-mermaid- ... rediction/

[Disney's Divinity]

Well, only a few more days before it's out. I doubt I'll see it opening weekend, maybe a week in or something. I might go a day when Spider-verse has come out, so I can watch it after TLM. That film can be a palate cleanser for this.

[D23ExpoVisitor25]

This is disappointing, especially since remakes of the other Fab4 performed really well in China. I guess Chinese audiences don't like racebending?

Report: The Little Mermaid Poised to Flounder as Disney's Worst 2023 Opening in China
https://www.cbr.com/the-little-mermaid- ... rediction/

Eh, China hates black people anyway. I’m not surprised.

[Disney's Divinity]

Aren't Muslim people being systematically murdered in China? And even then something like Aladdin, a film with a cast of Muslim characters, did well there, didn't it? I'm asking because I don't know what its performance in China was. I'm just assuming it must've performed decently since it hit a billion in spite of its domestic being lower than B&TB and TLK (its domestic opening is about the same area as where TLM's current projections are at). And B&tB featured Black characters and LGBT characters, TLK had an almost all-Black voice acting cast. The difference between TLM and those three films is how much they've changed whereas those three were more strict (almost too much so in TLK's case) in remaking the original films.

Out of curiosity, for anyone who follows the box office in detail, I wonder what the box office performance for films like TP&TF, Encanto, Moana, and Raya were in China compared to other countries (the same, better, or worse)? And if it's comparatively the same as it is for films with white characters like Frozen and Tangled? I guess I'll go look myself since there's very seldom a response to those kinds of detail questions, I suppose.

[Sotiris]

Eh, China hates black people anyway. I’m not surprised.

People say that because of Disney's questionable marketing in the region, but a lot of Black-led films have performed really well there, including Pixar's Soul and Marvel's Black Panther. I think that's just a false assumption about Chinese audiences. Some Black-led films have underperformed there, true, but you can't ascribe that to their supposed racism while ignoring all other possible factors.

Aren't Muslim people being systematically murdered in China? And even then something like Aladdin, a film with a cast of Muslim characters, did well there, didn't it? I'm asking because I don't know what its performance in China was.

Yes, Aladdin did very well there. In fact, it became the 3rd highest-grossing region for the film overseas.

[Farerb]

https://twitter.com/LittleMermaid/statu ... nLYIA&s=19

[Disney's Divinity]

Weren't these posted already? I still only like the Ursula one (despite the collar).

[Marce82]

People, people.... let's not forget that being muslim is a religion, not a race. So if there is persecution of muslims in China... they could be Chinese. Or white. Or who knows.

And though the animated Aladdin did mention "Allah" as a deity, I don't think the live action did, so we don't even know if they were muslim (and it doesn't matter). Disney should steer clear of religion in their family films anyway, in my opinion.

Hey, D82... since you are in Spain: will Javier Barden dub himself for the spaniard dub???? That would be so cool!

[Sotiris]

Jodi Benson, the original Ariel, supports The Little Mermaid story changes: 'It was a must'
https://ew.com/movies/the-little-mermai ... y-changes/

Original Ariel Jodi Benson Feels Updates to ‘Little Mermaid’ Were Necessary: ‘Times Change’
https://people.com/jodi-benson-little-m ... ve-7503218

[Disney's Divinity]

People, people.... let's not forget that being muslim is a religion, not a race. So if there is persecution of muslims in China... they could be Chinese. Or white. Or who knows.

Nobody said being Muslim was a "race" though? But, yes, that's true. I also mentioned LGBT characters and LGBT are also not a "race." If we were talking about race only in regards to Aladdin, I would've said the leads were Egyptian and Indian, I believe? And who knows for the rest of the cast.

IDK if I can agree on the latter though... Aladdin is undeniably a cast of Muslim characters, that's baked into the original? A film with characters that would literally be in concentration camps in China being supported at the box office sort of dispels the idea that the moviegoers there would then hate TLM based on demos that other films that have succeeded there have crossed, the way The Jungle Book 2016, Moana, Encanto, TLK 2019, B&tB 2017 etc. all did as well in China comparative to their domestic box office as a film with only white, heterosexual characters like Frozen did. Quite a few of those did better in China comparative to their domestic box office than Frozen did.

Interestingly, I noticed as I was looking through Box Office Mojo that TP&TF, Tangled, and Alice 2010 didn't have releases there at all. I wonder when releases in China first started or if they were sporadic until recently?

[D82]

• New footage from "Under the Sea" from Disney Japan.

• Photos from the Sydney, Madrid and Toronto premieres.

• Cinépolis commercial featuring Halle Bailey and Javier Bardem.

• Disney Italy has released a video of a light show with projections that has taken place in the Italian locations where the film was shot to celebrate its release.

• The Little Mermaid has a 70% score on Rotten Tomatoes right now with 100 reviews:


Source: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_li ... rmaid_2023

Weren't these posted already? I still only like the Ursula one (despite the collar).

Yes, but now they've been officially released by Disney and are in higher resolution.

Hey, D82... since you are in Spain: will Javier Barden dub himself for the spaniard dub???? That would be so cool!

Judging by the latest trailers/TV spots for Spain, it seems he hasn't dubbed himself. The first trailers sometimes have provisional voices since normally the full film hasn't been dubbed by then, but the ones close to the release tend to have the final voices. Yeah, it would've been cool if he had dubbed himself. Antonio Banderas, for example, voices Puss in Boots in Spain too, and I'm glad about it because he does a great job. There are some exceptions like that one, but usually when Spanish actors are in Hollywood movies, they don't dub themselves in our dub.

[Marce82]

Disney's divinity:
Well, how would you know the characters in Aladdin's religion if there is no clue to it? It sounded before like there was a visual clue as to who is muslim... how would people in China discriminate the film for being full of "muslim" characters if there is no clue/mention of it? Maybe they are just discriminating against middle easterners (of any religion). IF they indeed are discriminating.
The characters in Aladdin 92 are supposed to be non-specific middle eastern (since the kingdom is FICTIONAL). In the new version, the kingdom is still middle eastern (based on architecture), but it is said Jasmine is from another land. Now, what the actors' races might be is another issue (and I personally don't care).

D82... ah, darn! Would have been so cool if Barden dubbed himself. Why don't spanish actors dub themselves!??!!? It would make their character much more authentic in another language!
Jesse Corti was the voice of Lefou... and he dubbed himself for the Latin American release (sorry, Spain! You wanted your own dub, you missed out! Hahahaha). So he matched the original version perfectly!

[D82]

D82... ah, darn! Would have been so cool if Barden dubbed himself. Why don't spanish actors dub themselves!??!!? It would make their character much more authentic in another language!
Jesse Corti was the voice of Lefou... and he dubbed himself for the Latin American release (sorry, Spain! You wanted your own dub, you missed out! Hahahaha). So he matched the original version perfectly!

I didn't know Jesse Corti voiced Lefou in the Latin American dub! Yeah, it's a shame Spanish actors don't tend to dub themselves. I've checked the profiles of Javier Bardem, Antonio Banderas and Penélope Cruz (the most well-known ones) on a website about Spain's dubs called El doblaje.com and it seems they used to dub themselves sometimes at the beginning of their Hollywood careers, so maybe they just don't have time for that now or it's cheaper to hire other actors since they've become quite famous and perhaps ask for more money now. That's something that just occurred to me; I don't know if it's the real reason or not.

By the way, we were just talking about The Color Purple the other day in this thread, and now the teaser trailer for the movie has come out. It's clear they released it now to take advantage of the momentum Halle is having thanks to The Little Mermaid, as she's heavily featured in it despite having a supporting role. I recently learned she has a third film coming out this year titled The Line which will premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in June. Disney also made an article recently about all the times she has worked for the company and it turns out The Little Mermaid is her sixth project with them. I only knew about Grown-ish and the song she and her sister made for A Wrinkle in Time, though it sounds like in the other projects she and her sister had small appearances.

[Marce82]

Yeah, I actually met Jesse Corti at an event several years ago and I thanked him for dubbing himself. His wife thrilled... I guess I'm the only person/psycho who has ever acknowledged it to his face hahaha.

Very strange about the Spanish actors... if I were the studio, I could make it a clause in their contract that they HAVE to dub themselves!

[Jäger-Rose]

My team went to the German premiere of the movie in Berlin (while I'm in LA lol) and we had the opportunity to interview Rob Marshall and Alan Menken (what an honor!!)

Feel free to check out our interviews here on YouTube:
Rob Marshall: https://youtu.be/E3jCBUAV58Q
Alan Menken: https://youtu.be/EOFTZwYBk7c​

With Rob, we talk representation, translating an animated musical into a live action movie and more. And with Alan we talk about the importance of "The Little Mermaid" 1989 vs. 2023, about Howard Ashman, the new songs, etc.

I hope you enjoy those videos!

[D82]

• New featurette which includes some behind-the-scenes footage showing how the scenes "under the water" were filmed.

• New TV spot and a promo which features some new footage from "Poor Unfortunate Souls."

• Halle Bailey and Jonah Hauer-King answer some questions from fans:
https://twitter.com/TwitterMovies/statu ... 7069950994
https://twitter.com/TwitterMovies/statu ... 8297439240
https://twitter.com/TwitterMovies/statu ... 0705727492
https://twitter.com/TwitterMovies/statu ... 4122294278

• The exclusive version of the soundtrack which includes "Impossible Child" as a bonus track is available again on HSN's website. They also presented it on a special program about products from the movie, so it wasn't cancelled as we feared.

• Someone on one of the Twitter communities about the movie said Disney Music Records responded to a question they had about the score saying they are releasing two digital albums this Friday, a deluxe edition and a score only album. I don't know if this is true or not. We'll soon find out.

• According to someone who has seen the movie, the actress who plays Vanessa speaks in her own voice and only sings in Ariel's when she puts her shell necklace on. That's what I suspected would be the case, but I think it makes sense.

Yeah, I actually met Jesse Corti at an event several years ago and I thanked him for dubbing himself. His wife thrilled... I guess I'm the only person/psycho who has ever acknowledged it to his face hahaha.

Very strange about the Spanish actors... if I were the studio, I could make it a clause in their contract that they HAVE to dub themselves!

It's cool you got to meet Jesse Corti and thank him for that.

Yeah, it should be in their contracts!

My team went to the German premiere of the movie in Berlin (while I'm in LA lol) and we had the opportunity to interview Rob Marshall and Alan Menken (what an honor!!)

Feel free to check out our interviews here on YouTube:
Rob Marshall: https://youtu.be/E3jCBUAV58Q
Alan Menken: https://youtu.be/EOFTZwYBk7c

With Rob, we talk representation, translating an animated musical into a live action movie and more. And with Alan we talk about the importance of "The Little Mermaid" 1989 vs. 2023, about Howard Ashman, the new songs, etc.

I hope you enjoy those videos!

Thanks for posting! Very interesting interviews. Your team did a great job!

[Marce82]

I was reading the review from The Independent (UK), and this line caught my attention, cause it is the way I feel based on the footage we have seen so far: "The film’s oceanic sequences exist in some ugly, dimly lit netherworld, too fake to be real and too real to be fun."

Amen!

And D82.,.. great featurette: confirms that Halle's body will be motion capture underwater (the arms might not be). Credit to Halle, cause it DOES look like a difficult thing to do in real life.

[Farerb]

Alan Menken didn’t want The Little Mermaid remake to be a 'cut-and-paste of the original'
https://uk.movies.yahoo.com/alan-menken ... 35120.html