[Rating: Minor Rock Fist Up]
In their quest to remake everything I grew up with live action, Disney is back with a new retelling of The Little Mermaid. The classic tale of the young mermaid who wanted a human man and gave up her most precious gift to get her chance comes alive in this remake that, compared to others in the renaissance remakes, isn’t as bad as I was to expect. Instead we’re left with a very run-of-the-mill story with a good cast of characters that never really finds its own…what do you call it? Oh yes, legs.
Like the 1989 film, this essentially follows the same plot. The little mermaid Ariel (Halle Bailey) wants to explore the world above. She spends her days finding treasures that have fallen into the ocean with her fish friend Flounder (Jacob Tremblay) and Scuttle (Awkwafina). Much to the dismay of her father King Triton (Javier Bardem) and his major-domo crab Sebastian (Daveed Diggs), Ariel wishes and years to be part of that world above. It isn’t until a storm at sea does she end up rescuing one of these humans, Eric (Jonah Hauer-King). Again, against daddy’s wishes, she is forbidden from ever laying fin on the surface world again.
Enter Ursula, (Melissa McCarthy) the tentacled sea witch and Ariel’s aunt whose wish to rule the kingdom sees a chance when Ariel gives up her voice for legs in a chance to win over Eric. However, Ursula has devious plans of her own in order for Ariel to fail in her quest on land and to finally take over the seas. Soon, now with legs Ariel must try to win over Eric despite him not knowing who this mysterious mute stranger is. With the help of her underwater friends, will Ariel succeed or be another fish caught in the net for Ursula.
You know the story by now! In any case, there’s nothing new here that wasn’t already made before. And yet, why is this movie almost 50 minutes longer than its predecessor? Could it be the addition of two new songs helmed by Alan Menken and Lin-Manuel Miranda? They don’t really work into the world of the story, and especially among the lyrics of the late, great Howard Ashman. Could it be longer expositional scenes added by director Rob Marshall? Anything to make a buck!
Remember when Marshall made Chicago into a sublime movie musical? This can’t be said for this film. Compared to that razzle dazzle, even something like “Under the Sea” loses a lot of beauty in the muted colors. We’re coming off of another film that used water to its advantage and yet this is so boring and flat to look at, I’m surprised the mouse didn’t chip in another million or two, to perfect the underwater treatment. Plus, much like the animated film, the events that take place on land are a bit slow without much action.
Thankfully, a decent cast is used justly here. Bailey is a beautiful Ariel. Her voice is pristine and her facial reaction without voice proves she is a bonafide actress. See her next in The Color Purple movie musical! My biggest highlights were McCarthy and Diggs who add some wonderful humor to their characters and kept things afloat during their scenes. The same couldn’t be said for Awkwafina who was used way too much. Her new song, “The Scuttlebutt” is a thing of nightmares.
Overall, The Little Mermaid isn’t too bad compared to other live action remakes of Disney’s canon. There feels like a bit more life and color could have been added into this to make me dazzled and what I was seeing. It’s muted and for a story that feels so colorful, it’s fishy why this felt so flat. But I didn’t dislike it. In fact, two days later, I think I liked it more and more. At least Disney will make its money back and audiences will be swimming to this nostalgic sea breeze.
Christian Ramos is a classic film fan, having had the dream to host Turner Classic Movies for years now. He also has a large amount of Oscar trivia in his head, remembers dressing as Groucho Marx one Halloween, and cherishes the moment Julianne Moore liked his tweet.
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