The Little Mermaid (2023)

Not long into The Little Mermaid, I wondered if I should now be disqualified from reviewing any more of the live action remakes.

As a nineties kid, I am not alone in saying how much Disney meant to me, especially when I think back to the VHS collection I had (no one had a better VHS case like Disney: those things felt bulletproof). Now we are in the remake stage.

 I feel the idea of the mouse house wanting to start these Live Action Remakes (let’s call them “LARS”) really started with 2015’s Cinderella, a film I did find rather well done (unlike the unfortunate one in 2021). Since then, very few have been decent: all that come to mind are The Jungle Book (2016), Christopher Robin (though that was more of a sequel than a remake), The Lady and the Tramp, Mulan, and Cruella (2021). The rest that have been on the down side include: Beauty and the Beast (2017), Dumbo (2019),  Aladdin (2019), The Lion King (2019), and, most of all, Pinocchio (2022).  

Those films are more than enough to convince me that the idea of the “LARS” needs to stop, which I still feel even after seeing the latest, The Little Mermaid, despite the fact that it is actually one of the best ones we have gotten so far. That is not to say the film is anywhere near the master work of the original (for no “LAR” will ever best the original), but it is still (especially when compared to the other remakes of recent years) rather refreshing.

Director Rob Marshall (who definitely knows something about directing musicals) is at the helm (so to speak) for the film that stays rather faithful to the original film with some adjustments that range from minor to semi-moderate. We are still seeing the ocean through the eyes of the young teenaged Ariel (Halle Bailey), the youngest daughter of King Triton (Javier Bardem), as she is beyond fixated on the human world with all she collects from the ocean floor with her friend Flounder (voiced by Jacob Tremblay), despite her father’s strong demand she never visit the surface, putting her under the watchful eyes of his trusty crustacean crab Sebastian (voiced by Daveed Diggs). All this, of course, is made more complicated when she saves the life of Eric (Jonah Hauer-King), a Prince of a nearby kingdom, from a shipwreck.

Of course, I can’t not mention the iconic viciousness of the sea witch Ursula (Melissa McCarthy, embracing the role as only she can), whose motivations to control the sea are a bit less murky this time around.

It is true that a lot of the special effects leave something to be desired, but that does not at all mean they are bad. In fact, my theory is that we have all seen where underwater CGI standards have been set thanks mainly in part to James Cameron, and not everyone can have their movies look like a James Cameron film. That said, the special effects do bring the animals a lot of realism, which is also a curse (the same happened in 2019’s The Lion King): all the realism takes away the non-human/merpeople characters from showing any expression.

The effect, however, that is truly special in this film, is Halle Bailey. It was not too long ago where idiot internet trolls where commenting about how having a not red haired white girl being the title role would ruin the movie (as if mermaids need to be authentic). Well, at best, these people are now kicking themselves because Bailey is easily the best live action version of this character that one could ask for. After she belts out “Part of your World”, you realize the chills you feel are real, and that Bailey is giving the original’s Jodi Benson (who also makes a cameo here) a run for her money. Then there is her chemistry with Hauer-King, which is the most palpable any of these “LAR”s has had to date.

Parents, aside from the scary moments with Ursula, I felt the audience of 8-12 year old girls in the theater I went to (twenty of them at most) were having a blast. Take that as you will.

 While the original (which I believe was the first VHS I remember owning in my childhood) has musical numbers that I still listen to, the add ons in the remake (thanks to the help of Lin Manuel Miranda) don’t take away from the magic but are nice extras. 

The worst thing about the film is the same about all the remakes: they will make money, meaning Disney will make more of them. Here is hoping they can at least be somewhat up to this quality.

Note: The film moved me to the point that I can almost forgive them for cutting out “Les Poissons”. Almost.

Overall: