On May 26, Disney is bringing forth its latest live-action reimagining of an iconic tale with The Little Mermaid, an adaptation of the 1989 animated classic. This retelling includes new lyrics and songs, more backstories for characters who aren’t Ariel and a big visual experience.
So let’s start by discussing the elephant in the room, another live-action remake. While I want to compare the two films in this review, I don’t want to include any bias toward my (or anyone else’s) thoughts on the remakes, so let’s discuss them so we can review the movie independently of this debate.
My feelings on this are mixed. Do we need the remakes? Probably not. I can’t think of many great examples of remakes that added something special to pop culture. I also argue that a live-action adaptation of an animated movie is not inherently a bad idea. However, when the bulk of the “live-action” is actually CGI because of the fantastical world that the movie exists within, then we are less making a live-action remake.
It becomes more recreating the movie in a more accessible way for younger kids, who may see 2D animation as old and make them less interested in it. In the end, though, there is no real harm in them. It’s a new way to introduce your kids to some old favourites while keeping it a little fresh for you as well. With all of that out of the way, let’s just talk about The Little Mermaid on its merits.
The film is Directed by Rob Marshall (Chicago, Memoirs of a Geisha, Mary Poppins Returns) and written by David Magee (Finding Neverland, Life of Pi, A Man Called Otto) with music by original The Little Mermaid composer and Disney stalwart Alan Menken (Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin) and original songs and updated lyrics by the incomparable Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton, In The Heights).
The Little Mermaid stars Halle Bailey, half of the R&B group Chloe x Halle, as Ariel, Jonah Hauer-King (Little Women) as Prince Eric, Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids) as Ursula and Javier Bardem as King Triton, with the voice talents of Daveed Diggs (Hamilton) as Sebastien, Awkwafina (Ocean’s 8, Crazy Rich Asians) as Scuttle and Jacob Tremblay (Room, Luca) as Flounder. An eagle-eyed viewer may be able to pick out a few more fun additions to the cast as well.
“The Little Mermaid, while loyal to its animated predecessor, does a better job at fleshing out the world around Ariel…”
The Little Mermaid, while loyal to its animated predecessor, does a better job at fleshing out the world around Ariel, with a much more rich backstory for Prince Eric, which allows for a bit of a parallel between the Prince and the Disney Princess. Not only is the backstory better depicted, but so is the setting where Ariel spends a great deal of the movie; the island itself.
The Kingdom is given its own culture and personality that gives you a better sense of where our leads are spending half of the film. Marshall has breathed life into the setting that lets you understand why Ariel might want to actually leave her home for it (Spoiler alert, but you have had 34 years).
The changes to the original music are largely unnoticeable to anyone who does not know the old songs by heart. They have been modernized a little to better suit the time in which we live, but I didn’t find any of them to be particularly drastic. The bigger musical change is the addition of several new songs by Menken and Miranda to fill out the added scenes to The Little Mermaid. Whether they find themselves becoming standards like the originals, “Part of Your World,” “Poor Unfortunate Souls,” and “Kiss The Girl” remains to be seen. For me, the new songs do a good job of presenting more of our characters’ points of view throughout the story.
As for the performances, the 23-year-old Halle Bailey has the pipes to hold up to the original Ariel, Jodi Benson and, in parts, pushes the vocal envelope even further. The biggest challenge for her to take on was that of a mute Ariel for a portion of the film where she has to get by with a level of charm that animators in the ’80s were able to give to the character. Bailey shines with her shy innocence and flighty, “fish out of water” (pun intended) distance in her eyes.
“For me, the new songs do a good job of presenting more of our characters’ points of view throughout the story.”
Jonah Hauer-King just looks like he is a Disney Prince turned into a real person. His effortless performance in the early stages of The Little Mermaid lets you buy into Prince Eric from the get-go. As the movie rolled on, parts of his performance were wanting, particularly in the late second and early third act.
The voice talents in The Little Mermaid were all spectacular choices. Daveed Diggs’ take on Sebastian the crab, who gets the bulk of the jokes, was understated compared to the originator of the role, the late Samuel E. Wright, but in the best possible way.
Awkwafina always brings such energy and enthusiasm when in the role of a sidekick in a film (see Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) and even got her own song in the film, one of the new additions. Jacob Tremblay feels like he is too big and talented for Flounder, whose role in The Little Mermaid isn’t particularly meaty. I felt like any plucky child actor could have taken it on and done a fine job, but Tremblay took what he was given and did a great job.
The real heavy hitters in the movie were Melissa McCarthy and Javier Bardem, who gave two very different and uniquely excellent performances. McCarthy—from the voice to the confidence to the physicality—was Ursula, as I would want to see her on film. She was funny, charming and scary. Sometimes in that order and sometimes not. For her limited time on screen, she owned every frame of it. I would sincerely not be surprised to see her name pop up for some awards.
Javier Bardem—the perennial MVP in the movies in which he appears—plays a much more subdued version of King Triton. You see his character as not only a king but as a man who is having a difficult time letting his growing daughter go. Rather than the larger-than-life animated performance, you get a, forgive the term, more human performance.
The overall feel of The Little Mermaid was that of an older, circa 1990s, Disney film. It had the same joy and drama, and it had a similar style in terms of cinematography (despite the CGI). It just felt like something that belongs in a Disney Universe more than some of the other recent remakes have felt.
The one thing I could have done without was the run time—at over two hours for a family film, it just seems like an awful lot. I’d have traded in some of the new songs or moved some of the new exposition into already existing scenes to get the run time down. It was just long enough that I needed to look at my watch to see, “How long has this been on?” which is never a good sign.
Despite the runtime and a few choice moments where CGI was not their friend, The Little Mermaid is an overall fun ride that stays loyal to the original picture while allowing it to exist entirely on its own.
