Rent The Little Mermaid on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: David Magee (screenplay by), Hans Christian Andersen (based on the story by), John Musker & Ron Clements (based on Disney's "The Little Mermaid" animation screenplay by)
Directed by: Rob Marshall
Starring: Halle Bailey, Jonah Hauer-King, Melissa McCarthy, Javier Bardem, Daveed Diggs (voice), Jacob Tremblay (voice), Awkwafina (voice)
Rated: PG
Watch the trailer
Plot
A young mermaid makes a deal with a sea witch to trade her beautiful voice for human legs so she can discover the world above water and impress a prince.
Verdict
It's a near scene for scene remake whose purpose may be solely to get you to watch the original. It's not bad, but I've seen this movie before, and this doesn't try to to make any changes. A cartoon can get away with inconsistencies live action can't, but this also doesn't address that. If you want to play a game of spot the differences, this would be good for that exercise. For most of this movie, I was wondering if I should just watch the first version.
Skip it.
Review
All of these Disney live action remakes feel like a cash grab. It's a creative concession that Disney either doesn't have new ideas or would rather milk their most popular movies. This follows a long line of remakes that started in 2016, the best of which includes The Lion King and The Jungle Book.
This isn't bad, none of their remakes are, but with all of them I watch and think about watching the original movie the entire time. While this makes some minor changes, it's still very similar to the original. The problem with live action compared to cartoons is that I expect more realism. How does Aerial (Halle Bailey) talk under water with out visible air bubbles? Do only Sebastian and Flounder talk or can all fish talk? Even then, they look uncanny.
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| Halle Bailey plays Aerial |
The core of this story is an over-protective father, King Triton (Javier Bardem) wholoves his daughter, doesn't realize the harm he's doing to the relationship. She's to the allure of the human world, and her father's barriers only increase her desire. Their lack of communication is the basis for the plot. Her father telling her no just isn't enough to convince her to stay away. She disobeys her father, is tricked, makes poor choices, and achieves her short term goal. We completely understand why this happens. She gets what she wants though she does have to make sacrifices.
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| Halle Bailey, Jonah Hauer-King play Aerial, Eric |
It's visually a great looking movie, much of it taking place under water. By the end of the movie she and her father have both learned something. It's a bit long at two and a half hours. I liked the new song, and it sounded a lot like Lin-Manuel Miranda. That's because he wrote it.
My main problem with that movie is that I was trying to remember what sections were in the original. I have to wonder if Disney's main goal is to entice you to pay for this movie just to turn around and pay to watch the original. This doesn't try to build on the original. If you're not going to adapt the story why make a scene for scene remake, other than money of course.
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