Review of The Little Mermaid, directed by Rob Marshall

I will admit, I have no sentimental value whatsoever when it comes to movies like The Little Mermaid. I’ve had no interest in seeing any of the Disney live action remakes of the nineties classics on the big screen, and still haven’t seen the other ones that have been made in recent years.

But because I’ve been on summer break from graduate school and have an AMC A List subscription, I wanted to make use of my time instead of sitting in home and rotting in bed or constantly pumping out articles for my job. So I booked an early morning screening to see The Little Mermaid even though I thought I was going to hate.

I didn’t end up hating it, but I didn’t think it was good, either. I’m glad I saw it in Dolby because some of the scenes were absolutely gorgeous in that quality screen, but the fact some of the parents in the audience thought it was a bright idea to bring their toddlers wasn’t the smartest series of events.

There was this kid in the back row who got extremely scared when Ursula had her big number halfway through the movie, and he kept screaming how he wanted to go home for a solid ten to fifteen minutes. This mother, for some reason, didn’t think it was a good idea to remove the kid or didn’t shush him at all. A sour note in my experience, but it didn’t ruin the movie.

Onwards with the review!

Disney’s newest live action remake features new songs and scenes.

I don’t find there being any use in recalling the entire plot of The Little Mermaid, so let’s first talk about what’s new in this movie and my thoughts about it. The original movie is shorter than this one, but because they added in new songs and plotlines, there’s quite a bit to go off of when thinking about this version versus the original.

This version is clearly set in the Caribbean, which we get from the stylistic and music choices. This is kind of like a strange alternate universe where racism and colonialism does not exist, as everyone weirdly lives in harmony on this island, and Eric, as he excitedly tells Ariel all about how he wants to collect goods from all these Latin American civilizations. As a white man showing up on a ship with money, this would contribute to colonialism in the real world.
We get a bit more about Eric’s background. He was rescued from a shipwreck, we presume his parents are dead or something, and the royal family randomly decided to make him their heir. Also, his adopted mother is Black. This alternate history Caribbean island is ruled by a Black woman, which I would absolutely love in normal circumstances and wish we had in the real world, but I find this erasure of colonialism in the region to be kind of problematic.
Ariel is tricked by Ursula to forget she has to kiss Eric. This is interesting compared to the original because of how this makes it more organic love, as the original version is propelled more by Ariel’s desire to see the world above and using Eric as a conduit to do that. Here she seems to genuinely love him, and I enjoyed the romance in this movie on a genuine level because it was actually wholesome.
The songs added in are just okay. I could have lived another day to not hear that rap by the bird. In fact, I disliked most of the CGI animal situation going on throughout the movie, but especially Awkwafina’s Scuttle. I wanted to sigh every time that bird came on the screen.

Some of my random thoughts throughout the movie consisted of these points:

Triton is played by Javier Bardem, who is Spanish. He’s got multiple daughters to rule over the Seven Seas, but in this movie they decided to make each daughter the race of the sea in which they rule over. Which makes sense until he mentions they have the same mother. What mother is somehow simultaneously Black, Indian, East Asian, and Slavic?
Speaking of Triton, some weird moments with him. After Ursula takes his trident he just kind of crumbles, which doesn’t make sense, then randomly appears again when Ariel picks up his trident. What even was that? We also get an extremely awkward staring contest with him when Ariel and Eric are about to go off and see the world.
Ariel wears the same dress pretty much in the world above?? This is a tragedy, Disney could have gone all out for this. I guess they spent all of their budget on the underwater scenes.
The first part of the movie really lacks in pacing. I was getting bored by the time we got to Ursula, but the above the water scenes were really gorgeous.
Halle Bailey is the standout. So is Daveed Diggs. Everyone else was just okay in my book. Javier Bardem just looked like he wanted a paycheck and needed to be elsewhere the entire time.
Bit of lore about sirens is added into this movie. Ursula lures in Eric through Ariel’s song and voice, which is more siren than mermaid lore.
The above the water cinematography is gorgeous. Everything under the sea is a bit lacking, and Flounder was kind of disturbing me as well because he looked like a puppet that would give me nightmares as a kid.
The CGI for the massive Ursula scene was absolutely terrible. They also made Ariel the one to kill her, but the guy in front of me was actually laughing at how absurd it looked on the screen.

All in all, I’m glad I didn’t actually pay to watch this movie, especially considering I’ve used my subscription enough to the point where I’ve profited immensely off of AMC services. I thought it was okay, nice to see in Dolby, but I wouldn’t shell out $20 to see it otherwise. I probably wouldn’t have even watched it on someone else’s Disney Plus if we’re going to be honest.

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