Like nearly all of Disney's live action remake movies, "The Little Mermaid" ditches the charm and nostalgia of its original counterpart and ruins the fond memories you had with the story.
Trailers for the movie made the CGI look horrendous, and the movie doesn't get much better. Similar to recent Marvel movies like "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" and "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3," just about every scene is green screened to the max and riddled with computer generated imagery.
This choice ruins the magic and free nature of a purely animated movie.
"The Little Mermaid" (2023) live action reboot follows the original 1989 animated film rather faithfully, but adds nearly an entire hour of runtime and never seems to end.
Both movies are tales of adventure and self acceptance for a little mermaid named Ariel (Halle Bailey). The youngest daughter of King Triton (Javier Bardem) is fascinated by the surface human world above them and longs to be a part of it.
One fateful evening, a ship wrecks in a brutal storm, sending Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King) into the depths of the ocean for Ariel to save. She falls in love with Eric, so she makes a deal with her evil aunt Ursula (Melissa McCarthy) to turn Ariel into a human. Ariel pays the price of her beautiful voice to make this happen. She must kiss Eric within a matter of time so that she will remain human permanently, or else she turns back into a mermaid and returns to the ocean.
Fans of the original Ron Clements and John Musker movie will appreciate the small attention to detail. The overall story structure follows the original nearly scene for scene. However, people unfamiliar with the original will find the random introductions of characters "you should have already known" to be jarring.
The cliches that can pass with a children's animated movie, like an on-the-nose villain backstory monologue and playful quips and puns only flop in a live action adaptation.
The acting is also largely unremarkable. Exceptions include Ursula, a role seemingly made for McCarthy that she completely commits to, and Sebastian who is brought to life by the energy of Daveed Diggs. Everyone else falls flat. Bardem can put on the performance of a lifetime or something totally boring, and this role falls into the latter. Awkwafina is so unbearably annoying as Scuttle that it's insufferable, especially when she breaks out in a rap.
Despite the controversy surrounding Bailey's casting as Ariel, she does a fine job as the character. Her acting isn't anything to write home about, but her velvety singing voice makes it clear why she was chosen for the role. Her vocals paired with original composer Alan Menken's score makes for a tear-jerking soundtrack.
Disney fans may have hoped that the live action losing streak ended after "Pinnocchio" and "Peter Pan & Wendy," but they were mistaken. Even if you can put up with the computer design for Sebastian that makes him look like Mr. Krabs from "SpongeBob Squarepants," this movie will make you hate Disney and cling tighter to the original.
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