Movie Thoughts: The Little Mermaid (2023)

• Released: May 8, 2023
  
• Directed by: Rob Marshall
• Running time: 2 h 15 min
• Rating 3.5/5

Synopsis

A young mermaid princess obsessed with humans makes a deal with a sea witch in order to gain legs and explore the surface world. However, her father disapproves of this and the sea witch is dead set on ending the young mermaid's chance of finding happiness.

My Thoughts

One of the most controversial Disney remakes to be sure. The whole racism of a lot of the audience aside (you're pathetic if this is one of you complaining about Ariel's skin color, by the way), there also seems to be a divide between people that like and dislike it. Most Disney remakes get panned pretty hard, however there's been quite a few optimistic reviews of this movie. So what do I think?

Yeah, it's honestly solid. As I've said in my previous Disney remake posts: I am not one to instantly dismiss a Disney remake as bad just because it's a remake, like some people seem to do. I just watch them and come to my own conclusions then. Some of them I like, some of them I dislike. Not much to it.

And yes, I do like The Little Mermaid. I do have to admit that I haven't watched the original 2D-animated Disney movie this is based on a whole lot (maybe twice? And the last time was a few years ago), but I do like it. It's far from my favorite Disney film, but it has a lot of charm and good elements in it. Some of these are present here as well.

I do have to admit that this movie is rather close to the original film, so if you want a new and original take on the subject (like Maleficent was) you might be disappointed, but even with the movie sticking close to the original's plot and elements I still like this one quite a bit. And they do add new stuff here and there as well.

Speaking of this new stuff...some of it worked, some of it I think does not. The idea of people killing Ariel's mother and Eric being a character with more personality? Yes, that works for sure. But there's also things like Ursula being Triton's sister and the prince being adopted which...really don't play into anything. Like if you're going to introduce these things you'd expect them to at least do something with it, but they really don't. 

Eric being adopted has no real purpose here. He easily could've been a free-spirited prince without this fact. Ursula might as well not have been Triton's sister in this like in the original, because it's never really touched on and it doesn't even make sense considering she's a totally different type of sea-creature (half octopus, rather than half fish) than Triton which is also never explained. The addition of Ariel forgetting she has to kiss Eric after making her deal with Ursula also amounts to pretty much nothing.

Let's do a quick rundown of the positives though, before I go on with my criticisms. I like the characters of Ariel and Eric more in this. Eric has more personality and Ariel's execution I also vibe more with. She's not as super expressive as in the original especially once she loses her voice, but I like this more slightly subtle performance compared to how they exaggerated her expressions more she was in the original film. Hale Bailey also kills it as a singer especially. I also quite liked this new Ursula, she fit the role pretty well. The CGI on the animal sidekicks was also pretty good, and my favorite aspect by far was the bond between Eric and Ariel. It just felt really wholesome and sweet.

Now for things I do not like as much. One, Triton. I don't like him in the original but something about the actor preforming him here felt like he didn't fit for me. Maybe a bit underplayed, I don't know. I never liked this character in the original, though, so there's no huge loss of me not liking him in the remake. Two, Scuttle's song. Everyone has said it and yes, I think it sucks, too. Three, Ursula's first two introductory scenes being nothing but awkward expository dialogue. She's not even talking to anyone in those scenes, so why is she saying all this? Just have her eel minions in those scenes or something so at least it makes sense for her to be talking about all this. Four, Flounder having the design of an adult fish but a little kid's voice. It feels weird. Could've been solved by just giving him a younger fish design. 

So overall this is a remake that sticks pretty close to the original, however it also adds one or two new things and it even improves on a few aspects as well. I can't say this is one of my favorite Disney remakes, but I still think it's a solid film and it definitely doesn't deserve the hate I've seen some other remakes get.