The Little Mermaid - Movie Review

In a world of hits & misses, Disney brings another live action adaptation to the big screen. Here's my review for THE LITTLE MERMAID!

#TheLittleMermaid

[aGameScout]

This is the most "positive, but BARELY positive" review I've ever seen Jeremy give

[suakeli]

I absolutely hate the "realistic" trend of CGI animals. The old Disney made strange-looking animals like crabs and flounders cute instead of realistic for a reason.

[kukukuku]

I just watched it. I didn’t like how the mermaid world in this live action felt so small compared to the original . The original really made me feel that Ariel was a mermaid princess but here it felt like she was just random mermaid in a strict household. Literally at the end of the movie when the other mer people appeared, my little sister was so confused cos why did they only appeared at the end.

[le_maxarus]

What Disney got wrong about all their live actions remakes is going for realistic style.
There was no need for that; in fact, the magic of the old movies relies on their beautiful cartoon style.

[someOldBaldguy]

I always took the original little mermaid as a story about a father and daughters relationship. The Erik thing was really more if a sub plot if you think about it. That's why his character wasn't fleshed out much. If anything, he was the damsel in distress. Ariel saved him..twice. then at the end when Erik rams the boat into Ursula that shows the dad that humans aren't all barbarians and should be able to let his daughter grow up and make decisions for herself instead of "forbidding it" and having her go to extremes to go after what she wants. The movie was never about a girl giving up her voice for a man.

[anigodess]

I do have a problem with Under The Sea from a musical storytelling perspective. The original version was sung by Sebastian alone, with some of the other fishes singing along. This is because at this point in the story he’s trying to get Ariel to stop dreaming about the world above, and so it’s upbeat, and he keeps going bigger, and more bombastic. Ariel, meanwhile is not singing, because she’s NOT too happy about it, she’s not as happy about the sea life. If you rewatch the original version, she does in fact leave in the middle of the song, while Sebastian is so engaged in the song, he doesn’t even notice.
In this film, in order to display Hallies singing voice, and to compensate for the less vibrant landscape (seascape), Ariel songs along. This changes the way the song works in the story, because now Ariel who wants to be ‘Part of Your World’, is now happily singing about how great it is ‘Under The Sea’.
*post edit* I just want to say that I really enjoyed Hallie Baileys performance in the film, generally speaking, but this is my opinion because as a nerd about musicals and storytelling.

[ProfessorZombie]

Still feel like Atlantis and Treasure Planet are the best candidates for a live action remake. Totally underappreciated movies that would translate beautifully to that format.

[doubledawg]

I love the part where prince Eric tells Ariel “Let the past die, kill it if you have to, ” and then Ariel cuts Ursula in half with her lightsaber.

[Gawillamon]

That cup of coffee in the morning compared to taking a piss in the morning analogy was _so much more brutal_ than Jeremy intended or even realized 😂 I nearly spat out my coffee _and_ pissed myself laughing

[Lovexx]

It's quite hilarious how Alvin and The Chipmunks did a better character design on the Chipmunks and Chipettes in their live action movies than Disney did with Flounder and Sebastian in this remake

[buttontr]

I will never pay money to witness Awkwafina perfom 'Scuttlebutt.' Hell, I heard it for free once and feel like I'm owed a couple bucks for my time.

[VictoriaHatzson]

I definitely missed the kitchen/dinner scene, they’re both iconic and they reveal a lot about her character/innocence, naivete, curiosity and excitement, plus it’s the time she met his parents and learnt about his position

[LeonardoKlotz]

Nostalgia is a strong drug

And Disney became the biggest dealer of all

[rewster]

It's crazy how Disney no longer understand their own movies.

[PirateNinjaKitteh]

Disney renaissance movies like the little mermaid and the lion king and beauty and the beast were really more about showing off animation techniques for the time and those big broadway musical sequences - seeing how big and awe inspiring they could make them, the story itself was always meant to take a backseat to the artistry, that’s really what is missing from the live actions

[somerandolad]

You could say this remake really... flounders. 😎

[jordanneal]

I haven't watched a Disney live action remake since Beauty and the Beast. When I saw that one all I could think was "these people don't understand, in the least, what made the animated films so good."

Haven't wasted my time with one of these since.

[depresso-espresso]

the fights between Halle and Javi were very underwhelming. Triton's anger literally causes sea storms, and Javi's version would only command a single cloud. I feel like the director was like "oh that's Oscar winner Javier Bardem, we don't need to do another take." When Ariel returns to her cavern after obtaining Eric's stature and Triton is there, it should be such a "oh shit oh shit he's gonna be pissed." He was just so passive aggressive

[AceHufflepuff]

"Animation has a STYLE that the little mermaid just lends itself to."
And there in lies the rub. The Disney live action movies are TRYING to be something they're NOT. Instead of EMBRACING being live action, embracing having STYLE because look at an Aronofsky film, or a Nolan film and TELL ME they do not have their own STYLE, where they go wrong is they have this mindset going in of "let's try and fix something that isn't even broken". And it just. Never. Works.

[bbtank]

Jeremy, I guarantee that they didn't show individual shots of the sea creatures playing instruments because it would've increased the CGI budget. I noticed this same thing with the "Never Had a Friend Like Me" sequence in Live action Aladdin. Lots of long shots of Will Smith just floating around not doing much.