Certificate: PG
Running Time: 135 mins
UK Distributor: Disney
WHO’S IN THE LITTLE MERMAID?
Halle Bailey, Jonah Hauer-King, Daveed Diggs, Awkwafina, Jacob Tremblay, Noma Dumezwani, Javier Bardem, Melissa McCarthy, Art Malik, Lorena Andrea, Simone Ashley, Kajsa Mohammar, Nathalie Sorrell, Karolina Conchet, Sienna King, Jessica Alexander, Russell Balogh, Emily Coates, John Dagleish, Adrian Christopher
WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?
Rob Marshall (director, producer), David Magee (writer), John DeLuca, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Marc Platt (producers), Alan Menken (composer), Dion Beebe (cinematographer), Wyatt Smith (editor)
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
A mermaid named Ariel (Bailey) makes a deal with a sea witch (McCarthy) to explore the surface world…
WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON THE LITTLE MERMAID?
God, the discourse surrounding Disney’s trend of live-action remakes is exhausting. Putting aside the overall quality of the newer versions of animated classics like The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, The Jungle Book, Peter Pan et al, I’m just tired of hearing the same arguments from detractors every single time a new one comes out, including (but not limited to): “There’s no reason for it to exist”; “It’s just a soulless corporate cash grab”; “the original animated one never needed to be remade”; and so on, and so on. I feel like I’m the only one seeing the irony that, by complaining about something recycling old stuff for the masses, they too are rehashing their familiar soundbites for their own audiences.
The negativity has gotten so fierce that it’s forcing me to play the one card I rarely like to use, because it’s such an easy out when talking about anything bad that’s shown on the big or small screen, but I’m using it regardless: for the love of God, it’s just a movie. Now, I love movies, always have, always will, but even I will say that there are far more important things going on in the real world than whatever big-budget mess might be being put out by the big entertainment studios, or how many people still go to see them despite the backlash. It’s crazy to me that with everything going on in the world right now, from political tension to climate change to natural disasters etc, people are getting much more angry that Timon and Pumbaa no longer have facial expressions, or how autotuned Emma Watson’s singing voice is, or the fact that the title character in The Little Mermaid now has a different skin colour to her original counterpart.
Ah yes, The Little Mermaid. A favourite to many children growing up even to this today, and the film that kick-started the Disney Renaissance of the 90s, but to me it was never my go-to choice of that era. As a kid, and even now as an adult, I would be much more inclined to go with Beauty and the Beast or Aladdin or The Lion King over it, which isn’t to say I didn’t like it because I did, but for whatever reason I never watched or even enjoyed it more than those other Disney movies. With that in mind, not to mention the fact that I actually haven’t seen the original for a number of years, I was quite surprised by how much this new version, from director Rob Marshall, managed to recapture a good chunk of the familiar Disney magic in a remake that’s certainly not perfect, but for what it is works just well enough.
As before, the story is about Ariel (Halle Bailey), a young mermaid who’s one of many daughters of the nautical King Triton (Javier Bardem), and who is deeply fascinated with the human world just above the surface. Her desire to explore the world up above is exemplified when she encounters, and saves the life of, the handsome Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King), so she makes a deal with sea witch Ursula (Melissa McCarthy) to trade both her fins and her voice for a pair of legs, as long as she can receive true love’s kiss by the end of her third day on land, or else she’ll become Ursula’s property.
It isn’t that radically different from the original – even having not seen it for so long, I could still identify certain shots and sequences that are recreated almost beat-for-beat and shot-for-shot – but that’s to be expected with these Disney remakes by this point. What’s more important is how it executes them, and Marshall does manage to bring some spirited energy to the recreation, as he did with his other recent Disney IP project Mary Poppins Returns. With that film’s writer David Magee also providing the script, the director creates a dazzling pair of worlds separated only by the ocean surface. Above it, the Caribbean islands are jovial and captivating, complete with some nifty production design and equally pleasant cinematography; below it, while some of the underwater effects look a bit strange at times, there is a strong amount of colour and vibrancy that makes it a pleasant enough reef to swim around (you even get used to the photo-realistic designs of sea creatures like Sebastian the crab after a while). It is a very handsome production where you can clearly see all the money being spent on it, but not too much to where you can no longer identify a soul amidst all its lavishness.
Marshall and Magee may bring the soul, but it is Halle Bailey who provides the voice. The singer makes a dazzling screen debut as Ariel, where she not only nails the classic songs with her incredible vocals (her rendition of “Part of Your World” is simply beautiful), but also shows herself to be a very expressive actor, conveying a lot of her character’s thoughts and emotions with just her facial cues, especially when she is unable to audibly express them. She has very good chemistry with an equally charming Jonah Hauer-King as Eric, who also gets to show his surprisingly strong vocal range in his own music number (one of a few rather good new songs written by Lin-Manuel Miranda), and even with Melissa McCarthy, who is having good fun camping it up as Ursula. Bailey, though, is the film’s brightest star, immediately winning you over with her irresistible charm and uncanny ability to make this beloved Disney protagonist her own.
There’s a good amount of things that do genuinely work about The Little Mermaid, but of course there’s also a number of things that don’t. Some of the CGI, particularly whenever we’re underwater, can be pretty ropey to look at, like the odd bit of floating hair or certain establishing shots, and while Bailey does well to generate chemistry with a lot of characters (some of whom aren’t even actually there), she can’t quite connect with her own father, whom Javier Bardem plays with a noticeable low energy that is less intimidating and commanding than in the animated version. The majority of the musical numbers, either old or new, are certainly lively and entertaining in their own way, though one or two tend to feel a bit out of place, like a rap number given to Awkwafina’s species-swapped bird Scuttle which, while rhythmically solid thanks to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s trademark song-writing style, does take you out of it for a couple of minutes.
However, if those are the only real complaints that I have about a Disney remake, then I guess that makes The Little Mermaid something of a mini-miracle. While it’s not the best of the best among them (I still consider The Jungle Book to be the one to beat), I’d put it in the same category as Cinderella, where it’s delightfully pleasant and aesthetically handsome enough to please most viewers regardless of their love for the original. Much of that comes from Marshall’s lively energy that he inserts into the filmmaking, and of course a star-making lead turn by Halle Bailey.
There will, undoubtedly, be just as many people once again angrily decrying its existence, just as they have done for pretty much every one of these remakes. To them, I play the card once more: for the love of God, it’s just a movie.
SO, TO SUM UP…
The Little Mermaid is the rare Disney remake that feels like it has some soul to it, thanks to Rob Marshall’s aesthetically pleasing filmmaking and a dazzling lead performance by Halle Bailey, both of which are strong enough to barely justify its existence.
The Little Mermaid is now showing in cinemas nationwide
