The Little Mermaid
The Little Mermaid is playing in theaters at the time of writing. Rated PG. Common Sense says 8.
STORY: B-
If you were hoping for surprising twists and inspired reimaginings, you’re swimming up the wrong stream. The plot differences between this film and Disney’s 1989 animated version are few and far between. You don’t mess with a good thing.
At times, the film’s tone resembles the bubbly magical tone of the original. At other times, it’s much more dark and serious. These dour moments usually happen when the filmmakers lean heavy on CGI in order to make the story look more realistic.
It’s ok to have multiple tones. But it doesn’t always work. When it does, the two tones work together and lift each other up (much like two kids playing on a seesaw). It doesn’t work here. The film’s tones feel more like they’re in a tug of war. Each one feels like it’s battling for control, making the story come off as unbalanced and unsure of itself.
PEOPLE: A-
Halle Bailey wows as Ariel. Her singing is equal parts charming, emotional, and flat out phenomenal. Her voice convincingly communicates how badly she wants to be “part of our world” even when the narrative doesn’t.
I love that girls who look like Halle Bailey get to see themselves swimming and singing so beautifully on screen. I find the uproar over the color of her skin rather odd. Folks, if you find you can’t relate to a magical fish creature because she’s not white, please consider doing whatever work is needed to figure out why that is.
Most of the supporting cast seems to be having a ball. Melissa McCarthy plays up the campy and faux tortured mind of Ursula, while Javier Bardem dives deep into the brooding mind of a lonesome ruler. Awkwafina is an absolute delight as Scuttle. With all this ham, I almost thought I was at Easter brunch.
FILM NERD STUFF: B-
The underwater scenes floored me. The characters often swim right up to the camera from far away. How do the filmmakers capture (or create) movement like that? How do they keep them lit over that distance? And how long did it take to figure out how to make hair look so buoyant? The underwater CGI is an unbelievable feat.
But not all the CGI work impresses. The finale is much too dark, as are many underwater scenes. The darkness may be authentic, but it feels lifeless. It’s the main reason why the tone occasionally turns so dark.
IT’S JUST YOUR IMAGINATION (Elective Class): D
Imagination is equally important when it comes to books and movies. The joy of reading is creating a picture in your mind from somebody else’s words. The joy of watching a movie is seeing a group of talented people bring to life the images they saw in their heads while reading a script.
I understand that it takes a ridiculous amount of imagination and skill to create these live action remakes. But the more realistic they look, the less wondrous they feel to me. The less I have that magical feeling of watching someone’s imagination come to life on the silver screen.
As certain filmmakers (and international business/media conglomerates) continue their march toward perfecting realism, the same feelings I have about AI begin to creep into my head: it’s super impressive that we figured out how to do this stuff, but should we be doing it?
FINAL COMMENTS:
These live action remakes are neat, but I don’t see any decent artistic reason to make them. Disney will keep making them as long as they keep making money. I can only hope that they will continue to use the films as opportunities to widen representation and give rising stars a chance to shine.