★★★☆☆
‘Under the Sea’, the song sung by Sebastian, a charming crustacean in The Little Mermaid, begins with the words. “Listen to me, the human world is a mess”, and we really can’t argue with that. Although The Little Mermaid, Disney’s latest live-action remake, isn’t a mess as a whole, it leaves much to be desired.
Ariel (Halle Bailey) is the youngest, rebellious daughter of King Triton (Javier Bardem). She is fascinated by humans and their strange contraptions, such as a fork and a telescope, and yearns to live on land. As she witnesses a shipwreck, she saves the dashing Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King) from drowning and drags him to shore. Eric, barely conscious, is enchanted by Ariel’s voice and vows to find her.
Ariel, in her desperation, makes a deal with the sea witch Ursula (Melissa McCarthy) to have three days on land as a human in exchange for her voice. She needs a “true love’s kiss” by sundown on the third day to stay human, or she will be transformed back into a mermaid and be Ursula’s prisoner.
Halle Bailey as Ariel in Disney’s live-action THE LITTLE MERMAID. Photo courtesy of Disney. © 2023 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Writer David Magee hasn’t changed a whole lot from the original 1989 animated film. In fact, much of the dialogue is taken completely from it. The Little Mermaid seems like a completely pointless remake; one that doesn’t even try to craft its own identity. Scenes are recreated – or copied – from the original down to the very details. The dinglehoppers and thingamabobits are back, but The Little Mermaid, to its credit, does emphasise that Ariel is fascinated and borderline obsessed with the human world even before meeting Eric.
Thankfully, the casting in The Little Mermaid is on point. Bailey’s casting was met with a lot of controversy, with the hashtag #NotMyAriel trending on Twitter for far longer than it should have, but Bailey proves she was the perfect choice for Ariel. Not only does she have the vocal pipes to pull off numbers like ‘Part of Your World’, but she brims with innocence and life.
Melissa McCarthy as Ursula in Disney’s live-action THE LITTLE MERMAID. Photo courtesy of Disney. © 2023 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Melissa McCarthy is deliciously dramatic and evil as Ursula, who is also Ariel’s aunt here, deepening the conflict between Ursula and Triton. Whether you enjoy Awkwafina as Scuttle probably depends on how you feel about Awkwafina in general. It’s hard to tell where Awkwafina ends and Scuttle begins; the character has been changed from a seagull to a diving bird and with Awkwafina’s distinct voice, the character barely resembles its animated counterpart. Jacob Tremblay is mostly wasted as Flounder, but Daveed Diggs as Sebastian is the highlight of the whole film.
Sebastian is also the very reason these live-action remakes don’t work. Despite a wondrous, delightful voice performance, Sebastian just looks completely wrong. Whereas the animated version of the character was funny and expressive, the new Sebastian can’t emote, so most of Diggs’ wonderful voice work goes to waste.
Overall, the relationship between fantasy and photorealism in The Little Mermaid is an uneasy, uncanny one. There is a reason animation exists and why some films are animated; animation can do what live-action can’t. The Little Mermaid fails to differentiate between life under the sea and on land. Too many scenes are far too dark or overlit, and they make the film visually drab and dull.
While The Little Mermaid is far from Disney’s worst live-action remakes, it’s yet another nail in the coffin of these films. At over two hours, The Little Mermaid overstays its welcome by stretching scenes unnecessarily. The three new songs, all by original, legendary composer Alan Menken, add very little, which could also be said about the film as a whole in terms of what it adds to the cultural, cinematic landscape.
The Little Mermaid is in UK cinemas on 26 May.
