Review: Rob Marshall’s ‘The Little Mermaid’ Enriches the Original
by Manuel São Bento
May 31, 2023
Yet another Disney live-action remake, yet another short preamble about the original flick before diving into this new one. For me personally, The Little Mermaid from 1989 was not an animated movie that marked my childhood. The memorable songs, underwater musical sequences, and the iconic animal characters kept my recent rewatch enjoyable enough, but unfortunately, the superficial, abrupt narrative and the extremely underdeveloped character arcs leave a lot to be desired. These are some of the details that I hoped might be improved in the modern live-action remake, which contains an extra hour on its runtime… Claiming that a remake matches or surpasses the original will always be controversial. And if it’s related to movies that deeply impacted different generations, the nostalgia factor comes into play and blinds viewers who feel the almost uncontrollable need to protect “their film” against any other positive opinion about the new version.
It’s starting to feel repetitive to mention in my reviews that my opinion isn’t affected by anything external. 2023’s live-action The Little Mermaid is merely a new target of the well-known vocal minority incessant in canceling everything that evades the barriers of the so-called “norm”. The inability to understand what are the important characteristics of a character seems more purposeful than innocent since it’s obvious that Ariel’s skin color – played by Halle Bailey in the remake – doesn’t matter at all for her arc or any storyline or anything else. It’s not worth wasting too much time on incomprehensible human complexities…
Without forgetting my feelings about the 1989 flick, I release the inevitable “hot take“: yes, I consider this remake of The Little Mermaid superior to the original. Calm down…!! I’m not stating it is an unparalleled masterpiece in the history of cinema. And no, I’m not pushing a political agenda because of the lead actress – come on, please… This new Disney movie directed by Rob Marshall (of Chicago, Nine, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Into the Woods, Mary Poppins Returns) and written by David Magee also has its issues, but the narrative is incomparably richer, more complete, and more emotionally compelling than its predecessor, with all due respect to the authors of the first adaptation – who had to contend with the trend of short run-times at that time.
The Little Mermaid maintains the central themes of Hans Christian Andersen’s original tale: Ariel’s journey of self-discovery, the search for belonging and acceptance, the curiosity for adventure and new cultures… everything remains intact in this new adaptation. The big difference in this 2023 version is related to the time allocated to delve into all these topics, as well as the protagonists’ arcs. From details like explanations about Ariel and Eric’s family background to the lengthening of sequences from the original that needed more time to achieve the intended impact, the new script is unquestionably more fleshed out.
The greatest narrative growth can be found in the core relationship within The Little Mermaid story. The premise remains identical: Ariel and Eric must share a true love’s kiss for the mermaid to transform into a human being, having until the third day’s sunset to complete this mission. Not wanting to sound too crude with the 1989 flick, but at no point did I believe the characters fell in love with each other, much less for reasons so powerful as to be able to describe their kiss as one of true love.
In the original animated movie, both are more concerned with each other’s physical appearance, with Ariel even telling her father that she loves “handsome Eric” without the two having had any conversations yet. The first time Ariel sees Eric, she’s lost in the futile beauty of his face. In the remake, Ariel is fascinated by the prince’s words, creating an emotional connection with his personality, desires, ambitions, and way of seeing the world, in addition to only seeing his face right before the storm begins sinking the boat. Even after this first meeting, Ariel feels confused and keeps her interest in exploring the human world as her main motivation instead of being madly in love with a man she barely knows.
The second act of The Little Mermaid deepens their relationship even further, creating countless parallels between their pasts, the education they received, the future they want for themselves, their common passion for adventure, and their intense curiosity for different cultures. Both have a collection of antiques and when Eric takes Ariel on a tour of his kingdom, it’s a more extensive sequence, offering significant build-ups to impactful resolutions to much of what Ariel sings in the iconic song Part of Your World.
The cast shares palpable chemistry, with Halle Bailey being the absolute standout. The actress proves to be tremendously charismatic, shifting the spotlight on herself whenever she’s on the big screen. In addition to her superb performance, her impressive voice echoes throughout the theater, grabbing the attention of all viewers as she sings outstanding songs from the score. Jonah Hauer-King is also excellent as Eric, even having his own song. The couple is incredibly charming together, but they aren’t the only ones that stand out. Daveed Diggs & Awkwafina manage to distinguish themselves from the original voices of Sebastian & Scuttle, respectively, by offering different accents and tones for both characters. I never expected them to reach the same levels as Samuel E. Wright (Sebastian) and Buddy Hackett (Scuttle), but the truth is, they’re absolutely hilarious. In the remake, there are more interactions between the two animals, resulting in more humor in addition to familiar scenes that are repeated. Jacob Tremblay also gives his best as Flounder.
Melissa McCarthy offers her body and soul to the evil octopus Ursula, respecting Pat Carroll’s previous work, but adding a more dramatic layer to the villain of The Little Mermaid. This Ursula sounds and looks more menacing than the 1989 flick, and retains some of her darker humor. Still, I expected more tweaks to her arc. There are some attempts to create a link between Ursula and King Triton, but here the screenplay holds the same superficiality that the original script had with Ariel and Eric. The past between the king and the sea witch wasn’t worthy of deeper development, despite Ursula’s motivations staying faithful to those of her predecessor.
Surprisingly, Javier Bardem is the only actor who disappoints. King Triton was never a highly expressive or emotional character, but in the original film, one could perceive the guilt and regret of a father trying to deal with a “rebellious” daughter. Bardem preserves the same expression throughout the entire runtime, focusing too much on the fact that he’s playing a king rather than a father.
On the technical side, The Little Mermaid has its qualities and flaws. The visuals are much better than the trailers let on, with some truly stunning moments, but that feeling of watching actors performing in front of a green screen never really goes away – perhaps we just got used to the mind-blowing realism of Avatar: The Way of Water. The set and costume design deserve tons of praise, namely when the action moves into the human world.
The renowned songs are all beautifully performed and efficiently executed, with Kiss the Girl leaving my theater in tears due to so much laughter. It is, without a doubt, my favorite musical moment. Unfortunately, the new tunes don’t work at all. If Eric’s new song, called Wild Uncharted Waters, is still acceptable, others fall completely flat, especially a rap involving Sebastian and Scuttle that caught me off guard. It doesn’t fit the type of themes that the movie presents, sounding more like an outtake made for fun that somehow made the final cut than something seriously planned and perfected.
Composer Alan Menken’s score is everything a remake’s score should be. He takes his original work from more than 30 years ago and does the same as Magee’s screenplay: enriches what deserved to be enriched. Melodies become more complex and songs are stretched for longer sequences, contributing to a greater impact of the musical set pieces. If there’s an aspect impossible to criticize in this remake, it’s precisely this.
I have no more words to add to describe how surprisingly satisfying The Little Mermaid is. It’s not a perfect remake, far from it. There are better live-action adaptations from Disney, but it’s a major step in the right direction, a path the studio is rightfully taking by recalling these stories and offering new interpretations that – pay attention now – you may or may not enjoy! Our childhood isn’t going to be ruined by a new film. The original classics have never disappeared nor will they succumb to the void (let’s hope it stays that way). I’ll end this review with a personal example of how to deal with all these new remakes, if I may…
If you asked a few years ago what my favorite animated movies were, I wouldn’t mention Mulan. Although I always liked the original flick, I never saw it again as an adult, so somehow it fell into oblivion. If it wasn’t for the 2020 remake, I would never have revisited the original and realized how much I love it. I didn’t enjoy the remake much, despite praising Niki Caro’s courage in trying something risky and different. But I’m grateful every day for the fact that it was made because, without that remake, I wouldn’t have found myself rewatching the wonderful animated version again so soon. So, if you don’t like this new The Little Mermaid remake, that’s okay. Watch the 1989 movie again, share it with your family and, who knows, you might even enjoy it more after revisiting a story you love.
Final Thoughts
The Little Mermaid enriches virtually every narrative aspect compared to the original, deepening Ariel and Eric’s arcs while exploring the same core themes without losing any of its predecessor’s essence. The relationship between the protagonists is unquestionably more complex and emotionally compelling, while the secondary characters – namely Sebastian and Scuttle – remain genuinely hilarious. Halle Bailey is VERY impressive and the cast accompanies her excellently. However, it’s not without its problems: the new songs are, for the most part, forgettable; the visuals are better than anticipated, though the odd feeling of being surrounded by fake walls never quite disappears; and finally Ursula was left with unexplored potential. That said, it’s one of Disney’s best live-action remakes of recent times and deserves to be seen by every child in the world in need of some inspiration – as we all once were.
Manuel’s Rating: B+
Follow Manuel on Twitter – @msbreviews / Or Letterboxd – @msbreviews
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