REVIEW: Disney Returns Under The Sea For Charming Live Action Re-Telling Of The Little Mermaid

It’s time to return back to the sea in Disney’s new live-action movie, The Little Mermaid. Based on the beloved 1989 animated classic, and the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale, this new re-telling follows the young princess Ariel (Halle Bailey) as she struggles to find a place in her under water world.  Ariel longs to swim to the surface and get to know the humans that travel its seas, but her father, King Triton wants her to stay away. As her curiosity for the human world gets the better of her, Ariel sneaks to the surface where she sets sight on the handsome Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King). In hopes of getting to see her Prince again, she makes a deal with the villainous sea witch, Ursula (Melissa McCarthy). In exchange for her voice, Ariel will become a human for three days. The catch, she must receive True Love’s Kiss from Prince Eric before the sun sets on the third day if she hopes to remain human. If she doesn’t, she returns to the sea and will forever be in Ursula’s debt. With her trusty companions, Sebastian (voiced by Daveed Diggs), Flounder (voiced by Jacob Tremblay), and Scuttle (voiced by Awkwafina), on her side, Ariel heads to the surface to begin her quest to find where she truly belongs.

In the past years, Disney has developed many of their animated classics into live action adaptations, and have not always been successful. Either the casting wasn’t perfect, an actor could act, but could not sing, a new song did not fit the narrative, the plot followed too closely, or not close enough, to it’s predecessor, Disney couldn’t seem to nail their live-action movies down. However, the Mouse House seems to have found their footing with this Rob Marshall directed creation. Marshall, with the help of screenwriter David Magee, managed to find the perfect balance between keeping with the source material and updating it to fit a modern audience. They never deviated from the narrative or gave old characters unnecessary storylines. Instead, they crafted a story that honored the original, but didn’t try to be something it was not.

Bailey steps into play the live-action Ariel, and is the perfect for the somewhat naïve mermaid.. She is completely adorable and has the voice of an angel. All things that make for a perfect mermaid princess. Hauer-King does a good job with Eric. He is charismatic and has beautiful chemistry with Bailey, which makes the idea of them falling in love so quickly a tab bit more believable. His character also plays a much bigger part in this story, which allowed the audience to fully understand why these two made the perfect match for one another.

McCarthy is absolutely delightful as Ursula. She bring a delicious level of evil to the sea witch and is pure joy to watch on screen. Diggs and Awkwafina provided the voices for Sebastian and Scuttle, and nailed every aspect of their roles. Specifically Diggs, who worked very well with Bailey. My only wish is the two were in it more because their back and forth banter was a joy to watch unfold on screen. Tremblay, who voices Ariel’s best friend Flounder, was a nice addition, but completely underused. He was such a comedic relief in the original, that it was a disappointment to see him used so little in this new version.

Alan Menken returns as the head of the music for this creation, and is joined, this time, by Lin-Manuel Miranda. The three new songs featuring in the movie definitely do not hit the same way as the original songs. “Uncharted Waters” didn’t quite fit in the story, at least its placement did not, but the other two fit in rather nicely. Miranda was also tasked with updating the lyrics to songs such as “Poor Unfortunate Souls” and “Kiss The Girl”. These updates will only be noticed by true fans of the original, and as someone who listened to these songs nonstop growing up, it was extremely noticeable. Howard Ashman, the original lyrist on the animated movie, had such a way with words that changing his original lyrics seem like a disservice to the songs. But, Miranda managed to do it.  The last thing to note about the music is the movie needed a musical opener. Maybe not a song per say, but something that alludes to the fact you are watching a movie musical, not a movie.

All in all, The Little Mermaid is pure charm from start to finish. From the cast to the musical numbers, the magic of Disney can be found floating throughout. It may not live up to the original, but it will definitely be a film to take the family to this holiday weekend.

Grade: B+

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