In the midst of Disney remaking their animated classics in live-action, it seemed like a natural fit with the stars aligned. Director Rob Marshall, fresh off of Mary Poppins Returns, Lin-Manuel Miranda as both producer and song lyricist, and the breakthrough casting of singer Halle Bailey as the title character. The ingredients seemed to be there... but who cares? No big deal. I wanted more.
In the underwater kingdom of Atlantica, Princess Ariel (Halle Bailey) is fascinated with the human world, much to the frustration of her human hating father King Triton (Javier Bardem). After a shipwreck where she rescues Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King), her desires to see the human world lead her into forming a pact with the Sea Witch Ursula (Melissa McCarthy), who turns her into a human in exchange for her voice, giving her three days to fall in love with the prince and share true love's kiss. Aided by her friends Sebastian (Daveed Diggs), Flounder (Jacob Tremblay), and Scuttle (Awkwafina), she soon finds the prince, and the two form their bond as Ursula plots her overthrow of Triton.
Let's address the Mermaid herself; Halle Bailey is fantastic in the title role. Albeit, it hasn't been an easy road, as the casting of a black actress in a traditionally white role spurred critical reactions from Disney purists (including the purely racist variety, as usual). So it is refreshing to see Bailey almost instantly shush naysayers watching the film, as she feels perfectly suited to the character, even reinventing her in several ways. Ariel's often gotten a bad rep for changing her desires for a man, when really, the man was just the inciting incident to chase her desires. So while the remake does tweak her a bit to address these concerns, instead of feeling like a ploy for positive buzz, the changes are actually more thoughtful than you'd expect.
For one thing, it not only seeks to give Ariel more agency within the action, but consent becomes a central point through the film, and the importance that Ariel is fully aware and conscious of the situations that she's in. I don't think it overpowers her though. It feels just right, in that she feels empowered, but without falling into "girlboss" category. Also, given that Ariel's signature trait, her beautiful singing voice, is cardinal to her character, it certainly helps that Bailey is at her best during the songs. That's not a dig either, but a testament to the soul and power of her singing voice. Without overshadowing the original, she makes this creation her own, and crafts a rendition that can easily stand alongside that animated original.
I think something that also helps is how she plays off of Eric, played here by Jonah Hauer-King. The original often gets ridiculed for the three day romance, and while this new film does carry that over, I still think it works. Hauer-King may not be on the level of Bailey, and in some instances I did think of him as quite bland, what elevates him are the scenes they share together, because the two of them have good chemistry. The romance is actually something of an afterthought in this new rendition, but I honestly think that's for the best, because it gives them a chance to develop that bond through mutual trust, so that when we do get into the inevitable "Kiss the Girl" sequence, the romantic moments feel earned.
There is one huge scene stealer though, and that's Melissa McCarthy's Ursula. Ursula is not a complicated character in the slightest, basically a scorned outcast with a hunger for revenge, but her theatricality makes her so entertaining to watch. McCarthy is clearly having the time of her life, getting to camp it up like a queen, and relish the freedom to plunge headfirst into the wicked, with her "Poor Unfortunate Souls" number standing out as one of the highlights.
That said, this is where I get into my problems with the movie. Namely, LOTS OF FILLER! At 135 minutes, The Little Mermaid is almost an hour longer than the animation, and doesn't justify it. This goes back to my inherent issues with Disney's remakes, specifically the Renaissance based films, in that they have to set out to make the same film again, but stretch itself out to justify its existence. In fairness, when this new movie is trying to do something different, that's usually among its stronger elements. But when they have to recreate the same moments, just at an expanded running time, all that does is either negate, or weaken the original material. It's trying to add epic scale that it didn't need, when you can garner so much more emotion out of that shorter animation.
Speaking of epic scale, I'm not a big fan of how the film adapts the original visuals. Animation is a lot more dynamic, more fluid, and more colorful than you're able to get out of live-action, and the 1989 film still looks timeless. Here, because they've attempted to create some form of "photorealism," they've sapped personality away from the underwater world, and so the set up and staging feels a lot less inventive. Compare the "Under the Sea" numbers, where the choreography is so much more limited in live-action, recalling Jon Favreau's The Lion King, whose choreography equated to animals running in a straight line.
Lighting also isn't a friend to this movie, especially in Dolby 3D. The film isn't as drab as its trailers have implied, as there are some very colorful moments, but it certainly wavers, especially in darker scenes that play up the more muted color schemes. This actually becomes a huge problem in the climax with giant Ursula. The CGI itself is flimsy enough, but not helping is that they've decided "Ok. We're going to cast everything in thick shadow, you're not going to be able to see anything, and any shot of Ursula's face is going to be obscured."
The CGI doesn't fare much better with the animated characters, as because we've taken a photorealistic approach, you now have to drastically alter the character designs of Ariel's sidekicks. What's sad is that some of them are quite appealingly voiced, specifically Daveed Diggs as Sebastian, who seems to enjoy chewing into the thick Jamaican accent, andJacob Tremblay is a solid addition as Flounder. But the worst of them belongs to Awkwafina, who is badly miscast as the gender-flipped Scuttle, with a modernized sense of streetwise humor that really grated on me. If you enjoyed Buddy Hackett badly mangling "Romeo and Juliet's Love Theme," you'll be dying to hear Awkwafina's rendition of "Womp, Chicka-Womp-Womp!"
Scuttle leads me into another issue I have, which is its soundtrack. Alan Menken and Lin-Manuel Miranda are phenomenal songwriters. They've proven that time and time again, but they do not work well with each other. The original Ashman/Menken songs are acceptably revised (even if Menken himself is phoning it in with this movie), but the new songs have Miranda adapting to Ashman's original style, but not carrying over the soul of Ashman's lyricism. Miranda has three new songs, one of which does have his unique voice to it. Unfortunately, that new song, "The Scuttlebutt," is horrendously out of place. Despite the admittedly cute lyrics that play to Miranda's strengths, Awkwafina's delivery - coupled with the distracting rap style - brings the film to a screeching halt, and feels like everything a traditional Disney number shouldn't be.
The Little Mermaid is a confusing beast, in that there are plenty of admirable qualities to enjoy. For what it's worth, Bailey's Ariel is a fantastic addition, that stays true to the essence of what made that original character so charming, while wholly making her own version that I think viewers, and especially kids will take to. Unfortunately, she does have to come saddled to a film that lacks the invention, and the spectacle of the film its taking inspiration from, again making one question what it's reason is for being, if not simply to be a money-maker. There's really not much else to say.
Harmless it is, but for Disney to settle for harmless... Pathetic...
**1/2 / *****
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