‘THE LITTLE MERMAID’ (2023)

Please feel free to comment on my review.

Under the Sea Again

I’ve seen the 2023 live-action remake of Disney’s ‘The Little Mermaid’ four times now! 🙂

Disney live-action remakes are fascinating. And I mean that in the kindest way possible. Sometimes you get Disney live-action remakes that are often reinventions of the same story, e.g., 2015‘s ‘Cinderella’ or you get mostly note-for-note translations of animated classics into live-action films. 😐

Films like 2017‘s ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and 2019‘s ‘Aladdin’ and ‘The Lion King’ fit the latter category. My preference on the latter category varies, as I’ve enjoyed the live-action versions of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘Aladdin’ more than the animated counterparts that they’re based upon.

But then I prefer the 1994 animated version of ‘The Lion King’ more than the 2019 live-action remake. It depends on what mood I’m in and how much the original classic film connects to me. Whether it’s a strong connection like ‘The Lion King’ or with vagueness like ‘Beauty and the Beast’. 😐

And I do try my best to judge these live-action adaptations of animated Disney classic films accordingly, as there are good and bad things to take away from them. For the most part, I’ve enjoyed the live-action remakes of the animated films, and that includes 2023’s ‘The Little Mermaid’.

Since I saw and reviewed the original 1989 ‘Little Mermaid’ film as well as ‘The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea’ for ‘Bradley’s Basement’, it was fair I checked out the 2023 live-action film at the cinema. And it’s only fair for me to share my thoughts on whether I like the live-action film or not. 🙂

After seeing the film at the cinema and three times on Disney+ at the time of this review, I honestly like the 2023 film. I still prefer the original 1989 film, but I find the 2023 film an enjoyable live-action interpretation of ‘The Little Mermaid’ in Disney form, and I’m so pleased that I’ve been able to see it.

It’s interesting in terms of checking out the film, as I’ve noticed certain structural changes made to the film’s plot, including elements absent from the 1989 film in the 2023 film. For example, Ariel’s discovery of Prince Eric’s statue in the ocean happens before the ‘Under the Sea’ musical number. 😐

There’s also the underwater concert, which was at the start of the 1989 film, replaced by King Triton simply reuniting with his daughters, only to see Ariel absent. The story is mostly the same, but I couldn’t help notice certain differences in the 2023 film after having seen the 1989 film many times.

The 2023 film’s ending is longer compared to the 1989 film, stretching out Ariel ending up becoming a human by her father. There’s also the absence of Ariel not telling her father that she loves Eric when he’s about to destroy her collection of human items, which makes sense in terms of the story.

The 1989 film is a very sloppy love story for Ariel and Prince Eric, which I enjoyed very much. But it’s something that wouldn’t quite work in a retelling for a modern audience. I like that Ariel and Eric get to know each other and the romance between them goes step-by-step as it does feels more natural.

It helps that 2023’s ‘The Little Mermaid’ is about 135 minutes compared to the original 1989 film, which is about 83 minutes. Ideally, I would have liked everything in the 2023 film to match what’s in the 1989 film in live-action form, but I do appreciate the 2023 film doing its own spin on things here.

The performances of the film’s cast are very good. There’s Halle Bailey, who I enjoyed as Ariel in the film. This, so far, is my first encounter with Halle Bailey. I do like how she projects her singing voice into Ariel’s character as well as displaying the curious, adventurous and headstrong aspects of her. 🙂

Some might complain that Halle Bailey doesn’t match to how Ariel looks in the 1989 animated film, but quite honestly, I don’t think that’s a major issue to harp upon. The 2023 film is its own thing and so long as the story and the character development is good, I’m fine with Halle Bailey playing Ariel. 🙂

There’s Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric. At the time of this review, I’m looking forward to seeing Jonah Hauer-King in Series 15 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. 😀 I found Eric’s character development quite refreshing in the 2023 film compared to how Eric was portrayed in the 1989 film.

In viewing the film, it’s interesting how Eric and Ariel as characters had their desires in life and how they paralleled with each other whilst the human and the merpeople worlds were against each other. In the 1989 film, we didn’t see enough of Eric’s side of life compared to how we saw Ariel’s. 🙂

Daveed Diggs voices Sebastian the crab in the 2023 film. Admittedly, Daveed Diggs doesn’t match to how Samuel E. Wright voiced Sebastian in the 1989 film, but I appreciate the effort in making him Jamaican-accented in the 2023 film as it was the case in the 1989 film, which I find very enlightening.

A consequence of the absence of the underwater concert in the 2023 film as it was in the 1989 film is that we don’t properly acknowledge that Sebastian is a court composer as well as being King Triton’s advisor. I’m so surprised that wasn’t made much emphasis of in the 2023 film for Sebastian.

Awkwafina voices Scuttle, who is now a dimwitted northern gannet and not a seagull as in the 1989 film. And yes, Scuttle is female, not male, as the character was male when voiced by Buddy Hackett in the 1989 film and ‘The Little Mermaid II’. And I’m fine with Scuttle being a female in the 2023 film.

I’ve come across Awkwafina in live-action form, as she’s been in films like ‘Jumanji: The Next Level’ and ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’. I enjoyed her voicing Scuttle in the film, especially when she bounces off Sebastian in certain scenes, particularly when he tolerates her dimwittedness.

Jacob Tremblay voices Flounder, Ariel’s anxious yet noble best fishy friend. In the 1989 film, Flounder was a yellow and blue tropical fish resembling a royal angelfish. In the 2023 film, he’s a sergeant major (that is the name of a fish) or a píntano, which happens to be a species of damselfish.

I had expected Flounder to be more yellow and blue in live-action as well as bigger like a royal angelfish. 😐 Jacob Tremblay’s first acting role was when he played Blue Winslow in ‘The Smurfs 2’, released in 2013. He’s had more acting roles since being in the film, including 2023’s ‘The Little Mermaid’. 🙂

Noma Dumezweni stars as Queen Selina, Eric’s adoptive mother. I’ve seen Noma Dumezweni in ‘Doctor Who’. She played Captain Erisa Magambo in the new TV series episodes ‘Turn Left’ and ‘Planet of the Dead’. Magambo has been in my 60th anniversary ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘The Thirteen+ Doctors’.

It was interesting to see Eric’s mother in the 2023 film, as none of Eric’s family members appeared in the 1989 film. I quite like how Queen Selina is portrayed in the film in being a mirror image of Ariel’s father King Triton, since she’s trying to protect her son from venturing too far in the open ocean.

Javier Bardem stars as King Triton in the film. I’ve seen Javier Bardem in the fifth ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ film, which has the titles ‘Salazar’s Revenge’ and ‘Dead Men Tell No Tales’. 😀 Javier Bardem’s interpretation of Triton is unique in the 2023 film compared to King Triton in the 1989 film.

I prefer King Triton in the 1989 film, voiced by Kenneth Mars, as I found him more frightening in that compared to 2023 film, especially when he demands that Ariel never goes up to the surface and see the humans. Javier Bardem is quieter and ‘less grumpy’, which isn’t how I see King Triton as a character.

Melissa McCarthy stars as Ursula, the treacherous sea-witch whom Ariel makes a deal with to become human. Melissa McCarthy has been in the 2016 ‘Ghostbusters’ film before doing the 2023 ‘Little Mermaid’ film. I enjoyed how she played Ursula, as it almost matches to her 1989 counterpart.

I think with a villainous character like Ursula in both the 1989 and 2023 films, there needs to be a balance of comedy and menace throughout. Melissa McCarthy manages to balance the two pretty well. Mind you, I don’t quite recognise Melissa as Ursula in her giant CGI form in the film’s climax. 😀

When we Ursula’s human alter-ego named Vanessa, she’s played by Jessica Alexander. In the 2023 film, Vanessa tries to win Eric’s attentions, which is what I expected since it matches to what occurred in the 1989 film. I do like how it’s handled differently in the 2023 film than in the 1989 film.

In the 2023 film, Eric struggles to focus when he’s being hypnotised under Vanessa’s spell. Yes, he was hynotised in the 1989 film, but there wasn’t a struggle as he seemed very determined to marry Vanessa and had forgotten about Ariel completely. At least in the 2023 film, Eric does remember Ariel.

Art Malik stars as prime minister Sir Grimsby in the 2023 film. I’ve also seen Art Malik in ‘Doctor Who’, as he guest starred in the new TV series episode ‘The Ghost Monument’ with Jodie Whittaker. He’s also been in the final ‘Sherlock’ episode called ‘The Final Problem’ and the 1994 film ‘True Lies’.

I like how Grimsby is portrayed in the 2023 film compared to the 1989 film, especially as he acts as a father figure for Eric. There are times when Grimsby can be cross with Eric for being adventurous, but he’s pleased when he sees Eric in love with Ariel and encourages him to pursue his feelings for her.

Apparently, Jodi Benson, who voiced Ariel in the original 1989 film, makes a cameo as a market vendor when Ariel and Eric tour around the Caribbean Island kingdom. It was nice and amusing to see the two Ariels actually met in the movie, and amusing to see Jodi react to Halle’s ‘dinglehopper’.

Ursula’s two green moray eel minions Flotsam and Jetsam appear in the film, but they don’t speak as in the 1989 film and are mute. This is peculiar, but then again, those two characters didn’t have many lines to say in the 1989 film. They only spoke when interacting with Ariel once she became upset. 😐

Incidentally, I’m shocked that Chef Louie didn’t make an appearance in the 2023 film. Max the dog certainly appeared, but not Chef Louie? 😐 Mind you, no-one could replace René Auberjonois. I also wonder if Chef Louie would have been too cartoonish to be portrayed in the 2023 live-action film. 😀

Apparently, the 2023 ‘Little Mermaid’ film was directed by Rob Marshall, who previously directed the fourth ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ film ‘On Stranger Tides’, ‘Into the Woods’ and ‘Mary Poppins Returns’. Maybe it’s me, but Rob Marshall is becoming quite the popular Disney director, isn’t he? 🙂

I had a ‘Finding Nemo’ vibe when watching the 2023 film. I suppose it’s natural to feel like that, especially as we’ve come full circle with both ‘Finding Nemo’ and ‘Finding Dory’ made between the 1989 and 2023 films. The CGI animation for the underwater worlds featured in the film is impressive.

The songs and music for the 2023 film are very good. Songs from the 1989 film are carried over into the 2023 film, such as ‘Part of Your World’, ‘Under the Sea’ and ‘Kiss the Girl’. There are also a few new songs featured in the 2023 film, which include ‘Wild Uncharted Waters’ and ‘For the First Time’.

These new songs are by Lin-Manuel Miranda of ‘Mary Poppins Returns’ and ‘Encanto’ fame. One thing I have to complain about is that I’m not keen on Ariel singing with Sebastian in the 2023 film’s version of ‘Under the Sea’. It doesn’t make sense to me when she sings during the song in the film. 😐

On the Blu-ray release for 2023’s ‘The Little Mermaid’, there’s a sing-along version of the film and there’s a five-part documentary called ‘Hotter Under the Water’, which includes ‘A Tale Of The Bottomless Blue’, ‘I Know Something’s Starting Right Now’, ‘Down Where It’s Wetter’, ‘Explore That Shore Up Above’ and ‘Do What The Music Say’. There are song breakdowns for ‘Wild Uncharted Waters’, ‘Under the Sea’ (which you can see on Disney+), ‘Kiss the Girl’ and ‘Poor Unfortunate Souls’. There’s ‘The Scuttlebutt on Sidekicks’, which features Awkafina and director Rob Marshall discussing the character of Scuttle in the 2023 film. There’s ‘Passing the Dinglehopper’, which features Jodi Benson and Halle Bailey (which you can see on Disney+), and there are bloopers of the film. On Disney+, there’s the ‘Impossible Child’ film outtake, with the song performed by Javier Bardem as King Triton, and there’s the trailer for 2023’s ‘The Little Mermaid’.

So, 2023’s ‘The Little Mermaid’ is a nice film to check out. I can’t say it’s better than the 1989 film, as that was the film I grew up with. I still enjoyed this version and I appreciate it doing its own thing in its storytelling and developing characters whilst having familiar elements, including songs and music.

I’d like to think my late sister Bethan would have enjoyed the 2023 film if she saw it today. 🙂 I’m glad I’ve seen 2023’s ‘Little Mermaid’ three times on Disney+ since seeing it at the cinema. I appreciate there are various interpretations of ‘The Little Mermaid’ over the years as well as the Disney ones. 🙂

If you’d like to see another live-action mermaid romance film, then I’d recommend checking out ‘Splash’, starring Tom Hanks. 😀 There are elements of ‘The Shape of Water’ featured in that film, particularly by the climax, but the story of a young man falling in love with a mermaid appeals to me. 🙂

At this point, there are more Disney ‘Little Mermaid’ productions for me to check out, including the prequel film ‘Ariel’s Beginnings’, ‘The Little Mermaid’ animated TV series and ‘The Little Mermaid Live’. I’m looking forward to checking out those ‘Little Mermaid’ productions when I can on Disney+.

‘The Little Mermaid’ (2023) rating – 8/10

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