Worth: $15.50
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Halle Bailey, Jonah Hauer-King, Melissa McCarthy, Javier Bardem
Intro:
… may not always be better than the original, but as a newly plotted course through familiar waters, it avoids the turbulence that has capsized past remakes.
The rationality of Disney’s spree of live-action remakes has grown dimmer with each passing effort; considering their varying attempts to ‘fix’ aspects of the originals, what began as an interesting post-modern experiment has often struggled to justify itself. Hell, some of them struggled to even be watchable (Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King).
With director Rob Marshall (Mary Poppins Returns, Chicago) and this take on the film that began the glorious era of the Disney Renaissance, there is something different in these waters. Sure, there are still changes made here and there, but this doesn’t come across as if this is meant to usurp the original. Rather, it feels like it’s following in the path of the typical Disney Princess and just looking for more.
And more we certainly get, with a runtime nearly an hour longer than the 1989 original. Thankfully, most of that comes in the form of expanding on themes and relationships already present in the source material. Ariel’s fangirling over human culture is extrapolated (and even mirrored with Prince Eric’s own curiosities) into a story about building a bridge between their respective worlds.
It manages to avoid the eyeroll-inducing bluntness of Pocahontas trying on this same idea, and instead focuses on that bridge being built on the foundation of Ariel and Eric’s budding relationship; kind of like an amphibious Romeo & Juliet. And since Halle Bailey fills Ariel’s gills (and later lungs) with a voice that could split the ocean in twain, and Jonah Hauer-King’s passion lets Eric be less of a generic cute prince this time around, their chemistry makes that foundation appear viable.
The visuals help with that too, recreating the trick Jon Favreau pulled with The Jungle Book (and then subsequently forgot with The Lion King) and using CGI in an expressive and colourful way that doesn’t so much try to ape traditional animation as it shows that computers can create wonder in their own way.
The only major sticking point is the music, and even there, it’s mostly good. Bailey consistently knocks it out of the park, Melissa McCarthy as a more Winifred Sanderson-esque take on Ursula reveals hidden talents within the oft-maligned comedienne, and the sound palette leans more into the calypso rhythms of songs like ‘Under The Sea’ to give it a distinct flavour.
Then again, said leaning ends up making Daveed Diggs’ Sebastian and his fake patois stick out in an odd way, and there is a little too much sing-talking going on to be as immersive as it could have been. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s additions don’t add much either, aside from ‘The Scuttlebutt’ being a chance for him, Diggs, and Awkwafina to show off.
The Little Mermaid may not always be better than the original, but as a newly plotted course through familiar waters, it avoids the turbulence that has capsized past remakes. It’s the first Disney live-action revisit in quite a while that manages to maintain that tangible magic of the Renaissance, even if it’s an imperfect recreation, and it’s a more-than-feasible option for those who want to be part of Ariel’s world once again.
