A young mermaid makes a deal with a sea witch to trade her beautiful voice for human legs so she can discover the world above water and impress a prince.A young mermaid makes a deal with a sea witch to trade her beautiful voice for human legs so she can discover the world above water and impress a prince.A young mermaid makes a deal with a sea witch to trade her beautiful voice for human legs so she can discover the world above water and impress a prince.
- Awards
- 3 wins & 31 nominations total
7.2174.9K
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Summary
Reviewers say 'The Little Mermaid' live-action remake garners mixed reactions. Halle Bailey's Ariel and Melissa McCarthy's Ursula are praised for their performances. Visual effects and underwater scenes are lauded, yet CGI for animals is criticized. Pacing and runtime issues are noted, alongside mixed feedback on new songs and plot changes. The film is seen as decent, with strong performances and visuals, but flawed storytelling and character designs.
Featured reviews
I don't take anything away from the actors, I take everything away from the director and script. Bland and boring is the best way to describe it.
The director I blame because seriously half of this movie should have been cut.
The screenwriters I blame because wow how do you make a live action remake this boring and bland. It's Disney for crying out loud.
Again I don't blame the actors at all, they did the best with a super subpar script.
I don't wish to give spoilers, because to anyone who wants to see this movie and make their own opinion please do. The main point is simply I'm glad I waited until this was out of the theater. This was a bloated mess that needed oversight from someone who cared about the Disney brand.
In fairness to the actors they all deserve credit and I would give a shout out to the casting agent who put the right people in the right place. It's too bad that the writers and director were not the right choice for this film.
4 stars for decent acting in a subpar Disney remake. This film needs to go in the vault.
The director I blame because seriously half of this movie should have been cut.
The screenwriters I blame because wow how do you make a live action remake this boring and bland. It's Disney for crying out loud.
Again I don't blame the actors at all, they did the best with a super subpar script.
I don't wish to give spoilers, because to anyone who wants to see this movie and make their own opinion please do. The main point is simply I'm glad I waited until this was out of the theater. This was a bloated mess that needed oversight from someone who cared about the Disney brand.
In fairness to the actors they all deserve credit and I would give a shout out to the casting agent who put the right people in the right place. It's too bad that the writers and director were not the right choice for this film.
4 stars for decent acting in a subpar Disney remake. This film needs to go in the vault.
The movie is long and tedious. I was ready to be whisked away to a magical underwater world with filmmaker Rob Marshall's highly anticipated live-action retelling of this classic Disney movie. My grandkids were excited to see the remake of their favorite "Little Mermaid" movie but became bored after 20-minutes after the movie started. The movie was unusually dark and foreboding and unsuited for a younger audience in my humble opinion.
Not sure I like the trend to make poorly written remakes of classic, beloved movies. I will have to rethink going to future Disney and Pixar movies since the characters were unappealing and plot dragging on.
Not sure I like the trend to make poorly written remakes of classic, beloved movies. I will have to rethink going to future Disney and Pixar movies since the characters were unappealing and plot dragging on.
Missed the mark in so many ways:
It's a children's movie, why are the colors so dark and muted (I did like Ursula's glowing tentacles)? Not saying it had to be bright, bubble gum pop colors but I could barely see what was going on half the time. Just doesn't seem the imagery was made with children in mind.
Why no background vocals? The musical numbers in the original Little Mermaid were FANTASTIC. This time they tuned them way down and took away all the excitement. Hallie sings well, but I still think background vocals would have made all of the songs sound soooo much better.
Loved Melissa McCarthy as Ursula.
Since they went out of their way to explain why Eric had parents of two races where was the explanation for why King Tristan had daughters of all races?
It was a decent attempt, but an absolute fail at being anywhere close to as good as the original. Meh.
Why no background vocals? The musical numbers in the original Little Mermaid were FANTASTIC. This time they tuned them way down and took away all the excitement. Hallie sings well, but I still think background vocals would have made all of the songs sound soooo much better.
Loved Melissa McCarthy as Ursula.
Since they went out of their way to explain why Eric had parents of two races where was the explanation for why King Tristan had daughters of all races?
It was a decent attempt, but an absolute fail at being anywhere close to as good as the original. Meh.
The Little Mermaid is a good example of what's wrong with Disney these days (at least in my opinion) - besides some casting choices that may rise pro and contra voices (I don't care), this movie is dead like plastic. The songs are stale and uninspired, the special effects department did okay, the actors did okay, but well, the formula of Disney movies is now a walking dead corpse, too many times chewed on. But this is not only a question of modern changes to fit to the taste of zeitgeist but for a long time Disney is like a recycling factory: with every turn of the machine the product gets worse and worse, at least if you don't add something new, fresh and substantial, something creative. So my greatest complain: the music is average, the visuals are average, the story is the typical Disney blabla, the entertaining factor is rather low. A typical movie made from the construction kit branded "Disney". But maybe I'm just getting old and grumpy and my by age weakened eyes and heart cannot see the beauty in this, well, product.
This movie just wasn't good... They added something like 50 minutes but it didn't improve the movie one it, it only made it drag on.
The CGI is poorly done and the tone of the film is dark and gloomy, not bright and colorful as it should be.
The animal characters look terrible. The changes to the songs are ridiculous, the original lyrics weren't problematic in the slightest.
Scuttle's voice is really jarring and the added song is just bad.
The changes made to the ending make the story worse, not better. They didn't need to make Eric weaker to build up Ariel.
The best thing about the movie was Ursula. At least they didn't ruin her.
The CGI is poorly done and the tone of the film is dark and gloomy, not bright and colorful as it should be.
The animal characters look terrible. The changes to the songs are ridiculous, the original lyrics weren't problematic in the slightest.
Scuttle's voice is really jarring and the added song is just bad.
The changes made to the ending make the story worse, not better. They didn't need to make Eric weaker to build up Ariel.
The best thing about the movie was Ursula. At least they didn't ruin her.
Did you know
- TriviaJodi Benson: the original voice of Ariel in The Little Mermaid (1989), appears as the person who gives Ariel a "dinglehopper" (fork) during her and Prince Eric's tour of the market.
- GoofsWhen Ariel jumps into the water and swims to go back to the castle to stop Eric and Vanessa's engagement party, she should be soaking wet, however, she is completely dry.
- Quotes
Sir Grimsby: Don't be held back by what you think should be. Think of only what is.
- Crazy creditsThe film opens with a quote by "The Little Mermaid" writer Hans Christian Andersen: "But a mermaid has no tears, and therefore she suffers so much more."
- ConnectionsFeatured in AniMat's Crazy Cartoon Cast: Purple Octopus Melissa McCarthy (2019)
- SoundtracksPart of Your World
Music by Alan Menken
Lyrics by Howard Ashman
Produced by Michael Higham (as Mike Higham) and Alan Menken
Performed by Halle Bailey
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $355,100,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $298,172,056
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $95,578,040
- May 28, 2023
- Gross worldwide
- $569,626,289
- Runtime
- 2h 15m(135 min)
- Color
- Sound mix
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