So, I finally got around to watching the 2023 (“live action”) Little Mermaid, and had some opinions about the movie, so I thought, why not share them with you all? Let’s get into it!
Note: There are spoilers ahead.
As someone who loves movies and hopes to go into the film industry (and create children’s movies), I have a high bar for what makes a good movie. The Little Mermaid (unsurprisingly) didn’t meet that bar, but I did find the film quite enjoyable and would watch it again.
Today, I am going to be sharing with you what I thought was good about the film, and the aspects that (to me) missed the mark.
The CGI
First off, let’s talk about the CGI.
I’ve decided to talk about this first, just to get it out of the way. Almost everything CGI in this film was bad. I could tell it was CGI, which took away any sort of wow factor. What’s worse is that locations and buildings which could have easily been made into sets were just CGI instead. A big miss to me. The only CGI I liked was Ariel’s hair when she was underwater (that was some pretty cool work on the VFX artist’s part). Oh, and I also liked her tail. Everything else was just meh.
The worst part of the CGI was the “live action” sea creatures. The problem is that whoever was behind the film, decided that Sebastian, Scuttle, and Flounder needed to look like realistic sea creatures. This meant that they lost all facial expressions and (non verbal) emotions, because they just looked like a talking bird, fish, and crab.
About halfway through the Little Mermaid, I got used to the idea that Sebastian was just a plain old crab, and I actually didn’t mind it all that much. What I couldn’t get past, was flounder. A talking fish is just weird… very weird.
(Note: I just have to add that a lot of emotion can be captured using just the eyes. If you have watched Into the Spiderverse, you get a good example of that. Whenever Miles is wearing his spider mask, all that is seen are his eyes, meaning that the emotion must be captured through his eye expressions only… And there is a lot of emotion in that movie. Pretty incredible what the animators did there.)
The Music
Moving on the music in this film. Honestly, the music was a half win, half miss. Parts of it I loved, and other parts I could have done without. Here’s what I liked: The score.
The score was one of the highlights of the film for me. I honestly loved it. It felt magical and fun and added so much to the film. (I wouldn’t say it was my favorite score of all time, but it’s probably somewhere in the top 50) I also enjoyed all the classic songs. Halle Bailey (the actress who played the little mermaid) has a really good voice and it was fun to hear the notes she added in Under the Sea. That being said, the thing I hated was the added songs.
Lin Manuel Miranda (creator of Hamilton and the songs in Moana and Enchanto) wrote a few songs to add to this film. I thought the songs were going to be good because I like his other music, but boy were they bad. The first noticeable new song is Wild Uncharted Waters, which is sung by the leading male actor (the prince). The song itself I actually like, but the guy apparently can’t sing because his voice is so edited that it feels emotionless and flat. (Apparently this is a recurring problem for live action movies, as Emma Watson’s voice was also edited to extremes – see below) My drama teacher used to say that in musicals you sing when the emotion in the story is at its height, (when speaking wouldn’t be emotional enough), so taking the emotion out of the voice, defeats the purpose of the song in the first place.
(Here’s an example from Beauty and the Beast. In the live action version Emma Watson’s voice (Belle) is heavily edited. Contrast that with the original and the difference is striking.
There was a song that was far, far worse than Wild Uncharted Waters though. The Scuttlebutt. If you have not heard this song, I have attached it here for you.
DISCLAIMER: watch at your own risk. I am not liable for exploded eardrums, panic attacks, or possible death caused by the song. 😂
I’m honestly surprised I made it through the song without skipping it, (though I was sorely tempted to do so).
All in all the music was great at places and horrible at others. Moving on to…
The Characters & Actors
Most of the actors did great and I really appreciated the character development the screenwriters added to Eric’s character. He was very likable and relatable in this film. Halle Bailey (Ariel) did fantastic, her acting was great, her singing was great, and the sweetness she gave the character was amazing as well. The woman who played Ursula also fit the role really well.
The only actor I had a hard time with was Javier Bardem (King Triton). I haven’t seen him in a movie before, so I don’t know how good of an actor he is, but in this movie he didn’t do very good. The King is supposed to be powerful and commanding and Javier Bardem wasn’t either of those. He came across as being too soft and gentle, and in the scenes where he is supposed to be angry, he wasn’t anywhere near angry enough. I just wasn’t buying it.
(Note: the reason I don’t hate Triton the animated version of this scene is because (1:57–1:59) we see him blink slowly and his face transform from anger to a mix of sadness and love. This shows the viewer that he cares for his daughter.)
Now, I don’t know if the lack of emotion has to do with the actor, or the directors. Perhaps the directors were afraid that if Triton got too mad, it would make him seem like a bad father, so they decided to tone it down to appease those who might get upset about a king with anger issues. All in all, though, King Triton just came across as being slightly irritated, which led me to think he was only slightly caring. Which is another problem I had with the film.
The Character Relationships
I honestly hated the conflict between Ariel and her Father, because it wasn’t believable at all. He never got angry with her to the point that I felt like her downright disobedience or anger with him made sense. Her whole “He never listens and doesn’t care” wasn’t believable because he obviously cared and she just wanted what she wanted. Worse still, I found it hard to believe that they actually loved each other. One of the main themes of the original movie is sacrificial love, specifically Triton’s sacrifice for his daughter: giving his life for her even though she had disobeyed him and ran away. In this movie when Triton sacrifices his life, it just seems like a plot point for the story, there was no believable build up to that point. Worse still, this version doesn’t really even focus on the relationship between the two of them, it is pushed to the side and almost forgotten for the sake of modern “female empowerment” (but, more on that later).
On a brighter note, one of my favorite relationships was that of Ariel and Eric. Their romance was one of the best romances I’ve seen in a children’s movie, (the only downside was that part of it was unrealistic… I mean who falls in love in a day?).
In the original movie, Eric falls in love with Ariel because of her voice. When Ursula uses Ariel’s voice, he switches his affections to Ursula, because she has Ariel’s voice. On the other hand, in this film a Mermaid’s voice is like a Siren song that basically casts a spell on the male listener. So, originally Eric is “spellbound” by Ariel’s voice, but when he meets the silent Ariel, he is enamored by her personality, to the point that he wants to forsake his search for the person who bewitched him and instead have Ariel to be his wife. When Ursula comes in with Ariel’s voice, the voice once again bewitches him and he chooses Ursula, not because he wants to, but because he is under a spell.
I liked this much more than the original because it points to the fact that love is more than just physical attraction, it involves personality and friendship. It’s really knowing someone and appreciating them for who they are. Yes, love may start as physical attraction, but it shouldn’t just stay there.
When Eric meets Ariel after she becomes a human, he is drawn to her curiosity and wonder for the world around her. Likewise, she is drawn to his kindness and longing for adventure. This made it fun to watch because as the viewer I could see how their personalities fit together perfectly.
The Theme
Alright, well it’s time to move on from my favorite part of the film, to my least favorite part: the theme. Now, I love a movie that has a good theme, perhaps a theme that points to the brokenness of humanity and our need for a savior. Or perhaps a theme about sacrificial love; a love that gives even when we have run from it and despised it. A love that is willing to give his life for us.
See where I’m going with this yet?
The original film had an undercurrent throughout the film that pointed to the love of Christ. Ariel’s father loves her and wants what is best for her, but she is stubborn in her ways and runs away. Still, he loves her and lays down his life for her, even though she disobeyed. It’s beautiful, it’s meaningful…
But, we live in the 2020’s now, and apparently sacrificial love isn’t ‘modern’ enough. Instead the directors (and actors) decided the theme of the movie needs to be about a strong willed girl, who will not be swayed. Apparently, the focus needs to be switched from Triton’s sacrifice, to Ariel’s ‘strong-willedness’, (yes, I know that’s not an actual word 😁)
Now, the movie still has Triton’s sacrifice (as I mentioned earlier), but the focus is more on the fact that Ariel fights Ursula after Triton’s death. When Triton comes back to life, the first thing he says to Ariel is, “Thank you for fighting Ursula.” When he said that I couldn’t stop myself from doing the biggest eye-roll ever because — let’s be real here — ANYONE is going to fight for their life… and that’s all Ariel was doing. Ursula had a magical triton that gave her powers that could destroy everything. Ariel fought against Ursula so that she, Ariel, wouldn’t die. Should she really be thanked for that? Honestly, no. Ariel should instead be thanking her father for giving his life for her.
I’ll give you an example to further illustrate my point. Imagine I was driving a car and you were in the passenger seat. All of a sudden, I notice a car is in my lane and driving straight towards me. So, I swerve out of the way, avoiding the car and definite collision. You turn to me after that and say, “Thank you for swerving out of the way. You could have just let that car hit you, but you didn’t. You are a hero.” That’s how Triton’s line came across to me, and it didn’t make any sense.
How long are we going to sacrifice reason for the sake of agenda’s?
Oh, did I mention that Ariel is the one who drives a ship into Ursula (and kills her), not Eric like in the original. I think the directors felt like it would imply that Ariel isn’t a strong female if Eric is the one who kills Ursula. To an extent I understand not having a guy always save the day, but this was a bit too much for me (and as Ryan George from Pitch Meeting on YouTube points out, Eric killing Ursula shows Triton that not all humans are bad).
Personally I think there needs to be a balance of both men and women saving each other, but, they should save each other in a way that points to their individual strengths as men and women (not just physical strength). I feel like this topic is one that needs to be discussed in-depth, but as this blog post is already a bit long, I’ll save it for another post.
I want to end this review on a positive note, so I’m going to mention another theme I picked up on. A theme that I actually liked. Throughout the film Ariel is fascinated by the human world and when she finally goes there, everything holds a sense of wonder and beauty for her. As I watched the movie, I found myself getting swept up in her curiosity Everything about the human world fascinates her, from the daily lives of the townspeople, to the nature and plants of the forest. As I finished the movie, I began to wonder, if we had all had a bit more wonder like Ariel, and really stopped to see the beautiful world God has created for us… perhaps we would find more delight in life.
And that’s the final note I’ll leave you to think upon.
Very good
I love the part where you talked about the movie. That was good
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