"Don't be held back by what you think SHOULD be. Think only of what IS."
Hello everyone!
Well, the kingdom, empire, whatever you'd like to call it, I suppose.
In any event, welcome to me FINALLY catching up on the current trends and sitting down so that I could watch the latest Disney live action re-imagining of a beloved fairytale.
It feels like this is going to be the newest trend for the company giant, although they do periodically release original, animated (and live action) pieces. Yes, I'm looking at you, Wish.
Which, I still need to watch as well, right after the Marvel movies.
But I'm getting off-track here.
Live action movies have a tendency to either go really well, or really wrong, and I feel like tonight's choice is actually really well done, in compare and contrast with some of the others.
So flip your fins and let's go follow the siren song of The Little Mermaid.
Plus, I'll be working my way through everything Little Mermaid Disney has to offer over the coming weeks, so you just sit tight, because we're getting the original cartoon on here as well.
Our story begins with some really lovely sea shots before we're introduced to the human portion of the movie, aka Prince Eric (JHK), who's been out to sea doing who-knows-what and his servant wants them all to go home, especially as the prince's birthday is coming, and his responsibilities now lie with the island kingdom that adopted him after he was orphaned there as a baby during a bad storm at sea.
I swear Tarzan and he will turn out to be related somehow.
Anyway, as this is happening, and the men are trying to harpoon a dolphin, thinking it's a mermaid, the ACTUAL mermaids are gathering in their father Triton's palace for the Coral Moon, attending the festival from the seven seas which they represent and oversee. This is an interesting take on Triton's daughters that actually makes a whole lot of sense.
In the original, he had a BUNCH, and you had to wonder if they all hatched from eggs or something, or, you know, the way fish do, but seven is a perfectly manageable number, and having them take on the appearance of the seas they represent also explains away their different looks despite having the same parents - it also, conveniently, explains why THIS Ariel, in the iteration for this generation, is black, with Halle Bailey in the titular role.
Because very obviously, HER sea and HER task is centered around the area I'd roughly put around the Caribbean islands, or somewhere such (yes, this IS happening in our world somewhere, because Eric is trading in Europe).
Point here being, Ariel isn't THERE when she's supposed to be, so our favourite crustacean Sebastian has to go find her.
What's she doing? Oh, just hunting down human artifacts and evading big sharks that escaped Jason Statham during his MEG filming.
Of course, Triton (Javier Bardem, having the absolute time of his life in this role) is unhappy that she's so obsessed with humans, and we never do get to understand the why of it. Humans killed the Queen, and one would think that this would dissuade anyone from wanting to have anything to do with them, but Ariel goes in the opposite direction and wants to know EVERYTHING, against her father's wishes.
I'm not sure we can chalk this up solely to her being a stubborn teenager.
Back to the story, she follows Eric's ship, attracted to the fireworks they're lighting up in honour of his birthday, and saves him when said ship sails straight into a squall, now setting both of them past the point of no return, as she also uses her siren song to bring him back to the land of the living.
Yes, yes, she lures him. Of course she does!
Sebastian wants to keep all this a secret, but the crab is no match for Triton because, while Triton is asking if Ariel's in love with a merman (after overhearing his other daughters chatter away happily), Sebastian just blurts it all out. This, in turn, leads to a Triton-rage where he destroys Ariel's cave of human things, in the hopes that she'll finally come to her senses.
Enter Ursula (Melissa McCarthy).
Triton's sister in this iteration, she's been banished for 15 years, conveniently since the time of Ariel's birth, but we don't necessarily learn WHY, although Ariel later explains she's known as the Sea Witch who likes to stir up trouble between the merpeople and humans. I'm betting she had something to do with the death of the Queen, but we never get any confirmation.
In any event, she spies on Ariel and sees that the youngest daughter is Triton's weakness - and since Ursula wants what Triton has, aka power over the oceans, she lures the child to her with promises of helping her get to the surface. Ariel signs the deal in blood - one of her scales - and loses her siren song (as well as her voice as a whole) but gains legs so she can go up top and get her man.
Only, she doesn't remember she's supposed to kiss him, a true love's kiss, and she only has three days to do it, otherwise she becomes a mermaid again and belongs to Ursula in the end.
Sebastian figures this last bit out and starts Operation: Kiss the Girl with Scuttle and Flounder, while Ariel bops around up top, learning all she's ever wanted to learn, and hanging out with Eric because, for some reason, this island kingdom is pretty lax about who spends time with who. They all just smile seeing the prince with this girl, probably happy they don't have to keep on searching for the mystery girl who supposedly saved his life, and who he's been obsessed with.
Ursula realizes that things are a little less straightforward than she thought, so she changes her own appearance and, with the help of Ariel's captured siren song, puts Eric under a spell and drives Ariel away in despair as she realizes all her dreams are for nothing.
Enter one of the funniest sequences after Scuttle learns the girl who showed up is Ursula in disguise, as Ariel and this "Vanessa" fight, the engagement ring gets dropped, and Eric's servant casually kicks it off somewhere to the side, since he's SO not a fan of this new chick. Grimsby is Team Ariel, yo!
Finally, Ariel's voice is returned to her, and Eric is freed of the curse, but time runs out and Ursula drags the mermaid back under the sea, though at this point Sebastian has THANKFULLY sent Flounder to Triton to tell him what's happening (no, dad did not know - he just thought his youngest kid was in a snit and hiding from him).
But with Ariel in Ursula's hands, Triton willingly gives up his trident, and thus his powers over the sea, and is killed by his sister's electric eels. Ursula, coocoo to begin with, starts whipping up the storm of the century just because she now can, but Ariel takes her on with Eric's help.
Yes, Eric arrives to help the girl he fell in love with, the SAME girl who ACTUALLY saved his life, and through some teamwork, Eric being bait, and Ariel remembering how he steered the ship, the giant squid lady kicks it.
In a surprising turn of events, the trident then releases a burst of power and revives Triton, who takes Ariel back to her home, but both she and Eric are miserable in their own kingdoms, something their families definitely take notice of. Sebastian points out to Triton he HASN'T actually done all within his power, and Triton bites the proverbial bullet.
Now fully human without any restrictions, Ariel returns to Eric and they set off on a journey together, bridging the gap between their two peoples, but also promising to not let Eric's home fall behind of the real world out there.
In one of the most beautiful sequences, Triton also appears to send them off, along with Ariel's sisters and other merpeople, mingling freely with the humans for the first time in literal years now that she busted down that barrier.
And all's well that ends well, and they live happily ever after, to the end of their days!
Charming, with lovingly remastered songs from the original as well as some compositions written solely for this movie (my personal favourite is Eric's Uncharted Waters, where although the actor isn't the BEST singer, he conveys the longing for this girl who saved him so passionately you forget about the rest), The Little Mermaid actually fares really well against all the obstacles that were set before it.
I have to admit, I didn't really have much of an opinion regarding Halle's casting, other than thinking perhaps the whole race thing's been pushed too far overall, but mostly I was just hoping she could sing, considering the fact this movie is HEAVILY based on the songs it includes.
Then I watched her sing Part of Your World live during celebrations at Disney World, and I was moved to tears. That was when I knew the movie was in VERY good hands.
Now, I'm not entirely sure we actually needed Awkwafina as the seagull in this one, she's the only one who felt a bit out of place but, well, that's a minor quibble. Melissa McCarthy absolutely delivered as Ursula, and overall, the cast was an absolute delight, main and supporting.
The story itself is also slightly tighter, with mermaid lore woven in, like Ariel using her siren song, the thing that's actually part of legends about mermaids luring sailors to their deaths, as well as giving just a tiny bit more substance to the deal she makes with Ursula. Changing Ursula to a family member also makes the feud between her and Triton personal and something that I'd love to see explored in a prequel, actually!
And I've already gushed about the seven sisters. I just wish they'd had more airtime, because Simone Ashley is in this, she of Bridgerton fame, and she was criminally underused in my opinion!
Overall, unlike some of its predecessors in this live action business, The Little Mermaid does well, the CGI is definitely good, and I absolutely enjoyed my Sunday afternoon watching it. Jode Benson also passes the proverbial fork to the new Ariel in it.
I think that's about all one can hope for from a movie!
xx
*images and video not mine
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