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Hello Cinephiles,
Today we’re talking about the 2023 film The Little Mermaid.
Story
Disney has been calling these “remakes” but they’re really just copies. That might sound disparaging, but I’ve watched and enjoyed more Cinderella, Musketeer, and Robin Hood movies than I can count.
The changes in this are understandable and it shows that the scriptwriters had a deep love for the animated version. I liked the slight change at the end.
Score: 0.5
Characters
Most of the cast made the roles their own. Ariel was amazing and thankfully less whiny. Triton felt more relatable and Eric was less bland.
The actress who played Vanessa was fantastic.
I’m not impressed with Ursula. I thought the actress might try something original, but instead she did a mediocre impersonation of Pat Carroll.
Score: 0.5
Dialogue
The dialogue is very similar but just different enough to sound wrong. It’s not normally a problem but sometimes it was frustrating. The modern updates were good, and again it was nice to see Eric have some more screen time and lines.
Score: 0.5
Visuals and Music
The visuals were good but the underwater stuff was a little uncanny valley. It was beautiful but felt wrong.
The music was fantastic and Ioved the extra songs.
Score: 0.5
Fun
The beginning was a little slow but after that it went fast. The kids loved it and the rest of the family enjoyed it. It was fun overall.
Score: 1
Overall
A faithful adaptation to the original that hits all the right notes. It’s unfortunate that Melissa McCarthy’s Ursula was only a poor copy of the original’s soul.
Final Score: 3 Stars out of 5
