Review: The Little Mermaid (2023)

Another year, another Disney live-action remake to profit on the gullible audience’s nostalgia.

The Little Mermaid is the latest Disney remake to grace our screens based on the 1989 animated film that started the “Disney Renaissance” during the 90’s that saw the release of many of Disney’s iconic films. I’ve never been one for these live action remakes; every single one that I’ve seen so far has missed the point of what made their original copy beloved in the first place.

A common argument I always get when reviewing these cash-grabs is, “they’re suppose to be new takes of the original so stop comparing them to the original!” Honestly I find that whole argument redundant, because let’s face it these movies are made to solely capitalize on the audiences nostalgia for their original counterparts. You’re going to watch these movies because you have fond memories of the original and want to see something from these remakes that remind you of the original; you’re not watching these movies for anything else don’t kid yourselves.

But nevertheless, for this particular remake I actually haven’t seen the original 1989 film in its entirety; I remember bits and pieces of the general sequence of events and I know the songs (I mean how can you not? It’s the freaking Little Mermaid) but otherwise I actually didn’t watch the original Little Mermaid nor have any strong feelings towards it.

So what we have here is a rare opportunity for me to give one of these remakes a fair and unbiased shot, free of nostalgia; I can finally evaluate this movie on its own and review it for its own merits and see if this film can win me over just as the 1989 film won over so many others.

I thought this movie was pretty boring…

The first thing you’ll notice when watching the film is just how flat everything looks; the visuals were so gray and lifeless. Everything underwater had this murkiness to it that contrasted from whatever light-hearted tone this film tried to go for. It’s not much better when we spend time in the surface world, as the film primarily takes place during a storm so everything is even more gray up top.

The editing also leaves a lot to be desired; there were a lot of abrupt transitions and drawn out sequences that made the film’s two and a half hour runtime fell a lot heavier than it should. The bad CGI and uncanny character models are just the cherry on top to make this one of the most visually displeasing films I’ve seen so far this year.

The film’s soundtrack is hit-or-miss. You still have your sweet bangers from the original film but you now also have new songs written by Lin-Manuel Miranda that are not only generic compared to the songwriter’s more popular tracks, they also stick out like a sore thumb. Even if you had never heard the songs from The Little Mermaid, you can still be able to tell which of them were written back in 1989 and which were written in 2023, almost four decades apart.

At least Halle Bailey gives it her all as Ariel, and I genuinely do like her performance in the film (despite the lack of direction from Rob Marshall) and her chemistry with Jonah Hauer-King’s Prince Eric during the 2nd act (despite the latter’s lack of charm and charisma on screen). The rest of the cast I either felt indifferent towards or were actively harming the film. Javier Bardem especially gives by far the worst performance in the film; nothing he says have any emotion behind it and his blocking felt so stiff at times.

Overall this was a joyless slog of a film; I had a hard time believing this was the film that became a cultural phenomenon and kick-started one of the greatest eras for Disney animation. I don’t know maybe the story’s just not for me, so right after I saw this film in theaters I went back home to watch the original Little Mermaid for the first time to see if I feel the same way, and you know what? I was actually surprised at how much I liked the 1989 film.

The original Little Mermaid was colorful, entertaining, and surprisingly funny at times; it’s definitely not one of the greatest Disney films I’ve seen but it’s still an overall likeable movie I wouldn’t mind re-watching every once in a while. This just goes to show execution and meaning makes all the difference here, regardless of whether you’ve seen the original or not.

This is far from the worst Disney remake I’ve seen, but it’s still a lifeless carbon copy of a far superior product, and this whole review is me being generous. Watch it if you want but if what I said during this whole review makes any sense to you, then chances are you’ll walk out of the theater feeling a little underwhelmed.

Final Verdict: 3/10