The Little Mermaid Review: Nostalgia Under the Sea!

The wait is officially over as the anticipated live-action Disney movie we’ve all been wanting to see finally hit theaters this weekend! The Little Mermaid, directed by Rob Marshall, follows the story of Ariel (Halle Bailey), an adventurous mermaid from the sea fascinated to learn about humans and their world. Although she has been told countless stories about humans and their behavior, and how her mother was killed by a human, she refuses to believe everything she hears and prefers to learn about them herself.

Ariel, the youngest of King Triton's daughters, enjoys collecting treasures from the world above hers and exploring the unknown of the sea with her best friend, Flounder (Jacob Tremblay). Her other best friend, Scuttle (Awkwafina), is her treasure whisperer explaining what the items are and how it applies to the human world. After discovering she rescued Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King), a prince from a Caribbean island kingdom nearby, from a dangerous shipwreck, her father King Triton (Javier Bardem) destroys her sacred treasure sanctuary, forbidding her from ever going to the surface or near any humans again.

As the evil sea witch, Ursula (Melissa McCarthy), delightfully watches, she takes this as her perfect opportunity to stir up trouble. With Ariel sacrificing her voice to become human, she must earn her true love’s kiss in three days by sunset, or else she serves Ursula for the rest of her life. Under a spell forgetting she has to kiss him, Flounder, Sebastian (Daveed Diggs) and Scuttle come to the rescue to help before it’s too late.

Halle Bailey shines bringing a lovely modern Ariel to life on the big screen. Her angelic, soulful voice is so pleasing to listen to throughout this whole movie especially when singing Part of Your World, which almost got a tear out of me. The new music included were also a great addition to this movie, including songs during Ariel’s human days where she’s mute, so she breaks out in song in her head, so the viewers understand how she’s feeling physically and emotionally.

Melissa McCarthy's performance as Ursula was fun to watch. I definitely believe this role was for her! From the acting to the singing, she definitely embodied the sea witch villain perfectly! I also loved the chemistry between Ariel and Prince Eric. Their chemistry was very natural! I loved how both characters, despite being from different worlds, experienced similar situations. Both wanted to venture out and explore the unknown of the world, and not conform to the restricted rules from their parents. They are both very independent and free-spirited people, not allowing the opinions of others control their decisions.

This movie was also visually pleasing to watch from beginning to end, with a vibrant aesthetic use of colors. During the scene for Under the Sea, it was one of my favorites because it was fun, colorful and created beautifully. I also loved the inclusivity of characters bringing in a great range of diversity for this remake.

I know a lot of Disney remakes often don’t live up to the original or meet viewers expectations, but this one met mine. There’s also a cameo from the original Ariel voice actress, Jodi Benson! Halle Bailey is always a joy to watch, and her portrayal of Ariel was executed perfectly from her curious, adventurous spirit to her likable and innocent charm. This childhood classic remake was definitely a win-win for the nostalgic Disney fans and entertaining for the new generation.

The Little Mermaid is now playing in theaters. Rated PG for action/peril and some scary images with a runtime of 135 minutes.