Arielle, die Meerjungfrau

I mean it's an okay film. But is that what Disney wants to achieve now? Just to make okay movies? What happened to making great and lasting ones? Is that just a thing of the past?

My biggest qualm with this movie is that the acting performances from the cast was lackluster. These Disney classics are sacred in a sense that they made us emotionally invested in them. It's disappointing to think that animated characters were able to "act" and exhibit more emotional pull more than live actors. The original made us feel for these characters.

This version had no heart in it, it's just the shell of the 1989 classic with an attempt to impress contemporary audiences but it still fell flat on its face.

The scenes in this movie felt rushed and it was just hard to watch all together without thinking they just had a checklist of events they wanted to make sure was there. The dialogue was sub-par. The new rap song was simply unbearable. I had my hands over my ears while it was happening.

The only thing I could compliment about this movie are the visual effects. I liked the feel of the setting. But other than that. It felt more two dimensional than the cartoon.

This movie just wasn't good... They added something like 50 minutes but it didn't improve the movie one it, it only made it drag on.

The CGI is poorly done and the tone of the film is dark and gloomy, not bright and colorful as it should be.

The animal characters look terrible. The changes to the songs are ridiculous, the original lyrics weren't problematic in the slightest.

Scuttle's voice is really jarring and the added song is just bad.

The changes made to the ending make the story worse, not better. They didn't need to make Eric weaker to build up Ariel.

The best thing about the movie was Ursula. At least they didn't ruin her.

One actress is not enough to save a movie even if she plays the main character. This happens all the time and this remake is proof of it. The weakest thing in this version, of course, is the CGI characters. I thought the worst thing ever seen in these remakes was the dog from 2019's Lady and the Tramp, but this Flounder is outrageous. It's the Jar Jar Binks of Disney's remakes. And this Sebastian looks odd and graceless. Three years and Disney couldn't do any better? Are you serious? In overall, the underwater scenes are not what I expected to see and, as some critic says, "recreated with Windows 10 screensaver graphics".

Now let me explain what is the problem with Ursula. In an animated feature you can exaggerate the expressions any way you like but you can't do that in live action. This is not Melissa McCarthy's fault, of course, but I don't lend ears to those who praise her performance with biased reasonings. And the changes in the final scene were simply the last straw but I won't spoil anything here. Seriously, I couldn't believe it when I watched it.

In summary, the movie doesn't work because Halle Bailey is surrounded by things that don't work. And that's not Halle's fault, it's all Disney's fault.

The Little Mermaid is a good example of what's wrong with Disney these days (at least in my opinion) - besides some casting choices that may rise pro and contra voices (I don't care), this movie is dead like plastic. The songs are stale and uninspired, the special effects department did okay, the actors did okay, but well, the formula of Disney movies is now a walking dead corpse, too many times chewed on. But this is not only a question of modern changes to fit to the taste of zeitgeist but for a long time Disney is like a recycling factory: with every turn of the machine the product gets worse and worse, at least if you don't add something new, fresh and substantial, something creative. So my greatest complain: the music is average, the visuals are average, the story is the typical Disney blabla, the entertaining factor is rather low. A typical movie made from the construction kit branded "Disney". But maybe I'm just getting old and grumpy and my by age weakened eyes and heart cannot see the beauty in this, well, product.

I don't take anything away from the actors, I take everything away from the director and script. Bland and boring is the best way to describe it.

The director I blame because seriously half of this movie should have been cut.

The screenwriters I blame because wow how do you make a live action remake this boring and bland. It's Disney for crying out loud.

Again I don't blame the actors at all, they did the best with a super subpar script.

I don't wish to give spoilers, because to anyone who wants to see this movie and make their own opinion please do. The main point is simply I'm glad I waited until this was out of the theater. This was a bloated mess that needed oversight from someone who cared about the Disney brand.

In fairness to the actors they all deserve credit and I would give a shout out to the casting agent who put the right people in the right place. It's too bad that the writers and director were not the right choice for this film.

4 stars for decent acting in a subpar Disney remake. This film needs to go in the vault.