morgan_mourning
Joined Jul 2005
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Ratings728
morgan_mourning's rating
Reviews5
morgan_mourning's rating
It feels like a lot of the people who rated this so low have copied and pasted negative reviews simply to jump on the bandwagon.
Was the live action remake stellar? No. Was it an utter failure? No.
The biggest issue is the uncanny valley in the underwater scenes. The merpeople have beautiful (scales? Skins?), but it looks like CGI. That alone is a big detractor from immersing yourself in the moment.
However, once it shifts to above the water, it is much easier to enjoy the scenes.
Prince Eric has more backstory and is portrayed well, even having a solid solo.
Halle Bailey does a wonderful job of expressing strong emotions without the use of her voice. But when she does sing, it is beautiful. Hearing her sing makes it clear why Jodi Benson herself gave such a glowing review of her rendition of The Little Mermaid.
Melissa McCarthy is fabulous as Ursula. The only drawback is that she isn't given more screentime. She is deliciously devious, and it is a shame we don't get to see more of her.
Parts of the film mirror the original, and it is a mixed bag of paying homage and simply parroting favorite scenes for diehard fans, which I think backfires. There are, however, some tongue-in-cheek moments that really stand out in a positive way.
Ultimately, it is a decent enough movie, but the original made such an impact that it is difficult to get out of its shadow.
I think it would have been much more successful if they had used the basic premise but created a brand new story to tell.
Was the live action remake stellar? No. Was it an utter failure? No.
The biggest issue is the uncanny valley in the underwater scenes. The merpeople have beautiful (scales? Skins?), but it looks like CGI. That alone is a big detractor from immersing yourself in the moment.
However, once it shifts to above the water, it is much easier to enjoy the scenes.
Prince Eric has more backstory and is portrayed well, even having a solid solo.
Halle Bailey does a wonderful job of expressing strong emotions without the use of her voice. But when she does sing, it is beautiful. Hearing her sing makes it clear why Jodi Benson herself gave such a glowing review of her rendition of The Little Mermaid.
Melissa McCarthy is fabulous as Ursula. The only drawback is that she isn't given more screentime. She is deliciously devious, and it is a shame we don't get to see more of her.
Parts of the film mirror the original, and it is a mixed bag of paying homage and simply parroting favorite scenes for diehard fans, which I think backfires. There are, however, some tongue-in-cheek moments that really stand out in a positive way.
Ultimately, it is a decent enough movie, but the original made such an impact that it is difficult to get out of its shadow.
I think it would have been much more successful if they had used the basic premise but created a brand new story to tell.
There are a few problems that I couldn't get past.
The main actress is clearly 30, and looks nowhere near a teenager. Same goes for her friends.
There is a very thin plot, where Cassie and her mother are in a car crash; her mother dies and she survives with a brain injury. However, we only hear about the injury in a couple conversations and when "mother" scans the prescription she is on. And apparently you can just take medication just whenever you want.
It could have been a lot better if there had been more character development. I think it could have been a really good film; mixing a traumatic experience/injury with deep feelings of grief, and add (however farfetched), an AI program that is clearly malfunctioning and is feeding into Cassie's delusions.
Instead, we saw these unlikable characters get murdered, and the end was no surprise at all.
The main actress is clearly 30, and looks nowhere near a teenager. Same goes for her friends.
There is a very thin plot, where Cassie and her mother are in a car crash; her mother dies and she survives with a brain injury. However, we only hear about the injury in a couple conversations and when "mother" scans the prescription she is on. And apparently you can just take medication just whenever you want.
It could have been a lot better if there had been more character development. I think it could have been a really good film; mixing a traumatic experience/injury with deep feelings of grief, and add (however farfetched), an AI program that is clearly malfunctioning and is feeding into Cassie's delusions.
Instead, we saw these unlikable characters get murdered, and the end was no surprise at all.
