christian movie reviews the little mermaid

The Little Mermaid

Reviewed by: Alexander Malsan CONTRIBUTOR

What is true love and how do you know when you have found it?

Negative results of rebelling against one’s parent and his instruction

“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” — Ephesians 6:1

“Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is pleasing to the Lord.” — Colossians 3:20

Although Ariel’s father is not perfect and could have curbed her in some wiser ways, he truly loves her.

Making a deal with a devil (sea witch)

Portrayal of fantasy magic and fantasy witchcraft

Original animated version: The Little Mermaid (1989) — G-Rated

A tlantica is a pretty special place. It is the home of all living aquatic creatures, including the merfolk (mermen and mermaids). The creatures of Atlantica, as well as the sea itself, are ruled by the mighty King Triton who lives with his daughters: Perla, Indira, Mala, Tamika, Karina, Caspia and then there’s Ariel.

Ah, let’s talk about Ariel. She’s always been the black sheep (fish?) of the family. The rest of the family see humans as savage selfish, horrible creatures only out to kill and destroy with no regard for marine life. Ariel, however, sees a different side of humanity, particularly in one human who catches her eye, Prince Eric. “He’s really different from the rest,” she thinks to herself. Overtime, she becomes more and more enamored with Prince Eric. “If only I could live among humans, just for one day.” Careful for what you wish for Ariel.

It just so happens the sea witch has secretly been spying on Ariel, believing Ariel might be the key to seizing King Triton’s trident and taking control of Atlantica and the seas. So Ursuala approaches Ariel and offers her to fulfill her great desire, to become human. All Ariel has to do is get Prince Eric to kiss her in three days, without her voice, mind you, and not just any kiss… true love’s kiss, for if she can, she’ll remain human forever. If she can’t get him to kiss her, however, she’ll turn back into a mermaid and belong to Ursula.

“No this isn’t right,” thinks Ariel. “Fine, then you’ll never be with your true love,” shouts Ursula. Ursula makes a convincing argument. The deal is struck and Ariel becomes a human. Now she really is part of their world…

First off, I’m a fan of “The Little Mermaid,” not simply the story but also the music. As both a movie buff and a music teacher, I am a huge fan of both Alan Menken and Howard Ashman’s music. These men were, and continue to be, some of the most iconic film composers in the history of film music. Their music could be found sporadically and helped ignite what was called the “Disney Renaissance,” where, as other critics pointed out, Disney started to go back to its roots in animation and created many more animated classics like “Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin,” etc. As I am a fan of the original, I wanted to ensure that this remake did the original justice.

Shortly before attending my screening, I watched the original 1989 animated “The Little Mermaid.” There were three things I truly appreciated about the original: the passion every actor/actress put into each character, the appropriate use of instruments in each song and the smooth pacing of the film. Going into the screening I wondered how true to the original, musically and performance-wise, they were going to be.

In truth, “The Little Mermaid” (2023) surprised me on every level. While on the outside, many aspects of the original still exist in this film, on the inside this live-action tackles what the animated version didn’t and honestly couldn’t. It goes far deeper into the character’s individual internal conflicts, it provides backstories to characters who, truthfully, needed it in the animated film, and yes, there are a few new musical numbers that strengthened the film.

When it comes to the overall performances, some actors/actresses really shined and some fell flat. For example, Halle Bailey truly shined in this role. She is meek, but not weak, and when she sings my mouth dropped, especially on “Part of Your World.” Her version of this classic is tasteful yet not overly flashy, just enough of her own touch to make it her own. Melissa McCarthy’s performance is also strong and her rendition of “Poor Unfortunate Souls” is fairly strong, even though half is spoken (for reasons I was confused about, because Melissa has a really nice voice). Javier Bardem fell flat as Triton. It just wasn’t the right part for him. Daveed Diggs provides an incredibly humorous Sebastian,

My concerns include the overall pacing of the film: the original was a half hour shorter than this film, and while I can appreciate the additional content, the pacing needed to sped up to make up for this (I checked my watch at least more than once). I also had some issues with the final sequences of the film: it felt far darker than the original film ever did, so parents take caution if you consider taking little ones. The original was G-rated, whereas in this new PG version, Giant Ursula is far more frightening.

Content of possible concern

VIOLENCE: A character is impaled with a ship’s broken mast and killed. Sailors are seen trying to harpoon fish (unsuccessfully). There are discussions about the Sea King trying to lure sailors to their death. A shark is seen chasing Ariel and Flounder briefly. A character is hit on the head with a cigar pipe. There is a massive storm at sea that throws people overboard and catches the ship on fire (we even see people jumping overboard). We witness a character destroying Ariel’s trinkets. Urusla’s garden is seen attacking a character (briefly). A carriage is seen almost running over people. A bird attacks Vanessa (aka Ursula in disguise) as does another character. A character is seen being shocked by eels. A character is electrocuted, but brought back to life later. A character is seen eating a live shrimp.

LANGUAGE: Idiot (2), stupid (1), shut-up (1)

SEXUAL: Ursula presses her hands underneath her breasts at times.

NUDITY: Since this is a live-action remake, the outfits are more defined. As such, more of the mermaids’ midsection is revealed and the mermens’ chest and shoulders are bare. Ariel is seen naked when picked up from the ocean (she covers herself with her hair and her legs so nothing graphic is seen). We see her later in the tub (again everything is covered). Eric’s intended, Vanessa, wears some revealing clothing in her room (very brief). Eric is sometimes seen with an open shirt.

OCCULT: There are some very brief discussions of sea gods and the folklore of merpeople and King Triton is based on real Greek mythology. Someone mentions a “siren song” was used to heal a character and also to enchant someone into falling in love with her. Ursula is a witch and is seen using potions, chants, and spells to change Ariel into a human (and someone else later on).

ALCOHOL: Sailors are briefly seen drinking during a party on board.

WOKEISM: There is a not so subtle environmentalist messaging within the film, including a scene with King Triton and his daughters cleaning up a shipwreck and talking about the humans and how they leave their messes all over the ocean floor and have no regard for marine life—“killing all the coral, destroying the reef and upsetting the balance.” There is also a message about progression (progressiveness) and not being left behind that is mentioned a few times throughout.

OTHER: Ariel is very defiant to King Triton and sneaks up to the surface world often against his wishes. Eric is often defiant and disobedient to his mother, the Queen, and leaves the castle against her wishes. Ursula’s lair is dark and ominous.

One of the underlying reasons Ariel longs for the surface world is because she desires more than what she has in the ocean. She is not content with how things are and with where she is. She wants more.

As Christians, it is not necessarily wrong to want something, but it becomes problematic when we continually ask for more and more and never find satisfaction in what we are given. Since God is the ultimate provider, and in His providence gives us everything we truly need, we must be patient and wait on Him, for his timing is perfect. In Ecclesiastes it states…

“Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite: this also is vanity and a striving after wind.” — Ecclesiastes 6:9

Paul said this to the Phillipians …

“Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.” — Phillippians 4:11-12

But then Paul concluded by stating…

“And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus .” — Philippians 4:19

Final Thoughts and Cautious Recommendation

“The Little Mermaid” (2023) caught my attention in more ways than one. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this adaptation as much as I did. As a standalone film, not judging it by its 1989 twin, it is an enjoyable addition to the Disney collection, as it has heart, nostalgia and gives more context to the story than the original was allowed to provide. At the same time, however, the price to pay is a little more gravitas in terms of atmosphere and the bar for the level of peril has been raised quite a bit this time around, so parents should take caution before proceeding.

Overall, however, I believe that this film is probably okay for most families with older children and teens. I would suggest leaving the youngest ones at home (I heard a toddler at one of the screenings I attended, and they definitely started crying in fright during a couple of more intense moments). As always, viewer discretion is advised.

• Violence: Moderate
• Wokeism: Moderate
• Nudity: Mild
• Occult: Mild
• Language: Minor (no profanity)
• Drugs/Alcohol: Minor

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers .

PLEASE share your observations and insights to be posted here.

The Little Mermaid (Christian Movie Review)

Verdict: With enough of the original’s charm, some new additions that don’t distract too much from the familiar tale, and a more-than-capable lead actress, the live-action remake is an enjoyable return to under the sea.      

About The Movie

By now, you probably already have an opinion on whether Disney’s decision to remake their classic animated films is a fun reimagining or a corporate cash-grab (or both), so we don’t need to waste time rechurning that sea. The live-action remakes have been largely hit or miss. With some drab-looking trailers and press tour quotes that seemed to counter-productively focus on the apparent bad or harmful aspects of the original, my personal anticipation for Little Mermaid was resting firmly on the ocean floor. Yet, with enough of the original’s charm, some new additions that don’t distract too much from the familiar tale, and a capable lead actress, the live-action remake is an enjoyable and worthy return to the sea.  

Halle Bailey is our new Ariel. Any concerns or doubts about her casting are quickly put to rest. She easily captures the charming inquisitiveness of the finned princess. Where she really shines, though, is with her powerhouse voice. The way she belts out “Part of That World” will quickly have any skeptics surrendering their critical voices to Ursula the Sea Witch.

Speaking of the music, the classics return and remind us why they are classics. Although, the shift to live-action does alter their presentation. In the animated version, during “Under the Sea,” the anthropomorphic sea creatures play instruments and perform in amusing ways life-like fish cannot. The movie does its best to work within this limitation and mostly succeeds, although it does surrender some of the whimsical fun. There are also several new songs that won’t be classics, although they are fine additions. One musical number takes place inside Ariel’s head, a clever way to keep Halle Bailey’s vocal presence in a story in which she has no voice. The one exception is a song called “Scuttlebutt,” which is so painfully obnoxious that it almost single-handedly derails the film.   

Visually, the “live-action” depiction of life under the sea is occasionally a captivating spectacle, although the colors don’t pop with the vibrancy of the 2D animated version, and some of the CGI blending is noticeable and unconvincing. Flounder, Ariel’s previously adorable fish companion, now looks like a being from the depths of my nightmares, although the new take on Sebastian surprisingly works, and he is as delightful as ever.

For all the concern about “modernizing” a classic, the movie remains mostly faithful to the original. Most viewers likely won’t even notice the small lyrical changes. The story additions add rather than detract, such as making Eric a more developed character, even if the film’s runtime feels about 20 minutes too long.   

Overall, Little Mermaid is a competent and enjoyable reimagining of the classic Disney tale. It likely won’t convince anyone already philosophically opposed to these remakes, but for audiences looking to experience a classic story in a new way, the movie has enough to draw them in with Halle Bailey’s alluring siren-like voice.   

For Consideration

Language: Several rude insults (“you idiot”).  

Violence:  None. A villain is killed in the same way as in the original, but it is not graphic.      

Sexuality: Although the mermaids (and mermen) are actually more modestly dressed than in the animated version, the shift to live action does mean that there is more real-life human flesh on display. It’s nothing more than can be seen at a pool, but some viewers might find it a bit more sensual than in the original. Melissa McCarthy made headlines for declaring that her take on Ursula was “inspired by drag,” but there is nothing noticeably different in her portrayal than was evident in the original (which was already largely drag-inspired). During one song, she adjusts her breasts. Her garments are somewhat suggestive, but not overly concerning.  

Other: There is plenty of magic in the film. Ursula is a sea witch and does magic using her caldron. Human characters talk of the “sea gods.” There is also plenty of child rebellion, as both Ariel and Eric frequently defy their parent’s wishes.

Engage The Film

The story was already a Romeo-and-Juliet tale of star-crossed lovers from two different worlds, but the live-action version doubles down on this element. There is more backstory and character development for Prince Eric, which positions his own desires as a sort of mirror for Ariel. Both characters struggle to fit into their “worlds” and resist the prejudices of their parents/guardians. Even casting a black actress to play Ariel lends a more real-world connection to this theme, with the film intentionally showing how the “youth will lead the way” in overcoming old biases and forging new relationships between different people groups.

Classic Tale in a Modern World

Some of the worldview seeps through in how the classic tale is reimagined for today’s world, something especially evident in the choice to change some of the lyrics.

A verse has been removed from “Poor Unfortunate Souls,” in which Ursula implies that women don’t need a voice because men don’t care or value it. Obviously, that message is unacceptable in today’s world. But even in the original context, it was clearly a case of a villain manipulating Ariel with lies, making the alteration feel like an overreaction.

The lyrics in “Kiss the Girl” were also altered, making it more appropriate in a #MeToo world.  The original song includes these lyrics: “Yes, you want her / Look at her, you know you do / Possible she wants you too, there is one way to ask her / It don’t take a word, not a single word / Go on and kiss the girl.” The live-action version has been altered to emphasize the importance of consent: “Use your words, boy, and ask her / If the time is right and the time is tonight / Go on and kiss the girl.”

Another difference is that part of Ursula’s curse on Ariel is that she has no memory that she must kiss Eric within three days, thus removing any element of manipulation. It does feel a bit contrived, but it adds maturity to their romance. Yes, it is still a fairytale in which strangers fall in love at first meeting, but there is also an element of the relationship that is built on trust and enjoyment of each other’s company rather than pure infatuation.  

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Catholic Review

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Movie Review: ‘The Little Mermaid’

NEW YORK (OSV News) – The idea of updating a classic film is always a dangerous one. But, provided there’s a better motive at work than mere hubris, it can work.

Such, emphatically, is the case with “The Little Mermaid” (Disney), director Rob Marshall’s live-action remake of the beloved 1989 animated musical derived from Hans Christian Andersen’s 1837 fairy tale. Using technology not available in the waning days of the Cold War, Marshall and his team serve up a charming fresh take on the timeless story.

As before, the action centers on Ariel (Halle Bailey), the sea creature of the title. When Ariel’s insatiable curiosity about life on dry land leads her to fall for a human, Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King), the romance causes a conflict with her overprotective father, King Triton (Javier Bardem).

Upset and isolated, Ariel falls prey to the machinations of her estranged Aunt Ursula (Melissa McCarthy), a scheming, embittered octopus. Ursula agrees to cast a spell that will temporarily turn her niece into a human being so she can woo and be wooed.

But Ursula’s real goal, of course, is not to help Ariel but to use the lass as a pawn in her plot to seize power from her brother Triton. So it will take the aid of Ariel’s two closest companions, harried crab Sebastian (voice of Daveed Diggs) and scatterbrained gannet Scuttle (voice of Awkwafina), to bring about a happy ending.

As scripted by David Magee, Ariel’s adventure is too scary for tots, but will delight all others. As children tap their feet to “Under the Sea” and other tunes composed by Alan Menken – the late Howard Ashman’s lyrics are supplemented by new ones from Lin-Manuel Miranda – adults will find the themes underlying the movie pleasingly balanced.

Thus dad and daughter learn complementary lessons from Ariel’s experience and ultimately demonstrate their enduring love for each other. There’s also a message about not drawing negative conclusions about a whole group based on the misbehavior of some. Eric, moreover, is as inquisitive as his sweetheart – and we learn that such openness to new things pays.

These moral points come wrapped in a bright, upbeat spectacle within which a crucial kiss represents the outer limit of passion. There’s nothing shopworn about Marshall’s skilled and sprightly repackaging – old-fashioned in the best sense, it’s a high-quality, family friendly summer treat.

The film contains potentially frightening scenes of characters in peril and of thoroughly stylized violence. The OSV News classification is A-I — general patronage. The Motion Picture Association rating is PG — parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

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Should the Live-Action Remake Be Part of Your World?

Young girls and boys want new and exciting movies that seem relevant to the times they are living. However, Disney continually has shown they are interested in remaking the entire film catalog over and over. In this Disney The Little Mermaid (2023) Christian movie review, I give you the information you need before seeing the movie with your children. I also answer the question, “Can the Live-Action remake of this beloved classic swim into your heart, or will it sink to the bottom of the sea?”

While this movie is rated PG, not all PG movies are the same. Some are mild and almost a G-rating, while other movies have a PG rating and are closer in content to a PG-13 rating. Therefore, it is important to know the content before taking your child. This parent guide will help you make an informed decision regarding The Little Mermaid.

The Little Mermaid Christian Movie Review: Synopsis

Synopsis from the studio:.

“The Little Mermaid” is the beloved story of Ariel, a beautiful and spirited young mermaid with a thirst for adventure. The youngest of King Triton’s daughters and the most defiant, Ariel longs to find out more about the world beyond the sea and, while visiting the surface, falls for the dashing Prince Eric. While mermaids are forbidden to interact with humans, Ariel must follow her heart. She makes a deal with the evil sea witch, Ursula, which gives her a chance to experience life on land, but ultimately places her life – and her father’s crown – in jeopardy.

My Synopsis of The Little Mermaid (2023)

Unless you have been living in a cave the last several decades, you should know what The Little Mermaid is about. In this live-action film, some of the details have changed, but the storyline essentially remains the same. The animated Little Mermaid was adapted from the Hans Christian Andersen story of The Little Mermaid. 

Essentially, Ariel (played by Halle Bailey) is a mermaid living under the sea. She falls in love with a human, Prince Eric, and wants to be part of his world. However, with a mermaid tail, this is impossible. If only Ariel could have human legs and walk on land. Ursula makes a deal with Ariel to give her legs in exchange for Ariel’s voice. What could possibly go wrong?

What Parents Want to Know – The Good & The Bad

Movie-making quality:.

I usually don’t even comment on movie-making quality because if you have seen any trailers for a movie, you have seen the quality to expect. However, there are a few things I feel I should point out. While Halle Bailey’s voice is fantastic, and she really plays the part of Ariel well, there were several other characters that I felt really fell flat. I absolutely hated King Triton. In fact, the delivery of his lines was so subpar. Moreover, I felt that the timing was off with other characters as well.

The colors were absolutely amazing, and the under-the-sea scenes were spectacular.

Additionally, there were scenes where I was laughing out loud, but I knew they weren’t supposed to be funny scenes. Some scenes didn’t work for the live-action film, such as when Ursula is huge, rammed by the ship, and dies. The ship looked like it was 2 inches tall compared to Ursula’s 50 feet. Furthermore, the CGI for Ursula’s face appeared to be poorly done, and I know it was supposed to be in the middle of a storm, but it just looked terrible.

There were moments when I thought Halle Bailey’s hair looked like a moving sea creature and not her hair. In one other scene, my son and I just looked at each other, puzzled by the hand motions that just seemed creepy and odd. 

​There is no foul language. However, there are a few instances of rude language such as idiot, brat, and birdbrain.

The violence in this film is similar to that in the original film. However, since it is live-action, it does seem a little more intense. For instance, Ursula becomes huge towards the movie’s end and causes a vast whirlpool. She has a pretty evil maniacal laugh, and she is killed by a ship. Her eels explode.

Ariel and Flounder are chased by a shark, and a live-action shark is always scarier than an animated one!

When Ariel is going to see Ursula, she is attacked by sea creatures, and at one point, there is a tentacle around her neck.

Other violent acts include people being shocked by the eels. Ursula’s song is on par with the original movie, and the entire scene where she is mixing a potion and taking Ariel’s voice can be scary.

There is a skeleton shown on the ocean floor and wrecked ships. 

Adult Content:

Ursula shows cleavage and adjusts her breasts, and shimmies her torso in a suggestive manner. This is done in the animated version but seems more extreme in the live-action movie. However, less cleavage is shown by the mermaids than in the original animated film. 

Spiritual Content:

​The phrase “Santa Maria” is uttered as an expletive – this means Saint Mary or Holy Mary. Additionally, someone mentions that “the sea gods are against us.” Of course, Ursula does conjure up a potion and uses magic to give Ariel legs.

The Little Mermaid (2023 Christian Review) Viewing Recommendations

I absolutely love the original Little Mermaid with Jodi Benson. However, this live-action remake is well-made and, for the most part, a good movie. This movie is longer than the original clocking in at 2 hours and 15 minutes, and it may be too long for some children. There is much more development of the relationship between Prince Eric and Ariel, which is a delightful change. 

However, If you have followed me for any amount of time, I have a major complaint with Disney because it seems like they are determined to remake every movie they have ever made. I really wish they would come up with some original content. But overall, this movie was better than many of their remakes – Pinocchio was probably the worst remake to date.

While my husband and I disagree on Melissa McCarthy’s portrayal of Ursula – (He thought her portrayal was spot in; I did not), we both enjoyed the movie more than we thought we would. I do think young children may be scared of the intense scenes, and for that reason, my age recommendation is 8 and up. Would I recommend you see it at the movie theater? Absolutely!

Teachable Moments/Homeschool Ideas from The Little Mermaid Christian Review (2023) 

Read Hans Christian Andersen’s, The Little Mermaid. Watch the animated version from 1989, and compare the differences between the story and the two movies.

Ariel is headstrong and is extremely disobedient. Her father tells her not to go to the surface, and she goes anyway. Because of this, she almost destroys herself, her under-the-sea family, and Prince Eric. Talk about disobedience and why parents seem “overly protective.”

King Triton learns a valuable lesson about judging people without knowing them. He says, “All humans are alike.” Talk about the dangers of lumping everyone together in a category. Children tend to do this with the opposite sex. “All boys have cooties” or “All girls are crybabies.” How can we, as parents ensure that we don’t prejudge groups of people based on our prejudices such as political affiliation, profession, skin color, or religion?

The word majordomo is used. Majordomo is a head steward or a butler. This could be a new vocabulary word. Additionally, talk about how even in English-speaking areas there are different words from place to place for the same thing such as shopping cart or buggy, pop or soda, etc.

In one scene in the film, Prince Eric and Ariel are looking up at the stars and pointing to constellations. See if you can find those constellations in the night sky.

Additionally, Eric and Ariel look over maps of the oceans. Point out the seven seas on a map and see where each sister is “from” on the map.

The Little Mermaid 2023 Christian Review

About the little mermaid movie.

Rating: MPAA PG for action/peril and some scary images 

Genre: Live-Action Musical

Runtime: 2 hours, 15 minutes

Release Date: May 26, 2023

Director: Rob Marshall

Screenplay by David Magee

Producer: Marc Platt, Lin-Manuel Mirando, John DeLuca, and Rob Marshall

Edited by Wyatt Smith

Music by: Alan Menken and Lin-Manuel Miranda and Howard Ashman

Cast of The Little Mermaid

​Ariel (The Little Mermaid) played by Halle Bailey

Prince Eric played by Jonah Hauer-King

Ursula played by Melissa McCarthy

King Triton played by Javier Bardem

Grimsby played by Art Malik

​The Queen (Prince Eric’s mom) played by Noma Dumezweni

Vanessa played by Jessica Alexander

Lashana played by Martina Laird

Rosa played by Emily Coates

Hawkins played by Christopher Fairbanks

Mulligan played by John Dagleish

Sebastian voiced by Daveed Diggs

Scuttle voiced by Awkwafina

Flounder voiced by Jacob Tremblay

The Little Mermaid Christian Review: Frequently Asked Questions:

What are the new songs in the little mermaid.

There are new versions of the original songs which include Part of Your World, Under the Sea and Kiss the Girl. These lyrics were originally written by Howard Ashman.  Lin-Manuel Miranda and Alan Menken team up to produce three new songs for The Little Mermaid live-action movie. These include, “For the First Time,” which is a sung by Ariel. The second song is, “Wild Uncharted Waters,” and it is sung by Prince Eric. Finally, the third song entitled Scuttlebutt, is sung by the seagull, Scuttle. 

Is Scuttle a seagull?

​In the original Little Mermaid, Scuttle was a seagull. However, in an attempt to have Ariel go to the surface for the first time after singing “Part of Your World,” they changed Scuttle to a diving bird. This way Ariel has met the bird in the water and has never been to the surface before. The bird is a Gannet. Rob Marshall explained, Gannets “stay underwater for many, many minutes and then go back up.” So that fixes the problem of Scuttle being underwater for long periods of time.

Who are Ariel’s sisters?

Ariel’s sister’s names have changed from the 1989 movie. Originally, there were seven including Ariel and their names were Attina, Alana, Adella, Aquata, Arista, and Andrina and they represented the seven seas. They are now named Karina played by Kajsa Mohammar, Tamika played by Sienna King, Mala played by Karolina Conchet, Caspia played by Nathalie Sorrell, Perla played by Lorena Andrea, and Indira played by Simone Ashely.

Where can I watch The Little Mermaid 2023?

​On May 26, 2023, the live-action Little Mermaid was released into theaters. At that time, it was not streaming on Disney+, Hulu, Netflix, Apple TV+, or HBO Max.

​However, it began streaming on Disney+ on September 6, 2023.

Are Ursula and King Triton brother and sister?

​In the 1989 animated movie, they are not siblings. However, in the Broadway version they are, and this was carried over into the 2023 live-action film.

What happened to Ariel’s mother?

​While the movie mentions that she was killed by a human, no further information is given.

Where was The Little Mermaid filmed?

It was filmed on the Island of Sardinia, Italy.

Where is Prince Eric’s castle?

​While Prince Eric lost his parents in a shipwreck and was adopted by the King and Queen of some unnamed island that appears to be in the Caribbean, no one has stated the actual location of the island. While the movie was filmed in Italy, the scenes in the marketplace definitely give the movie a Caribbean vibe.

What is the Hans Christian Andersen quote at the beginning of the movie?

“But a mermaid has no tears, and therefore she suffers so much more.”

Is The Little Mermaid Movie streaming on Disney+?

Yes! As of Wednesday, September 6, 2023, the Little Mermaid began streaming on Disney+.

Where can I stream The Little Mermaid Movie?

You can stream The Little Mermaid 2023 movie on Disney+. To watch it for “free,” you need to have a Disney+ subscription.

Additionally, The Little Mermaid remake can be purchased or rented on Amazon Prime. This musical is also available for digital purchase on Google Play, Apple TV and more.

Reviewing movies for parents from a Christian perspective since 2005. Know Before You Go!

Christian Homeschooling mom – 30 years and counting

Autism Mom & Disney enthusiast

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Plenty of Christian themes in this excellent version of The Little Mermaid

Lisa Skinner finds much to appreciate in this re-telling of a Disney classic

Film: The Little Mermaid (Walt Disney Studios))

Running Time: 2h 15m

Genre: Fantasy/Musical

This movie is Hollywood’s latest reimagining of Hans Christian Andersen’s classic fairy tale The Little Mermaid . From the very beginning it’s fantastical and enchanting, set in a vibrant underwater kingdom known as Atlantica. The story follows the journey of Ariel, a curious and adventurous young mermaid with an insatiable love for the human world. Ariel’s deep fascination with humans leads her to explore shipwrecks, collect human artifacts, and dream of a life beyond the ocean’s depths. However, her father, King Triton, disapproves of her obsession and sets boundaries for his daughter. In order to protect his kingdom and his family from danger, he forbids them from venturing into the human realm. 

Ariel’s sense of being trapped by isolation and fear is mirrored by a human prince named Eric, dissatisfied with his life he also longs for something more. Everything changes when Ariel rescues Eric during a violent storm. Instantly smitten, she makes a deal with the banished sea witch, Ursula, to trade her beautiful voice for a pair of legs, giving her a chance to be with Eric on land. As a voiceless human, Ariel faces numerous challenges in navigating the unfamiliar world, but her determination remains unyielding. With the help of her loyal and humorous underwater friends, Flounder and Sebastian, and Scuttle the seagull, Ariel must race against time to make Eric fall in love with her before the enchantment is broken. Along the way, she discovers the true meaning of sacrifice, friendship, and the power of her own voice.

What I liked:

The Little Mermaid weaves a tapestry of breathtaking visuals, showcasing the wonders of the underwater kingdom, as well as the enchanting beauty of the human world. The film combines heart-warming moments with thrilling adventures, culminating in a climactic battle between good and evil, as Ursula must be conquered to restore harmony to both worlds – above and below the sea.

For me, the overarching love story of this tale is that of a father for his child: it is King Triton who exercises forgiveness and sacrifices his power and then his life for the sake of his daughter Ariel. We later see him resurrected and although he allows Ariel to continue to live as a human, which was not his ideal for his daughter, the movie concludes with the appearance of the King, majestic and present in the human world, to tell her that he will always be there for her, somewhat reminiscent of Jesus promise to be with his followers in Matthew 28: 20.

What I didn’t like:

The only negative thing I could say about this film is that it is a lengthy watch and for that reason it may be too much for very young children to sit through. Nevertheless, there are so many themes that can be unpacked from this movie. It is brimming with magic, remarkable characters, unforgettable music, and an empowering message about love and sacrifice.

Thoughts for parents:

The storyline deviates, in a number of ways, from that of the original Disney version of The Little Mermaid (1989) that many of us will know and love. One of the stark differences involves Ariel herself, rather than cast a white woman with red hair in the role of the Disney Princess, Disney chose a black woman with dreadlocks (Halle Bailey). In fact, all of King Triton’s daughters appear to be representative of several tribes and nations – which is somewhat reflective of the societies we ourselves live in, it is also something that will appeal to many young girls of colour who get to see themselves in the role of a Disney Princess who looks just like they do.

I took my three daughters to watch The Little Mermaid with me (eight, eleven and 13 years of age), it appealed to each of them in a different way but all of us would highly recommend a trip to the cinema to see it for yourself!

More from Lisa Skinner

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‘I find it easier to share Jesus with my children at Christmas: here’s how I do it’

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After spending millions on advertising, even displaying a trailer at the Academy Awards, Disney’s live action version of The Little Mermaid has finally hit cinemas. Yet not everyone is keen. Horribly ratioed on YouTube and other platforms, there has been much controversy over the casting of Halle Bailey as the lead role of Ariel, or rather the blackwashing of yet another iconic redhead. Combined with the genderswapping of Scuttle, rumours of key plot changes, the ill-rendered CGI witnessed in trailers, and just Disney’s perceived lack of artistic integrity and general decline, a number of viewers are hesitant when it comes to having hope that one of these live action remakes might actually be good. With so much junk and political warring occurring outside of the film, it’s easy to wonder, once the noise is cut out, whether this movie is actually worth a look.

Content Guide

Violence/Scary Images: For those that have water-related trauma, this is most likely not the best film to watch considering there are multiple instances where characters nearly drown, or are racing for air. Lots of ferocious waves, shipwrecks, and there’s a shark chase sequence. The villain is a squid-based humanoid that drags and traps people with tentacles, and is otherwise surrounded with a creepy, evil vibe. She lives in a giant sea monster’s skeleton. A mermaid skeleton is seen. The final battle involves a giant version of the sea witch and rough seas, which would be scary for the youngest audience members. A few characters are vaporised. A self-inflicted wound on a mermaid’s tail is shown, and some blood from it seeps into the surrounding water.  

Language/Crude Humor: No swear words. However, characters do denigrate one another frequently, with comments like “idiot,” “bird brain”, “brat”, or tell each other to shut up.

Drug/Alcohol References: No alcohol. Magic potions are consumed as part of the story.

Sexual Content: Some men are seen topless, and the mermaids don’t wear clothes, though they are covered in scales where it matters. A significant portion of the film rests on the idea that two people must kiss in order to break a spell, where supporting cast heavily influence the couple. There is a scene where a character is naked—nothing is seen due to carefully placed hair and camera angles.

Spiritual Content: Based off a Hans Christian Anderson fairytale, which in turn has connections to ancient Greek mythology with characters such as King Triton. The whole film explores folklore surrounding mermaids and sirens, and the concept of a being ruling over the sea, though due to the genre, it’s very much a nominal approach and doesn’t foster a serious belief in such content more so than other fantasy-laden films.

Other Negative Content: The pressure for characters to kiss within a three-day time period feels odd to be seen in a kid’s film given modern sensibilities. Dishonest contractual agreements feature heavily in the film. A daughter frequently disobeys her father.

Positive Content: The story reconciles a father and daughter that are suffering from communication issues. A lot of kindness is shown between the film’s protagonists, and the general message of not immediately judging others by shallow means is told.

Disney’s live action remake of The Little Mermaid is a sweet film that is bogged down with its external politics. Criticism began early with the reveal of Halle Bailey in the main role, not due to any controversy with the actress herself, but rather the act of changing of Ariel’s race. Today’s efforts in casting are a nuanced affair that deserve an essay in itself, but to cover the main essence of the debate, it’s about how to achieve the fine balance between offering suitable representation without falling into the trap of virtue signalling.

Watching back older films from a few decades ago, their racial diversity isn’t as limited as some might assume, however with America’s changing and developing racial makeup due to generations of immigration, movies were no longer seen to be a reflection of the diversity found across the country. This was particularly true with biracial or multi-generational immigrants who found themselves too far removed from their ancestral culture to still feel connected with films produced from their generational homeland, whilst American films rarely addressed the unique issues presented when identifying with two different cultures. Cinema was starting to organically rectify the issue, with narrative storytelling moving away from defaulting to white, however after the OscarsSoWhite controversy, Hollywood effectively enforced changes within the industry by introducing diversity quotas to the eligibility criteria needed to win the Best Picture category . So when Disney race and gender swap several members of their key cast (and end up meeting that quota by doing so), are they making such changes out of the goodness of their hearts, or is it purely a decision from a boardroom devoid of artistic integrity? Critics of the studio believe it’s the latter, where the company is happy to extol a virtuous front though really their actions stem from personal gain.

Yet when it comes to representation there seems to be two main schools of thought. The first takes a colour-blind approach, where if a character’s race (or gender) isn’t playing a crucial part in the role, then the job should go to whoever delivered the best audition. Director Rob Marshall has said this was the case when it came to Halle Bailey’s audition for Ariel. It’s believable. The actress nails the songs, has a gorgeous voice, and also possesses the innocent and naïve wonderment of a mermaid exploring the human world for the first time. As sung in “Kiss the Girl”, there’s something about her. Her performance is genuinely difficult to fault, although there are a few moments where her interactions with CGI characters feel a little off.

Of course, there has been much debate as to whether race is an important factor for Ariel’s character, where some have argued that since mermaids are fictional then it doesn’t matter, whilst others state that since the original tale is mostly attributed to Denmark, then The Little Mermaid ’s casting decisions don’t pay homage to the source material. One argument that is hardly mentioned is that Ariel isn’t your typical character—she’s a registered trademark that’s part of the sixth most financially successful media franchise in the world (The Disney Princess franchise), with a dollar worth that’s over forty-six billion. Merchandise is a huge part of Disney’s business, where it earns the company over fifty billion dollars per year, turning Disney into the world’s top licensor that makes the most amount of retail sales compared to others in the game.

So is Disney going to change the look of Ariel—a member of the billion dollar Disney Princess franchise— any time soon? Of course not! Her original design is firmly enshrined in a number of ways across merchandising and theme park appearances. One of the problems with the live action remake is that it’s not a reimagining or a total reboot, where changes to the character could be forgiven. Ariel still maintains every aspect of her iconic design except now she’s a different race, and this instantly puts her at direct odds with the character’s future marketing. As a result, Halle Bailey is not “Ariel”, but rather “Black Ariel”, and it’s a shame that qualifier will exist as the actress truly doesn’t deserve to be caught up in the middle. The recent film won’t be viewed as being as official as the original; it’s a secondary, novelty project. Disney may pat itself on the back for providing representation, but they achieved it in the laziest way possible, by raceswapping a firmly established character, no different from a hand-me-down. This isn’t the first instance of this in media. Wonder Woman, Black Widow, and even Scarlet Witch have generated genuine interest over the years because they are characters unto themselves, whereas She-Hulk, Batgirl, and Supergirl all have that “novelty” hand-me-down factor, as they are based off their better-conceived male counterparts. Some may think it’s a bold choice, though in reality we still haven’t progressed any further than Token’s role in South Park (although he’s really Tolkien).

The second school of thought when it comes to casting originates from the Critical Race Theory movement. They present the idea that race is an immutable aspect of one’s identity, where colour-blindness can never be fully achieved as a person’s race will always carry certain meanings or perceptions whether it’s intentional or not. In some ways they have a point, though Disney has handled this aspect in their casting decisions rather poorly over the past few years. The worst example can be found in their Lady and the Tramp remake where Jim Dear and Darling are now an interracial couple. While it’s refreshing to see Black Americans in affluent roles in the early 20 th century, as a foreigner that has gleaned most of her knowledge about American history from cinema, I was yanked out of the experience, finding myself confused over my understanding of that time period, as Loving told me a different story. I ended up having to ask my fellow GUG associates as to whether there were any states that allowed interracial relationships that early on in US history, only for everyone to confirm that my initial suspicions were correct. It’s bizarre to see Disney constantly insert Black characters in particular into “old timey” settings given the current political climate—activists are working hard to remind society of the racial injustices of the past, yet children’s entertainment is content with ignoring or otherwise misrepresenting these issues entirely. The pendulum is right there, and Disney is too busy pandering to realise they’re the ones swinging it.

Disney’s handling of race isn’t as woefully careless this time around as the setting and context within the world of The Little Mermaid lends itself more towards a forgiving nature from viewers. For the most part it seems that race and genetics aren’t a thing under the sea. The original film scrapped the idea of Ursula and Triton being siblings, but it has been reintroduced here. King Triton’s daughters are also multi-cultural, with each mermaid representing one of the seven seas, which is a cool concept… once adult audiences stop raising an eyebrow over the thought that daddy might be getting hot at the body shop doing something unholy.

It starts to unravel more once the story heads to the surface. By changing Ariel’s race, it now means it’s a story about a silenced Black woman that’s trying to woo a white prince, which brings about several different new layers to the tale. Since the narrative is about two cultures coming together, Disney could have leaned into this new dynamic and gained itself a clever allegory, except it takes the more baffling Pinocchio route and instead produces an “international” vibe. In a world where the ships are still wooden, an indistinct small island nation is ruled by a Black queen living in a European styled castle, surrounded by a vibrant Latina atmosphere that’s reminiscent of Cuba, filled with citizens that come from a vast array of different races. In such circumstances, interracial relationships don’t bat an eye despite the time period. In Disney’s Pinocchio this internationality stripped the story of its luscious Italian roots, opting for the American ideology of lumping all “white” cultures together as one large bland conglomerate, as though the rich heritage of other nations around the world don’t need their own representation in their own right. Viewers rightfully slammed the film for being soulless whilst Guillermo del Toro’s version that operated as a love letter to Italy went on to win Best Animated Picture.

In some ways, The Little Mermaid is more forgivable since the original movie wasn’t as tied down to a specific country, even though the earlier Disney Princess films paid homage to the origins of their Hans Christian Anderson’s tale in more notable ways. It will come down to a matter of personal opinion as to whether viewers feel that Disney missed an opportunity to make a love letter to Denmark through this production. Although this time around it seems the writers wished to transplant the story to the Caribbean, and while that setting may give an explanation as to the European architecture and racial diversity (and Sebastian’s random Jamaican accent), adult audiences are still going to feel the film’s setting is odd as there’s a discrepancy between the seemingly modern demographics and the era that’s explored.   

Ultimately this entire discussion about race exists outside of the film. It really isn’t this movie’s biggest problem (of which it has many), though it’s the one that has overshadowed the production since its first trailer. As you can see, there are a lot of different thoughts regarding how diversity and representation can be achieved, and opinions continue to change, and therefore the rules seem to slide about as well, giving the entire topic an element of hypocrisy. Considering Ariel is one of the most iconic characters to be raceswapped in recent times, all of these issues regarding this topic as a whole have come to a head when it comes to this film. However, when you watch the film, the whole issue really does take more of a backseat.

The Little Mermaid ’s biggest problem is nothing new; once again it’s a live action remake that doesn’t compare to the spirit of the animated classic. As we know by now, some things that pop in an animated scene are lost in translation when recreated by actors limited by real world physics. Javier Bardem, wet-faced and bobbing in the water beside a boat, looks unintentionally hilarious instead of regal. When mermaids sit on boulders it just looks awkward. The shark chase sequence lacks all tension. The problem is most noticeable with Sebastian, as even though he’s a CGI character, he lacks the comedic timing of the original, and a lot of the lines that have been kept from the old script now fall painfully flat. Yet there are a handful of good decisions in the mix. While “Les Poissons” is arguably the best song in the original (fight me), there is no way this epic animated sequence could be replicated in all of its glory in live action—and if it was, then it would be hilariously horrific for a children’s movie. Understandably, it has been scrapped.

When it comes to the songs, the majority are underwhelming. “Part of Your World” is a show stopper, while “Kiss the Girl” oozes every amount of sexual tension it can appropriately muster for a movie aimed at children. However, “Under the Sea” feels like it’s going through the motions. “Poor Unfortunate Souls” celebrates all of Melissa McCarthy’s hard work and vocal training as it’s a great rendition and impressively pays homage to the original, yet in some ways it would have been nice to see how McCarthy interpreted the character as opposed to mimicking another’s performance.

A number of new songs have been added to fill in a couple of gaps in the action, some serving more of a purpose than others. Composer Lin-Manuel Miranda is at the pinnacle of his career, leaping off the success of Hamilton , In the Heights , and Encanto , among others. Yet while some love his rapid-fire lyrics and quips, personally I find the songs too muffled and chaotic to enjoy. His style clashes with the original songs in The Little Mermaid ; fast-paced lyrics with little in regards to tune in amongst classic melodies that soar. Considering he also wrote the songs for Moana , it’s disappointing he didn’t strike gold in this film as both Princess movies share the same core spirit.

It’s difficult to see what the aim was behind the creation of this movie (aside from making money). The very act of shifting animated characters into something more realistic causes problems. The animals in the original—that were once brightly coloured creatures vaguely reminiscent of certain species—now have to be properly assigned in the live action remake. Yet because the production doesn’t commit to a particular setting, the species chosen to represent Sebastian, Flounder, and Scuttle don’t make a whole lot of sense. In one scene, Ariel plays with guppies in amongst the saltwater reef. It broke my brain; you need to shut it off in this area for this film. There’s also the inconvenient fact that the deeper one goes underwater, the less colourful things become; a scientific truth which directly conflicts with a children’s movie’s need for vibrancy. Unlike The Jungle Book and The Lion King which had more freedom to move into ultra-realism, it doesn’t work with The Little Mermaid where it seems to want to be both somewhat realistic and also fantastical with its world. The CGI does well to bring some of it to life—there are times when the animals look gorgeous—although the transitions of movement are often blurry, unpolished, or unnerving to watch.

However, the most unbelievable aspect to this film is the idea that Prince Eric and Ariel don’t simply kiss each other later on in the night. If there’s one thing this film does right, it’s Prince Eric. With a longer runtime, it means the characters get more fleshed out, and Eric’s character benefits the most from this change. The first half of the movie feels phoned in, but once the story heads to the shore, it really does gain its legs. The reason is most likely that the script isn’t so beholden to the story beats of the original in the second act; it finally has the freedom to develop its own identity and become its own thing. It turns into a sweet romance between a mermaid and a human prince, and it’s genuinely cute and enjoyable to watch them fall in love. Parents beware—a lot of thirteen-year-old girls are going to experience their first screen crush in this movie!

When it comes to additional content, some of it works, some of it doesn’t. There’s more siren mythology mixed in now which is interesting. But they also added in more complications, particularly with Ursula’s spell, which only convolutes the story and character motivations. Some are saying the film is Woke, but surprisingly those claims are rather unfounded—there’s no LGBT+ content, Ariel isn’t a total girl boss as she’s still naïve and has life lessons to learn, and the film doesn’t completely shy away from its romance roots. Basically, there are more Woke Disney films out there, to the extent that The Little Mermaid barely registers on the scale. It does suffer from some basic storytelling issues though, where it tends to tell and not show in places. For instance, Ursula wishes to obtain Triton’s trident yet the audience hasn’t seen its power to understand why it’s a wanted item. Or that every character seems to tell Ariel that she’s in love, though it’s questionable whether she actually loves Eric or is merely in love with the idea of being human. It’s muddy. These are simple problems that would have been addressed had the production had the freedom to move away from the confines of the original, which is why a total reimagining of the story may have been a better choice (provided the die-hard fans would have allowed it).

The performances are strong and every actor tries their hardest, though with all the other issues regarding the narrative, music, CGI, soullessness, and external politics, The Little Mermaid ends up being an enjoyable B-grade film, which wouldn’t be bad except for the fact that Disney tried to bring their A game this time. Since it is in the B-grade territory, Christians may want to avoid all the spell casting plot for their children and instead opt for watching last year’s mermaid film, The King’s Daughter . It also features a weird father and daughter dynamic, but the story refreshingly features positive Christian messaging and role models. But if you wish to stick with Disney, The Little Mermaid is still entertaining and worth a look at some stage.

+ Acting and vocals + Some wise changes + Character development + Prince Eric and cute chemistry between the leads

- Just goes through the motions when copying the original - New songs don't fit the style - Doesn't commit to a setting - Controversial casting - Unpolished CGI in places - Classic comedic scenes fall flat

The Bottom Line

Disney’s live action remake of The Little Mermaid might be overwhelmed by external politics and criticism, but despite its many flaws, it’s a simple B-grade romance.

Juliana Purnell

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THE LITTLE MERMAID (2023)

"singing along the sea".

What You Need To Know:

Miscellaneous Immorality: deceit.

More Detail:

Ariel, a beautiful mermaid, desperately wants to see what humans are like and is willing to do whatever it takes to find out, in THE LITTLE MERMAID. THE LITTLE MERMAID has a moral worldview showing an evil witch who is seen as bad, though this is the case, the movie does have some scary elements for younger children.

Ariel, a beautiful teenage mermaid, has always wanted to see what humans are like, but her father has outlawed her going to the surface of the water. Even though Ariel understands that her father’s concern is that her mother was killed by humans, she believes that some humans could be good. Whenever there is a shipwreck, Ariel collects some of the things that are in the ships.

One day, after a fight with her father, Ariel sees lights coming from above the water and swims up. She ends up seeing a celebration, with fireworks, for Prince Eric’s birthday. Eric has been traveling the waters trying to make trade deals with other lands. But within minutes, a storm comes underway, and the celebration must end. Everyone on the ship ends up having to jump overboard, but Prince Eric tries to save his dog. Ariel is watching the whole thing, and sees that Eric is thrown overboard. Ariel saves Eric and takes him to land. While trying to get him breathing again, Ariel sings over Eric. Eric wakes up, and he hears her voice and sees a blurry image of her face. Ariel swims off, and some men come and get Eric and take him to the Castle.

Ariel goes back home so happy to have seen Eric, but her father finds out she has been on the surface, and he gets angry with her. He explains it is not safe for her to do so, but she doesn’t believe him. Her father destroys all of her collections from the shipwrecks. Devastated, Ariel doesn’t know what to do, but the evil eels appear and lead Ariel to the Witch Ursula. Ursula tells Ariel she will give her human legs, if she just gives her voice to Ursula. Basically, making a deal with the devil for her soul, which Ariel does not fully understand but does because she is tempted by the idea of getting to know Eric and finding out about humans. Ursula says Ariel and Eric must kiss by the third day for her to get her voice back.

When her voice is taken, Ariel swims quickly up to the surface and to the land. Some kind people find her and take her to the castle to get dressed and rest. Soon, she sees Eric, but he does not remember her without her voice. Even so, Eric and Ariel start to spend time together. Will Eric fall in love with Ariel? Will Ariel get her voice back?

THE LITTLE MERMAID (2023) is very much like the 1989 Disney animated version in terms of plot. The movie just has four new songs that have been added, but other than that the premise is extremely similar. Halle Bailey plays Ariel and has an incredible voice in each song, and a doe eyed innocence in her looks. This version has decided to have all the daughters of triton, played by Javier Bardem, be from the different seven seas, Asian, African, Caucasian, etc. The CGI in the film is very well done, though sometimes the scenes are a bit jarring with quick roller coaster cuts in the CGI world.

THE LITTLE MERMAID (2023) has a moral worldview about the repercussions of not listening to your parents and being tempted by the devil. Essentially, Ariel sells her soul to the devil character, the sea witch Ursula. She must learn her father had her best interest, and not to be tempted by evil. There are some scary elements to the movie as Ursula can be a bit scary for younger audiences and the scenes of the ship going under is also scary, so caution is advised.

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• DVD & Streaming

The Little Mermaid (2023)

• Comedy , Drama , Musical , Romance

Content Caution

In Theaters

• May 26, 2023
• Halle Bailey as Ariel; Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric; Melissa McCarthy as Ursula; Javier Bardem as King Triton; Daveed Diggs as Sebastian; Jacob Tremblay as Flounder; Awkwafina as Scuttle; Art Malik as Sir Grimsby; Noma Dumezweni as Queen Selina

Home Release Date

• July 8, 2023
• Rob Marshall

Distributor

• Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures; Disney+

Movie Review

Ariel likes the ocean. She really does.

And well she should. She’s a princess, after all—not just any ol’ princess, either, but youngest daughter of King Triton, emperor of the Earth’s Seven Seas. Given that 71% of the planet is water, that’s a pretty big empire. Rome? The British Empire? Pish. Small, dry potatoes compared to Triton’s domain. And as Triton’s beloved daughter, Ariel wants for nothing. She can have absolutely anything she wants—as long as it’s, y’know, underwater .

And therein lies the problem.

You know how teens can be. They think the seaweed always grows greener on the other side of the reef. And Ariel is fascinated by that other 29% of the planet: the dry side.

Yes, she knows that those humans —those creatures with their funny feet—tend catch some of her scaly friends and eat them. Sure, Ariel’s own mother met her end at the point of an ill-placed harpoon. But humans can’t be all bad, can they?

Yes , thinks King Triton. Yes, they can.

The king hopes his daughter’s fascination with the surface world is a fad, like all kids go through. She’s testing the limits, pushing boundaries, exploring new ideas. Why, teens on the surface do it all the time. These youngsters come to their senses eventually.

Perhaps Ariel would’ve, too.

But when the teen pops her head above water one night, she sees stars, and fireworks, and a ship sailing proud and strong. And on that ship she sees … him . A handsome young sailor with feet that move and shift as gracefully as any mackerel or tuna.

When the ship encounters a terrible surface storm, and the young man—Prince Eric—takes a tumble into the sea, Ariel knows she can’t let him drown. She must save him.

So she does. And as Eric wakes up, as Ariel sings her powerful siren song to him, something happens in that forbidden moment of contact: Something catches spark. In that instant, the two now connect in a way that King Triton wouldn’t understand—and if he did, he’d be horrified.

The land has always held a powerful pull for Ariel. But love pulls stronger still. It tugs like the undertow and is as implacable as the current.

And this new thing, this new feeling, just might sweep Ariel away.

Positive Elements

Let’s start with the obvious: Regardless of what Daddy Triton might say, saving Eric was a good thing. We should always try to rescue people from drowning, whether we have tails and scales or not. That act creates some wide-reaching ripples that not only touch Ariel and Eric, but two very different societies.

The surface world and Triton’s underwater realm are deeply hostile to each other as the story begins. In the opening scene, several sailors are doing their best to harpoon what they think is a mermaid, believing that mermaids lure men to their deaths. Below the surface, Triton believes that humankind itself is bad—a bias made exponentially stronger because humans killed his wife.

But (and I hope I’m not spoiling anything here) Eric and Ariel’s relationship eventually helps the process of healing: Both Triton and Eric’s mother, Queen Selina, realize that they were both wrong about painting the other side with so broad a brush. And while humankind and merfolk are inherently very different people, we see the beginnings of a better relationship between the two.

Another thing to note: King Triton makes a few mistakes in curbing his daughter’s interests and passions. But he loves Ariel deeply—so deeply, in fact, that he’s willing to sacrifice a great deal, including himself, for her.

Spiritual Elements

Magic comes by the gallon here, and its primary practitioner is, of course, Ursula, the Sea Witch. Using a variety of ingredients kept in glowing containers, she magically gives Ariel a pair of legs in exchange for Ariel’s voice. And that voice itself is, in this telling, magic itself: We’re told that the voice of a mermaid is a powerful “siren song” that can charm those who hear it. (That ability stems from Greek mythology, by the way; the song of Sirens would lure sailors to their death).

Triton’s trident is also magical. He uses it to zap a bevy of surface artifacts and to grant a special boon to someone. And when it falls into the wrong hands, we see just how powerful it can be.

Citizens of Queen Selina’s island kingdom (and the queen herself) lament the number of ships recently sunk: “Shipwrecks,” Selina grumbles. “Hurricanes. The sea gods are against us.”

Sexual Content

Ariel and her fellow merfolk are dressed slightly more modestly than they were in the 1989 animated film. Instead of Ariel wearing a pair of seashells, for instance, she has a wide band of fabric-like stuff wrapped around her chest. But despite those efforts, the film feels slightly more titillating: We are, of course, talking about real flesh-and-blood people in these mer-garments, so all the bare shoulders and belly buttons (and in the case of mer-guys, exposed torsos) we see may be more sensually distracting for some.

Of special note: When Ariel becomes a human, she transforms sans clothes. We don’t see anything critical, of course. But whereas the animated Ariel was covered almost immediately by an old sail or something, our live-action mermaid is covered only in her own hair. Later, we see Ariel taking a bath, and the camera catches her from the shoulders up. It’s a scene taken directly from the original, but again, it has a different vibe in this live-action take.

In the original film, Ariel needed to get the prince to kiss her within three days. That’s still true here. But in an era where girls are just as likely to make the first moves on guys, and to sidestep questions of romantic manipulation, the 2023 version makes a subtle switch. Thanks to Ursula’s magic, Ariel doesn’t remember that the prince needs to kiss her at all. She only knows that she likes the guy. It’s up to Ariel’s friends to encourage Eric to plant a smooch during the classic song “Kiss the Girl,” while Ariel is truly innocent of any ulterior intent. The lyrics also have been tweaked to reflect a bit more consensual intent.

We do, of course, see (sea?) kissing. The voluptuous Ursula does press her hands underneath her breasts at times (as we saw in the original movie), but her outfit doesn’t bare shoulders. And a critical verse—the one that includes the line, “and don’t forget about the importance of body language”—has been removed in the live-action version. Eric is sometimes seen with an open shirt.

I know many readers will be curious: I didn’t notice any LGBT content in the movie. There are efforts online, however, to re-interpret the original Hans Christian Anderson story, The Little Mermaid, as a tale of unrequited gay love.

Violent Content

A ship is set on fire and destroyed during a fierce storm at sea.  Prince Eric nearly drowns. Sailors try to harpoon a sea creature they mistake for a mermaid. (The harpoons miss their targets.)

Ariel takes Eric on a dangerous carriage ride. Triton uses his magic trident to destroy a great many artifacts. Someone is killed by the trident, with the body turning into ash. Electric eels bind characters and shock them. A shark makes a scary attack on Ariel and her fish friend, Flounder. Scuttle, the bird, misspeaks about what Ariel’s supposed to do with Eric. “Has Ariel killed the prince yet?” she asks.

This may be a spoiler for those who didn’t see the original animated film: A climactic sea battle features a very large, very angry Ursula trying to kill a character. She’s eventually stopped in the act by the impaling prow of a ship.

Crude or Profane Language

Drug and alcohol content, other negative elements.

Ariel and Eric’s love story is sweet and disarming. It’s also rather problematic from a parents’ point of view. Ariel disobeys and ultimately defies her father. And while Ariel’s age is never given, we can assume that she’s not of legal age to make her own decisions or run off with anyone, even if he is a prince. Certainly, if Ariel was a 16-year-old human, her relationship with Eric would take on a darker hue, and we’d view her teenage rebellion a little more harshly.

Eric lies to his mother, too, and he sneaks out of the castle against her explicit wishes.

But both parents exasperate their children as well. Triton certainly overreacts at one point in the movie; meanwhile, Queen Selina can be shortsighted in both her treatment of Eric and the health of her own kingdom.

Anthropomorphic animals verbally fight and belittle one another, albeit comically so.

Disney has never been one to turn down a chance to make a buck. But you can understand why they would’ve waited so long to remake their 1989 classic.

If 1937’s Snow White began Disney’s animated legend, The Little Mermaid revived it. It marked the dawn of what folks call the Disney Renaissance and headed a string of undisputed critical and commercial hits: Beauty and the Beast; Aladdin; The Lion King ; etc. People grew up loving this movie, which raises the stakes for any remake. And honestly, with its partly underwater setting and mix of humanoid and animal characters, it’d be an easy story to mess up. Given the mixed results of Disney’s live-action remake efforts recently, the Mouse House needed to swim carefully.

But this version works. Mostly.

The 2023 version of The Little Mermaid feels more like an homage to the original as it does a remake. Lines of dialogue and whole scenes feel like they were plucked straight from the animated film and redone, shot-for-shot. The film is still about a headstrong mermaid and her love for the land. The story still hinges, remarkably, on true love’s kiss. For the most part, this still feels like the comfortably old-fashioned fairy tale that the world fell in love with 35 years ago.

Oh, yes, we see some changes. Most of the media has focused on the diverse cast in play, but that’s a strength, not a weakness. The film also seeks to move Ariel out of damsel-in-distress territory and turn her into a hero in her own right; those choices can feel a little false in the context of the film, but I get the impulse. The new version unveils a couple of new, powerhouse songs that I’m assuming we’ll hear again come Oscar season.

Ironically, the family-friendly problems this film has, in fact, are more often than not drawn straight from the original rather than being shiny new additions. The skin we see is more problematic because it’s real; the scary, violent climax—jarring for a Disney animated film back in the day—is still pretty intense. The willful disobedience we see from Ariel and others shouldn’t be ignored, but those issues were certainly in full force from 1989, too. If anything, Disney’s dialed back the content, not dialed it up.

The movie doesn’t just take its forerunner and turn it into something new. It embraces it—and gives us something rather familiar.

And maybe the biggest question the movie leaves us with is a simple one: Why remake it at all?

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

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Review: Halle Bailey makes a lovely ‘Little Mermaid,’ but this remake is less than shipshape

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“But a mermaid has no tears, and therefore she suffers so much more.” The line springs from Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid,” and it also graces the opening moments of Disney’s latest feature-length spin on that immortal fairy tale. Arriving amid mighty cascading walls of water and a few notes from Alan Menken’s justly beloved, mildly refurbished score, the quote is a classy if disingenuous flourish. Much like the studio’s 1989 hand-drawn touchstone , this ostensibly live-action but heavily digitized redo takes a famously tragic story and spins it into a drama of reckless teenage empowerment, populated by colorful under-the-sea critters and set to a rousing calypso beat. It has, in short, almost nothing to do with Hans Christian Andersen, and even less to do with suffering.

Unless, that is, you’re easily tormented by the sights and sounds of a peerless animated classic being padded, mimicked and CGI-fortified into a half-diverting, half-dispiriting retread of itself. Still, insofar as the animated “Little Mermaid” is easily the best movie to emerge from Disney’s late 20th century renaissance (bite me, “Beauty and the Beast” stans), this do-over is not entirely devoid of charm or amusement, including the unintentional kind. A mermaid may have no tears, but I did shed a few laughing whenever a breastplated, fish-tailed Javier Bardem showed up, solemnly peering out from behind a fake-looking curtain of hair and doing his best helicopter-dad grimace.

Bardem plays King Triton, though with his sternness of mien and delivery, he can’t help but channel one of his most famous roles: Call it “No Country for Old Mermen,” with a magical trident in lieu of a cattle gun. Triton is a wise ocean ruler, though he gets along less than swimmingly with Ariel (Halle Bailey), the most adventurous and impetuous of his teenage daughters. To her father’s chagrin, Ariel is obsessed with the human world, all the more so because access to that world is strictly forbidden to her and other merfolk. “I wanna be where the people are,” she sings in her secret grotto, where she keeps a small museum’s worth of human artifacts salvaged from nearby shipwrecks.

That tune, “Part of Your World,” remains one of the glorious highlights of Menken’s song score and — along with the equally singable “Under the Sea,” “Poor Unfortunate Souls” and “Kiss the Girl” — a testament to the enduring brilliance of the late lyricist Howard Ashman . It also serves as the first real test of this movie’s mettle, and especially of Bailey’s performance in the title role. Perched on the ocean floor, her long green tail shimmering and her long rust-red hair flowing out behind her, this Ariel is a familiar but luminous vision — defiantly pro-human as ever, yet also a gentler kind of rebel spirit than her animated predecessor. Crucially, too, Bailey has the set of pipes that every Ariel needs and a gift for modulating her emotions through music, shifting from a rich, confident vibrato one moment to a hesitant quaver the next.

If Bailey is less expressive in her non-singing moments — a flaw built into the story itself, once Ariel is magically divested of her voice — she nonetheless makes an empathetic, eminently see-worthy heroine. Not everyone will agree, which is fine. Ridiculously, some chose to disagree from the moment they heard a Black actor would be playing a character originally conceived as white — a choice that naturally affronted a lot of racists (or, as they’d surely like to think of themselves, purists). The dispiriting torrent of abuse directed at Bailey’s casting has revealed a lot about how rigidly (and yet so selectively!) protective some fans can get about their precious childhood totems. Speaking as someone with no small attachment to “The Little Mermaid” himself, I’m mystified anyone would be more appalled by the idea of a Black mermaid than, say, the complete omission of Chef Louis and “Les Poissons.” Now there’s an outrage.

Otherwise, for the most part, this “Little Mermaid” flows as you’d expect it to — though, at north of two hours (compared with the original’s 83 minutes), it flows a good deal more slowly. Ariel’s anthropological interest in humans morphs into full-blown romantic longing once she lays eyes on the hunky Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King, dashing yet drippy) and rescues him when his ship capsizes in a storm. From there, it doesn’t take long for her to tumble into a trap laid by Ursula (Melissa McCarthy), the many-tentacled sea witch who puts the poulpe in this fiction. Ursula transforms Ariel into a human, but only for three days (with an option to extend if Eric smooches her), and minus her voice. This bargain, if that’s the word, comes straight from the original movie, though by now it sounds like a challenge straight out of reality TV.

Funnily enough, McCarthy’s Ursula has been robbed of some of her own voice, and not just because her high vocal pitch is a far cry from the great Pat Carroll’s deep, insinuating contralto. “Yes on land, it’s much preferred / for ladies not to say a word,” Ursula once sang in “Poor Unfortunate Souls” — a passage that’s been excised here, likely in response to the ludicrous concern that kids might be swayed by a villain’s anti-feminist rant. That excess of caution is also apparent in the more timid, buttoned-up way McCarthy’s Ursula has been visualized: She’s a far cry from Ursula the memorably Divine-inspired queer icon, with her full red lips, heaving breasts and air of vampily seductive menace.

The problem, to be sure, isn’t that the director Rob Marshall and the screenwriter David Magee (who last collaborated on the misbegotten “Mary Poppins Returns” ) have deviated too much from a sacred text. On the contrary, it’s that they haven’t deviated from it nearly enough. What’s on-screen too often feels like wan, second-rate imitation, and the few differences seem motivated less by a spirit of imagination than one of joyless anxiety.

Here and there Magee does attempt something narratively novel, as when he hints at a long history of aggression between Triton’s merpeople and their human adversaries — an underdeveloped thread that nonetheless hints at a deeper mythology. He’s also tried to make Ariel a tougher, more confrontational heroine, and to give Eric a more vulnerable, full-bodied character arc. (To that end, the prince is given a new song, written by Menken and Lin-Manuel Miranda, whose title and tune I can’t remember; you won’t, either.) For all that, there’s a genuine warmth and freshness to the moments when Eric begins to fall for the human Ariel, including a charming new scene in which they pore over books and maps in his personal library.

This “Little Mermaid” could afford to take more such liberties. I’d suggest a few brutal ones myself: For starters, cut out or kill off Sebastian the worrywart crab (Daveed Diggs) and Flounder the friendly flatfish (Jacob Tremblay), two visually unappealing reminders that some things — some gloriously cartoonish things — simply don’t translate well into creepily dead-eyed photorealist form. (Exhibit A: the entire cast of 2019’s pointless remake of “The Lion King.” ) Awkwafina can stay on as Scuttle the endearingly bird-brained seagull, though her annoying rap number should probably sleep with the CGI fishes.

Marshall has never been a great musical stylist; even “Chicago,” his Oscar-winning debut feature, was a chopped-up eyesore, and his “Into the Woods” was so murky in parts it may as well have been shot under the sea itself. “The Little Mermaid,” as filmed by Marshall’s regular cinematographer, Dion Beebe, has its visually garish moments, most of them in an underwater kingdom that looks like especially thin soup next to the recent “Avatar: The Way of Water.” But down in the depths it does find stray passages of beauty — in the fabric-like plumage of the mermaids’ tails and especially in the pull-out-the-stops staging of “Under the Sea,” still the movie’s most rousing number. Presented as a coral-reef explosion of color and aquatic wildlife that almost approaches the original’s surreal, kaleidoscopic grandeur, it’s a bouillabaisse that Busby Berkeley would be proud of.

‘The Little Mermaid’

Rating: PG, for action/peril and some scary images Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes Playing: Starts May 26 in general release

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The Little Mermaid Reviews

The film feels at once too stunted for an actual musical and too expansive to be just another movie.

Full Review | Original Score: 6.9/10 | Oct 29, 2023

The music does seem to soar for the most part, and the movie is all elevated by Halle Bailey, she's fantastic.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 27, 2023

[U]nfortunately, you do gotta (slightly) hand it to them — in the disenchanting, decomposing pile of animated adaptations, The Little Mermaid at least lies somewhere in the upper half.

Full Review | Oct 16, 2023

It can go without saying but Halle Bailey as Ariel is the most perfect casting for a live-action remake Disney has ever done. The way she was able to capture Ariel’s child-like inquisitiveness, stubbornness & yearning is something that should be studied.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 13, 2023

The delightful sits alongside the baffling in Marshall’s adaptation, which is so often the way it goes with these Disney live action remakes.

Full Review | Oct 2, 2023

Consider the lousy animation and awkward performances and highly questionable narrative and ask what, to the tune of “Under the Sea,” the hell is this?

Full Review | Original Score: D | Sep 18, 2023

To begin, Halle Bailey. Remember her name and don’t forget it. From the trailers, to the red carpet, under the sea and above it, she is charismatic, humble, and a songstress.

Full Review | Sep 7, 2023

By making a series of small changes and using his experience in adapting musicals ("Chicago"/"Into the Woods"), [director Rob] Marshall crafts a story we know and gives it an entirely different vibe, for better or worse.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 6, 2023

Halle Bailey is by far the best part of Rob Marshall’s 2023 live action movie. She is a luminous talent with an angelic voice. She is without a doubt Ariel with her wide-eyed wonder and teen rebellion.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Sep 6, 2023

Another popcorn summer film, this time inviting a dive into the cool CGI waters of Atlantica peppered with shark attacks, shipwrecks and a giant octopus sea witch. Empty calories definitely, but fun all the same

Full Review | Aug 27, 2023

All the film’s flaws and miscalculations can be forgiven by its most impressive saving grace: Bailey’s performance is as remarkable as it is enchanting.

Full Review | Aug 23, 2023

...looks like a cheapie commercial for Royal Caribbean Cruises.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 19, 2023

[Bailey] is absolutely magnetic on the screen and it’s hard to imagine many others being as perfect for the role as she turns out to be.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Aug 15, 2023

The casting, new songs and overall look aren’t strong enough to promote or weak enough to disparage.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Aug 8, 2023

It’s a weird message to be sending children these days: pretend to be something you’re not, keep your trap shut and hope nobody notices the scales.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 2, 2023

Nothing in recent memory feels so much like amalgamated groupthink capital-C Content like this Little Mermaid.

Full Review | Jul 26, 2023

The Little Mermaid enriches virtually every narrative aspect compared to the original, deepening Ariel and Eric's arcs while exploring the same core themes without losing any of its predecessor's essence.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Jul 25, 2023

The Little Mermaid (2023) is the most successful of the live-action Disney remakes. Even with its shortcomings, the heart of the animated film exists within this new version which cannot be said for many other live action remakes.

Full Review | Jul 25, 2023

Mostly thanks to the music and dramatic performances from Bailey and McCarthy, "The Little Mermaid" goes along swimmingly. And that puts it several strokes ahead of other live-action Disney remakes.

Although it does not possess the same campy nature as its animated predecessor, The Little Mermaid maintains the emotion of the beloved story through a star-creating performance and emphasis on relationships.

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‘the little mermaid’ review: halle bailey charms, but rob marshall’s live-action remake nearly drowns in déjà vu.

The 'Chicago' director's take on the beloved Disney film also stars Melissa McCarthy, Javier Bardem, Daveed Diggs, Jonah Hauer King and Awkwafina.

By Lovia Gyarkye

Lovia Gyarkye

Arts & Culture Critic

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We’ve been here before, haven’t we? A Disney live-action remake igniting a round of existential debate? This time it’s Rob Marshall ‘s interpretation of The Little Mermaid , based on John Musker and Ron Clement’s 1989 version and starring Halle Bailey as the titular sea creature. It features new music by Lin-Manuel Miranda and wrings as much as possible from the corporation’s CGI budget.

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Marshall’s Ariel (Bailey) is Black — a choice that sent scores of people clutching their pearls and reverting to racist protestations. Their complaints of a nonexistent white erasure are littered across the internet under the hashtag #NotMyAriel. (It seems to not have occurred to the objectors that a fictional character does not belong to anyone.) The detractors had no standing, but their outrage fueled the anxious anticipation and expectations around the film.  

Thankfully, Bailey doesn’t disappoint as Ariel. Her performance adds edge to what is ultimately a serviceable film. Whether she’s belting out a newly arranged “Part of Your World” or silently observing her less than charming prince (Jonah Hauer King) navigate his own social constrictions, her charisma radiates off the screen. The Beyoncé prodigy and the other half of the Grammy-winning duo Chloe x Halle gracefully presents her own Ariel: The character is still sweet and sharp-tongued, but there’s a touch more bite to her defiance. Her voice, the narrative’s raison d’être, sounds ethereal, too. Reconciling the strength of Bailey’s portrayal with the rest of the film, however, takes some work. 

The film opens in a photorealist interpretation of the sea somewhere off the coast of a fictitious Caribbean island. Flounder (voiced by Jacob Tremblay) resembles a real fish, his skin slimy and slightly puckered. The scales on Ariel’s tail shimmer as she meanders through a shipwrecked area looking for treasures instead of meeting with her father ( Javier Bardem ) and her sisters. The coral reefs look like they could be in a National Geographic spread. It’s jarring, at first, to see Ariel’s world come to a different kind of life, but you eventually settle into the hyperrealist rhythms of her home. 

For the most part, Marshall’s version echoes Musker and Clements’ take on Hans Christian Andersen’s tragic story. (I hope for a version one day of The Little Mermaid that takes on the author’s distressing original tale and renders the sea’s menacing reality.) When Ariel and Flounder narrowly escape a ravenous shark, it’s easy to remember the same scene and marvel at the sharpness of this three-dimensional predator. The changes to the mermaid world come in the form of Triton’s daughters, each of whom are of a different race and, we are told early in the film, are representatives of the seven seas. There’s not much, unfortunately, done with or explained about this cosmopolitan cadre of mermaids.

When Ariel makes her away above ground, it’s hard to build a case for why she needed to leave. The 1989 version of The Little Mermaid didn’t have the sturdiest narrative, but it offered some droll moments. Remember Chef Louis trying to cook Sebastian? That subplot helped take some of the pressure off Ariel and Eric’s story. The lovers get a lot more time in the new film, which I’m not convinced is a good thing. Prince Eric’s island pales in comparison to Ariel’s world — and the charm differential between the two performers makes it challenging to be as enthralled with the rest of the film. 

As Ariel moves through the castle, chased by Scuttle (voiced by Awkwafina) and Sebastian, who are trying to help her land a kiss, the viewer may long to be back under the sea. The live animation techniques are weakest on land, as when Ariel and Eric spend the evening on the lagoon. The inert quality of these scenes makes Ursula’s subsequent appearance to wreak havoc feel more welcome than it probably should. At last, I thought, a reminder of the more vibrant world our little mermaid left behind.

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‘The Little Mermaid’ Review: The Renovations Are Only Skin Deep

Disney’s live-action remake, with Halle Bailey starring as Ariel and a diverse cast, is a dutiful corrective with noble intentions and little fun.

‘The Little Mermaid’ | Anatomy of a Scene

Rob marshall narrates the “under the sea” sequence from his film, featuring halle bailey and daveed diggs..

Hi, I’m Rob Marshall, and I’m the director of ‘The Little Mermaid.’ So this is about two minutes into the musical number ‘Under the Sea,’ which was the most challenging musical number I’ve ever created because you have one live actor — I mean, there she is Ariel, played by Halle Bailey. And introducing dance into a sequence is so complicated because it has to feel seamless. It has to feel organic. It can’t feel applied. So right about here, as the turtles start to move, then you see, O.K., there’s a little bit of dance starting to happen. The tricky part about this was because I only had one live actor, I needed some dancers or something to work from. And I took a page out of Walt Disney’s playbook, and I worked with the Alvin Ailey Company. He had worked with the Ballet Russe Company when he created ‘Fantasia.’ And I thought that was such a brilliant idea. So I worked with the Alvin Ailey Company, brought them to London so we could create all these sea creature moves on something so our artists, our CGI artists, could actually use them as a template, which was incredible. And then we found all these sea creatures that actually lent themselves to dance naturally. These are all real sea creatures. So right there you have mimic octopus and flatworms. Here we’re moving into a bioluminescent world. We had the Alvin Ailey Company using umbrellas and, literally, ribbons, streamers hanging from them so that they could literally create this idea of jellyfish. But all of this, every moment of this was choreographed. And it was so complicated because everything was done on counts. It wasn’t sort of just like, well, let’s just let them do whatever they want. Every moment of it was strategically choreographed by myself, John DeLuca, and our choreographers. [‘UNDER THE SEA’]: — music to me. Music is to me — There’s one moment actually coming up here right here — [‘UNDER THE SEA’]: — hot crustacean band — — that, literally, the CGI artist said it’s the most creatures they’ve ever had ever onscreen. But it was really about protecting and celebrating this beautiful number. Here’s a nautilus shell that we tried to create a la Busby Berkeley. But I really just wanted to make sure that we were doing justice to this incredible number but also bringing a photoreal, exciting world to life.

By Wesley Morris

The new, live-action “The Little Mermaid” is everything nobody should want in a movie: dutiful and defensive, yet desperate for approval. It reeks of obligation and noble intentions. Joy, fun, mystery, risk, flavor, kink — they’re missing. The movie is saying, “We tried!” Tried not to offend, appall, challenge, imagine . A crab croons, a gull raps, a sea witch swells to Stay Puft proportions: This is not supposed to be a serious event. But it feels made in anticipation of being taken too seriously. Now, you can’t even laugh at it.

The story comes from Hans Christian Andersen, and when Disney made a cartoon musical of it in 1989, the tale’s tragedy and existential wonder got swapped for Disney Princess Syndrome, wherein one subjugation is replaced with another, an even exchange redrawn as liberating love. But the people who drew it had a ball with the hooey.

In both movies, the mermaid Ariel wants out of her widowed father’s underwater kingdom and into the arms of the earthbound merchant prince whom she rescues in a shipwreck. Her father forbids, but that sea-witch, Ursula, fulfills Ariel’s wish, giving her three days to procure a kiss from that prince and remain human or spend the rest of her life enslaved to Ursula. Somehow mirth and music ensue. In the original, that’s thanks mostly to Ariel’s talking Caribbean crab guardian, Sebastian, and her Noo Yawky dingbat sea gull pal, Scuttle.

This remake injects some contemporary misfortune (humans despoil the water, we’re told). It also packs on another 52 minutes and three new songs, trades zany for demure and swaps vast animated land- and seascapes for soundstagey sets and screensavery imagery. They’re calling it “live-action,” but the action is mostly CGI. There’s no organic buoyancy. On land, Ariel can walk but can’t speak, which means whoever’s playing her needs a face that can. Achieving that was a piece of cake in the cartoon. Ariel could seem bemused, enchanted, bereft, coquettish, alarmed, aghast, elated. And her scarlet mane was practically a movie unto itself.

Now Ariel is in the singer Halle Bailey’s hands. And it’s not that she can’t keep par with the original’s illustrators. It’s that this movie isn’t asking her to. It takes the better part of an hour for the flesh-and-blood Ariel to go mute. And when she does, whatever carbonation Bailey had to begin with goes flat. This Ariel has amnesia about needing that kiss, taking “cunning” off the table for Bailey, too.

With her sister, Bailey is half of the R&B duo Chloe x Halle. They’ve got a chilling, playful approach to melody that Bailey can’t fully unleash in this movie. For one thing, she’s got two songs, one of which — the standard “Part of Your World” — does manage to let her quaver some toward the end. But what’s required of her doesn’t differ radically from what Jodi Benson did in the first movie. Ostensibly, though, Bailey has been cast because her Ariel would differ. Bailey’s is Black, with long copper hair that twists, waves and locks. Racially, the whole movie’s been, what, opened up? Diversified? Now, Ariel’s rueful daddy, King Triton, is played by a stolid Javier Bardem, who does all the king’s lamenting in Spanish-inflected English. Instead of the Broadway chorines of the original, her mermaid siblings are a multiethnic, runway-ready General Assembly.

The prince, Eric (Jonah Hauer-King), is white, English and now seems to have more plot than Ariel. “More” includes meals with his mother, Queen Selina ( Noma Dumezweni ), who’s Black, as is her chief servant, Lashana (Martina Laird). The script, credited to David Magee, John DeLuca, and the director Rob Marshall, informs us that the queen has adopted the prince (because somebody knew inquiring minds would need to know). As the bosomy, tentacled Ursula, who’s now Triton’s banished, embittered sister, Melissa McCarthy puts a little pathos in the part’s malignancy. She seems like she’s having a fine time, a little Bette Midler, a little Mae West, a little Etta James. And the sight of her racing toward the camera in a slithery gush of arms and fury is the movie’s one good nightmare image. But even McCarthy seems stuck in a shot-for-shot, growl-for-growl tribute to her cartoon counterpart and Pat Carroll’s vocal immortalization of it.

The animated version was about a girl who wanted to leave showbiz. She and her sisters performed follies basically for King Triton’s entertainment. The songs by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken aimed for the American Songbook’s Disney wing. The voices and evocations were Vegas and vaudeville. Dry land was, entertainment-wise, a lot dryer, but that was all right with Ariel. This new flesh-and-blood version is about a girl who’d like to withdraw her color from the family rainbow and sail off into “uncharted waters” with her white prince.

What’s really been opened up, here? For years now, Disney’s been atoning for the racism and chauvinism and de facto whiteness of its expanded catalog (it owns Pixar and Marvel, too), in part by turning its nettlesome cartoons into live-action corrections. This is important, culturally reparative work from a corporation that, lately, has more steadily inched humanity away from bottom-line priorities; consequently, it has found itself at war with the governor of Florida, where Disney World lives. Onscreen, though, that correctness tends to smell like compromise. For every “Moana,” “Coco” or “Encanto” — original, wondrous, exuberant animated musicals about relationships and cultures Disney didn’t previously notice or treat with care — there’s something timid and reactive like this.

The brown skin and placeable accents don’t make the movie more fun, just utopic and therefore less arguable. Now, what you’ve got is something closer to the colorblind wish fulfillment of the Shonda Rhimes streaming universe, minus the wink-wink, side-eye and carnality. This “Little Mermaid” is a byproduct. The colorization hasn’t led to a racialized, radicalized adventure. It’s not a Black adaptation, an interpretation that imbues white material with Black culture until it’s something completely new; it’s not “The Wiz.” It’s still a Disney movie, one whose heroine now, sigh, happens to be Black. There is some audacity in that. Purists and trolls have complained. They don’t want the original tampered with, even superficially. They don’t want it “woke.” The blowback is, in part, Bailey’s to shoulder. And her simply being here confers upon her a kind of heroism, because it does still feels dangerous to have cast her. Sadly, the haters don’t have much to worry about.

You don’t hire Rob Marshall for radical rebooting. He can do visual chaos and costume kitsch (“Chicago,” “Memoirs of a Geisha,” “Into the Woods”). He can do solid. And he can usually give you a good set piece while he’s at it. This time, it’s the rowboat scene in which Ariel shows Eric how to say her name, a scene that produces “Kiss the Girl,” the calypso number that Sebastian (voiced with an island accent by Daveed Diggs) sings to cajole Eric into planting one on Ariel and unwittingly restoring her voice. (The lyrics have been tweaked to add more consent.) It’s the swooniest things get.

Otherwise, the movie’s worried — worried about what we’ll say, about whether they got it right. That allergy to creative risk produces hazards anyway. I mean, with all these Black women running around in a period that seems like the 19th century, the talk of ships and empire, Brazil and Cartagena just makes me wonder about the cargo on these boats. And this plot gets tricky with a Black Ariel. When Ursula pulls a fast one and reinvents herself as Vanessa, a sexy rival who appears to be white and woos Eric with a siren song in Ariel’s voice, there’s a whole American history of theft and music to overthink, too.

It’s really a misery to notice these things. A 9-year-old wouldn’t. But one reason we have this remake is that former 9-year-olds, raised on and besotted with these original Disney movies, grew up and had questions. In that sense, “The Little Mermaid” is more a moral redress than a work of true inspiration. Which isn’t to say there’s nothing inspired about it. In fact, the best sequence in the movie combines these ambitions of so-called inclusion with thornier American musical traditions. It’s the moment when Scuttle reveals that Eric’s about to marry Ursula.

The song that breaks this news to Ariel and Sebastian is a rap called “The Scuttlebutt” with lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda. And Awkwafina, who does Scuttle’s voice, performs most of it while Bailey looks on in what I’m going to call anguish. Here’s an Asian American performer whose shtick is a kind of Black impersonation, pretending to be a computer-generated bird, rhythm-rapping with a Black American man pretending to be a Caribbean crab. It’s the sort of mind-melting mess that feels honest and utterly free in its messiness, even as the mess douses a conveniently speechless Black woman.

Watching it, you realize why the rest of the movie plays it so safe. Because fun is some risky business. This is a witty, complex, exuberant, breathless, deeply American number that’s also the movie’s one moment of unbridled, unabashed delight. And I can’t wait to see how Disney’s going to apologize for it in 34 years.

The Little Mermaid Rated PG. Running time: 2 hours 15 minutes. In theaters.

Wesley Morris is a critic at large and the co-host, with Jenna Wortham, of the culture podcast “Still Processing.” He has won two Pulitzer Prizes for criticism, including in 2021 for a set of essays that explored the intersection of race and pop culture. More about Wesley Morris

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The Little Mermaid review: Halle Bailey swims (and sings) her way to stardom

The seaweed is actually greener this time.

Maureen Lee Lenker is a senior writer at Entertainment Weekly with over seven years of experience in the entertainment industry. An award-winning journalist, she's written for Turner Classic Movies, Ms. Magazine , The Hollywood Reporter , and more. She's worked at EW for six years covering film, TV, theater, music, and books. The author of EW's quarterly romance review column, "Hot Stuff," Maureen holds Master's degrees from both the University of Southern California and the University of Oxford. Her debut novel, It Happened One Fight , is now available. Follow her for all things related to classic Hollywood, musicals, the romance genre, and Bruce Springsteen.

When it comes to thingamabobs, Disney 's got plenty, but as far as saving graces go, one tale rises to the surface.

In 1989, when The Little Mermaid made its initial box office bow, it reinvigorated Disney animation and launched what has been dubbed the Disney Renaissance. It marked the studio's first animated feature-length hit since 1977's The Rescuers and their first animated fairy tale since 1959's Sleeping Beauty, helping the floundering studio reestablish itself as a leader in the space. What's more, the music and lyrics by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman brought Broadway-style structure to the animated film, evolving the movie musical.

Nowadays, Disney is once again at a crossroads. The streaming bubble is bursting, the theatrical model remains in flux after the pandemic disruption, and an un-slaked thirst for quarterly profit growth is pushing the company to rely ever more heavily on provable IP. Disney has come under fire for a reliance on its own properties, the regurgitation of its animated hits in live-action remakes and lackluster churn of Marvel and Star Wars product. But a red-headed mermaid is here to save the day once more with a new take on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale.

This iteration of The Little Mermaid is the studio's freshest catch since it kicked off this live-action trend with 2015's Cinderella, featuring refreshing storytelling that captures the magic of the original. Director Rob Marshall at last has found material that fits him as well as 2002's Chicago, his splashy theatrical style merging with the tropes of musical comedy and something darker around the edges. He even finds a spot for his "they're happening in someone's head" approach to numbers in new track "For the First Time," giving a voiceless Ariel a musical inner monologue.

As the titular mermaid yearning for a life beyond the sea, Ariel is at the heart of this. In Halle Bailey , Disney and Marshall mint a new star. Bailey is breathtaking as Ariel. Her rendition of "Part of Your World" (the best "I want" song ever written) transmogrifies the already classic tune into something as otherworldly as undiscovered sea life. But it's her altogether human performance that makes it impossible not to fall in love with her. Her Ariel is less a tempestuous teenager with a crush than she is a blossoming and curious young woman.

While Ariel's interest in the human world beyond Prince Eric was always implicit in the story, David Magee's screenplay and Bailey's visible hunger for a world beyond her gilded net makes it abundantly clear that Ariel's fascination with life on land isn't driven purely by interest in a man. Instead, she and Eric (a dashing Jonah Hauer-King ) are drawn to each other because of their mutual curiosity for worlds beyond their own. A new, quietly drawn scene where Eric shows the voiceless Ariel the wonders of his own trove of treasures untold fills in this point of connection between them with subtlety and beauty.

Much has been made of the film's attempts to erase any potentially problematic content, changing a lyric in "Kiss the Girl" to address consent concerns and eliminating the "body language" section of "Poor Unfortunate Souls." While they are unnecessary edits, they're not glaring and pass so quickly that unless you have sung this soundtrack from start to finish in the shower for most of your life, you will scarcely notice them.

What is marvelous is this more diverse world of characters and a new Disney princess in Bailey. Her Ariel is so radiant that she seems to possess the properties of bioluminescence, absolutely glowing in every scene. Like the screen actors of the past who began as silent creatures, conveying the panoply of human emotion with looks and gestures rather than dialogue, Bailey has a similar task for a portion of the film when Ariel gives up her voice. It's engrossing to watch how much story she can tell with only her eyes or the tilt of her head. It's a type of performance and incumbent stardom we rarely see anymore.

Eric is given more depth here, as well, his status as a shipwrecked orphan and interest in the world beyond sturdily grounded in Hauer-King's performance. His new song "Wild Uncharted Waters" — from Menken and lyricist Lin-Manuel Miranda — puts Eric's journey in parallel to Ariel's. Hauer-King elevates the character beyond a bland handsome face, while never pulling focus from Bailey's star turn.

Besides, Bailey's true foil isn't Hauer-King, it's Daveed Diggs as the voice of Sebastian, the put-upon crab tasked with watching over her. Diggs rose to fame as the original Lafayette and Jefferson in Broadway's Hamilton , but he's parlayed that breakout into a range of roles. Where Lafayette and Jefferson were egotistical bombasts, Diggs' Sebastian is a neurotic crustacean with a heart far softer than his shell. His vocal performance is both funny and tender, lending the overwhelmed crab more dignity and humanity than his animated predecessor. He delivers his feature number, "Under the Sea," with glee and precision, resulting in a riotous air of celebration.

"Under the Sea" is the film's high-water mark — featuring choreography from more realistic sea life, including schools of fish, sea stars, and jellyfish, executing Broadway-level dance moves. The film credits the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and the number evokes the Black joy and culture of the legendary dance company in a visual expression of the Caribbean timbre of the tune. It's a visual feast for the eyes, a veritable seafood buffet with swirling tableaus rife with vibrant coral and flashy fins. This chromatic kaleidoscope of sea life is a work of art unto itself, an irresistible backdrop for the film's iconic score and dazzling performances.

As sea witch Ursula, Melissa McCarthy is as enrapturing as her tentacles. She reels back some of her signature gross-out schtick and instead goes full drag-queen fabulous in a performance that feels like Drag Race by way of Norma Desmond. Marshall contains McCarthy's chaotic energy, allowing it to burst out in measured moments. Her Ursula is equal parts villainy and glamor, becoming something truly terrifying in her climactic transformation.

Magee's screenplay gives Ursula a more fleshed-out backstory as Triton's sister, but it could go further, as we never fully understand the tension and relationship between the two. That is partly the fault of Javier Bardem, who is the film's weakest link as a rather one-note King of the Sea, relying on his general air of menace. It's a disappointing turn from him, particularly given that Triton's arc should be one of the story's most compelling.

Awkwafina is appropriately grating as Scuttle, but in that, she's too reliant on her acting persona to take the place of character work. The new songs, from Menken and Miranda, largely fade into the background, overshadowed by the original score's classics, but "The Scuttlebutt," a rap number for Scuttle and Sebastian, is a standout. Miranda's signature style is abundantly evident and both Awkwafina and Diggs get to showcase their chops. (Though, it would've been nice for Diggs' extraordinary prowess and speed as a rapper to receive more of a showcase throughout the song.)

On the whole, The Little Mermaid does what past live-action remakes haven't: justify its existence beyond a blatant cash grab. It's not the new songs or even the dazzling visuals breathing new life into this watery world that do it. It's Bailey, her singular performance as Ariel, and the opportunity to give the world a Disney princess for a new generation, with all of the Mouse House whimsy on one side of the scales, and a depth and humanity that feels neither preachy nor performative on the other.

The human world, it's a mess, but with Halle Bailey, life under the sea is better than anything Disney live-action has done in nearly a decade. A-

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Related content:

• How Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides influenced The Little Mermaid
• Hear Halle Bailey sing 'Part of Your World' from The Little Mermaid
• The Little Mermaid 's Halle Bailey explains why Ariel's iconic hair flip was hard to pull off

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The little mermaid (2023).

• Parents say (94)
• Kids say (45)

Based on 94 parent reviews

Amazing/ fantastic movie to watch 💖

Report this review, truly a top disney live-action remake.

This title has:

Don’t even bother watching it

Worse disney movie made, terrible modern remake., an attempt at inclusivity falls short and loses a lot of the magic, the best live action movie disney has created, new plots are important. not a pg movie, the little mermaid is the best live action remake ever made.

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

The Little Mermaid

A young mermaid makes a deal with a sea witch to trade her beautiful voice for human legs so she can discover the world above water and impress a prince. A young mermaid makes a deal with a sea witch to trade her beautiful voice for human legs so she can discover the world above water and impress a prince. A young mermaid makes a deal with a sea witch to trade her beautiful voice for human legs so she can discover the world above water and impress a prince.

• Rob Marshall
• David Magee
• Hans Christian Andersen
• John Musker
• Halle Bailey
• Jonah Hauer-King
• Melissa McCarthy
• 1.4K User reviews
• 239 Critic reviews
• 59 Metascore
• 2 wins & 25 nominations

• King Triton

• Sir Grimsby

• (as Matthew Carver)

• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia Jodi Benson : the original voice of Ariel in The Little Mermaid (1989) , appears as the person who gives Ariel a "dinglehopper" (fork) during her and Prince Eric's tour of the market.
• Goofs When Ariel jumps into the water to go back to the castle to stop Eric and Vanessa's engagement party, it's obvious that she should be soaking wet; however she is completely dry.

Sir Grimsby : Don't be held back by what you think should be. Think of only what is.

• Crazy credits The film opens with a quote by "The Little Mermaid" writer Hans Christian Andersen : "But a mermaid has no tears, and therefore she suffers so much more."
• Connections Featured in AniMat's Crazy Cartoon Cast: Purple Octopus Melissa McCarthy (2019)
• Soundtracks Part of Your World Music by Alan Menken Lyrics by Howard Ashman Produced by Michael Higham (as Mike Higham) and Alan Menken Performed by Halle Bailey

User reviews 1.4K

• melonhulkhead
• Jul 5, 2023

Animated vs. Live Action Adaptations

• How long is The Little Mermaid? Powered by Alexa
• Why hasn't there been an official trailer release?
• May 26, 2023 (United States)
• United States
• Nàng Tiên Cá
• Sardinia, Italy
• Walt Disney Pictures
• Lucamar Productions
• Marc Platt Productions
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $250,000,000 (estimated)
• $298,172,056
• $95,578,040
• May 28, 2023
• $569,626,289

Technical specs

• Runtime 2 hours 15 minutes
• Dolby Atmos
• Dolby Digital
• IMAX 6-Track
• Dolby Surround 7.1
• 12-Track Digital Sound

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Flickering Myth

Geek Culture | Movies, TV, Comic Books & Video Games

Movie Review – The Little Mermaid (2023)

May 22, 2023 by Robert Kojder

The Little Mermaid , 2023.

Directed by Rob Marshall. Starring Halle Bailey, Jonah Hauer-King, Daveed Diggs, Awkwafina, Jacob Tremblay, Noma Dumezweni, Javier Bardem, Melissa McCarthy, Art Malik, Jessica Alexander, Emily Coates, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jude Akuwudike, Russell Balogh, Adrian Christopher, Simone Ashley, Martina Laird, John Dagleish, Sienna King, Karolina Conchet, David Stokes, and Craig Stein.

A young mermaid makes a deal with a sea witch to trade her beautiful voice for human legs so she can discover the world above water and impress a prince.

In Disney’s seemingly never-ending mission to redo every animated classic (for the easy money), The Little Mermaid remake helmed by director Rob Marshall (reshaping the story alongside David Magee and John DeLuca, with the former writing the screenplay based on the original story by Hans Christian Andersen and the original 1989 adaptation from Ron Clements and John Musker) surprisingly has a somewhat endearing ensemble.

However, like most things here, even that is a mixed bag leaving plenty of room to be perplexed. Whether it’s the divine voice of Halle Bailey as the inquisitive mermaid Ariel, Daveed Diggs injecting some humor and personality into crab Sebastian, or Melissa McCarthy’s sea monster Ursula, a role that fits her perfectly with some freedom to play to her comedic strengths, there are worthwhile performances here.

Then there is Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King), who is about as charming as cardboard, or Javier Bardem as Atlantica’s King Triton, giving the impression that he would rather be anywhere else. The visual effects on some of these talking creatures, especially Jacob Tremblay’s fish Flounder are also passable under the sea where they are juxtaposed against a good amount of color, and simply appear more natural in their regular environment, but are also strange to look at on land or above water (Flounder has the creepy dead eyes of a horror creature). The less said about Awkwafina’s rapping diving bird Scuttle, the better.

This makes for a wildly inconsistent film, albeit one that starts fine enough, swimming by on the voice of Halle Bailey and Ariel’s beloved character and story. It’s always difficult to trash live-action Disney remakes, too hard, considering the core story is typically still there and moving.  It’s also beneficial that The Little Mermaid is certainly livelier than other remakes, with effort made to brighten many underwater scenes while adding vividness anywhere possible. 

Still, there is no ambition to change the narrative meaningfully. Even worse, the filmmakers have added numerous songs and bonding scenes that bloat the running time rather than add anything of substance. Whenever a brand-new, original song starts, it sticks out as inferior to nearly everything else in the movie. The same applies whenever the story tries to expand the inner life of Eric or the surrounding Caribbean environments. So much of what’s happening simply doesn’t matter, feels empty, and is Disney showing off what it can do with grossly large budgets. A lot is happening on screen that looks expensive to animate, and it’s all generally forgettable.

For the unfamiliar, The Little Mermaid centers on King Triton’s youngest mermaid daughter Ariel, who feels suffocated living underwater and wants nothing more than to interact with the people above whom her father despises for causing her mother’s death. He believes all humans care about is destroying the sea and its creatures. Meanwhile, Prince Eric’s mother (Noma Dumezweni’s Queen Selena, a new character for this version) insists that exploring uncharted waters is dangerous and that mermaids only exist to use their siren calls for nefarious trickery.

The fear-mongering and smothering become so much that Ariel makes an ill-advised deal with her Aunt Ursula, a banished sea witch octopus, using sorcery to give her legs and the ability to function on land without telling her that she will lose her voice and that if he does not find true love within three days, she will transform back into a mermaid. Naturally, it’s part of a dastardly plan for Ursula to take over Atlantica and end her sibling rivalry with King Triton. For some added insurance on this villainous plan, Ariel has also had her brain warped into forgetting that she wants and needs to kiss Prince Eric, whom she falls for while noticing his bravery and selflessness while saving his life during a storm tearing apart his ship.

Only one-half of this equation rises above and beyond, inevitably sinking The Little Mermaid as it dedicates more time (there is almost an entire hour of added material here) to failing at igniting a spark between Ariel and Eric. There are attempts at further exploring the outside world, as one theme appears to be cultural connection, but there is also nothing remotely engaging going on within that idea; it’s all surface-level. The special effects are also mostly ugly and miscalculated above water, which is an issue since that’s where over half the movie takes place.

Thankfully, the overall quality is not at the bottom of the sea, but The Little Mermaid is a crapshoot of performances that are either expressive and overcome the limitations of wonky character design or lousy, with an extended narrative containing so much excess that the magic of the story quickly dissipates. Maybe things are better under the sea, but they sure as hell aren’t better in live-action.

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★  / Movie: ★ ★ ★

Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check  here  for new reviews, follow my  Twitter  or  Letterboxd , or email me at [email protected]

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REVIEW: 'The Little Mermaid' Donut Milk Shake in Disney's Hollywood Studios

We tried the new  The Little Mermaid Donut Milk Shake at Hollywood Scoops in Disney’s Hollywood Studios. We’re sharing our thoughts on the new limited-time treat based on the new live-action Disney film!

Last month, Disney debuted several new  The Little Mermaid  experiences available in the parks to celebrate the release of the new live-action film! This included a few new treats that you can pick up in the parks inspired by the movie. We swung by Hollywood Scoops at Disney’s Hollywood Studios to check out the new  The Little Mermaid  Donut Milk Shake. Read on for our thoughts on the new treat!

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The Little Mermaid  Donut Milk Shake Review

The gorgeous treat is a mang-guava-ginger milkshake, topped with whipped cream and a pineapple mango seashell donut. WDW Magazine reporter Sara Bryce swung by Hollywood Scoops to pick up the treat, which will only be available for a limited time.

Photo by Sara Bryce

Sara shared that the shake and cake were both  very  fruity — especially the cake! The mango and pineapple flavors were strong, and the cake was surprisingly dense. With that in mind, it can be a bit tricky to eat, so you may want to ask for an extra plate to put the cake on!

As for the shake, Sara said it was super refreshing, with a strong ginger and vanilla flavor. Fans of fruity, sweet treats will adore this one — and it makes for a great picture as well!

The new  The Little Mermaid-inspired experiences also includes the chance to meet Ariel in Disney’s Hollywood Studios! Head on over to Walt Disney Presents where you can meet her for a limited time.

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The post REVIEW: ‘The Little Mermaid’ Donut Milk Shake in Disney’s Hollywood Studios appeared first on WDW Magazine .

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Asylum The Little Mermaid 2024

Asylum The Little Mermaid 2024 . Visit the movie page for 'the little mermaid' on moviefone. Where to watch the little mermaid (2024) starring dee wallace, steve guttenberg, sharon desiree and directed by michael johnson.

It’s nice to see dee wallace in something new, i guess. The asylum’s the little mermaid, also referred to as hans christian andersen’s the little mermaid, is directed by michael johnson (battle oasis) and.

Visit The Movie Page For 'The Little Mermaid' On Moviefone.

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They Definitely Do Some Things Different To The Traditional.

For a peek at this new animated version of the little mermaid, you can check out the trailer below, courtesy of joblo.

A New Animated Adaptation Of The Little Mermaid Has Just Been Released By The Asylum In Limited Theaters And Digital.

Images references :, state of the art psx fmv..

The synopsis for their the little mermaid can be read below and the trailer can be found here.

A Young Mermaid Makes A Deal With A.

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