The Little Mermaid: the excellent Halle Bailey floats in a far too wise Disney remake

After Alice in Wonderland (2010), The beauty and the Beast (2017), The Lion King (2019) or recent Peter Pan & WendyDisney today continues their extensive business of reproducing their animated classics with The little Mermaida live-action remake of the 1989 film.

A “live action” version worn by the young Halle Bailey (Grown-ish), and which has the arduous task of reaching the level of the original feature film, one of the most beloved of the studios. Here is our review, guaranteed without spoilers.

The film’s story

Ariel, the youngest daughter of King Triton, is a beautiful and fiery young mermaid with an adventurous temperament. Rebellious at heart, she is constantly drawn to the world that exists beyond the waves. At the turn of her escapades on the surface, she will fall under the spell of Prince Eric. While mermaids are forbidden to interact with humans, Ariel still feels she must follow her heart. She then concludes an agreement with Ursula, the terrible witch of the seas, which grants her the power to live on dry land, but without suspecting that this pact puts her life – and the crown of her father – in danger…

Our review of The little Mermaid

A reinterpretation of the tale by Hans Christian Andersen published in 1837, the 1989 film was able to match the story of the Danish novelist with the Disney spirit, well helped by the timeless music of Alan Menken. A pivotal film which had initiated a new era for the Disney studios, and which is now experiencing a new version, shrouded in contemporary concerns: ecology, diversity, consent…

While remaining faithful to the story and the characters of the animated film, this Little Mermaid 2023 evokes in passing the human damage on the oceans, and the importance of multiculturalism. Modern and welcome changes, which ultimately turn out to be incidental, the film remaining far too wise to offer a real inspired and exciting re-reading of its history. Admittedly, this is the very meaning of these remakes, which copy and paste the classics of the studio with a lot of special effects. We can be satisfied. We can also regret that Disney faced proof of a certain laziness.

Rest assured, The little Mermaid is all that one can expect from this kind of production: colorful, rhythmic, singing and dancing… The film will certainly please fans and the youngest, and stands out as one of the family rendezvous of the spring. The music – barely revisited – by Alan Menken still works just as well, and gives the whole a charm that is hard to deny.

On the positives, Halle Bailey is the great casting success: sunny, inhabited, authentic, she is a successful and refreshing Ariel. Facing her, Melissa McCarthy (My best friends) also embodies a perfect Ursula. Its lugubrious and extravagant sequences are also the occasion for pretty ideas of atmosphere, staging and gravitas. (Small) asperities in a production that is often visually closer to the telenovela than to the $200 million blockbuster.

Six months after the release ofAvatar: The Waterway and its stunning underwater sequences, The little Mermaid unfortunately aesthetically pale, oscillating most of the time between the suitable and the dubious, which the storytelling side fails to excuse. Disney trades the charm of traditional animation for an extremely refined digital palette, and loses some of its magic in the process.

far from shameful Pinocchio by Robert Zemeckis, and more charming than Dumbo (2019) or Mulan (2020), The little Mermaid does well and effectively ticks the boxes for family entertainment …. but nothing more. The majority of its assets – the music, the rhythm, the characters – are unfortunately to be credited to the 1989 film, and those looking for something new will not have much opportunity to get excited. Damage.

• Watch the movie trailer:

Where to stream other Disney movies?

Want to dive back into childhood in front of a Disney classic? One place: the Disney+ streaming platform. You will find there almost all of the studio’s animated films, from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) to most recent Avalonia, the strange journey.