Review: The Little Mermaid (2023)

Directed by: Rob Marshall

Written by: David Magee

Starring: Halle Bailey, Jonah Hauer-King, Daveed Diggs, Awkwafina, Jacob Tremblay, Noma Dumezweni

Rating: [3.5/5]

When receiving nothing but dreck for a long time, even the most pedestrian return can feel like a masterpiece in comparison. In that respect it operates more as an indictment of what came before rather than some impressive feat on the more than average return. Luckily, this live-action iteration of The Little Mermaid not only rises above recent returns from the mouse house, but mightily impresses mostly due to its lead performer. 

As one of the daughters of King Triton (Javier Bardem), Ariel (Halle Bailey) wishes to eventually go up to the surface and explore, even if it goes against the wishes of her father. When the sea witch Ursula (Melissa McCarthy) approaches Ariel with a deal to give her legs in return for her voice, the mermaid takes the opportunity as she begins to find true love. 

The quality of the original The Little Mermaid remains unquestioned in the way it presents a wondrous story of a girl who wants to explore the unfamiliar. Having the live-action iteration hit the big screen came as a mere matter of time, and we would simply need to await if it would fall in the good or bad category of these films. It could either fall into the highs Cinderella or the pits of The Lion King and this film sits right about the middle but certainly leaning more towards the former as it allows for the romance between Ariel and Eric (Jonah Hauer-King) to blossom in a way that makes it believable she would give up her voice for him. This ultimately sums up what makes the film work, as we get to see everything that makes them a strong couple that would survive all they must take on together. 

As with all the live-action adaptations, this feature brought the opportunity to do some updating to more so match the modern sensibilities and clean up some of the messages of the original animated film, but luckily not much updating needs to happen because of the quality. Instead, this feature added its own twist in Halle Bailey’s exceptional singing ability, as she absolutely lights up the screen. She needs to step up and deliver on those notes to fully display she is here as the new Ariel and she Bailey undoubtedly did just that. She nailed each song presented to her, but nothing quite hits the high of what she does with “Part of Your World” where she hits the final note in a goosebumps-inducing manner where any doubt of her ability to portray Ariel completely dissipates. 

One of the questions raised in the lead up of this film lied in how Sebastian (Daveed Diggs) and Flounder (Jacob Tremblay) would appear, and it truly gives the look of some nightmare fuel. The insistence from the creative team to make these animals look as photorealistic as possible falls into the same trappings that made the presentation of Simba in the 2019 film so incredibly disconcerting. Animals do not express emotion through their face for the most part, and it ultimately feels strange to have these moments of sweetness for animals who simply cannot show anything on their face. It makes the songs like “Kiss the Girl” so strange to experience. We have many examples of how to properly animate animal characters in a way that stays true to them rather than a talking fish that looks like dead-eyed fish while expressing concern for Ariel. 

While adding nearly an extra hour of runtime as compared to the much superior animated film, The Little Mermaid still manages to stand as quite the winner. It utilizes the added pad time to give Ariel and Eric more time to breathe as such a charming couple that can make things work even when the former mostly does not have a working voice as they initially come together. Everything about the couple works and it more than justifies this film’s existence in addition to the absolute splash Halle Bailey makes as this Disney princess as she defies anyone who doubted her from the start and displays she is Ariel. Despite its horrific animation of its animals characters and general lighting issues making it look quite ugly for many sections, this film still has plenty of juice and definitely gets the job done.