A most inclusive ocean: The live-action 'The Little Mermaid'

A scene from 'The Little Mermaid'

Mermaids are mythical creatures, and I’m still waiting for the person with a documented and corroborated first-hand report to tell us what the mermaid looked like. So until then, we can’t say with certainty if a mermaid is white, blue, green, black, or multi-colored. Having gotten that off my chest, can I now write that I don’t understand what the whole fuss is about Halle Bailey being cast as Ariel? As these live-action remakes are released, I think it’s fine that some new elements are introduced, so that they aren’t literal frame-by-frame carbon copies of the original animated feature. The recent drop on Disney+ of Peter Pan and Wendy introduced a smart, feminist slant to the classic adventure, and I liked how this panned out and actually made it more real, with Wendy as much a heroine as Peter is our hero with, at times, misplaced foolish bravado. As far as I’m concerned, as long as Halle Bailey can give off that wide-eyed wonderment we expect to see from Ariel’s fascination with people, and what she encounters when she’s bewitched and sacrifices her voice for legs, then I’m ready to root for her. As far as her singing and pipes are concerned, the sister duo of Chloe X Halle have long been established as a formidable duo singing R&B, hip-hop, and soul; and can count Beyoncé as their mentor in music. So with the music and singing of Halle covered, doubts lingered about whether this would be one of the better live-action adaptations would center on the CGI and acting. Melissa McCarthy portrays Ursula, and since the animated Ursula was inspired by drag queen Divine; McCarthy softened the criticisms leveled against her by saying that she did look to drag queens for inspiration on how to attack the role. Daveed Diggs plays Sebastian, Jacob Tremblay is Flounder, and Awkwafina is Scuttle. Lin-Manuel-Miranda portrays Chef Louis, and he is one of the film’s producers and lyricist for the additional songs. Jonah Hauer-King is Prince Eric, while Javier Bardem plays King Triton. The screenplay by David Magee retains the essence of the animated feature; but he introduces some new characters, notable of which are Eric’s mother, Queen Selina, and Rosa, a young girl who works as a maid in Eric’s castle. They help add to the texture and drama of Ariel’s time with the humans. Rob Marshall directs, and was given a $200 million budget to bring this home. Disney is obviously investing a lot into this particular remake. When the original animated feature came out, the two memorable songs for me were Under the Sea, and Part of Your World, music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman. Perhaps I’ll have to watch it more than once, but while pleasant enough, I didn’t immediately feel the Miranda-penned songs were adding much to the overall effect of this new version, Under the Sea is still the film’s showstopper. The chemistry between Ariel and Eric is palpable, and makes worthy drama of Ariel’s plight and secret. Halle Bailey is easily the most impressive element of the film. Melissa McCarthy is an effective Ursula, and Bardem as Triton works as well. Overall, this is one of the better Live Action adaptations, shows true Love for the source material, and can stand side by side with the animated feature - which I can’t say for the likes of the live-action Aladdin or The Jungle Book, both of which paled beside the original animated films. But as to whether it’ll make audiences forget the original film is very much in doubt.