“The Little Mermaid”, Disney and his mania for versions

Nothing would matter, except that it was sold as live action from its 1989 animated original Little Mermaid. That animated film, which represented the return of the Disney production company to the path of success, confirmed it as a leader in its specialty until the appearance of Pixar in 1995, with the new 3D and its toy story. Both companies have been rolled into one for some time, in recent years the Mickey Mouse brand has been good enough to turn its immortal classics into live-action films, the result leading to blockbusters, yes (that’s what it was all about), a comeback to desecrate the originals qualities. This one Little Mermaid it would be different mainstream so much so that he does not relate to it because comparisons, apart from being hateful, usually end fatally. Obedient and disciplined Rob Marshall knows his trade, he knows how to set up the camera, shoot and give his products a standard rhythm, but he is losing the global battle, although his responsibility will be indirect. Mixing the actors with the also real crab Cristóbal and his colleagues leads to singing (as well as dullness…).

apply a face lifting mythical film, even if it is such remake, is almost as old as the cinema itself. And Hollywood knows a lot about that. But that rarely works. The folks at Disney must have taken that into account, and their trick is to apply strong doses of the situation to sneak in an update. As it happens with the protagonist, here the black race (and for the record, Jonah Hauer-King shines), or when he singles out King Triton as the father of seven beauties, each of whom is the daughter of his mother in an attempt to make all the ladies of the world have your referent. Come on, the right to choose the life he wants — it would just be missing —; therefore, our mermaid reintegrates among mortals by interceding with Cupid, although her prince charming is somewhat lacking in charisma.

A million of them have been polished in uneven CGI (computer-generated imagery), which they will definitely throw up, even though they won’t appear. For the climax, let’s put Bardem, who, without questioning his professional value, should be told to “never say never again”, because in the past he had enough rants against this kind of cinematography and these kinds of characters, and here they are.

“LITTLE MERMAID”

USA, 2023.

Director: Rob Marshall.

Cast: Jonah Hauer-King, Halle Bailey, Javier Bardem, Melissa McCarthy, Daveed Diggs, Jacob Tremblay, Lorena Andrea, Sienna King.

Fantastic / musical.

135 minutes.