I watched the movie “The Little Mermaid”, which the whole Internet is talking about. It would be better if he didn’t

The screening of one of the most controversial Disney films of recent times, The Little Mermaid, has started at the Russian box office.

Many fans were unhappy with the casting and visuals. The first trailers really did not inspire great hopes, although they were staged beautifully.

We have already seen the novelty and are in a hurry to share our impressions. Spoiler alert: this is the worst thing that could happen to a classic.

A familiar story told differently

What is the movie about: The New Little Mermaid is a remake of the famous 1989 cartoon of the same name, which in turn is an adaptation of the famous fairy tale by Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen.

The plot is simple – the little mermaid Ariel falls in love with a human prince. To be with him, she makes a deal with the witch Ursula. She gives her legs, but takes her voice in return.

Before we share our impressions of the new adaptation of the beloved cartoon, we will talk a little about the idea of ​​Disney executives to remake everything that we loved as children. This will allow you to perceive the reboot of the Mermaid differently and, perhaps, not be so critical of the dramatic changes in familiar characters.

A little background

The audience saw the first serious remake of the classic at the beginning of the last decade. The film “Alice in Wonderland” turned out to be interesting and liked by the audience. Tim Burton in the director’s chair, extraordinary Johnny Depp as the Hatter, a wide variety of special effects and memorable visuals. The picture received a couple of Oscar statuettes and a billion dollars at the box office.

Then two remakes of classic cartoons came out at once, which received a completely new vision. The adaptation of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales about Little Red Riding Hood and Snow White was radically different from the original cartoons. The dark color scheme, the violence and the overall tone of the story were clearly not to the taste of the audience. The pictures were coolly received by the audience and received low ratings.

Note that these two films there were no remakes from Disney. Most likely, the producers of the studio simply would not have let a story with such a gloomy mood into production.

However, Disney decided to give it a try. “Maleficent”, released in 2014, being a remake of “Sleeping Beauty”, also received a completely different angle. The viewer saw the famous fairy tale and the familiar characters in it from a completely different angle. Disney did much better than its competitors with Little Red Riding Hood and Snow White. The viewers were no longer negative. Perhaps many did not even realize that it was a remake, but in a different reading.

Still, Disney executives made the decision to stick with the original stories, making only minor cosmetic changes and sometimes adding sharply social trends to the story.

So a new baby elephant Dumbo was born with an incredibly cool cast and a weak script. Nauseatingly insipid “Cinderella” with a weak script. Visually gorgeous The Jungle Book.

Excellent “Aladdin” by Guy Ritchie with blue enchanting Will Smith and a feminist line. The extremely boring “Beauty and the Beast”, which is simply full of tinsel of special effects and literally repeats the cartoon frame by frame. And, finally, everyone’s favorite “The Lion King”, which collected at the box office over $1.5 billion.

All these pictures have one thing in common – directors follow the original story. Creativity in details is appropriate here and nothing more. The Disney studio almost never took risks, choosing actors for the main roles who were visually close to those whom the viewer was used to seeing in cartoons.

In other words, Disney has chosen a strategy of almost completely copying the classics. This approach allowed the company to make money on remakes in a decade. over $7 billion! It would seem that the perfect recipe for making money has been found: a copy factory, a game of nostalgia and no risk.

Now to the main thing. What was the new “Mermaid”

And suddenly a black mermaid. What?! Why did the studio take such a risk? A modern social agenda or is it still a conscious courage that has nothing to do with the BLM movement?

The very first trailer for the remake of The Little Mermaid, in which viewers were first shown African-American actress and singer Halle Bailey as a mermaid, even spawned the racist hashtag #NotMyAriel. The indicative attitude of the audience to such tricks from the studio.

“The Little Mermaid” is still the same copy of the original, as well as other live-action Disney remakes. Here, the familiar Ariel appears as a free-spirited, inquisitive and rebellious teenager, and the embittered body-positive Ursula with tentacles and the classic melodies of Alan Menken, which form the heart and basis of the film. Everything is in its place. One can even state the fact that the picture is devoid of its own identity.

And this, despite the fact that the screenwriter seriously expands the story of Prince Eric: it is given much more time than in the original. Due to the better disclosure of the character, his relationship with Ariel looks more realistic.

The hero even gets his own musical number and adequate motivation. He is trying to help his island kingdom catch up with the technology of the outside world. Logical and reasonable.

But this moment also leads to a serious increase in timing. The film runs for 2 hours and 15 minutes, and this length can tire the child. Still, a film about a singing fish should not exceed the two-hour mark! The remake is almost an hour longer than the original, and not to say that this is good for the film.

Other characters are only fulfilling their role, it is not worth waiting for revelations here. Javier Bardem plays the role of a caring father, and Melissa McCarthy, who played the slippery Ursula, is frankly not enough in the film. Other characters in general nothing is rememberedand I will not dare to evaluate the acting abilities of a restless crab and a husky seagull.

To some, their dialogues will seem funny, to others insipid and stupid. The characters themselves look a little freaky and intimidating with their dead eyes and rough talking animations.

The visual is lame, but the sound is excellent

The biggest asset is Halle Bailey’s vocals. The actress does a great job with the musical numbers and with the biggest hit of the soundtrack “Part of Your World”. If we consider The Little Mermaid as a musical, and not a remake of a children’s cartoon, everything is fine here. Lyrical and sweet.

I note that even in Russian localization, voices and songs do not cut the ear. The vocals do not reach the “Frozen Heart”, but in general it is pleasant to listen to the songs. In addition to rap, which causes only bewilderment.

But here visual special effects look too cartoonish and weak. Director Marshall certainly knows how to make spectacular musicals (he was nominated for an Academy Award for the musical Chicago), but he doesn’t know how to make spectacular action scenes.

The picture is spoiled by sharp and shaky camera work and shredder-style editing. The bright flickering in the frame is a dubious merit of the people responsible for the picture.

Underwater movement looks flat and unrealistic, especially compared to what we saw in the second “Avatar”.

The graphic artists simply couldn’t convey the feeling of being underwater. Beautiful, colorful, but without revolution and fantasy. The movie still looks like a cartoon and that’s more of a problem.

What is the result

Has the black Mermaid really ruined everything, and soon the heads of the producers will fly from their shoulders? You will be surprised, but no.

The idea of ​​casting a black actress as a mermaid is certainly an interesting bold move. The trailer was discussed a lot and for a long time, and as a result, Halle Bailey has excellent vocal abilities that cover the exclamations of “not according to the canon”! Some will say miscast, others will like this choice.

The audience did not boycott the film, and already on the first weekend of home rental in the United States, the film collected almost $100 million. An excellent indicator that nostalgia is not specific images in the head, but a fabulous story as a whole. Skin color is secondary, the main thing is to sing well.

Still, The Little Mermaid is, first of all, a musical. Even if it is secondary and without a soul.