Review of The Little Mermaid (2023) by Jluis_001 — 26 May 2023

There are no surprises, no changes in the formula and, therefore, it's more of the same. This is the recipe that Disney has decided to apply in all the live-action remakes of its animated classics.

True, there have been some worse than others, but The Little Mermaid is far from that, and yet it is the most controversial film of them all.

I don't want to touch too much on that subject, but it's relevant to do so for the simple reason that there are millions of people who won't give a **** about anything else in the movie, they'll just notice that the lead actress has dark skin. It's disgusting, but it's part of a much bigger cancer than just a movie. One thing I can tell you is that, if you're a person with enough brains to see beyond that, The Little Mermaid is precisely the film it wanted to be.

The music and its production values are on point and Halle Bailey, captures the spirit of the character by making it her own in her own personal way.

It may not be the best that can be done in terms of adaptations, but it's not the disaster that many were predicting just because. This is a system product and therefore everything moves inside a box but there are levels of quality within that system and The Little Mermaid is not a failure in those terms.

It's a regular, average and inconsequential movie, but for its intended audience, and by that I mean children, I think they'll enjoy it. And of course, you can argue again about the reason for their existence, as well as the rest of the remakes Disney has made in this line, but I think it should be pretty clear by now that they have no interest in stopping making them no matter how much some people complain. And no, the animated classics are not ruined. The damn movies are still there 100% available.