the Little Mermaid remake is utterly bizarre

[@RB-vo4gi]

I think one big problem with the remakes, outside of the horrible CGI, the unnecessary songs, and the weird plot points, is that they act like a female character cannot be strong AND need to be saved. Rapunzel was fricking strong, but she needed to be saved from the tower, and there’s no way you can get around that. Ariel is strong. Jasmine is strong. Snow White is strong. Cinderella is strong. Strength comes in different forms; stop erasing it.

[@tocaaa942]

YeS THIS IS WHAT I MEAN whats wrong with falling in lvoe with a prince?!! doesnt mean your incapable of anything else

[@lorenzotorri605]

That's also part of the reason why feminists liked Barbie so much. Yes, a woman can be strong and independent, but there's absolutely nothing wrong in being silly and liking pink sometimes. A message that is lacking these days

[@englishatheart]

​@@tocaaa942You're*

[@tocaaa942]

@@lorenzotorri605 exactlyy

[@fg4462]

​@@tocaaa942There is nothing wrong with it but with these characters it was their ONLY motivation and that needed to change. And in changing that they need to add other motivations/reasons for being and not JUST for a man to come and marry them.

[@pauliporcupine]

One of the issues i have with "live actions" is that they look so dull visually compared to the animations. I think Cinderella is one of the most succesfull adaptations and all i can think about is how vibravant it was. Her dress popped out of the screen, there was color everywhere. There are some scenes here that are so dark you lose the visuals completely. Animation would be always superior to live action, especially when the animated version came first

[@TamJoy]

YES! Prime example of this drab remake junk is with Lion King! It was so brown and yellow and more brown that you lose all the vibrancy that the original animation had! Even the "Hakuna Matata" and the "Can't Wait to be King" scenes, which were like some Wonderland kaleidoscope trip, is just a boring few minutes that we all compare to the original. Cinderella was the best, and I think Aladdin was actually pretty good, too!

[@snowfall221]

The thing about Cinderella (2015) is that the only scenes that were CGI were vast views of the kingdom or the Castle at the end of the film, and any scenes that involved magic. Every other scene was filmed in an actual location or it was built by the team to really deliver their imagination. *The entire ballroom of that movie was built by hand!* No CGI what so ever and it just made the movie even more magical.

[@andersmith29]

Cinderella was the proof of concept, every movie since then has been industrialized.

[@purushottamkumarsharma5044]

Waah

[@Barracuda-bi9ft]

Yes Cinderella was the best remake!

[@Rembreiker_lychec9257]

I absolutely hate the "realistic" trend of CGI animals. The old Disney made strange-looking animals like crabs and flounders cute instead of realistic for a reason.

[@patax144]

And people out there insist that they keep the animal sidekicks for the remakes and I am always like how? They will look awful, for a cartoon animal sidekicks work, but in live action realistic CGI they look creepy. My favorite remakes are the ones where the animals don't talk and their actions in the plot are reduced in favor of developing the human characters like Cinderella, they took away the mini cat and mouse scenes to leave more room for new scenes. And in Mulan while the movie has other issues, I prefer no Mushu to creepy CG Mushu.

[@n76389]

❤❤q❤1Qay😂

[@spidergirrl]

but honestly to see KIDS enjoy this film as i enjoyed the OG. priceless.

[@EduardoMartinez-rs3bu]

Just hideous

[@yuki97kira]

I dont care much about the movie but THIS..i hate this..please make them cartoon-y..we dont need another sonic incident

[@LucyGrullon]

one thing that i really really hated about this movie is the LACK OF BUBBLES! like, in the animated version almost every time someone talked or moved there was bubbles and I felt like in the live action the lack of bubbles makes it so hard (at least for me) to believe that they are underwater... that really bothered me.

[@Ton9XD]

that is exactly what i said to my friend after I finished watching the movie, they missed a huge chance to make the undersea looks more magical...

[@noxart2410]

Oh. I had a weird feeling but I couldnt pin point why. And I think it was exactly that. It feels like a weird green screen because there's no interactions bw the characters and the environment.

[@graciiee]

Right!!

[@robertrijkers4923]

if you've ever seen underwater in the real life sea you'd notice there are NO bubbles lol... unless you bring a scuba tank with you

[@oompie815]

​@@robertrijkers4923 also, when you communicated with the fish and crabs through speech, there were also no bubbles. Thanks for the clarification.

[@TimeBucks]

Love the point you made about voice actors!

[@opmmukan]

So cutest creator❤❤

[@MichaelZubby-jz5ut]

Wow😢😢

[@mosherefhossain2544]

nice

[@BCFBreakfastClubFan]

Except Scuttle was not just a voice actor. He was a legendary actor and comedian, Buddy Hackett.

[@MaryamAbbas-k4z]

👍

[@claudiaconde7458]

As an animator, there is so much potential out there! New characters, new animation technics, new stories etc. Why keep this remake thing?! Disney has to stop for real!

[@froggywithaheart]

established franchises are low effort cashcows....wet dream of corporate greed

[@BlackCroft666]

Don't forget If they want to do a black Cast there are countless african, jamaican....Stories out there....waiting

[@kendrarasberry3078]

Dana Terrace tried to, but you saw how that worked out.

[@PatriotDH77]

Because no one watched: Elemental Soul Strange New World Turning Red Luca Raya and the Last Dragon Onward While yes Covid affected some of these movies, the point still stands that all of these movies had released and went largely under the radar despite some having interesting concepts, animation styles, or new stories. None of these movies really drew any money while familiar properties were still money printing machines, just not to the extent they typically have been. My point being, fan consumption across the board in almost all production companies have largely been against anything “new”.

[@kaitlinrose7202]

money, dear boy

[@christal4117]

The memory loss not only adds nothing to the story, it takes away. The reason why Triton couldn't destroy the contract was because it was valid, Ariel willingly signed it, but if you add that Ursula cheated it changes it completely. Also, her knowing what she needs to do adds more urgency to the story and contrast between her just enjoying herself and Sebastian losing his mind to make the kiss happen.

[@Cardinal_claw]

Ironically it also makes the Kiss the Girl scene _actually_ creepy instead of the weird implication that mute people can't consent they were applying to the og. Since she doesn't remember/keeps pulling away and he keeps pushing for it.

[@catelynh1020]

Also, in the original, she was aware of the necessity of the kiss so when she *heard the animals singing* it was like trying to get them both into the mood. The new version has her fully able to hear the song but ignore it, and eric can't hear it at all. Whereas in the original i think it was sebastian that gives the correct name to eric and he acts like he thought of it himself, proving that the song has some sway over him even if he isn't consciously aware of it. It's things like this that make me say if you aren't going to do it right, don't do it at all.

[@madamefluffy4788]

@@Cardinal_claw The other thing about the 'Kiss the Girl' song/scene is that the lyrics stress that Eric needs Ariel's permission before he can kiss her; and yet, Ariel can invade his space and touch his face/run her fingers on his lips (a very intimate gesture - regardless of the reason) to 'tell' him what her name is. Absolutely loathe the double standard here.

[@madamefluffy4788]

@@changesme110yearsago9 The lyrics in the song were changed from 'there's one way to ask her' to 'use your words, boy - ask her'. I.e. - The song is telling Eric he needs to ask Ariel's permission to kiss her before kissing her. And clearly, permission is something that the seafolk believe in because they are telling Eric to ask for Ariel's permission before doing anything. If that applies to Eric, the same applies to Ariel (or it should - but it doesn't). I.e. - double standards.

[@Caroo1313]

I think it actually adds a lot. It takes away the constant agenda Ariel had to "make him fall in love with her and get that kiss". Her not remembering allowed her to genuinely fall in love with him with no hidden agenda. It actually fleshed out their love story much more.

[@allysa10058]

What also annoys me is how dark this movie is, visual wise. The ocean is dark but the corals and animals and also the mermaids were so bright and colourful as a contrast. In the live actions it’s just dark

[@Avamations]

Finally someone said it! I know it's set underwater and underwater is dark but Disney could have changed the brightness and saturation so everything was still easily visible. As an animator, I understand that contrast is difficult to master in film and that the lighting is different to animation but so much of this movie was CG rendered, they could have easily done something to fix it. I spent all of the underwater scenes squinting at the screen in the cinema, just to see what was going on.

[@BrooklynnCampbell-ch5ot]

They didn’t even get the animals right💀, Sebastian is supposed to be a lobster not a crab, and why is the bird scully not a dude, and flounder is built different 💀

[@laylakeating8135]

I was so distracted by this alone, she did great but it felt somber!

[@aprilcocoa9368]

sebastian is a crab 😭

[@BrooklynnCampbell-ch5ot]

They could’ve at least make him look like the specie of crab he is,lol

[@donovan1345]

You forgot the chef scene, just like Disney did. lol. They took away the fear of the sea animals, during the time on land. The crab just goes wherever it wants, in the live action, and has no worries about being eaten, which is a big reason why sea life fears man in the original.

[@nica7747]

FRRR

[@yasminecastillo7507]

I feel like Disney left that out purposely since it can offend people with the fact it promotes "animal abuse". I'm not saying it does, but this generation, that is exactly what people would be thinking

[@johnmarx3919]

I loved that song and what Rene did with it - I was mad as hell when they decided to drop it in the name of political correctness, and as a result will never watch it!

[@ZeldaMertens]

Wasn't that from The Little Mermaid animated series on Disney channel? 😂

[@lycu3093]

ok

[@lacidolmar311]

Part of what makes Disney movies so whimsical was the animation. Snow White, sleeping beauty, Alice in Wonderland. Hell even the live action Alice in wonderland looked good. I wish they’d go back to what made them so special

[@Gabry4777]

She has a beautiful voice. The acting though....

[@trippingandbrowsing1269]

well the classics you mentioned had Technicolor, which is now a completely obsolete form of color filmmaking (which is so disappointing in so many ways). However, Disney still had this charm with their 90s Golden Age. The Lion King is still one of the best animated films ever made, and certainly Disney's top 10. They haven't been taking these kinds of risks for a long time. Only Moana, Turning Red, and Soul have come close for me personally within the last few years.

[@freemansaquatics5326]

Hand drawing requires effort...main reason everything is overseas CGI puke these days

[@mjacwest]

The live action Alice in Wonderland was a great example of keeping a live action movie feeling cartoony. It's definitely possible, they just don't want to put in the effort because they know people will still keep going to see these lifeless remakes.

[@kpoplistener1111]

Right!! Alice in wonderland and Maleficent are top tier when it comes to color

[@CoolPaDuke]

To be fair, Buddy Hackett, the original Scuttle, wasn't primarily a voice actor. But he was a stand up comedian who was brilliant as Scuttle.

[@bhgemini]

Came here to say this as well. He only had a few VO roles and two were TLM related. By the time the 1989 movie came out he had been in comedy for 40 years.

[@Mediados]

While that is true, the point made is still valid. They don't hire these people because they are good fits for the roles, but because the names are recognizable.

[@CoolPaDuke]

​@@Mediados It sounds like you're disagreeing with me while saying the same thing.

[@Mediados]

@@CoolPaDuke Now doing that unintentially is almost a feat isn't it? For real though, you just stated a fact, there is nothing to disagree here. I'm just saying that while the info given in the video is a bit inaccurate, the argument is still a good one.

[@marktracy1721]

Yeah

[@matthew-005]

Even as a kid I assumed Ariel can't write in human language and can only write in Atlantian and this is why she didn't write anything for him. Yeah she writes her name in English on the contract and you can see some English words but I assumed it was just for the benifit of the audience so they understand what she is actually writing.

[@a.k.1217]

But then you have to explain they all speak the same language

[@matthew-005]

@@a.k.1217 Why? Civilizations on earth can speak the same language but write it differently and have through out history it's only in the modern ages that everything became more standard because reading a writing wasn't taught in schools, chances are in 18th century when the film is set only the rich, royal and a few people in a few jobs could read and write most regular people didn't. The UK is made of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales and English was spoken across all these countries but they mainly spoke and wrote in their own language and even if the wrote in English it was mispelled because it was spelled phonetically. For example fone instead of phone.

[@RettMikhal]

That's dangerous thinking. You watch your back.

[@matthew-005]

@@RettMikhal What?

[@RettMikhal]

@@matthew-005 Disney has powerful assassins.

[@trinaq]

I liked that they gave Eric more agency outside of being Ariel's love interest, by having him also collect artifacts from his voyages. However, I wish that they'd kept the scene of him ramming the ship into Ursula, instead of having Ariel do it herself.

[@himynameiszero]

THIS !! I was so confused of this change

[@kristin123a]

Oh, but surely you know Disney have to remove even the slightest hint of women needing help from their romantic interests. Because modern women don't ever need a mans help with anything, that would make her less of a person. .....my God they literally makes it seem like a sin to just be a normal silly girl who likes a boy. Not even the real crazy feminists wants this narrative.

[@himynameiszero]

@@kristin123a true 😭 it’s so sad like they can write strong women whilst they also have a good relationship?? It’s not so hard to make both characters well written and be important

[@bej4987]

How does he have more agency? He does even less in this movie than the original.

[@zynpkrdg]

Tbh, he had plenty of agency outside of being the love interest in the original too, i think they made him worse here. He could play the flute and had a dog he loved and used to dance with him, and he used to go in public and mend in with the common folk etc etc. It was obvioud he had so much personality and a full life and they fit perfectly with Ariel. Like, i actually don't think collecting voyages added that much? Idk i think he was fine the way he was. He's my favorite disney prince lol.

[@nerdoftheatre]

I think what made the conflict between Triton and Ariel better in the first was because it was a PUBLIC event Ariel missed. She made her father and sister embassed by her absence. She's embarrassed her family in front of the entire kingdom. But in the live action - it's just a family meeting. The stakes aren't there as they were with the daughters performance.

[@S.D._777_]

In the original, the concert she missed was the equivalent of a quinceañera or debutante ball. It was essentially her official introduction to society as a young woman. Like you said, that was a major embarrassment to the whole family and especially her father as the king for her to be a no-show.

[@red-pet-dead]

Fun fact Ursula and Triton being siblings, and Ariel's mother being killed by humans has actually been established canon, long before the live action. The siblings thing was one of the original concepts for the movie, which was later used in the musical retelling. As for the dead mother that was (i believe) shown as the first scene of the sequel.

[@sparklinglemon9006]

Yeah, I know there is a scene about the death of the mom in the prequel, Ariel's Beginnings. Can't confirm if they mention the mom in the sequel though, I've never seen it.

[@qwe-tt2qn]

Came to the comments to say this as well. It always surprises me when people don’t know about the other little mermaid movies because I grew up with all of them.

[@rebekahhiggins9002]

lol I just commented the same thing. Also- in Disney's Teisted Tales books Ursula and Triton are siblings too.

[@Sabrina-sc1db]

Actually the mother thing is shown on the 3rd movie, the 2nd movie was about Ariel's daughter, Melody

[@manicpixiefangirl4189]

Considering they cut it out of the original, maybe people need to realize that they did that for very good reasons.

[@linkistheman109]

Disney: all the animal sidekicks must look realistic for maximum realism Also Disney: yeah scuttle the seagull can hang out and talk underwater for seemingly indefinite time

[@_stxrblazerr]

Tbf scuttle isn't a seagull anymore, some birds can sing underwater

[@midnightdream380]

Scuttle is a Northern Gannet and they can stay underwater for a few minutes.

[@_-_-_-_-_]

@@midnightdream380 Who are you?

[@midnightdream380]

@@_-_-_-_-_ I'm no one, I just commented something I remembered from David Attenborough's series. I didn't mean to come off as '☝🤓' but I can see how I did lol.

[@_StrayKidsForever_]

Fr like where’s the realism

[@laurabraus]

I like the point you made about how Disney's trying to use the "I don't need no man" trope for every princess. They're equating a strong woman to one that doesn't desire love or doesn't fall in love, or "need a man", but it's not wrong to want a man - or a woman, to want love. It also doesn't make you any less strong to want that or fall in love. I feel like the entire concept of relying on others has become negative - even as someone who struggles to rely on others - and it makes me sad and goes with how isolated we all feel I'm sure.

[@TamJoy]

I feel the same way. There is the saying that, "Behind every successful Man is a strong Woman" (or vise versa, etc) - because even the most "successful" people need someone to go home to, or to vent to, or rely on sometimes to make dinner or pick up the kids, etc. There is a reason that people and many species of animals need to rely on others - because it takes a village.

[@TamTam-rq4nc]

Corporate feminism is basically a very shallow version of actual feminism that does more harm than good tbh

[@tritamtran7264]

ok

[@vivianagamboa2626]

I didn’t get that. I liked her more in this film than in the original. I thought it was nice that they put in more common interests between the two. And by making Ariel do things herself, it made her more accountable for her actions. In the original film, I understand she is supposed to be young and naive but she had no growth in the original film. She didn’t have to answer to her own actions. Eric saved the day. I didn’t see anything that diminished Eric’s strength in this new one.

[@crfstewarje]

@laurabraus, Funny how people have issue with the supposed "Don't need no man" trope, while meanwhile in some of the older movies, the only reason why women *needed* a man, in movies like Sleeping Beauty and Snow White, was because they needed to be rescued by their one dimensional knight in shining armor. Name one interesting thing about the princess in each movie

[@Rawt173]

It's insane that the best parts of this remake were the parts that WEREN'T underwater.

[@NJGuy1973]

Above the sea Above the sea Quality's higher Up where it's drier That's New Disney

[@Cass_the_silly_x3]

@@NJGuy1973that's new Disney ey ey ey

[@Kristyybug]

You know I was trying to explain this and you wrapped it up perfectly. You forget all about underwater when she is out and when you are brought back it’s like “oh right….”

[@donovanberes]

Avatar actually filming underwater made the little mermaid underwater scenes look awful. 😂

[@bethanywallace8575]

Lol. Yes. Underwater scenes were so bad. The chemistry between the 2 leads was great. Once ariel comes on land and is with eric I think it was cute. It reminded me of a play. But the underwater scenes were very very stiff

[@Miriam-bl9ig]

My least favorite part was that in the live action, Ariel did everything so there was really no reason that Triton should think that Eric is worthy to marry his daughter. In the animated version he killed Ursula so he essentially won her over.

[@SvanTowerMan]

That's because Disney needs all the female characters to look strong and capable and all the male characters to look like useless doofuses.

[@kirstenrox234]

Eric still out his life on the line to save Ariel. It always felt right for Ariel to be the one to kill Ursula

[@lessismore8533]

@@SvanTowerManthe original Mulan was strong in her own way they didn’t need to change her

[@lessismore8533]

@@kirstenrox234umm no. In the ORIGINAL little mermaid Ariel saves Eric earlier in the film already when he’s washed up on the beach. So it’s only fair in the end that Eric saves Ariel but the REAL reason is so Triton can see Eric was on the GOOD side. We do not know if Triton would’ve noticed Eric if he never saved Ariel

[@kirstenrox234]

@@lessismore8533 girl stop being a pick me choose me. Eric also saved Ariel maybe rewatch the movie

[@joeybishop5428]

I can’t believe they had that bird underwater for so long and I didn’t even notice 😭

[@Froggyquack]

That bird can actually stay in the water for a while tho

[@JustxLiving909]

@@Froggyquacknot really

[@joea3381]

You said Eric and Ariel defeated Ursela, but Eric, unlike the original where he is the one to steer the ship into Ursela, is just hanging off a piece of debris while Ariel takes command. So.. he's just.. there. Which is weird becuase I always thought that Eric's show of bravery and his actual help slaying Ursela was the reason the king had a change of heart and finally accepted the fact that not ALL humans were bad and he could be at peace with his favorite daughter being among them. The live action makes Erics very small part in the story even smaller and turns the king into a guy with anger issues but who is ultimately a giant pushover. Also the seagull and the fish bothered me. They did a decent job with the crab🤷‍♂️

[@oneangrygeek4575]

That wasn't a seagull. That is a Gannett. They gender and species swapped Scuttle.

[@debshaw680]

Totally agree with you on the first paragraph!

[@filipsperl]

yeah, this is what happens when people try to change individual elements in complex stories just because they want to make it more up to today's standards. I'm kind of fascinated by how short-sighted these changes are. Most of the time they seriously damage the integrity of the story or character motivations

[@Temperans]

​@@filipsperlits not even an issue of "today's standard" its just bad writing.

[@FF-tp7qs]

If I had a nickel for every Disney live action movie had a sassy seagull, I would have 2 nickels, which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.

[@Narzissist]

You just phrased it perfectly: It‘s all lifeless now! It’s all just about money and remakes and CGI and you can feel it whilst watching the new films. It’s so sad to think that future generations will grow up with that

[@cinnamonsparrowdesigns]

Yeah I still remember seeing The Lion King and Aladdin (the originals) in the theater as a kid. The magic of them stuck with me for a long time. I loved Aladdin and Little Mermaid so much as a kid. I'm sad my child won't have that now with these new ones. He likes the cartoons tho.

[@pinkiepiereincarnate2291]

They won't, though every little child who reacted to the trailer already knew about the original. The original movie is not disappearing. I don't know why people keep making this argument as if they like burned all the original copies. It still exists and it still being newly watched all the time 😂

[@Flugs0]

just show your kids the old movie instead of this one

[@CantRead1]

​@@pinkiepiereincarnate2291because the internet likes to over exaggerate.

[@bvoyelr]

@@pinkiepiereincarnate2291 Of all people, Nostalgia Critic made this argument in defense of modern adaptations in general (his was specifically in reference to one of the Dr. Seuss remakes). The remakes exist, but they'll fade to dust while the originals will live on. In fact, he posits that the remakes caused a Renaissance of appreciation for the original works. I feel like the same thing is happening with Disney. "HEY LOOK! A NEW LION KING THAT SUCKS. Let's rewatch the original instead!"

[@emilylemas8070]

Fun Fact: A lot of the lore-addons/retcons actually happened years ago. In the Little Mermaid Broadway Musical, it's established that Ursula and Triton are siblings and each got a magical item (her conch shell and his triton) from their father, Poseidon in the song "I Want Those Good Times Back". Her mom's death was also shown in the direct to DVD prequel from 2008 The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning where her mom is crushed by a human ship. Fun movie by the way! You should watch it

[@thelegioncollective]

Is Ariel's mum also a mermaid? If so, I don't see how it works that Ursula is related to them.

[@sandrosliske]

​@@thelegioncollectiveout of concern for you I'm just going to assume that you meant Ariel's grandmother and not mum. Because if you meant mum then oh boy we are going to need a talk.

[@BlackRoseGal180]

Well it's possible Ursula and Triton had different mothers, but at least in the show Once Upon a Time it's a form she decides to take after a falling out with her father renouncing her mermaid origins. But it's never truly explain otherwise.

[@thelegioncollective]

@sandrosliske it's called not everyone's brain works properly anymore so I make mistakes.

[@M星の水晶]

The issue feels like it's not as well implemented like in other adaptations. apparetly the stage play even gave ursula another song to expand on her relationship with Triton. they could have added that song to justify including this new detail. but the way they handled it, it makes you understand why the original animated film cut it out.

[@zeara7692]

I find that the sisters being of a different ethnicity is a bit disturbing... cause how many affairs did big king fish have to have all those different daughters or do they all start looking the same and than magically change when they are put to rule over the set ocean 🤔 or does the ethnicity change depending on which ocean they are born in... I find this whole thing confusing 😕

[@mistyeyestudios6342]

You’re absolutely right and I’m glad you said it. Diversity in movies is awesome when it makes sense, here it just looked like King Triton got busy

[@lessismore8533]

@@mistyeyestudios6342”got busy”😂😂😂

[@ButterFlyGardenBlossom]

I’m in for a cast of all different ethnicities, but having them be siblings honestly isn’t right 😭 not helping is that they’re just racelifiting instead of making original characters

[@nellaethelflaed1248]

I suppose they could all be adopted but then I feel the writers need to put in a line alluding to that.

[@RettMikhal]

I believe they are supposed to represent the Seven Seas.

[@zaramel4694]

I guess not in the original movie, but in the direct-to-dvd movie/prequel "Ariel's Beginning" the fact that Ariel's mom is actually killed by a pirate ship is not sugar coated at all and is the reason why in that movie, before the events of the Little Mermaid, King Triton outlawed music, because his wife, Athena loved it so much and loved singing. Which is why I think he loves Ariel singing, because she's so much like her mom.

[@gardenofroses197]

I seriously love that movie! I never knew it existed until I was an adult.

[@chevelle921]

I hate how underrated that movie is (though understandable), but it’s so much better than the second movie too

[@gardenofroses197]

@@chevelle921 Yeah maybe it's just me, but I thought the animation for the second movie sucked. The third looked great imo and was a better story too

[@drakegrandx5914]

@@gardenofroses197 The second movie is one of the most disappointing things to exist. The initial song is wonderful, the concept of a "reverse-Ariel" is great, Melody's whole execution is great (the fact that, despite having the same role as Ariel's, she is different in a lot of things - younger than Ariel was in her movie, looks more like Eric appearance-wise, etc.)! Then, the movie's entire execution ends up as an awful, badly-paced, illogical and devoid-of-rewarding-scenes mess.

[@dani.8673]

been looking for this comment bc i've seen that one too haha

[@sweetalker79]

OHHH MY GOD thank you so much for being pro-voice actor! Those of us who've put our whole lives into perfecting our art are losing work to big names who just think that VA means "a job I can do in my pajamas" It's horrible. What's worse is there's a hidden job where a talented VA will create the voice for a character, and then they'll hire a big name to just copy the intonations of the VA - who doesn't get any recognition for their hard work. I went from being in anime and video games to being the hidden voice behind Scarlett Johannson and Lake Bell. I never expected to be on the red carpet as a VA, but this new trend pisses me off

[@robynmarler1951]

That's so cool! There's a voice actor I love called Susan Egan, she was Meg in Hercules and Lin in Spirited Away.

[@sandyr5407]

I never heard of the hidden job thing before. That's real awful!

[@smm855]

@@sandyr5407 Oooh! This is more common than you'd think. Tara Strong actually talks about doing it for The Rugrats Movie. Dill Pickles was supposed to be voiced by Madonna (fuck if I know why they'd hire her to make gurgle noises...) but Tara was doing the babbles/crying/gurlges so that Madonna could come in later....only when Tara did the crying noise, she did it so well she caused one of the voice directors to start lactating 🤣😅 Needless to say, she got to keep the job.

[@princess7jasmine]

Anyone who says voice acting is easy is a damn clown. I've tried it myself and it's hard af.

[@izzywoods794]

❤❤❤ i remember when the actress who played Mei in Turning Red was meant to be a hidden voice but she did so well they kept her.

[@Happymali10]

The reason why arielle looks "off" is down to three errors: -Her body is all-CG in the mermaid-scenes, which leads to some "floating head"-issues. -They filmed the movie "dry for wet", and used footage from that as reference for lighting along with reference footage of wet humans. Thing is, when you're submerged in water, light reacts differently than when you're out of the water (and dripping wet). Mainly, you shouldn't get shiny highlights. You should be "matte". -Her hair is mostly to entirely CGI, but while they have great software to animate that, they put in a "barrier" so it never obscures her face. Which...yeets it right into the uncanny valley, because the hair doesn't behave as it should.

[@jpbernier4196]

In the mermaid scenes her body is CG from the waist down as well as her hair.

[@Kill4Glory]

You forgot the race swap, super off-putting

[@Happymali10]

@@Kill4GloryWhat "race swap?" The movie is based off a book, do you just want to see letters scrolling on screen?

[@Ready-ForTheEnd]

The hair is barely red

[@bbgun061]

​@@Ready-ForTheEndthere's almost no color anywhere in the movie. I get that the ocean really doesn't have much color, so it's realistic. But it looks awful. The animated movie was colorful and full of life, this just looks bland, boring, and grey. Like a dead coral reef.

[@violettegami4582]

I agree with you on that part where Ariel sings when she supposedly lost her voice lolz. Like, it really came out of nowhere in the movie 😂 Kinda feel dissapointed that they let pass the chance to show Ariel's yearning through dance like in the original fairytale instead of 'metaphorically' sings in her head tho. Like, there's something poetic about the scenario where even though she loses her best gift, she would still try the hardest to master her newly gained human legs justs so she could communicate with this man she fell in love with.

[@LexiS-lk8cy]

I dont know why Disney just thought it was a great idea to make one of their MOST colorful animated movies into this muted dull colored live action, when they made so much buck for the pre-2019 movies that were just barfing out color and liveliness. Like, I love the movie, but I just dont get the direction with the color palette, and the person who pitched this kind of mood CLEARLY doesn't know what ppl want from a Disney movie

[@pinkiepiereincarnate2291]

There was like cgi artist who reacted to the movie and I just don't think it would be possible to make it as colorful as all yall want and not making it look like Ariel's head was floating off her body, so yeah.

[@kristin123a]

I mean BBC's blue planet which is an actual REAL LIFE documentary looks more colorful and exciting. Same with Lion King. The REAL in person savannah looks more interesting and colorful that the movie one.

[@ShaiLai]

​@@pinkiepiereincarnate2291Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin were colourful

[@pinkiepiereincarnate2291]

@ShaiLai underwater scenes are a different ball park than regular cgi

[@bethanywallace8575]

It's like they've never seen what the ocean can look like.

[@Rebehxa]

what kind of baffles me is that they absolutely had the opportunity to not have the mermaids be basically completely CG. H2O did it, and I remember that as a kid, some of the magic of H2O is how REAL they looked as mermaids. I also think that by turning everything into a live action remake, it kind of undermines the animated version? Why can't animated things stay animated? Even if there were to be a good live action remake, I feel like at this point I don't want to support it

[@shelbylucero3460]

Absolutely love h2o and didn't even watch it for the first time till a few years ago and I'm 27 now. The tails are incredible and absolutely magical! They put so much work in for a teen show!

[@nailinthefashion]

Why does the existence of a live action film that takes advantage of decades of advancements at all affect the originals to you? If anything, I love watching the originals before and after seeing the modern twists even more. If anything, I appreciate their dedication to being critical of the stories they present and not becoming so complacent that they don't see what could be problematic. When they make a live action Tiana, I'd hope they address the almost incestuous best friend with her dad. There was no need for her to fawn over a Big Daddy like that, for us to get yet another black lead film devoid of a black person because they're shapeshifted. In the same way, I'd love to see more iterations improving on what they can. Maybe we see another Little Mermaid that focuses on her childhood and it's a different version of Ariel. She could be white, south asian, who knows or cares as long as someone felt the story was necessary and fun? They aren't erasing things to pave a new road, they are expanding on what is present.

[@ndudiobichi3515]

Except the mermaids in H20 didn't look like mermaids. They looked like humans wearing latex tails.

[@zachrohler1047]

Because then Disney wouldnt bet their hands on the possible millions from shitty remake built on pandering.

[@zachrohler1047]

​@@nailinthefashionexcept they are erasing the past. Kids will see this version, think it sucks (especially awkwafinas 30 year smoker voice) and think the og is dog water. Happens all the time. There was also nothing anout the old movie that was "problematic" Ariel even saves Eric's ass. It's only problematic because people hate seeing red headed white women. Hence why theyve been all eradicated from media and games. Ebeeh red head has been replaced except the girl from brave. Hive it a year and I'll bet well see a live action brave with a black main character. Race swaps are dome exclusively to pander to black folks. They could have made a diffrent little mermaid and made an actual black story nut instead they race swapped a red head to save some shekels

[@dracotias]

The thing with the memory loss is that it goes ENTIRELY against the whole contract thing in the original and while sure you couldn't really call the contract "fair" there were also no hidden lies. Aerial knew EXACTLY what she was getting into. Ursula obviously had hidden motives and may not have "told the whole truth" sure but she didn't lie either. New Ursula just feels cheap because of this.

[@TK-xg8xq]

They did this because in modern Disney a woman hast to be a victim of some kind to fit the narrative

[@mastermangouste5425]

​@@TK-xg8xqinteresting view! I always thought it was rather to sort out the consent problem you know so that it doesn't look like Ariel is trying to force herself on Eric to win over Ursula

[@TK-xg8xq]

@@mastermangouste5425 maybe but If that's the reason than just because they messed up the plot before, in the original she was already in Love with him

[@mastermangouste5425]

@@TK-xg8xq Yeah and whichever is the real reason I don't think they should have added that plot point

[@DKNguyen3.1415]

I never noticed it but that quick pan at the end of when Ursula says "That's what I do!" is great direction.

[@oximoron613]

Having Ariel struggle with her identity without her famous voice is such a brilliant yet obvious solution to expanding her character. Everyone is obsessed with her voice, including Eric who is searching for his mystery girl. She equates love with her singing, so how can she make him fall in love with her without it? Can she compete with her own voice? She'll have to discover how to connect without words, and by doing so realize that there's more to her than just her famous voice.

[@depressantdrug]

Or she could have fallen for someone who loved her without her voice.

[@Elipson52008]

@@depressantdrug that's exactly what happened in the original. Eric fell in love with this goofy mute girl so hard, Ursula had to cheat and hypnotize Eric to prevent him and Ariel from kissing.

[@depressantdrug]

@@Elipson52008 So he never heard her voice in the original?

[@Angie-ji7be]

​@@depressantdrug He did. The original did a similar thing where Ariel's voice was also what he remembered most about the "mystery girl," the remake just leans into it even further I think

[@Elipson52008]

@@depressantdrug he heard her voice, but he didn't know it was Ariel. He quickly gets over "the mystery girl" as he spends more time with Ariel and doesn't hear her voice again until the near end of the movie when Ursula uses it like a Siren to lure Eric away from Ariel.

[@BCFBreakfastClubFan]

The original Scuttle was *_not_* just a voice actor. It was stand-up comedian and comedy great, Buddy Hackett, whose acting credits include the musical classic, "The Music Man". His name was a draw for potential viewers. The difference was that he was an amazing actor who was a legend in his own right at that time. Awkwafina is *_just_* a well-known actor.

[@Ash_NuggTato]

Not too well known though, I never heard of her

[@BCFBreakfastClubFan]

@@Ash_NuggTato Yeah, I wouldn't call her an a-lister, more like a b or c lister

[@wildfire9280]

@@Ash_NuggTato Dolphin lady from Bojack Horseman is the only way I know jer

[@ultragare]

Yeah plus Buddy Hackett is a universal go-to when you need an example of an unattractive man.

[@tridocao143]

ok

[@arieltallen5732]

I think the thing that bothered me the most (besides the emotionless characters) is the incomplete story pieces. They put that “Ursula causes trouble between humans and merpeople” and “your mom was killed by humans” but didn’t connect anything. They also added “Ariel has a healing siren song” that they did nothing with, Eric could have killed Ursula, but had Ariel use her song with the trident to being back her father. Also, there was no feeling of family with Ariel and anyone underwater so her hesitation to leave or stay above water felt like literally nothing.

[@M星の水晶]

Plus. if you read the books... the plot holes grows WAY bigger. like the detail where Ariel knows her mother was killed by humans, and her way to cope was collecting human stuff. Which for me is the equivalent to someone learning what type of knife was use to kill their loved one and ONLY used that type of knife. Also despite being the youngest princess, Ariel was ALREADY ruling a part of the see DURING the film. She was already a working royal. That was what the meeting at the start was about. an update on the condition of each sister's ruling sea. And I learn about that, I was like "Wouldn't this mean that the movie is showing her to be a neglectful, incompetent leader, who abandoned her sea- THOUSANDS of merfolk without a leader, for legs? where is this kind and gentle leader Ariel the book is mentioning?"

[@xvxqz6868]

@@M星の水晶 God loves you!!, repent, it will be hard on the journey but it'll be worth it in the end!! God bless💙💙💙❤️

[@xvxqz6868]

@@M星の水晶 God loves you!!, repent, it will be hard on the journey but it'll be worth it in the end!! God bless

[@cahidijoyoraharjo7833]

It's called lazy writing. You're welcome.

[@nailinthefashion]

I'm always so thankful when reading review comments. Imagine if yall were not consumers but writers and we had to sit thru the most cliché booshee ever? 🤡

[@karenwapinski4822]

I think the direction that Disney and so many other studios are going in now just really show the lack of (or stifling of?) creative voices and a willingness to experiment and create something new. When the Disney Renaissance started it not just sparked off for Disney it inspired other studios to come up with fresh new takes too, like Anastasia or We're Back!. Whereas now they're all playing it so safe and just redoing the same scripts with new characters or remaking older favorites and while audiences may come out to see it because there will always be parents looking for a family movie to take their kids to, they aren't going earn those same beloved places in their hearts and become part of the cultural zeitgeist the way the old ones did. The last few Disney's I can think of that did incredibly well like that were probably Frozen and Coco, both original stories based on folklore and fairy tales. And with the incredible library of fairy tales and folklore from the entire world that's never been adapted to tap into it's kind of strange that instead they're just redoing their old movies.

[@Galaxies3000]

The humans killing Ariel's mom isn't new to live action, but was actually shown in the little mermaid three: the prequel one whose title I can't remember. Ariel's mom(Athena, for some reason) was minding her business when a ship came over and road killed her to death. Sea killed?

[@leylamontenegro126]

Yep! This is true.

[@AwesTex]

Same with Ursela being Triton’s sister. I think that was an abandoned plot line that was hinted at in The Little Mermaid and was revealed more explicitly in Little Mermaid 2? I might be wrong but I know it wasn’t entirely new, they just made it more explicit in this one.

[@softbread2073]

okay but this is a direct to video sequel, they were pretty much just padding and disney hardly considers them canon

[@lyndseystrait1513]

Yeah, Ariel's Beginnings, where Athena was killed by a ship crash, right?

[@Galaxies3000]

@@softbread2073 I mean... Shouldn't have made them then. I still consider The Lion King 1/2 as canon just because lol

[@HarmonyHope7534]

The worst offense for me are that Sebastian is a ghost crab, which are mostly land crabs and are capable of drowning. Plus their excuse for why Scuttle can breathe underwater is that she's a gannet, which are diving birds. Ignoring the fact that gannets still need air, and that she should have bubbles coming out of her mouth from the gulp of air she should have took before diving. It's weird that they're trying to make the animals "realistic", yet don't at least Google information on the animal they base the characters on.

[@filipsperl]

god, the more I know about this film, the more I hate it

[@jova9941]

she says in the movie “i need to go up for air “ at one point in the film.

[@HarmonyHope7534]

@@jova9941 they still should've put bubbles coming out of her mouth to show she's using air. No matter what she says, the visuals still show her "breathing" under water

[@jova9941]

@@HarmonyHope7534 lol i mean that’s just a nit picky critique ..you do know flounders and crabs don’t really sing too right 😂 and mermaids are fake..no one is watching these movies for scientific accuracies of ocean life ..they made the fish life LOOK more real , that’s pretty much where it ends . ..

[@jova9941]

and i literally could care less about this movie i prefer the original but this critique threw me off i had to comment

[@devfrancis7666]

One note: the dead mom thing actually did happen in one of the animated sequel movies to the little mermaid (it was a prequel) she got like crushed by a boat or smthn like that, it was an accident involving humans basically.

[@LilianaRodriguez-kk7pm]

Yes! Ariel’s Beginning it’s technically the third movie but taking place before she met Eric and how her life was with her sisters! One of my favs 🥰

[@LizardBrick]

THANK YOU. I was hoping somebody wii or his say this

[@melmelon3393]

YES. also Ariels dad and Ursula are actually siblings but you'd only know from reading the books

[@OrpheasVIPC]

Some corrections to what you said, they didn't pull the "dead mother" thing from their ass, it was shown in a prequel movie, and Ursula being Triton's sister came from a deleted scene

[@TheRibottoStudios]

I think people fundamentally misunderstood the little mermaid for years. When you look at the film from the perspective of a father daughter story, with the daughter trying to spread her wings and her father not letting her, suddenly everything about it makes sense. Even down to Ariel's brashness. It isn't JUST Ariel's story. It's her father's story too.

[@CareBear2480]

No.

[@VioletSArbleu]

If that’s how you feel the original Disney movie is supposed to be viewed, you should also then be upset that the new movie definitely didn’t do that too.

[@kerim.peardon5551]

Yes, Triton is the devouring mother figure in that he is trying to keep his youngest daughter sheltered when she's ready to grow up and leave the nest. This leads to her essentially running away and making bad decisions to try and follow her dreams. Her conflict with her father is resolved when he sacrifices himself for her sake, proving to her that he truly loves her (whereas before she felt like he only loved to control her). She matures when she realizes this and risks herself (along with Eric) to defeat Ursula and save him. It's a story that plays out between teenagers and their parents in households across the world every single day.

[@TheRibottoStudios]

​@@kerim.peardon5551EXACTLY

[@stonks3507]

@@VioletSArbleuWell, yeah. It’s definitely a shame

[@Firellius]

Another issue with the memory loss bit is that it undermines the entire narrative nature of the contract. In the original, it was likely made into a contract specifically because it is a Faustian contract: You give something up, to get what you think you want. But Faustian Contracts work as a narrative device because they are great for a character arc. It confronts the signer with a change of perspective and priority: What they gave up turned out to be more valuable than they thought, and/or what they were chasing wasn't worth it. Ursula tossing in the cheat clause just undermines the entire thing, because Ariel no longer has agency in the outcome.

[@Domarius64]

You're so right... this has been used throughout story writing since stories were invented and they fucked it up. It's not like they were short on examples. It just shows they have no idea what they're doing.

[@shadowninja6689]

it also creates plot holes of how can you enforce a contract if you make people who signed it forget about the existence of said contract?

[@Mereologist]

Worse, since Ariel has no memory, there's literally nothing stopping Ursula from IMMEDIATELY interfering and preventing her from getting anywhere near completing her mission. "Hey girl who just lost your memory: do you still want that ride to a remote island you asked me for? Let's go!" Ursula being in any way sneaky or waiting is completely absurd.

[@frostfang1]

Also... Ursula was being sneaky and undermining it at the end *anyways* there's no reason she needed to be sneaky in the beginning too, she already made it super unbalanced and difficult.

[@3939donne]

It would have been nice to keep that kind of narrative device, but I think they went on a different route here, that instead of making Ariel think that she gets what she thinks she wants, to be on land and the man she loves and ultimately knows that she really wants that, it alternatively focuses more on the dynamic between Eric and Ariel. In the OG, it kinda felt like it was a constructed kind of relationship, like Ariel just kind of used Eric to be able to live on land, although she does like him, but you know, she still kinda did use him for her wants and it's a bit icky, for me at least, that it's like that. In the remake, not only does she not remember to need to kiss him to be able to live on land, it makes their relationship feel real, that it happened because they met through fate, she didn't need to chase him to kiss him, it just comes out natural to them, which was the opposite of ursula's insurance plan.

[@jodiefrancis7439]

Ursula as Triton's sister was part of the original story. But the Broadway version dealt with it a lot better - with ' I want the good times back'. There was an actual backstory and it made more sense as to why Ursula wanted to destroy Triton.

[@BelleDraws-i5d]

Yeah I wanted to know about that. In the live-action, Ursula is complaining in 50% of the movie but we haven't really seen why she was banished in exile by her brother

[@TheGamerApocalypse]

You should see the copyright royalties on I want the Good Times Back. One of the only places you’re ever going to see that preformed is on Broadway lmao

[@saltandlight316]

It was never in the animated version and they never should have put it in the live-action because in the Little Mermaid 2 Ursula has a sister already, so it literally makes no sense unless all 3 of them are siblings.

[@elcatalanlibanes]

Point to me where in the animated movie that happened or was mentioned. And if it was part of the development process, and then discarded, it probably was for a good reason, considering that the animated is a better movie.

[@saintfighteraqua]

Ursula lived in the palace but she wasn never mentioned to be related to Triton in the animated film (or the Hans Christian Anderson tale). I've always figured she was like his court sorceress or something. I think I did read it was planned to have them related but scrapped or just never mentioned. I don't think it's a bad idea, necessaily, just unecessary and in the live action, written poorly.

[@msjrockqueen2011]

Your bit about Ursula suddenly becoming Triton's sister in this version: found this on Wikipedia (about the cartoon movie): "Ursula was originally conceived as Triton's sister, which would have naturally made the character Ariel's aunt, but the idea was ultimately abandoned. However, their blood relationship is still vaguely alluded to when the character mentions a time during which she actually lived in Triton's palace." So, these guys pretty much decided to include a part of the original screenplay that was scrapped; they didn't invent the idea.

[@JohnSmith-iw1wd]

I'm certain that I've heard that idea over a decade ago, to the point where I was convinced that it was mentioned in the original movie.

[@WobblesandBean]

The idea was scrapped for a reason. It just brings up too many questions. Like, why didn't Ariel know more about her if she was a blood relative? Why didn't Ursula refer to her as cousin, or niece, or whatever? The line about her living in the palace doesn't mean she's related to royalty. It just means she used to be a dignitary of some sort. Like an advisor or even some sort of servile role, like a cook or a tutor.

[@shannongoodwin4912]

I always imagined Ursula had a Jafar-like role in the palace in the distant past, but that since Triton is proud, smart-ish, stubborn, and strong-willed, she got exiled for meddling.

[@samkathryn4825]

One of the saddest things about these remakes (imo) is that the trend mostly kicked off with a few fairly unique movies and a Cinderella remake that a lot of people think is better than the original with a few exceptions. The reason Cinderella worked is because it took a fairytale that wasn’t as fully realized as it could have been and for the most part made changes in line with the original story. Cinderella is a genuinely good person who is rewarded for her kindness and generosity with a night at the ball and falling in love with the prince. The prince is a character rather than a plot device. I never much cared for the original Cinderella as a child, but the remake felt so magical when I saw it in theaters and feels mostly like the type of movie Disney would’ve made ages ago if it could have. The other remakes have felt less magical and mostly less realized than the originals. And it’s really depressing in cases where Disney could’ve (like Cinderella) taken advantage of their brand IP and the recognizable imagery to create a less questionable version for some of the older ones. Like how Walt wanted the prince in Snow White to be more active, but the studio struggled with animated male characters so they recycled the material for Prince Phillip in Sleeping Beauty. Peter Pan is a glaring example of where they could have fixed a few things (and in some cases gone closer to the original novel) and had good feminine representation with Wendy and better written the Native Americans but kept the magic of the original. There have been quite a few good live action versions of Peter Pan/Neverland, so clearly it’s not a matter of “live action can’t tell this story” and more of “Disney doesn’t respect its own films and characters and stories.”

[@Temperans]

As usual the problem is not that they made an adaptation. Its that they keep writing it poorly and then complain that the audience is at fault.

[@weregretohio7728]

That's what I appreciated about Cruella. Even if one thinks it bad or unnecessary... at least it tried to do SOMETHING. Remakes need to attempt to find their own character, like children coming out from under their parents' wings. Too easy for Disney to churn out a generic copy, which is inevitably less than, and rake in the cash.

[@mar.s6516]

I thought id would be interesting if prince in Snow White was childhood friend of hers for one and maybe he could've studied medicine/healing - that way he would be diff. kind of prince one who values knowledge and helping people instead of swordplay and as bonus he would have knowledge to help and heal Snow White at end maybe perforfing version of CPR 😜or brewing some magic antivenom. I think it would make him more interesting comp. to original and kids would get nice rolemodel too.

[@800Ms-k6n]

I love Cinderella remake, it's my favourite Disney remake so far. The ball room dance scene has more soul and personality than the rest of the Disney remakes. I'm just glad that Cinderella remake came out in the perfect timing, Amazon's Cinderella is what we could've gotten if Disney made it today

[@OReily08080]

I actually enjoyed those Cinderella, Snow white movies with Selena Gomez, Hillary Duff, Brandy, Lily Collins. Pretty unique in their own ways

[@chrisalvino812]

Seriously! I miss seeing professional voice actors in major animated films. Ive been screwming about this for years!

[@WobblesandBean]

Me too. I hate celebrity stunt casting. Bring back voice actors!

[@sharonefee1426]

Up until Frozen they were top notch (okay, maybe not Kristof). In Moana... She was really good, and.. other than that I heard just the "you're welcome" song and he was fine, I guess?

[@jkhaos1235]

I am glad that we get our movies dubbed from professionals for the German version. I have heard such awful voices and was like...what. Why do they put up with such a low quality. 😮

[@heelmoxley365]

My breaking point for Disney was making the Sanderson sisters sympathetic. The women who brutally murdered god knows how many children. Like wtf.😂

[@yuki97kira]

Side eyeing cruella de vil

[@joellezima3506]

@@yuki97kiraomg don’t even get me started on that movie, they keep doing the “evil person can be redeemable” and I’m like, it’s fiction? The woman literally made coats out of dogs there’s no redemption from that which is why she’s a fictional villainous character? I don’t like that idea they’re giving to kids, sometimes evil happens and there’s no reason or explanation

[@crybabycasper]

NO, LITERALLY!!! Like there's no WAY that Winifred suddenly GAF about her sisters! She would've been so happy to have that much magic and power at her fingertips.

[@IAMYOLO2020]

@@yuki97kiraI actually liked the movie Cruella, but that's because it's about fashion design and the songs are pretty good

[@godrules311]

@@joellezima3506 I liked the Cruella movie myself, but mostly because I mentally dissociate it from 101 Dalmatians.

[@PedroBenolielBonito]

8:00 especially not a sheltered teenager who's only ever known life as a scullery maid. Nope. No sir. Never going to happen.

[@lizziefirkey6385]

I feel like Disney would have far more luck making "inspired by" movies. A story about a mermaid falling in love with a human *inspired by* The Little Mermaid would be fine! Similar story with entirely different characters. Seeing characters with pretty different personalities in similar situations is FUN. It's really too bad. Especially because they're putting themselves in a corner. These movies will always be compared to the original animated ones and, like Alex says, will have extreme difficulties getting to that level with live action.

[@TamarMebonia]

"Splash" with Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah comes to mind.

[@samm.6625]

There's a movie from 2018 which is pretty much exactly that! It's even called The Little Mermaid but it's entirely different characters and it was a pretty cute movie (as far as I remember)

[@lorenzotorri605]

Of course it would, but then it would also accept a larger share of the risk in doing so. With movies costing as much as they do, and with Disney having countless titles to milk, it makes little sense from a financial standpoint to deviate from the time-tested money formula. That is very sad, of course, but they are looking to depend on as little luck as possible, not more of it.

[@yndrelbosch3678]

The problem I have with people comparing the live action remakes to the originals, at least in regards to stories like the Little Mermaid is the fact that Disney didn't even create these stories. Little Mermaid was written by Hans Christian Anderson, Ariel was a blonde and she was supposed to murder the prince since he wouldn't fall in love with him, when she decided to instead throw herself into the sea to become sea foam (since mermaids don't have souls) the spirits of the air decided to take her in as one of them for her 'noble sacrifice', and the best part about the whole thing was that it was an allegory for a gay love story XD

[@11more40]

​@@samm.6625I remember seeing trailers about it on tv

[@VermilionRays]

As someone who loves video games and cartoons I cannot agree more about voice actors. My husband and I always end up diving down the IMDB rabbit hole when we hear a familiar voice and end up finding out their voice has been with us since childhood. So cool and there are many amazing ones out there!

[@yuki97kira]

Same..voice acting is a wonderful craft, its sad that the money hungry executive just wanna slap a known name and call it a day

[@TheOReport1994]

Also it's that little spark of recognition you have when you instantly recognise a voice that you know, but not know where from! You know but you can't peg it! (Completely maddening!) Like Jim Cummings! He is and always will be Pooh Bear for me since I grew up hearing that voice, but it was a complete shock to me to hear his voice while playing Elder Scrolls online! (I knew the voice but couldn't peg it exactly. My brain literally went into the old timey dial-up tone reboot as I tried to remember where I recognized that voice from, before I got it but had to look it up because I was so shocked! His voice was still recognizable after so many years, that I even knew it before I knew it! I get what you mean! That's the mark of a great voice actor, in my opinion!

[@adrielisaacs9228]

Something about this movie that bothered me was how they treated Flounder. As a kid he was my favourite character other than Scuttle and Ariel. The live action made him into a background character that is barely present, sometimes I forgot he was there...I never felt that way when I watched the original. I also don't like that Sebastian is never mentioned as a composer in the remake, and that Ariel, who NEVER had legs before, knew how to SWIM up to the surface, rather than having Sebastian and Flounder help her to the surface. Ariel was just the person who did everything for herself most of the time...Her relationships with her friends in the original movie added charm to it, a HUGE chunk of that was lost in the remake. I would sum it up like this - in the original, it felt more like they actually WANTED to help her get with Eric and thus help their friend find happiness. In the remake, it feels like they were forced by her to help her - especially with that silly addition of her forgetting that she needed to kiss Eric. Sebastian also didn't feel as fatherly/guardianly as he did in the original, and that disappointed me. Ariel defeating Ursula still bugs me too - it removes the reason why Triton changed his mind about humans. It's fine for there to be a rescue balance - Ariel saved Eric from drowning and then he rescues her, her father and by extension the merpeople Ursula trapped in her lair. That is what made Triton change his mind, along with trusting his daughter. In the remake all that was lost - Ariel even claims near the end that Eric helped her...when on earth did that happen in the final fight?

[@princeofalbany]

For me, the CGI animals were the worst part; some things just don't translate well between animation styles and the end result is clear here. Lion King had the same problem, though their problem was that the animals were so realistic that they basically couldn't emote.

[@antosaurusrex3752]

One of the things that bothered me was that Eric didn’t kill Ursula. Like Eric is a great character and without that it kind of felt like he was useless. In fact he became the same kind of love Interest that women used to be portrayed as. and that annoys me. Why can’t both of them be compelling characters that contribute to the plot? Also his saving Ariel was the final straw that convinced Triton that some humans were okay so that whole sentiment is completely removed. I’m tired of the need to make girl boss characters. Don’t get me wrong they’re great but they’re all the same and clearly just made so Disney can seem politically correct. Besides it’s dumb if that was the reasoning because we already know Ariel’s a girl boss as she saved Eric earlier in the movie. While I have lots of complaints about the film, little mermaid is very dear to my heart, so despite all that I still enjoyed it, but it nonetheless frustrated me.

[@animelover1582]

We’ll actually in the beginning of the movie during the ship wreck we’re shown Eric trying to save the ship by steering the wheel. And Ariel watches him as he does this, which is the only reason why she knew how to kill Ursula. She didn’t know that the wheel could move the ship, until she saw Eric do it. So in a way both Eric and Ariel killed Ursula since,if Eric would have never steered the wheel, Ariel wouldn’t have seen, and therefore wouldn’t have known what to do.

[@deviousangel336]

​@@animelover1582 That’s such a roundabout way of doing it, though. I don't even think the writers were thinking of that. It just happened

[@susivarga7303]

​@@animelover1582 Jesus, my brain just exploded 😂

[@RandomSwiftie13]

And it's not even politically correct. The people behind this are just greedy and are just trying to be pretentious as if we can't tell that they are old conservative businessmen with capital greed that has destroying real art and artists. They are only milking nostalgia as much as they possibly can from the OG fans.

[@terraventusaqua123]

@@animelover1582I think that would be pretty clever if I didn’t also think that happened purely by narrative luck. Also, the major flaw is in how the scene you’re referring to and the climax interact in the story. In the shipwreck scene, Eric got stuck on the ship as a result of going back into the inferno to save his dog Max, and after doing so, Ariel saved Eric when he couldn’t make it back out. This scene comes with a payoff during the climax where Eric kills Ursula effectively closing a character loop: Ariel saved Eric and Eric repays her in kind. The remake seemingly completely missed these details in both scenes. During the shipwreck, Ariel saved Max by giving him a push onto a lifeboat and then she saved Eric who just didn’t get off the ship in time, which also ruins Eric’s characterization as an altruistic person. Jump forward to the climax where the roles are reversed and Ariel is saving Eric again. There’s no character through line for Eric. He’s only there to be saved and give Ariel a kiss. Oh my god, the remake made Eric “A PRIZE TO BE WON”… Side Note: Switching Eric and Ariel’s roles in the climax makes no sense for Ursula either. Ursula in both versions was angry at Ariel for (indirectly) killing Flotsam and Jetsam. In the original, this anger is exactly why she started tormented and attempting to kill Ariel with the power of the seas. She was so obsessed with revenge, that didn’t notice Eric steering the ship toward until it was already too late. The remake fumbled Ursula’s motivation in that scene by switching Ariel and Eric. Even if Ursula were to seek revenge by tormenting Eric, she would never have turned a blind eye to Ariel, the person who murdered her subordinates.

[@uofc57]

For the record (because I'm very detail-oriented), the remake Scuttle isn't a seagull. She's a gannet, a seabird that actually dives underwater to catch its prey. They changed it in order to give her a plausible explanation for why she can stay underwater (though, of course, real gannets can only hold their breath for about 30 seconds).

[@cherrylimeali4393]

That's so cool. I still wish Ariel had gone to the surface tho.

[@unserhundblacky]

Thank you, I was just about to write the same thing! :D

[@artsveiman7776]

that said they gave her full Aquaman powers, being able to hold entire conversations with Ariel Im surprised they didnt have her sitting down for teatime with Ariel.

[@Adroit1911]

30 seconds!!! That's more than most humans

[@supersasukemaniac]

which makes no sense because the original Scuttle never had a scene underwater.

[@LivingFire_BurningFlame]

I miss the era when the definition of remake is something that's created based on the already existed thing, equally good or better, not getting worse and way worse like this.

[@xLadyRaine]

This has never been true remakes. They’ve alway been controversial to fans of the original

[@mldavid4056]

The definition of “remake” has never required them to be good, what are you even talking about?

[@Blodhelm]

@@xLadyRaine There have been plenty of good King Kong and Godzilla remakes. Evil Dead 2 was just a remake of Evil Dead done arguably better for rights reasons. Even Ben Hur with Charlton Heston was a remake, and it's the definitive version. It's just a testament to how bad remakes have been for so long that you think there never were any that were good.

[@BlazingKhioneus]

The "why didnt ariel just write to talk" arguement forgets several details: What's a pen? What's paper? How will she find these? How will she ask for these? How will she know what they are? How will she afford these hot commodities back in the 1800s?

[@LE-zy2od]

Shell and sand

[@rikasrose]

If they could make Tamatoa (the actual coconut crab from Moana) pleasing and fun and entertaining to kids, they could have done something far more fun for Sebastian. And Mark Hamill would have done a far better Scuttle.

[@kailet1997]

They couldnt bc of art direction. It needs to be "realistic" which takes away all creative freedom for good character design

[@irondragonmaiden]

@@kailet1997 But realistic wildlife IS colorful. Have these people ever SEEN the ocean and its fauna?

[@key-s6507]

​@irondragonmaiden Obviously, not. Sure, it gets darker the farther you go but you can still add colors and kept realistic in way, for example Finding Nemo wanted to do a realistic ocean but decided against since their target was little kids.

[@racheldeschaine]

The tiny changes to the live actions that they make (ex: Ariel's amnesia, Aladdin holding the lamp behind his back) absolutely CONFOUND me! I do not understand who would think these particular changes made these stories better. The only thing I can imagine is that they sat and thought about the original stories for so long that their brains got tied in knots.

[@-Vague_Hysteria-]

same i feel like ariel having her memories and knowing how little time she has left is more tense and heart breaking and makes me root for her more. side note if they really wanted a more in depth, new age story that goes further than just boy meets girl they could have (as another commenter suggested) turned the lense to ariel's relationship with her father and expanded on the two and the trauma that pushes triton to tether her to the sea. i feel like ariel's father was more real and full of life in the 2d original one because you could hear and see the anger or pain in his voice. in the new one the actor feels stiff, cold and unfeeling. not just the actor but the character itself feels less like a doting and protective father and more like a boss or weirdly attached acquaintance with authority. in the original from start to finish you could tell alot of care was put into tritons emotions, the pride and acceptance in his demeanor in the end solidified he genuinely cared and was scared to let go but trusted her to stay safe now.

[@racheldeschaine]

@@-Vague_Hysteria- Omigosh describing new triton as an acquaintance is so true!😂 It really dulls the final goodbye between them too. The cartoon always made me cry at the end but I didn’t feel a real father/daughter connection between them in the new one so it almost felt awkward.

[@-Vague_Hysteria-]

@@racheldeschaine exactly! honestly disney forgot what made their works so powerful. they've gotten so caught up in following trends and what worked before that they forgot their first unflinching leaps into new territory. they no longer push for the new and unseen. when snow white was made it was effectively the first of its kind in that field of creativity. we are past the days of snow white and honestly they need a new spark. because they've become fixated on the past. at least maleficent and cruella presented new narrative and stories (though i feel maleficent did it much better than cruella since it feels more fleshed out and less like a fanfiction) hell i would have jumped for joy at the idea of a triton movie (hell even if it was live action) in which it outlines tritons relationship and history with ariel's mother. allowing us to get to know the character on a deeper level through their childhood and rise to power.

[@andreasmeelie1889]

What happened with Aladdin holding the lamp thing? Didn’t he do that in the original?

[@racheldeschaine]

@@andreasmeelie1889 in the original he manipulated the genie into getting him out of the cave of wonders by playing on his ego, saying the genie couldn’t get them out even if he wanted to. In the new one they made this rule about having to rub the lamp while making the wish, so he wished for genie to get them out of the cave but held the lamp behind his back and didn’t rub it. It was a really weird change that did less to show Aladdin’s cleverness.

[@byronheath8925]

It’s worth noting that many of the changes you pointed out were part of the stage musical production, which is itself very popular. This includes Triton hating humans because he thinks they killed his wife, Ursula being Triton’s sister, and Ariel saving herself at the end.

[@kuuverse]

And in the original animated one, the prequel- Ariel’s mother is killed by humans too, although accidentally.

[@M星の水晶]

Wait... they applied some stuff from the stage musical, but not the song that expands on Ursula and Tritons relationship to justify not cutting the detail that they're siblings? Talk about a waste. I'd trade that for the scuttle butt.

[@vetarlittorf1807]

Ariel saving the day makes sense in the musical solely because the animated ending doesn't work on stage. But the remake had no justified reason to have Ariel be the one to kill Ursula. Especially since Eric doing it is what convinces Triton that he was wrong about humans.

[@izzywoods794]

All that is in the og movie tho except Ariel saving herself

[@thebeoworg8759]

I really enjoyed how the incorporated the prey eye effect on ariel Makes her a more believable fish

[@MegaKnight2012]

The cartoon's Ariel was already obsessed with the surface world and seeing a handsome prince was just icing on the cake, and it was her dad destorying all of her surface world samples that made her break down to do whatever to get a bite out of the proverbial surface bakery's wares. Also, apparently the 2D animator didn't have much time to make the original masterpeice, and not as much money, but a local improv group helped them by doing ludicrous performances to give then inspiration for the cartoon, like the Under the Sea dance. The actress who would go on to voice Slappy the Squirrel in Animanics was Ariel's reference. Maybe they needed more over the top improv actors to give this new film needed life.

[@joshuawargo6446]

That is an awesomely cool random fact

[@youfoundwaldo77]

Obviously melissa mccarthy couldnt touch the original ursala but she was the only actor who brought more than a minuscule amount of emotion to the character

[@lessismore8533]

Agree she NAILED it! Along with Vanessa’s actress

[@WobblesandBean]

Seriously. Halle Bailey had the entire expression the entire film. She was all o __ o

[@WobblesandBean]

​@@lessismore8533 She didn't "nail it", she was horrid compared to the original. But at least she showed emotion, unlike anyone else on the cast.

[@EvilAliceWonderland]

@@lessismore8533 Vanessa was the best part of the movie!

[@piperlee4213]

I love Melissa’s interpretation and performance of Ursula! She actually did her research and I think was the only one who could’ve pulled of a live action Ursula. Ursula is based of the drag queen, Divine. And Melissa has done drag portraying Divine so it’s really incredible that it’s come full circle

[@tru.6247]

disney remakes need to stop 😭😭

[@ashleyr6809]

Yes they do and I wish people would not make anime into live action like that sucky live action One Piece.

[@itstruckmeeveryday]

I love them! I find them more entertaining and visually stimulating

[@trippingandbrowsing1269]

@@ashleyr6809 Nah dude, the One Piece live action is the exception, lots of people/fans including myself loved it. Otherwise I agree, anime live actions are usually very awful. EDIT: Ashley hasn't even seen the damn show.

[@PeterGriffin11]

Agreed. I'm hoping their other live action remakes like Lilo & Stitch, Moana & Snow White also flop like Mulan & The Little Mermaid did. Disney has become WAY to complacent with relying on name recognition and their big Ip's milking them to make more money which has recently been biting them in the ass.

[@Gabry4777]

​@@itstruckmeeveryday you mean that you can't handle the original since these are all but "more visually stimulating"

[@anarodrigues6286]

Well, in some official Disney books they mention that Ursula was actually Triton's sister, but something happened and she was cursed and Triton banished her to the far ends of the ocean. And about Ariel mom, there's an actual Disney animated movie that tells us the story of how Ariel's mom "Athena" died, killed by pirates and how Triton began to hate humans and all that

[@nopenah3891]

Jim Carrey seems to be the only one who can achieve cartoon expression in a live action

[@ashleyr6809]

Jim Carrey is in it?????

[@alysssabear]

@@ashleyr6809He’s talking about the Grinch

[@Intotheabyss1988]

No I think he’s referring to his roll as robotnic in sonic

[@sarayamini2450]

fun fact he almost voiced Eric, but he wasn't "famous enough" at the time so they went with someone else lol

[@beethovensfidelio]

@@sarayamini2450 Ironic since Christopher Daniel Barnes who voiced Eric wasn’t an A-list actor either. 😂

[@aceproductions43]

The mother being killed by humans, while not in the original film did happen in the direct-to-video movie Ariel's Beginnings. Also Ursula being Triton's sister was a cut concept from the original film

[@hazbinotakusimp2182]

Also it was in the musical!

[@alwaysbeen..c.j1576]

Yes finally someone who knows this

[@rosymills1660]

This was my first thought when he said that, but I just left it to “he most likely just wasn’t that into the movie so he didn’t know the backstory”

[@miaperry2838]

That’s what I thought! I couldn’t remember if that’s was legit or not beforehand

[@charg1nmalaz0r51]

@@alwaysbeen..c.j1576 barely anyone watched direct to vhs cash grabs of these popular stories

[@truechaos6927]

to be fair, Buddy Hackett, the original voice of Scuttle, wasn't a voice actor he was a comedian/actor and only did voice in a handful of films, but he knew how to put his all into a character.

[@Domarius64]

Well that's the point, isn't it? They cast a really good comedian in a comedy role.

[@truechaos6927]

@@Domarius64 most likely, and they didnt want to do that with the live action.

[@lessismore8533]

@@truechaos6927well rotate way nothing bears the original Scuttle. Originals are hard acts to follow

[@sharonefee1426]

It is a comedy role. Same with Robin WIlliams in Aladdin.

[@truechaos6927]

@@sharonefee1426 true and it was tough to see anyone but Robin Williams do that role

[@Candle-wd2jv]

Her name is Melissa McCarthy Not Megan. Also They changed scuttle from a seagull all together to a Northern gannet which is a diving bird. The best live action Snow White is Ginnifer Goodwin in once upon a time. Strong independent but still capable of true love and showing you can have love and a family and rule a flipping kingdom/fairytale realm.

[@vlbz]

Great point about professional voice actors. They were so good in these older animations, especially the ones in quirky roles.

[@xena91388]

Too bad he killed his point by using Scuttle as an example 💀 Scuttle's original VA, Buddy Hackett, was a famous comedian with very few voice roles and arguably the biggest star in the cast at the time. Better examples would have been Jodie Benson (Ariel) who had only done Broadway before this and was cast for her voice, or Pat Carroll (ursula) who was seasoned on both Broadway & voice acting before this.

[@SpaceMonkey15]

Time to introduce you to the live stage musical, where Ursula is not only Triton's sister but also has committed serial sororicide because she was jealous that her father Poseidon didn't treat her sisters like shit because they were mermaids and not octopus people.

[@jezeannwilliams1145]

A movie about young Triton, Ursula and Morgana would be pretty dope

[@Sandrilyonaify]

The dead mother trope is not new. It was mentioned either in the series or in some sequels, I saw a Disney illustrated book on how Ariel’s mother died and how music was even banned for a while in the underwater kingdom because of that. Also the reason Ariel is Triton's favorite is because she looks exactly as her mom.

[@D-TayWashington]

She got that, BODY LANGUAGE.

[@emmagaladriellorenceau5817]

I just KNOW that if Dylan is in trouble and Alex Meyers come up with the same problems on a movie, I don't have to bother watching it

[@vvv8392]

Dylan made it clear that the movie looked dull and lifeless which is correct

[@brittanybarkhousejackson4934]

Literally how I judge if media is worth my time is by watching Alex and Dylan. The best kind of influencers!

[@inayataqiyah6787]

dylan and alex are literally my fav ever

[@sonicsillies]

I LOVE BOTH DYLAN AND ALEX SO MUCH 😭😭😭 my fav movie commentators frr

[@zclotho]

basing if you're going to consume a piece of media on whether two random KZbinrs make issues on it is so....strange. make up ur opinion on it truly not that hard hell pirate it or watch lil scenes on it i find it weird ppl nowadays align their whole stance on something based on what other people say

[@foxrichmondgaming]

At 8:39 Ursula was actually king tritons sister in the original you can find that in the extended opening of fathoms below

[@geardog24]

I remember the original Sebastian has such a happy energy in his voice when he sung. The live action version sounds like a drunk at karaoke.

[@bartrese]

I obviously prefer the original too but I will not tolerate any Daveed Diggs slander! 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@mar.s6516]

Thank you for great laugh - "drunk at karaoke" !! 🤪😂😂

[@radhakrishn2515]

These messed up remakes really makes you realise the beauty of the originals like those really felt like fairytales...

[@RondallaScores]

The difference between the old Disney with Walt Disney and the Current Disney is that the Old Disney have the balls to tell a story even if they may face backlash because Walt Disney believed that his art IS a representation of him. With the Current Disney on the other hand, they're just there to please the masses hence there's a blandness to their content and of course don't forget the greed.

[@kathyflorcruz552]

What masses? They keep bashing their audience over the head with woke & keep failing over & over!!

[@bluegreen5377]

Uh Walt died in 1960s I'm pretty sure. He didn't have anything to do with Disney Renaissance unless they resurrected him.

[@Generallyannoyed2024]

So you have no idea how words work bluegreen?

[@you-chan4641]

@@bluegreen5377 No, he's saying the Old Disney (aka Renaissance Disney) followed Walt Disney's belief of having a story they want to tell against all odds. You can be inspiried by someone despite him/her not being alive anymore.

[@lessismore8533]

@@you-chan4641amen

[@Espeonchan]

I mean, they didn't just throw in the dead mom trope for the sake of it. Athena was indeed hit and killed by a pirate ship in the third movie (The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning) which serves as a prequel to the first one.

[@edwardfarres941]

15:52 I'm so glad that you also noticed him😆

[@ItzKikixpreppytoca]

For me I think that the original movie was absolutely STUNNING. growing up it was my all time favourite Disney movie and Disney princes, and to see what they have done to the live action is honestly really sad. And another thing that I feel people often say is that she gave up her whole life just for a man and stuff like but to be honest I feel like that makes sense if she was in love.

[@dudewhatthewhat8983]

5:05 To be fair, the hole “humans killed your mom” change, isn’t remake original. In the prequel movie, (which I watched way too often as a kid) it’s a hole plot point, that Ariel’s mom got killed by a group of sailors.

[@The_NonDescript]

As far as Awkwafina being a voice actress, I think Disney can't direct her the way Dreamworks did. Her character was perfectly fine in The Bad Guys.

[@chomosuke0720]

Awkwafina's voice makes me want to van Gogh my ears

[@ianmoore9154]

That’s probably due to the actual director and the allowances for the character. Also though, she was the wrong choice for Scuttle

[@beccagregory3586]

I love her in The Bad Guys. I don't like spiders, but Webs is probably my favorite character

[@izzywoods794]

She ruined Raya and The Last Dragon😭😭😭

[@goober69er]

She was not or bad in that but she was annoying as the dragon as well. She was ok in that vampire movie with Nicholas cage.

[@ArmednotTriggered]

I like how everyone brings up that Ariel can write her name, but they forget that Eric can understand Sebastian when he talks. He tells Eric her name. The reason he doesn't say anything else is because it has to be a kiss of true love. Another example of Disney trying to fix a plothole that wasn't even a plothole.

[@yutaaaa1178]

Definatly was a plothole

[@englishatheart]

​@@yutaaaa1178Definitely*

[@Ineeee]

And they also changed that in the live action. He doesn’t get the name from Sebastian anymore which I liked

[@vetarlittorf1807]

@@Ineeee Yes. By using constellations. Which makes no sense because Ariel has never seen stars.

[@Ineeee]

@@vetarlittorf1807 he has just taught her about it tho. Is it a bit of a reach? Yeah. But she’s a mermaid 😂 we can suspend disbelief enough

[@Bookluver29]

I loved the visuals of the remake, but where it fell down for me was that they didn't change the story enough. Why bring in all the destruction that humans are causing and talk about Ariel's mother being killed by humans if it's not going to matter? And just because Ariel got a little bit more time to 'fall in love' with Erik doesn't make their relationship all that much more believable. Extend the timeline. That's all you've got to do. Extend the timeline, you can still have the shady deal with Ursula, and the sea-witch could sabotage Ariel by letting slip that she's a mermaid to the humans and that humans have captured Ariel to Triton and suddenly we've got some real stakes. Ursula gets her kicks watching the world burn and sidles up for a power grab, Ariel and Erik have to work together to overcome centuries of bad blood and unite their peoples against the real threat, some ships get torn apart by sea monsters and the whole story ends in a political marriage with hope for true love. Cliches? Yes, but it's Disney.

[@TheYodelingViking]

The Part of your world song is literally sung before she meets Eric in the original which is literally the song about how she wants to live among the humans. Seeing Eric and having a crush on him (more realistic than most people want to acknowledge) and Triton destroying her collection just pushed her to go to the sea witch Ursula who made her need to make Eric kiss her to not die. She wanted to live with the humans way before Eric. She just got a crush when seeing him and grew to love him more. Of course the 3 days thing is the unrealistic part, but they could keep her crush while having it play out more like the original novel where the limit is not 3 days, but instead if he marries someone else she dies.

[@englishatheart]

It wasn't a "crush." Do people forget that true love and love at first sight/soulmates exist in the Disney universe? She fell in love with him at first sight because they're destined for each other.

[@Miaumiau175]

also, teenagers fall in love way quicker and harder than adults ✌️ that’s why there’s one month long relationships in high school

[@nailinthefashion]

​​@@englishatheartit's so silly when people say 3 days is too fast. I'm like, yes, and also she would have a top speed of 20~ mph with all that water resistance but it's a freaking fantasy! She's a MERMAID, get a grip! Let them eat cake!

[@Steve-xo5pq]

I totally agree with Alex that getting rid of the "girl falls for boy" thing completely is not the answer. Listen, I realize there is the other side of that where people get all upset, and call Disney "woke" for including literally anybody that is not white, straight, or some how doesn't live up to their expectation what "normal" is, and I'm definitely not about that. However, I think when it comes to writing strong female characters, there are a lot of ways to do it. Sometimes it feels like the only "strong female" hollywood knows how to write, especially in any movie where the target demographic is teens, is the contrarian "not like other girls" trope. I mean, if this were 10 years ago, and it was a new idea, I would be all for it, but it has been SO over done. Also in many of those teen rom coms, you have the main female lead falling for some very handsome but ultimately creepy and unstable bad boy anyway, so what's the point? The two main things I'd like to see change going forward is 1) more interesting female characters. this really isn't that difficult. Women are people too (I know, shocking!) it's literally the same idea as writing interesting male leads! It's kinda hard to give any suggestions, because there is literally nowhere to go but up at this point, but please just start by giving them literally any trait besides "i wear combat boots, loose baggy t-shirts, and I have one interesting hobby that is mentioned once in the beginning of the movie and never mentioned ever again." 2) being a strong woman does not = don't be feminine. There is nothing wrong with anybody regardless of gender being into literally anything. I realize there is a long history of putting people in a box, and stereotyping, but by going in the complete opposite direction EVERY time, it's literally the same problem but in reverse. literally all of my favorite female characters in fiction are actually not stereotypical cookie cut-outs of what boomers think women should be like. Ciri from witcher 3, Vi from arcane, Rayla from Dragon Prince, what do all these characters have in common? They are strong confident people who are not defined by their gender. Whether you like pink, cute fluffy things and looking nice, or you don't give a crap about stuff like that, regardless of what you got going on between your legs, a well written character is just that, a well written character!

[@katherinesmallbean3594]

I hate how it seems every strong female character is an independent tomboy. A girl can wear pink dresses and have a partner while still being badass as hell. Feminine stuff isn't weak! 👏

[@lyannawinter405]

Love your comment!

[@Escorducarla]

I just want to make a little comment about your opening paragraph, if I may. Including anyone that isn't white or straight isn't really why people call it woke. It's because it's not done for any reason other than being able to point to it for claps and snaps. And before you get a head of steam, I'm black. But holy crap did I not care about the race swapping in this movie as much as they wanted me to. Who cares if animated Ariel doesn't "look like me"? First, she's a fantasy character. Second, why should I be stoked about getting (incredibly) sloppy seconds? This movie makes no sense half the time, doesn't even understand the movie it's cribbing, and has no sense of the basic structure of musical theater. But hey, brown people, right? If better good stories with more minorities was the point, why not give thought and care to the product? Why not create original characters and original stories (or adapt new ones) that can become their own beloved traditions instead of being shrugged at (at best) or derided for being a lackluster copy of a better thing? Because the point was the visual, the surface. That's all the people who made this cared about. I find that insulting. Over-investment in the skin is insulting and tiresome. Okay, sorry, I have some real feelings about this, and it bugs me more than a little when people don't approach the issue in good faith, or assume that the only people who are bothered by it are sad slighted whites.

[@marquiswilliams7521]

A few key things. Ariel's mom being killed by humans is actually canon, it's the basis of the third installment of The Little Mermaid series. And Triton and Ursula being siblings are also canon, I believe it was made canon in the books.

[@M星の水晶]

Honestly, the details aren't the issue, it's how they implement it. Wioth the mom they VALIDATE Triton's worry by showing a bunch of humans ACTIVELY wanting to kill a merfolk. meaning the deaths between the animated mother and the remake maybe different, and the remake's death is possibly NOT an accident. and with Ursula, there was barely a reason to metion it unlike in the musical where they even gave ursula a new song to expand on this relationship. Maybe instead of stretching out some of the songs, give more scenes to justify including the sibling detail in to the movie. Much like the musical did.

[@thenomadicarc]

The third movie is also a Direct-to-DVD garbage. Disney didn't want to spend money on it so obviously we shouldn't care about it either. If it was worth caring about then Disney would have spent money on it and brought it to theaters.

[@CybeargPlays]

17:04 I can hear YMS screaming.

[@emerson-biggons7078]

Pretty sure both of the examples of Disney "stealing" from Japanese creators are both bogus rumours. Kimba being the most blatantly obvious, anyone who spends more than 5 seconds (Especially if they are YMS) will realize that its horse shit.

[@thenomadicarc]

@@emerson-biggons7078 Kimba the White Lion: An anime that ran from November 1950 - April 1954 The Lion King: An animated movie in the west that came out in 1994 that looks eerily similar to Kimba. Disney refuted the rumors that they stole the idea from Kimba and Osamu Tezuka and the animation houses in Japan did refuse to sue Disney. But let's think about that for a moment. The animation houses in Japan were, by their own admission, small and insignificant compared to Disney. If they had tried to sue they would have lost and likely would have owed Disney a ton of money. So, of course they didn't sue them. But it is quite obvious Disney committed copyright infringement and here you are sticking up for them. You sound like a Trump voter. Are you a stupid ass Trump voter?

[@DukeSkylocker]

It's crazy that it's been 7 years since The Jungle Book and that still remains the last Disney live action remake that managed to do the photo realistic cgi characters well without coming off as jarring. I don't know, maybe it was just the perfect casting that made it work (Bill Murray was pretty much born to play the role of Baloo, and the casting of Ben Kingsley as Bagheera and Idris Elba as Shere Khan was top notch. Heck even Christopher Walken, who should have been completely miscast as King Louie somehow worked just because of how he didn't even bother trying to copy the original and just played it as "I'm Christopher Walken as an orangutan").

[@TamJoy]

it was one of the first remakes, and you're right, it was really good. People tend to forget it ever happened, which is sad, because it was pretty close to the original (except for some odd scenes here and there) - but then again - we already had the Jungle Book live action in the 90's! Cary Elwes was an awesome villain, and that movie used actual, REAL animals - no CGI - and it was amazing - no "Bear Necessities" required. 🙂

[@lessismore8533]

Cinderella 2015 also nailed it

[@Olivia-ek9ib]

What irks me about Tritan's "and you fought to save my life" line at 15:31 is that it seems like they're trying to say Tritan sacrificing himself for Ariel automatically makes her weak, and therefore she needs to fight to save his life so it seems like they're equal partners. Which is fine for romantic relationships, but in this case I feel like it's taking away from their relationship as father-daughter? Like a huge part of this movie is that, despite their disagreements and Ariel outright disobeying him, he's her father, and he loves her so much he dies/gives his soul for her. It's supposed to be a movie for kids to realize that even when you fight with your parents they still love you more than anything, and this version tried to change it into a sort of "well you saved me, so now I have to save you so this doesn't make me seem like a damsel in distress" and it turns a loving moment between a parent and child to something that sounds almost like a business transaction.

[@fabiofuoco]

So spot on!!

[@qwinlyn]

Fun fact! The reason they included the dead mother trope is that it’s from one of the sequels to the original animated version. She’s done in by humans and Triton bans all music from Atlantica.

[@verina_crochet_garden]

Not exactly, she is accidentaly squished by a ship if I remember correctly.

[@qwinlyn]

@@verina_crochet_garden a human ship?

[@verina_crochet_garden]

@@qwinlyn Yes from humans, but as far as I remember they did not want to kill her, she just happened to be in the wrong place and got squished? And afterwards Triton hated humans, but I could be wrong.

[@hutao-yh2xl]

Finally i saw someone say this!!

[@moonstruck8245]

Yeah, a pirate ship - which made no sense to me because uh, running your ship aground the way they did kind of destroys them, so...they crashed their ship to steal a couple trinkets and instruments the mermaids had with them?? I'm pretty sure fixing their ship or getting a new one would be more expensive (not to mention everything on it) than whatever they stole from the fish people..@@qwinlyn

[@isabellastack3276]

you said it on purpose to get us Disney nerds mad 8:28. they always were siblings it just wasn't put in the classic film but was always cannon I thought at least.

[@deshaungoriola]

14:47 Bro I'm dead why did Eric look so sleepy?🤣🤣

[@TheLovelypecan]

Yes! My biggest gripe with these remakes is that they rely on big names to do the voices instead of casting on talent/skill! It doesn’t work and it makes the movies worse.

[@taylormitchell2899]

If you're talking about ariel herself, Disney has said they choose Hailey because of her amazing voice. While Hailey is known she wasn't as well-known as she was after the movie. Hailey has a beautiful voice and is a good actor so I wouldn't say that she made the movie worse, in my opinion. If you are taking about scuttle, then I would agree.

[@taylormitchell2899]

sorry halle

[@crispri3919]

​@@taylormitchell2899 Also.... halle is literally signed by beyonce lol.

[@TheLovelypecan]

I didn’t mean Halle she’s not a voice actor, she’s acting & singing, you get to see her physically give a performance. I meant the characters that are still only animated/ CGI so they need to rely solely on their voice to bring the character to life.

[@xtuffcookiex]

Guys they clearly aren’t talking about Ariel in this case come on . It’s the CGI characters and I agree.

[@WinterRose4444]

Having not seen the movie I have to ask: Is Triton this emotionless through the entire movie? Because good goddess, *emote* , man! Show *something* !

[@yuki97kira]

Triton when ariel almost met her death similar to her mom: 🫤

[@aesiddoway]

The man was reading lines in his sleep

[@fabiofuoco]

Javier Bardem is such a good actor too like tbh the only possible explanation is that the way they shoot the underwater scenes was just goofy, they had harnesses and green people making them “float” around.. you can see the difference in Ariel too

[@3rt453]

He had no presence at all. He was just a wet muppet the whole time. Like, Aquaman Lite. Diet Triton. BOGO Poseidon. Neptune on clearance.

[@heaneworld824]

I actually have to point out that actually in the little mermaid prequel they said that they did kill her mom and the original creators of the little mermaid said that the king and Ursula was indeed supposed to be siblings. So nothing technically changed there they just pointed it out🤓😅 Also i am soo happy that you love Ursula bc as you said Ariel was one of my favorites but after seeing it again i cant help but love Ursula 😍

[@astra_nov8277]

To be completely fair the first mermaid movie that Ariel was in was basically about how her father banned music in the Kingdom because her dead mother loved the music and Ariel runs away and comes back with the music box he made for her mother and the music is restored. In the beginning of that movie we learn that a ship killed the mother while she was rescuing all of her children. And then after that movie we got the little mermaid everyone knows with Ariel falling in love with Eric, so technically it was like they just randomly added it in. Also in the original little mermaid movie a deleted scene shows the people on the ship singing songs about mermaids and it does literally say something that relates to Ursula being Tritons sister and Ariel's aunt. And although the scene was later cut it is still factual.

[@Elipson52008]

The movie you're describing is called Ariel's beginning and was actually the 3rd movie she was in. it released in 2008, while the one where she falls in love with Eric, The little Mermaid, released in 1989. all that stuff about her mother didn't come in until 19 years after the original. unfortunately, cut content is no longer factual once it is cut. it's just a scrapped idea that didn't fit the narrative of the story they wanted to tell.

[@JustMeJustJesse]

Actually that movie came after the little mermaid movie. The little mermaid came out in 1989. While the one where he banned music came way after. That was a prequel

[@boboboy8189]

None of the Disney version is canon, they made it themself. The only live action that accurate is from Soviet era with the same title. Its follow the books

[@morgianasartre6709]

@@boboboy8189Being close to source material doesn't mean being canon. The Disney movies are their own thing and whether something is canon in relation to them has nothing to do with the original tale that inspired it.

[@SuicidalGeniusDazai]

Disney remakes are getting out of hand. They were fine at first. But now-- it's terrible. AND ITS GONNA GET WORSE.

[@KojiKazama]

As a fan of the OG movie, I think in this one, the only character that felt OG was Ursula. I believed it. I understand where they were going with the whole "birds can now breathe underwater", they just wanted to make Ariel's first visit to the surface seem like something intense. That would have worked if they actually made the sea seem interesting. I can't believe how lifeless "Under the Sea" felt having almost no background life. It literally seemed so boring there, it was more exciting to see her leave instead of worrying.

[@jkhaos1235]

I have not seen the movie but I assumed there are... Fish and stuff in the background. Or plastic waste, depending on the time setting hah

[@AhhSpoons]

Everyone thinks people hate this movie because Ariel is black. When in fact people hate this movie because the acting is TERRIBLE. It literally felt like a low budget film with actors who have never had an acting gig before. And Ariel’s character didn’t suck because she was black. She sucked because she was BORING. The “emotions” were so fake and she had barely any real body language or true facial expressions. Overall the movie was just a bad middle school play. 2/10