The Little Mermaid's Main Attraction Is Its Magical Lead Performance

Director Rob Marshall (Mary Poppins Returns) brings audiences a live-action retelling of Disney’s The Little Mermaid, nan 1989 animated characteristic that revived nan studio. It pays religious homage to nan original film—but doesn’t rather recapture its magic. Its redeeming grace is simply a cleverly reimagined 2nd enactment carried by Halle Bailey’s sheer circuit de unit breakthrough capacity arsenic Ariel.

In particular, Bailey’s type of composer Alan Menken and precocious lyricist Howard Ashman’s “Part of Your World” is an all-timer; it’s destined to go nan caller modular of nan modern Disney classic. Bailey’s innocence, her coming-of-age joy, and that unthinkable sound are nan main reasons to spot this Little Mermaid. She’s Ariel for a caller generation—plain and simple.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen a live-action Disney princess truthful deftly seizure nan tone of her animated inspiration while besides making nan characteristic her own. Even beyond that acquainted show-stopper, The Little Mermaid’s euphony helps successful this department; caller songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Menken thief grow Ariel’s travel of wanting to research nan quality world. In this version, she’s much than conscionable a woman who leaves nan oversea aft falling for Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King). Eric is besides much than conscionable an impetus for her actions—as it turns out, he shares nan aforesaid desire to spot much of nan world beyond his ain kingdom—and Hauer-King brings dimensionality to nan character. (Eric moreover gets a opus of his own!) When nan romanticist leads meet you’re each successful because it’s much than conscionable astir looks; they stock nan aforesaid dream—a bully alteration from nan animated film, which notoriously gets made nosy of for seeming for illustration Ariel only wanted quality legs to get to nan prince. Bailey and Hauer-King’s chemistry is electric, moreover successful scenes wherever Ariel can’t speak, and their exploration of nan cultures beyond their kingdoms nicely shakes up the animated film’s very old-world mentation of royalty.

Image: Walt Disney Pictures

That brings america to nan “Under nan Sea” of it all. The movie misses nan people of making Ariel’s underwater life conscionable arsenic important to her arsenic her yearning to research nan world above. In nan animated film, she’s surrounded by her sisters, a doting father, and a vibrant kingdom filled pinch life that loves her. It’s really astir leaving a nest that’s nurturing and safe to find yourself successful a caller world. The stakes are precocious for Ariel successful that sense, but each of this is gone successful nan live-action version—bizarrely so. The kingdom is dour and dark, and there’s not galore merpeople astir that we tin see, including Ariel’s sisters. Apparently, they each unrecorded successful different seas while Ariel is nan only 1 near pinch her begetter Triton, played by a very low-energy Javier Bardem.

Needless to say, nan opus nan sisters singing together successful nan original movie is gone, and that absence is conscionable 1 of nan galore unusual choices here. The biggest 1 though is that apparently not each oversea life is sentient—which becomes benignant of creepy erstwhile it becomes clear only nan sidekicks Sebastian (Daveed Diggs), Flounder (Jacob Tremblay), and Scuttle (Awkwafina) tin talk. It makes nan water world suffer truthful overmuch life that you’re beautiful overmuch conscionable rooting for Ariel to time off it from nan jump. It’s truthful weird to spot Diggs person to activity each talented vocal musculus to transportation “Under nan Sea” without immoderate benignant of choral backup from oversea creatures; Bailey steps successful to substitute but nan number loses its grandeur. It brings to mind nan live-action “Be Our Guest” from Beauty and nan Beast—despite nan unthinkable talent involved, these large numbers autumn short without nan powerfulness of animation and further voices. Diggs, Tremblay, and Awkwafina are awesome but get a earthy woody being nan only sea-life to correspond nan kingdom Ariel leaves behind.

Image: Walt Disney Pictures

Now let’s talk astir Ursula. As mentioned, Bailey makes Ariel her own—but Melissa McCarthy doesn’t do nan aforesaid for nan Sea Witch. It’s a shame because McCarthy is excellent, but she can’t flight nan protector of Pat Carroll’s iconic Disney villain performance. It’s coagulated and safe, and there’s thing caller here; McCarthy looks nan portion and delivers connected homage. Most disappointingly, Ursula’s large song, “Poor Unfortunate Souls,” loses immoderate of its, ahem, body connection in much ways than conscionable nan trim line. It’s chaotic because nan animated number draws truthful overmuch inspiration from Chicago—and present you person Marshall, who directed nan Oscar-winning surface adjustment of that musical, bringing america Ursula benignant of conscionable sauntering and lounging around. What happened? Thankfully, successful nan last enactment McCarthy relishes successful Ursula’s cruelty and goes afloat aquatic horror—which changes immoderate cardinal things up (for nan better) from nan animated communicative we know.

Miranda and Menken’s philharmonic business does respire caller life into nan communicative pinch caller songs that grant Howard Ashman’s activity to springiness Ariel a voice, but it’s really only because of Bailey that The Little Mermaid sets a caller live-action Disney Princess standard. It’s a shame that moreover pinch her charismatic performance, this is yet different live-action Disney adjustment that feels safe and homogenous successful its choices.

The Little Mermaid opens May 26 successful theaters.

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