ginger spells the n word if you move the letters around, they being low key racist red hair is more rare then a skin color. but they making all gingers into African Americans instead. Sus.

Eric defeating Ursula was important because he was also saving King Triton and all the mermaids who were transformed by Ursula -- a human saved all the mermaids. This earned him Triton's respect and blessing, who realized that he was wrong about humans. The marriage was a fresh start between humans and mermaids which is later crystalized by the birth of Melody who is the first child of shore and sea. By making Ariel the one to defeat Ursula and removing the wedding altogether, they're not just weakening Eric's character, but also Triton's growth and the entire story as a whole! >

Triton also has daughters of every ethnicity instead of all of them looking alike which they did in the original, instead of a normal family it makes him look like he just bangs every mermaid and has to pay lots of child support

Y’all, say it with me. Not every animation movie needs to have a live action adaptation

The truly sad thing about these honest reviews is they will be disregarded as "ah they're just a bunch of racists that can't handle arial being black" and completely disregard what you have to say. Your review, along with the reviews shown in this video and countless others out there, need to be acknowledged and listened to because it's filled to the brim with legitimate concerns, points, criticisms, and observations. It's perfectly constructed, thought out, and presented in a respectable fashion. But because arial is black, everyone will immediately dismiss it as racism. Disney has conditioned the public to deem anyone who doesn't like this movie as racist. They did it with star wars, with marvel, and now with their live action remakes. That shit irritates the fuck out of me.

I'm a black woman and I loved this video. No other black person I know is asking to be seen on screen. My niece is also named after Ariel because my sister loved the original so much. I don't watch anything race swapped . It's insulting.

I just want them to remake Tarzan and see if they have the balls to race swap him Do it Disney, come on the ball is in your court

In the original, despite the sunken ship was very dark and gloomy, you can still see Ariel and Flounder because of the color separation between the characters and setting. In the remake, they just blend in.

Another thing is i miss Ariels iconic red hair. A lot of people were saying that color isnt realistic however..its a movie about mermaids. Also her dresses are very plain and dont feel like Ariel. I was fully expecting beautiful gowns but sad there isnt any.

I hate that they immediately called everyone racist for not liking the casting of Ariel. I LOVED her as a kid because I was a pale, redheaded little girl who had been bullied for my freckles and red hair. It felt like a blow when they swapped her because Ariel had been MY representation. She was the first princess who looked like me. I remember meeting her at Disney World and cried, even still have her autograph. I just haven't had the heart to fully accept it. I hate how people have said I'm racist, the ONE person who is the farthest from ever being such, because I didn't like them taking the representation away from redheads. You RARELY see us on film or tv. :/

I'm black and I really don't see these crticisms as racist, They are very valid, especially in a disney live action remake..

"I love you daddy!" That wouldn't have happened in the new movie since everybody in Hollywood are fixated on their mommy and daddy issues and need to self-insert their psychological issues into everything they create.

45:05 In the original, the reason Eric turns away from kissing Ariel, is because he's in love with the girl that saved him, who he doesn't know is the same as the one right in front of him. It _adds_ to the romance of the original movie, because Eric is shown to be loyal to Ariel, even though no other girl is actually involved. Changing the scene so that Ariel rejects the first kiss instead takes away character growth from both Ariel and Eric, for what seems to be purely modern ideological reasons.

When the og mermaid said that the original songs NEEDED to be changed so they would be "less sexist" I lost all hope for humanity

My worst moment in this movie is when they decided to make Eric a damsel, realistically the fish woman wouldn’t be able to reach high enough to get to the wheel, hopping on her tail or not lol, the reason it makes sense that Eric is the one to kill Ursula is because HES NOT JUST A PRINCE HES THE CAPTIANNNNNN ON HIS SHIIIIIP GOD DAMN IT

Instead of race swapping Ariel, they could have chosen to remake "The Princess and the Frog.". Tiana is an original black princess.

They shouldve just made a live action of the princess and the frog if they wanted diversity. I would’ve very much appreciated seeing someone like Eddie Murphy as the shadow man

This Little Mermaid movie is the Little Mermaid your grandmother bought from a discount store and thought it was the original.

I think it's funny that they had no problem saying that Eric was adopted; but expect the audience to accept that Ariel and her sisters all come from the same two parents. Fans excuse it away as it being fish genetics that are just different from a humans (so they come in a variety of colors); but it honestly would have made more sense for Triton to either have a harem of wives or have adopted his daughters from various underwater kingdoms as a form of allegiance to those kingdoms than to say they're all blood related when they look nothing alike. (they honestly remind me of those Barbies from around the World; each one wearing the traditional outfits - or in this case, scales - of the regions they originate from).

I love how in-depth you talked about the “I love you daddy” and wedding scene, because I relate that every time that scene is played and the choir sings “A part of your world” and Eric and Triton bow to each other, I get CHILLS YES. The moment you played it in the video, I GOT CHILLS, even is this scene has already been ingrained in my memory since I was a child.

1. Made excuses why Ariel cannot have firetruck red hair because "realism" = gave her sister white and PINK hair (bc ofc pink hair is realistic) 2. Halles acting was stale and her inner monologues singing took away from her trying to cope with being mute and conveying her emotions to eric 3. They made her FORGET that she had to kiss Eric and made her reject him, eventhough one of her biggest motivations to go on land was her love for eric 4. Made Eric weak and took away from his history, heritage and key moments of him saving Ariel thus proving to Triton he could trust him 5. Triton was fucking EEL level and got pulverised by electricity 6. Triton was brought back to life with ZERO difficulty so why the hell didnt Triton revive his wife? (Ariels mum) 7. Set looked soulless and empty 8. Tails and "bras" of every mermaid looked like lazy cosplay. Even mermaid artists look more magically and real than what we got 9. CGI was bad. 10. They took away Ariels iconic dresses. The blue, pink, coming out of the sea transformation dress and her wedding dress. And that is just scratching the surface. So glad the movie flopped. Deserved.

The scene where Ariel rejects Eric in this version is basically huge amounts of cope energy from the people who made this remake. They got rejected to they projected their insecurities into that scene lmao copium up to the max level.

If anything, the live action version makes me appreciate the original so much more

I'm also a daddy's little girl... "I love you, Daddy" is something I want to tell my daddy when I get married (eventually). To hear that this line got changed is real sad. Ariel is a teenager, she's still the right age to be allowed to call her father "daddy". :(

Okay, hear me out: Having a black Ariel in a European folklore story might not be a true representation. Real representation would be telling the tales of the Yoruba pantheon. Imagine showcasing the pathakies of Yemaya, a legit black mermaid and a powerful ocean goddess, with a fully black cast. That's true inclusivity, embracing stories from cultures other than European ones. This really hits home for me cause I'm Cuban, and I grew up immersed in African culture and heritage. It seriously bothers me when they go for a blackwashed Ariel instead of highlighting the awesomeness of Yemaya. It feels like they're missing out on something truly special, and it makes me want to gouache my eyes out.

10:50 What really pisses me off about that is there's a perfectly good character that they could've used for adding a person of color to the main cast that's already from the Little Mermaid universe: Gabriella, a mute latino mermaid from the animated show who was based off a young girl who was a fan of the show and died during its airing. If they wanted to show they cared, they could have added her to the movie and have her be Ariel's closest friend aside from Flounder. Heck, since Ariel is suposed to be the princess of her Sea like her sisters in this version, she could have given her crown to Gabriella when she left to be with Eric.

I am so sick of people saying that Eric was a blank piece of wood in the original and that the romance was based on physical attraction. TLM is in fact a pretty emotionally complex movie. And I dare even say that Ariel and Eric are the healthiest Disney couple ever. They're even the only ones that had a child together (a child that I wish had a better movie, but still) Prince Eric is first introduced by the movie narrative as adventurous young man who despite his royal heritage is not above the “dirty work”: the audience is initially exposed to him helping other sailors on the ship as well as showing consideration and concern towards Grimsby in addition to being a good listener and quite an experienced storyteller informed about the subject he takes it upon himself to talk about hence the sailors discussing Triton and the sea with Eric while Grimsby sceptically brushes their theories off. Thoroughness, open mind and a down to earth attitude are established among Eric’s primary characteristics from the get go and not for the sake of forcibly and obnoxiously presenting him as a multi-dimensional morally/intellectually superior protagonist - in fact, he can hardly even be deemed as one seeing as the movie essentially revolves around Ariel and her struggles with inability to obtain independence and fulfill herself outside of a place she feels like she belongs whereas every other character, no matter how significant, plays a part of a supporting cast - but in order to showcase his interests thus, in so much as the first few minutes of the movie we already learn up on not only the hobbies Eric is intensely invested in but the extent of his love for the sea, conflicted relationship with his guardian figure (Grimsby) and are provided with a raw sketch of his mindset and the lens through which he observes the world. All of it could have easily been left out seeing as Eric’s individual emotional investments are not particularly related to Ariel’s story, but those aspects are outlined regardless because Eric isn’t merely a love interest of a fiery red head: he has a personality, a character of his own. Next time Eric comes off as “the guy with a flute”, it being the immediate impression he gives off once Ariel first sees him, confronted with not so much his mesmerizing attractiveness as the way his eyes lit up when he produced music for his own pleasure (poignantly, the same exact way Ariel preferred to go about her musical skills: away from the crowds or pretentious grand celebrations, using a melody for self expression. It’s hardly a coincidence that Melody ended up being a name of her and Eric’s daughter) or when he played with his dog or when he was clearly not impressed with the the statue of himself. Speaking of which, that is a good character moment because it shows that Eric is burdened by expectations and is seen as a powerful future king when in reality, he is a shy introvert. This allows Ariel to relate to him. Eric, however, was thankful for the attention and love coming from Grimsby regardless of how inexplicably insufficient and misinterpreted the latter’s perception of Eric generally was, which is rather unfortunate given that Grimsby played some sort of a father figure role to him while being entirely unable to get the grasp of how the young man’s mind functioned. Which brings us to another point: according to all the evidence Eric’s parents are most likely dead, considering they didn’t show up on either of his weddings - the fake one with Vanessa and the real one with Ariel - nor did they attend Melody's christening. Admittedly, being left in charge of no one other than Grimsby who hardly understood what Eric essentially was about, and having to prepare himself to be a future effective ruler of Tirulia. Eric is the epitome of a person who built one self up independently, firmly standing his ground confronting the standards imposed on him that he was unwilling to conform to - such as being forced into getting married before determining whether there was a right woman (“the one” as Eric referred to a person he hadn’t yet been lucky enough to meet and want to spend the rest of his life with, not settling for any less) among his suitors for the sake of fitting into a certain ideal of a proper prince. His attitude of a dreamer was a part of his established characterization but he was also exceptionally analytical about his concepts of romance. Having survived a horrific incident Eric sincerely believed he had found true love and his ideology of a dreamer took a strong grab at his outlooks on relationship seeing as he was set out to find a girl with the gorgeous voice at any cost due to said voice being quite literally the only connection to his rescuer. As some people mistakenly imply, Eric did not fall in love with a voice, in fact, at that point his feelings were all over the place and not exactly what stands for actual love, a mature fully formed feeling. Being drawn to the idea of a girl who saved him Eric - genuinely and irreversibly - projects his certitude regarding her being “the one” onto the only representation of her he had been left with so far - her voice. And subsequently his idealistic but slightly immature romantic notions backfire with a cunning irony once he meets a girl who has everything a man can dream of but lacks what he seeks out the most. A beautiful stranger doesn’t talk therefore cannot be “the one” nor would she ever - as he firmly believes - pass for “the one” hence why Ariel’s beauty is essentially irrelevant to Eric. His one and only goal concerning relationship at that point revolves around finding that person he believes to be one in the whole world who is right for him. Not only doesn’t he fall for Ariel’s looks but is entirely indifferent to said looks due to thinking that woman is not the one he needs (frankly, the assumption about Eric being easily smitten with visual appeal is extensively incorrect considering the fact that, due to his royal status, chances quite a few attractive female suitors were eager to have his hand only to be rejected because Eric at one point explicitly stated he wasn’t interested in superficial relationship and was waiting for the right person). Which doesn’t mean Eric is immune to primordial instincts and cannot appreciate physical attractiveness - he does, in fact, acknowledge Ariel’s captivating outer exterior once she dresses up for a dinner but it isn’t until she makes him laugh for the first time in few days by being her overly excited, imaginative and adorably dorky self that he starts taking a more insightful look into her and is willing to take her on a Kingdom tour - while still not being ready to open up to her or let the endearing mysterious girl into his life due to being committed to his unrealistic ideal. Next day Eric spends actual time with Ariel who proceeds to behave excessive and enthusiastic, never failing to amaze him. She is more invested in exploring various layers of the city life rather than paying a consistent attention to him (but… but Ariel totally “left her family behind to be with a man” and had no other agenda, right? Right?!), however, Eric is perfectly content with dedicating time and effort into making her feel happy and content, not being put off by her overflowing craziness in the slightest, but getting more and more intrigued by the unusual, eccentric nature of his accomplice - to the point of becoming largely conflicted hence the boat scene where Eric wants to get to know Ariel while still being unsure of his own feelings and pulling away when she tries to initiate a kiss - because yes, he still takes relationship incredibly seriously and is unwilling to allow himself so much as an innocent romantic interaction without being fully confident that this person is truly the one for him. He challenges himself and his initially established concepts of idealistic romance, gradually deviating from a strong commitment to an image of a girl with a sing song-ish voice he had created in his mind in favor of opening the door into the possibility of forming a bond with a real person regardless of this blooming relationship being enormously confusing, awkward and opposing to everything he had led himself to believe in before. He was GROWING out of exaggerations and teenage angst and exposing himself to a new perspective of building a mature relationship. The segment with him throwing a flute into the ocean is the ultimate representation of his character development. Eric’s love for Ariel was powerful in both dimensions: back when he was an avid dreamer with a controversial concept of romance who invested considerable amounts of emotional energy into the idea of “the one” and when he was no longer a happy go lucky kid indulging in his dreams but a man willing to fight for a person he loves both in a figurative (choosing the real Ariel over the romanticized ideal) and literal sense (once slipping out of the hypnosis Ursula had inflicted him with all of his thoughts and actions were inevitably and directly related to Ariel, to making her feel loved, to instantly accepting the immensely shocking fact of her being a mermaid and to throwing himself into the waves where he couldn’t even breathe at risk of getting killed in order to make sure she doesn’t remain subjected to her captor) - and in neither of those cases was Eric drawn to Ariel’s looks. Prince Eric is the kind of character to represent self awareness, intelligence, ability to respond to emotional challenges rather than cowardly running away from them and giving all of himself to his nearest and dearest and his story contains more than enough of an evidence to back it up. Thank you for coming to my TedTalk.

When you look at Jordan Peele’s films, he knows how to properly light his characters with darker skin tones and still make them look nice in the shot, and still give off the proper emotion and feeling of his shots.

Beauty and the Beast (the animated 1991 film) is one of my most favorite movies of all time. The story, the setting, the beautiful animation, the characters, it all flowed perfectly, and I've rewatched it since I was a child to today, and it never loses it magic for it. The 2017 live action beauty and the beast just came and went, and nobody talks about that film anymore, it doesn't have any longevity to it, the performances were forgetable, and nothing about it is special. Disney once made timeless works of art. Now they make just sludge, something for mindless sheep to consume and wait for the next vat of sludge to be fed to them.

The worst part is the water CGI, her hair looks so fake sometimes, and the lighting is so dark! She was poorly mishandled! I swear I saw her shivering in the rock scene, I felt so bad for her. Disney doesn't care for her at all!

One thing I find especially baffling: they remade Ariel as black, BUT at the same time they decided she would be a REDHEAD anyway, BUT also with DREADLOCKS! As you point out, the result is extremely innatural and doesn't do justice to Halle Barry: she looks like a cosplayer of the original character...

Wow. I also told my boyfriend the only time I believed Halle Bailey's performance was during her reaction to her father being turned to dust by Ursula. This story hinges on an Ariel that has a vibrant passion for all things human and unfortunately Bailey's performance felt very flat to me. I didn't believe she was all that fascinated by the human world. :/

As a major daddy’s girl, Ariel’s relation with her father feels so real in the animated feature that it makes me tear up. Not to mention, I’m a confident introvert. I’m used to taking action to get what I want. (I told my best friend that I loved him) So I can relate to old Ariel’s go getter personality when it comes to Eric.

I don't blame the actors fully for the mediocrity. I blame the director, screen writers, scripters, and producers. Their job is to give the actors a good script, production and direction to do their jobs. Its just kind of... disappointing.

I still hate how they based Sebastian's design off of a Ghost Crab, which is a land-dwelling species.

Tbh in the original animated movie it seemed like Eric understood Sebastian (who is an animal) but in the second movie it is kind off hinted that only mermaids and people closely related to mermaids can understand them. So when I found out that we´re going to see Erics parents and later also found out out that he was actually ADOPTED (and found at the beach) I was like "okay the surely gonna give him like mermaid grandparents and this deep mysterious story"... boy was I wrong and boy was I disapointed

41:30 they really took prince Eric hero moment. Which sold the part when Ursula says so much for true love. Having to eat her words when prince Eric survived get toss by her power through her storm she created and then stabbed her with the boat. The same act of bravery that definitely convinces King trident to let his daughter go with Eric and that humans are not completely horrible. Yep just with that alone kills the movie

I am SO glad you mentioned the part about Ariel leaving during "Under the Sea" because I took a listen, just for kicks, to the song and when I heard Ariel join in all the way to the end, I asked "When did she leave?! Why is she still there?! She's supposed to have left by now!"

If the “Scuttlebutt” song is an indication of what this movie is, I have no hope for it.

10:30 - BOOM! I’m black, and even I was disappointed with the race swap because I grew up my WHOLE life with a white red headed Ariel. Real representation is making black lore, not just changing skin tones. Lastly, they did the race swap then made the change of putting them in the Caribbean. All of which added ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to the story. What significance was it supposed to bring? They made a lot of little changes to this remake that made no sense and didn’t explore any new parts of the story. 🤷🏽‍♀️

The original Little Mermaid was about a woman coming into her own, and realizing her father’s bigoted views were outdated. Eric killing Ursula was critical to proving Ariel’s point to Triton- that you cannot take decades old experiences with a handful of individuals and apply it to an entire population… Eric having a heroic moment proved that by saving the mermaids under Ursula’s spell. Taking that from him and handing it to Ariel makes her just another entitled child who does whatever she wants and gets away with it. It’s sad that they took away the larger, more progressive message from the original and made it into yet another strike against the (pretend) patriarchy.

Look Can we all agree that scuttlebutt the song should be used. A method of torture on criminals and terrorists.

I appreciate your honesty, Ariel will always be my favorite Disney princess, it was my first VHS and it’s what developed my love for music. But I don't want to see this movie (and I'm black, so Disney can't call me racist lol). I just don't like the attitude Disney has towards it, that expects me to cry and fall down and kiss their feet in gratitude for race swapping a fictional Disney character.

In the original movie Eric being a legitimate prince actually was important if you think about it. Both Ariel and Eric are royal by blood and in those times royalty often could not marry commoners. (I believe in the original fairy tale the prince married a princess instead of the little mermaid). So them both being royalty solves that problem. Also, because they are a royal pairing they actually unite their people through marriage as was often done back in the day. Royal families of different countries would intermarry to form strong bonds with their neighbours. So in this case that means that Eric and Ariel now have the power to educate the people and even create laws that would prevent the catching and killing of merepeople (which happened to Ariel's mother). Commercial fishing would possibly also have no chance of developing. It also helps that Eric killed Ursula because that has earned him respect with King Triton. I imagine the little bow at the wedding was partially in gratitude for that. All in all, if Eric had not been a legitimate prince, ready to inherit the throne and become king, the impact of him marrying a mermaid princess would have been lessened significantly.

Watching the original ending never made me cry... why did I cry just seeing it here.... ;-; I think I truly miss when these movies were originally made and they were all jure pure magic and reality escaping.... such feeling... I miss that.

Disney was a massive part of my childhood. I never imagined that there would be a time where I would pray for it to go out of business. But here we are.

The main issue I have with the casting of Ariel is that we have over 30 YEARS of history with Ariel being a specific character portrayed a specific way, and now they just tell that OG to go f herself while they remake the character differently. So, the big question is this: Wreck it Ralph 2 came out after the live action Beauty and the Beast, but in that animated film we got the OG Belle, not some animated version of Emma Watson. So, when the next animated project comes along that has the Disney Princess characters, like Wreck it Ralph 3... do they risk being called racists by giving us the OG Ariel, or do we get the animated version of THIS Ariel, which is totally NOT Ariel? OR, do we somehow get both versions and some wacky explanation of how they both coexist in the Disney realm? Knowing Disney, I predict that in WiR3 they will give us only an animated version of this Ariel, and one of the other princesses will ask something stupid like "Ariel, did you change your hair?" and she will sheepishly reply "It's complicated" while grinning awkwardly or something, signalling that fans of OG Ariel can just f right off. That's my prediction, tell me I'm wrong, Disney.

One thing that I find very unfortunate, is that her hair color and skin color seem to be so similar to each other, that they often times appear to be the same color. That way her face seems to "drown" in her hair.

One of the biggest changes that was not just infuriating but ruined the movie was the focus away from Ariel being in love with Eric. In the Original, Ariel was often described by critics as being a lovesick teenager and not much else, but watching the film you realize that she is a romantic and embraces the things she loves with gusto, while also being a curious and driven young lady. That includes not just Eric, but the World Above, and having her being head over heels for Eric is what propels the plot forward, from Sebastian trying to dissuade her from going with "Under The Sea", to King Triton destroying her grotto along with Eric's Statue, and her going to Ursula for the deal. In the Remake, they heavily downplay that she is in love with Eric, making everything weaker as a result. She is moody and doesn't want to spend time with her sisters, and some how that translates that she is in love, as opposed to her being on Cloud 9; she tells Sebastian of the cool fireworks, instead of making active plans to meet Eric again (even joining in with singing Under the Sea, which is supposed to be the OPPOSITE of what she is trying to do); Triton destroys a random statue from Eric's ship, instead of a statue of Eric himself, which made destroying it tantamount to KILLING ERIC! Even when she rescues Eric, I never got the feeling that she was in love with him in the Remake, making the line "Part of your world" ring hollow. The Original had such a tender, sweet moment when she was singing about "being beside you, have you smiling at me" that there was no doubt in my mind that she was completely gone on him, which made that moment of "Part of your World" all the more impactful. That is completely gone in the Remake, even though the words are still there. And here is the crazy part: Eric was just as lovesick as Ariel! He couldn't stop thinking about her and trying to find out the mystery woman who saved him (and not some weird siren spell as the Remake tried to make it out as). Ariel and Eric, weirdly enough, actually have a good relationship, even though it is a shortly built one. The Remake almost makes it seem like Eric is the obsessed one, while Ariel is using him as a way to be on land being her main focus, with her love for him being a distant 2nd, because Heaven forbid a young woman actually being in love in this day and age. The worst part is that it also wrecks with Ariel's relationship with Triton, as in the Original Triton has no problem with Ariel being in love, even musing "I wonder who the lucky Merman could be?" (which was awkwardly co-opted by one of her sisters in the Remake). His only problem was it was a human, who he had said were all barbarians. But after seeing that Eric risked his life to save not just Ariel, but all of the Merfolk, to defeat Ursula who had the power of the Seas on her side, Triton's only objection was gone. He realized that Eric was a good man and was more than happy to give his daughter to him, knowing that would make each other happy. But in the Remake, Ariel saves the day (and Eric twice), mentioning "Eric was also there" (he helped, kinda, sorta, I guess..?), which would change Triton's opinion, how? They so desperately wanted to give Ariel more depth by making her less in love, in a story that is all about her being in love! All they succeeded in doing was making audiences realize how far Disney has fallen, and more specifically what we lost. I have no nostalgia for The Little Mermaid, I only watched it for the first time about a month ago, when all of this was happening, and I was impressed by what I saw, and even more so after watching the Remake to see how far things had gone. Watching the two versions, back to back, there is no comparision: The Orginal Animated Classic is a masterpiece: it's bright, energetic, bursting with fun passion and it tells a sweet love story, and is truly worth watching again and again. The Remake is a souless, joyless, hollow, overbloated, tonally confused, narratively damaged, and in all other ways, disgrace to the original. It should be consigned to the Mysterious Fathoms Below...

Imagine for one second if this movie wasn't about Ariel, but rather, this movie was about Tia Dalma (Calypso) and Davy Jones's love story, before the events of the Pirates of the Caribbean films, some prequel. That would be awesome. We could see a younger version of Tia Dalma and Jones, we could more mystical-ocean creatures, sirens, Poseidon (God form), a full Kraken in his prime, The First Brethren Court, ad more. Just remember how the Pirates movies were like Marvel in his prime of these days: high budgets, giant sets, the best CGI of the market, charismatic actors in charismatic roles, and a lot of money from the box office. Man, what an opportunity wasted. I don't have any problem with the actress, in fact, she is so talented, charismatic, and professional (and heck she is fucking beautiful). It is a shame that Disney put her in that mediocre film.

A few live-action movies that KNEW how to use color and lighting effectively, proving that this movie has NO EXCUSES: "Kill Bill", "Moulin Rouge", "It", and "Harry Potter".

I had a lonnng conversation with my besties about race swapping and I personally agree with this video I really hated what happened to Ariel here. I talked to them because others were saying "oh so you don't like black people playing in leading roles...." no that was not it. I grew up with the original like so many others so it was very jarring to me. My friends agreed with my point I even brought up how for example people would react the same way if Tiana's race was changed to let's say white or Merida became latino.(Myself being Hispanic) My biggest issue in general is the Fact disney has fallen to the point they need remakes to milk nostalgia and gain brownie points from different groups/community's. Why can't they stop just make original content!

Race swapping for representation points is by far the most disgusting thing ever. You think POC people don't deserve representation and should only be given scraps? Disney and all the other major film companies have stooped to the point of no return. Disney is no longer the company that used to give us beautiful animated movies.

This one really upset me. The original is art in every respect, and these people have the audacity to bastardize it for the sake of shameless pandering.

The Little Mermaid was the very first Disney movie I remember watching. I instantly fell in love with Scuttle, his voice, personality, and lovable nature. They took him, and made him look like a demented seagull, and gave him an annoying voice, and song. And I can't even begin with Flounder😢

One thing about the Prince Eric / Ariel Ursula kill-flop. It completely changes the story. Ariel saves Eric from a burning ship, so he saves her right back. By saving Ariel and defeating King Triton's arch-nemesis, Eric proves to King Triton that land-dwellers are good people too, and that's what prompts him to grant his daughter's wish.

I agree with you... simple as that... Lets be real people would be upset if someone changed a black character into a white person that's called whitewashing and that's not cool, it is no better to do vise versa, and you did an AMAZING job explaining why ^w^

Disney remakes are like when your parents gave you a hot dog wrapped in a slice of bread, instead of a hot dog roll, and they tell you that it's still bread, so it's the same.

Race-swapping wouldn't be such a big deal if it wasn't an indicator of half-assing the movie. If they had been putting tons of quality movies that happened to have some race-swapped characters without crapping on the original material and fans, and without using those token characters as shield against criticism; people wouldn't really be so rilled up.

the thing that annoys me the most is that disney fails to realise that animated movies and live action movies are different mediums, just like comic books and novels yeah, they share a lot of similarities, but some things will just never work as live action, and some will never work as animation

"Lemme get this off my entire chest" Looks at run time. She ain't lying

I never even noticed the mole on her, I just kept looking at her eyes. I know it’s just who she is, and it’s natural, but it’s so odd seeing Ariel with eyes so far apart like an actual fish. Edit - seeing her face from pics she took makes her look so much prettier but Disney did her dirty…

Finally someone brave enough to properly and justifiably roast the Little [Black] Mermaid. Was looking at the reviews and the way they all try to dance around the actress is so obvious.

All I thought while watching this was: "Who needs this?" We have a perfect animated movie for this lil mermaid. We have by now three movies and she had a TV series, which was also pretty good

Your bit about colonies and governors managing them made me have a newfound appreciation for Pirates of the Carribean, specifically the fact that they at least tried to get the stuff right for the time period. Makes me wonder, if they were to made a movie like this now, would they even bother... Then again, if they were to make Pirates of the Carribean now, it'd suck ass hard, because it'd be infected with the modern Disney virus.

I miss the days when Disney still had a soul

I refused to watch the film. I am done with Disney's soulless remakes. I just can't do it anymore with them. I review older films now. Good review Alteori. I usually agree with your perspectives most of the time. You got an objective eye that is much appreciated.

The roasting revews are more interesting than the movie itself. I want to see more roasting reviews, Alteori. Never apologize for it.

Even in the scene where Triton destroy Ariel secret grotto There is no single scene where Triton looks sorry for being too harsh to his daughter

Look, I like Aquafina, she’s a decent enough actress. But who the hell decided to give her a song segment?!

Beyonce: You can't put a black girl in blue light. These people don't know what they're doing. Reminds me of my dad. He's blond, but he has super curly hair. Only black hairdressers can do his hair well. His favorite lady moved away at one point, and he was stuck for a while.

It’s hard to make things better when there’s nothing to be changed.

You handled this critique better than I ever could. I appreciate your sheer honesty, because it needs to be said. You pointed out just how problematic this movie is down to the historical inaccuracies. Never mind the race-swapping, which is bad enough, classics like The Little Mermaid just don't need to be remade PERIOD. (Also, love the Siamese cat in the thumbnail, as an owner of 2)

The problem about making stuff live action it takes away what makes the characters them, flounder, scuttle and sebastian all have features that makes them look like themselves. But in live action now they look like generic fish, or crab.

It's crazy how much better DC's Aquaman's ocean looks, especially that it's an action movie that's somehow more colorful than a Disney animated remake

Then why have Eric at all since he’s so not really needed. Ariel should have just fallen in love with herself and married herself in the end. Dang

They do the actress so dirty in this film. She looks like one of the experiments from Splice in half the scenes she's in. You hit the nail on the head with the 'monster' vibe; she looks uncanny enough that you could straight up use her as a murdering horror creature, just different enough from a person that you don't realize she's coming to kill you til you're too close.

Triton's wife being killed by humans was actually taken from the animated movie Ariel's Beginning.

Honestly, the game in the background has better graphics than the actual movie overall great channel

Great review. Disney should be ashamed of themselves for all the recent live action remake cash-grabs.

I always assumed the original took place in Europe somewhere, like the Baltic sea or at least near European islands since the original author, Hans Christian Anderson, was Scandinavian. Also, Disney had already made a lot of major changes to make the animated film (the biggest being her not dying in the end and getting Eric), so them making even more feels like they didn't even like the original changes.

Saw the movie with my sister opening night, and a couple takeaways: 1.) They did Flounder dirty(just isn’t vibrant enough to stand out) 2.) Halle Bailey is a talent. And her voice is definitely fit for a Disney princess, but I wish they created a new story for her to really shine. 3.) Sebastian was funny, but they also did him dirty with his looks. 4.) I did like the added scenes of Ariel and Eric together. 5.) Kinda wish they took this opportunity to show Ariel’s mom and how she died instead of just telling us. That would’ve helped the audience really understand how King Triton was feeling, and also see the risk Ariel was taking. 6.) Idk why they changed the names and gave cool new designs for Ariel’s sisters while knowing they would hardly be in the movie

The Little Mermaid originally took place in the Mediterranean. Not the Caribbean. The original story was written by a European and the Mermaids in the story come from Greek Mythology. Triton is a son of Poseidon.

Im a black woman and i really thank you for your review! I thought this was a poor cheap handme down for black people. I think its blackwashing and horrible. We all know that whitewashing is horrible so why is this any different. Why are black people fighting to scrounge for sloppy seconds is BEYOND me! We had a black princess! Remember Tiana!? Yea the whole reason she was created was because we were mad that there wasnt a black princess in Disney's lineup now that we have her shes just put on the back burner. For this!? Cmon yall. But now that this race swapped mess is out i don't even think id want a live action Princess and the Frog...

I remember being a wee little boy and having the BIGGEST crush on Ariel for a long time. The Little Mermaid was one of the few VHS tapes my family had, and I loved seeing Ariel every time we decided to see it. Loved hearing her sing, watching how she smiled. Then I saw them making a remake and thought... well shit. Needless to say, I'm not watching that. Instead, much like The Rings of Power, I'm gonna watch other people review it. Give the support to people I genuinely like. Thanks for letting us know you're thoughts, and I'm glad to hear the animated version is dear to you as well!

Honestly, I'd watch a Little Mermaid movie with Nigel Thornberry as Ariel.

We live in the days where the most creative thing is making a remake and expecting people to embrace nostalgic memories and then spend their hard earn money for less subpar entertainment.

Not too mention Ariel killing Ursula makes no sense. You need to years to learn how to steer a boat, especially in rough weather. Oh and you need LEGS. Steering a boat requires LEGS.

I have kinda mixed feelings that it takes place in Caribbean rather than Denmark where Hans Andersen came from. Both the original fairy tale and the animated movie is kinda ambiguous to where it takes place. I know that Frozen have already taken the generic Scandinavian niche of Norway while smashing all Nordic countries together but we do have Pirates of the Caribbean though. And Aladdin was originally taking place in China for some reason but many adaptations change it to Middle East like the rest of the One Hundred And One Night stories. I do like the idea of different variants of fairy tales told by another traditional culture or time but I think that's not this modern Disney's true attempt since they only think diversity and political backlashes sells more than anything else. It's like that very creative artist making very beautiful aesthetic (and very expensive) traditional African based dolls inspired by the traditional European fairy tale princesses that worked great if only that artist didn't cooperate with Disney themselves and making the variants based on the Disney adaptations since Disney only do this for attention. The few only attempts of Disney adapting the setting and themes of a fairy tale into another culture and era that works was Disney's Princess And The Frog from 2009 taking place in 20s New Orleans since their main focus was on creativity and story rather than cheap reputation and cash-grabbing even though it had a couple of inaccuracies of the African American community (mostly about the magical aspects). If there wasn't already one iconic Disney movie of Little Mermaid and not made in this modern era where they are notorious for using diversity only as a public stunt and shield if it turns bad overall then it could have worked. But no, they just have to remake their already existing movies rather than just make something new with a diverse cast since more people would recognize it and piss more people off for changing something that doesn't need to change.

What bothers me is that the race swapping feels like tokenism, like they cast her just for her skin color. Race swapping isn't a bad thing so to say, as long as it isn't for the sake of the person's skin color. Morgan Freeman was the perfect choose for God( traditionally portaied as white) in Bruce Almighty, and I can't see anyone else playing the role as well as he did.

I haven't seen the movie and I'm already convinced not to watch it and I honestly agree

From what I can gather, Little Mermaid was published in Copenhagen, Denmark, in the late 1830s, just after the napoleonic war. Denmark and Norway were very closely allied kingdoms, both elective monarchies. Ariel was the youngest of 7 daughters. At the age of 15, they are permitted to go and see the surface once in their life. She listened to all the other stories. When she went, she saw a prince, storm wrecked him, she saved him and put him by a temple. A beautiful woman came out with all her maids and took him in. She asked her grandma if humans lived forever. She told Ariel that mermaids live 300 years, humans do not, but they have an immortal soul that lives on in heaven after death. She wanted an immortal soul of her own. The sea witch took her tongue in exchange for a potion. The potion would feel like having a sword thrust through her, and the legs she gains from that would feel like she's walking on sharp knives, but she will be able to dance like no human ever can. The deal was, in order to obtain a soul, she had to marry the prince and earn his love; then part of his soul would be hers. If she fails, the day after the wedding, she will die of a broken heart and turn to sea foam. She passed out on the surface from the pain of taking the potion and was saved by the prince, prince and Ariel got close. She danced for him whenever he asked, enduring the pain in hopes of earning his love, but when his parents told him to marry a princess he said no, he loved the priestess who saved his life. They told him the priestess was the princess doing her education at the temple, so of course he accepted! The wedding was planned and soon they were wed. Her sisters, on her wedding knight, came to Ariel with a dagger. They had all given up their hair (they are all bald now), in exchange for the dagger. If she cuts out his heart and drips the blood on her legs, she will return to the sea. She did not kill him in his sleep on the party ship, instead, she threw the dagger into the sea and threw herself off the wedding boat and turned to sea foam, but she did not disappear. She became a spirit of air, and met the daughters of the air who congratulated her on her selflessness, and because she was so determined to earn her soul, she was given a chance to earn it. 300 years of doing good deeds for humanity as an air spirit, and she would rise up to heaven. She joined her new sisters in the sky and lived happily ever after. A Danish story, set in a European kingdom, using a European mythological creature. It's not really the prince she was after, but an immortal soul and heaven. A noble sacrifice at the end, realising she messed up and then accepting the consequences, owning her mistakes and holding herself accountable. Being rewarded for that with a chance to earn what she wanted in the first place, not through trickery, shortcuts and self torture, but through honest good work and kindness.

54:27 people seems to forget the central theme surrounding Ariel isn't romance, her "I Want" song had literally nothing to do with romance, it's about how much she felt restricted, that she's not allowed to explore the world or even her identity, that's why one of the most dramatic lyrics in that song was "Betcha on land they understand, bet they don't reprimand their daughters", romance is just used to represent that struggle, that she wants to be on the surface world with the man she loves. It's similar to how Romeo and Juliet wasn't about romance, it's about the consequences if young people aren't allowed to explore their desire

I got very mixed feelings about this film, while Haily Ballay is a good singer, this movie still has its problems. But one scene I had issues with was the moment where Ariel kills Ursula, like what the actual hell. I know in the original Eric saved her, but that change was unnecessary..

I'm from Denmark and saw the original in the theater, when I was 7 years old, and it was a big deal back then because it was based on the Danish fairytale by H.C.Andersen. 89' version isn't following the story completely (spoiler: she dies) they did an amazing job.

I will say for Hallie's singing (echoing your point, the talent itself is not the issue) I feel like stylistically it chops up the flow of Part of your world a bit too much. It's not a BAD choice, but to your earlier points on visuals, I don't think it was the best choice for embodying the character. As an example, if you look at Brandi's rendition of "In My Own Little Corner" from Cinderella, she's able to keep the elegant/breathy flow while also introducing her own style: more intonation, more vibrato, and SOME pauses. The instrumentation also changes a little to help support her own style (base, a triangle that keeps rhythm, etc.) I think if Hallie took how she sang the last few lines "Out of the sea, wish I could be, etc" and used that as a base for the rest of the song, the pauses wouldn't bother me as much. Almost before "Out of the Sea" feels very choppy and sometimes labored. Especially, the middle. Just my 2 cents. I don't sing as a profession but I've done so in groups for years and have been trained professionally. EDIT: Asked my old mentor for a 2nd opinion and she said they could've pushed her style much more. Similar to my comments on Brandi. Technically a great rendition, but stylistically it didn't push it as far as it should've to support the actress. Seems to be a theme for the movie (saturation, story choices, acting, etc.)

The same people who call people racist for not liking race-swapping and changing Ariel also had a meltdown over the Lilo and Stitch casting. They understand the concept of wanting characters to look like the originals. They're just racists who think only certain races matter, and can't understand that other human beings also are allowed to exist and have histories and favorite characters and cultures/etc etc. They just hate certain races and love to lash out at others. Then they don't understand why they're not popular, because they're the modern-day racists who think their form of racism is the correct one. They don't get that most people hate racism, period. At some point the actors need to get a hint, too. It's so bizarre that anyone is even willing to take these blatantly racist roles - I mean, I get a paycheck, but why ruin your reputation for one check? Hell, if they just said they did it for the paycheck, I think a lot of people would shrug, but they always get upset and call everyone else racist while they're doing the racist thing. You don't change a character's looks without reason (example: Esmeralda from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. They had a reason and it's fine), and the reasons behind these changes are malicious.

Making it real but making it more fake is exactly the business model of Disney especially with Mulan.

The underwater scenes look like it was filmed inside an empty fish tank. I've seen tons of aquarium decor from Pet Smart and been to my local aquarium but the movie failed at making the ocean believable. I'm confused to why we never got a stop motion mermaid movie at all because it would be cool to use aquarium decor and fish tanks as the ocean. The mermaid puppet could be a ball jointed doll with swapped mouths and eyes. If Laika the stop motion company made a mermaid film with stop motion, I'll give them half of my earnings.

For Tom Holland to play spiderman they made him remove his mole in his chin. But Ariel, no. MOLE