The Little Mermaid (2023) - Nostalgia Critic
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- Опубліковано 7 лис 2023
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The Disney remakes never seem to stop, but can NC find anything good in this latest installment? Nostalgia Critic takes a look at The Little Mermaid.
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The Little Mermaid is a 2023 American musical romantic fantasy film directed by Rob Marshall from a screenplay written by David Magee. Co-produced by Walt Disney Pictures, DeLuca Marshall, and Marc Platt Productions, it is a live-action adaptation of Disney's 1989 animated film of the same name, which itself is loosely based on the 1837 fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen. The film stars singer Halle Bailey in the title role, alongside Jonah Hauer-King, Daveed Diggs, Awkwafina, Jacob Tremblay, Noma Dumezweni, Art Malik, Javier Bardem and Melissa McCarthy. The plot follows the mermaid princess Ariel, who is fascinated with the human world; after saving Prince Eric from a shipwreck, she makes a deal with the sea witch Ursula to walk on land.
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Who is scarier, Crab Critic or 2023 Sebastian?
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For the Commercial Special can you talk about the following?:
Shaving Fun Ken
Those Barbie and GI Joe Nissan ads, even a car company shipped those two
The Match Made in Hell commercial from 2020
Hess Trucks
Celebrity Snickers commercials, you know like that one where Willem Dafoe dressed up as Marilyn Monroe
Michael Jackson's Pepsi commercials
The Jackson 5 Alphabits commercials
That credit card commercial with Kevin Hart and the mom from Home Alone
Spirit of Massachusetts (that scene on family guy always drove me crazy, I knew the song was from something I just didn't know what.)
The updated version of the Hershey Kiss Christmas commercial
Crab critic🎉🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤
Crab Critic
Scarier crab? Umm tough call, but I got to give it to Sebastian. We know Crab Critic is fake, but Sebastian is supposed to look real.
@@jerricablackcat4303 critic crab
Doug critiquing live-action Disney movies is much easier and better than having to sit through the Disney live-action remakes themselves.
Agreed
Actually, it's _super_ easy, barely an inconvenience!
Ikr
Its as close to these remakes as I want to get.
And for fraction of movie's runtime
The sea king is without a doubt the most wooden acting I have ever seen. It made me really stop and appreciate just how AMAZING the voice actor for King Triton was in the original. His vocal deliveries were truly amazing. He knew when to be loud, when to be quiet, and when to be heartbroken.
and the actor CAN act! Like, No Country for all Men, all that...
Yeah it’s so bizarre, this is Javier Bardem, he’s a fantastic actor who didn’t give a shit. I do miss Kenneth Mars too.
Yea when I was watching the movie I was texting my friend like king triton was done so bad and that the changed the sisters names and we where like why
It’s funny when you realize the actor behind Triton is actually the same guy who played Inspector Kemp in Young Frankenstein. It’s kinda bizarre when you watch the OG Little Mermaid to hear him go from a comedic character to a dramatic character. It’s almost hard to believe they’re the same actor, especially when Mars used a fake German accent for Kemp in YF. But he pulls it off well.
@@hunterolaughlin RIP Kenneth Mars. He was a wonderful King Triton
I have to admit, the girl who played Vanessa really took advantage of her short time on-screen.
Best actress in the movie
She freaking NAILED the expressions from the cartoon
That chick managed to nail Ursula’s unhinged sadism, Melissa McCarthy’s chaotic energy, AND prove that even Halle Bailey by extension can be sinister.
And props to Halle for nailing the trick in literally one take.
@@Depth217 💯💯💯💯💯
@@Depth217 Amazing actresses and performances from them both
No matter how good Halle Bailey's singing is, it's still pretty clear they were less concerned about whether or her voice conveyed her characters emotions during the scenes she's in, and more focused on the singing itself.
Its funny how he says how good she is when sure she can hit notes and hold them and she is talented but like i thought it sounded horrible when she was singing lyrics and it also sounded flat like the rest of the acting.
Not to mention, most foreign audiences won't get to hear Bailey's singing when it's going to get dubbed by another singer.
Diversity ;)
"Part Of Your World" is not meant to be belted near the end like that. Jodi sounds heartbroken and longing - Halle sounds like she's auditioning for American Idol. And WHY is she singing along to "Under the Sea"? That song is Sebastian trying to convince a rebellious teenager that the ocean is better than land. Why would she sing along like she totally agrees with him?
@@sweetalker79 Prolly because Halle has a good voice, and well... that's the only good thing about the movie? She can sing, but she can't really act as much, and the story doesn't make sense anyway, so let's just... try to distract the audience with her voice XD
The biggest crime in this movie is them cutting out "Le Poisson". Chef Louis deserves justice!
R.I.P. Rene Auberjonois
The only man who could make killing a crab entertaining
Wait WHAT?! They cut out my favourite song from that movie???
I mean, the song is kind of superfluous now since it more or less is the same beat as Be Our Guest.
@@marinermanthe first part is so sad but then I can't help but laugh at the second part. I feel bad for laughing and I'm sorry.
Yeah, it's great how that song makes clear Ariel is marrying into a species that will eat many of her sentient friends and band mates, but never notices (compared with Sebastian's horror)...and presumably joins in? That's one bit of 1989 I think actually is kind of problematic.
If I had a dollar for every original idea Disney has had recently, I would have 25 cents. Seriously, we're at that point where I'm 99.99% certain Disney is going to do live action remakes of their direct to video sequels within the next 2 decades.
What’s weird is somehow the animation in the live action remake will still look worse
Makes me wonder what black actress is gonna play Melody.
My brain hurts. I think I understand though
Agreed
They're already planning a remake of Moana. the film is barely 7 years old and they're already remaking it. that's how dry the well is for new and creative ideas. I remember there was one leak that they were already planning on remaking one of their films they already remade, this time with another race change. that's their plan for the next decade. just keep remaking the same movie again, and again, and again.
What started off as a joke is sadly becoming reality. Disney truly has no plans for the future other than remakes of remakes.
Mufassa: “Everything the light touches is our kingdome.”
Simba: “What about that shadowy place?”
Mufassa: “That's Disney Studios. You must never go there, son.”
*Simba goes there with Nala, transforming into the emotionless live-action counterparts. The place is cold with mute colors. Gets chased by Jon Favreau and his team of CGI animators.*
*Mufasa comes to save the day.*
Mufasa: You deliberately disobeyed me.
@@adamshows1142Dad I'm sorry :|
@@matheusmariani3108 Mufasa: Let’s go home.
@@adamshows1142 Nala: I thought you had a very wooden acting
Kingdom* there's no e lol
The one thing I did like was how Eric also has a collection of things about the sea that he doesn't fully understand, much like Ariel's collection of land items. It's kind of a nice bonding moment.
That honestly is the one aspect of Eric's character in the remake I can appreciate. It makes sense given how adventurous Eric is and how much he travels.
Yeah. They actually gave Eric a personality in this one. Though I was perfectly fine with him being just a vessel in the original.
The problem I had with the Under the Sea song was that, it was supposed to be Sebastian trying to convince her that life under the sea was better than that above. How does it make sense if she's singing along with it?
That and why the whole music sequence seem so bland, like there’s no animals playing instruments, which I can kind of understand how hard it be to make look in real life. Still, no offense to Daveed Diggs, but he doesn’t have that “Sebastian” feel the way Samuel did.
I thought her singing along was to show us that she was humoring Sebastian, but it was probably just laziness on the part of Disney.
@@tylermccaw8092I'm going with the latter
@@patrickkanas3874 when it comes to disney its always the latter
I read it as she was being sarcastic. Like playing a long with him. That's why she ditched him so abruptly. Most of the song she's rolling her eyes.
“Why do these movies keep cutting down the important scenes and keep expanding the unimportant ones?!”
Yes! Thank you! My thoughts exactly! And replace stuff that was good, keep the stuff that was not so important, and add weird stuff.
For example the thing that I just cannot get over, is the solutions in the latter part of the movie:
1. Ariel doesn’t come looking for Eric after Ursula is defeated. Maybe the dude has drowned. There was a giant vortex that pulled ships from the bottom!
2. Eric practically gives up on Ariel.
3. Halle did not emerge from the see like a goddess in silver sparkling dress like Ariel did in the animation. Instead she returned Eric the stick he threw to his dog. Wtf?? It could be so gorgeous! Whyyy?? 😭
4. The last thing we see is the just married couple is passing by on what looks like a motorboat. So romantic 😑 Where is the beautiful ship wedding?
I could forget everything else, but to me, these solutions killed the fairytale.
Would’ve been salvaged if they went the original Hans Christian Anderson ending of the fairytale. But Disney is just filled with clones of Darth Kennedy the Woke, so creativity is nowhere in Disney.
This bothered me as well. After defeating Ursula there are a few days before she turns human. Why Arent they talking to each other on the beach? The truth is out and it already seems Ariel goes to the surface now anyway. But Eric does not try to reach her anymore. He just sits depressed in his castle or something.😂
The movie was dead when they revealed their casting choices anyway
@@Kaizan27what do you mean
@@rowantic6539ikr?? She is there waiting for him, and he is rushing through the grieving stages, already on depression, moving fast towards acceptance. As if he didn’t fall for her as hard as she did for him. I felt so bad for her 😢 I mean, it does happen in real life all the time, and he didn’t in the fairytale. But Disney keeps the happy ending and makes it look like this?? THE weirdest move
"These live action remakes serve as showing how well put together the originals were" THANK YOU.
I've been saying that exact thing for YEARS now
So have I! Disney deserves to fail for what they’ve done.
@@Jarod-vg9wq unfortunately, they're not going anywhere. They'll have maybe one or 2 more bad financial years before realizing what's happening, tone things down a bit until people forget they hate Disney, and then it will most likely just be business as usual...
You don't notice all of the really important tweaks and details in the originals til they're absent in the remake. Off the top of my head, a lot of the visual queues and deliveries in Poor Unfortunate Souls are just gone. No more offhanded "Pathetic" just Ursula saying it straight to Ariel's face. Yeah, that'll get you more customers, calling them shitty right to their faces lol
@@AVdE10000They're gonna run this current Disney era to the ground, not realize why it failed, and move on to the next trend without learning anything. I'm guessing CGI remakes of Live Action Remakes of the originals. Capitalize on the nostalgia once the LAR's hit a decade old.
Honestly, if these movies stopped trying to be remakes of the animated films and Disney gave the production team more creative freedom to do something new with story premises like the little mermaid, then people would be more onboard. Like Cruella for example. It wasn't a rehash 101 Dalmatians.
Here are my two favourite lines from this review……
9:36 “Why do these movies keep cutting down the important scenes and keep expanding the unimportant ones”?
26:00 “Why would they do any of this? Why would they remake what was already perfectly fine?”
Questions that everyone unfortunately keep asking yet we never get an answer.
To quote the Tom & Jerry movie
“We’ve got to have your money😈🤑”
@@tylertilwick6852 yep pretty much answers the second question
@@tylertilwick6852 Cha-ching!
The only good thing about this movie is that it makes me appreciate the 1989 movie even more.
So, the same good thing that comes with most Disney remakes
speaking of appreciate KNEW I'd be the only Scuttle lover was my favorite character and song in the movie
@pinkbunnyskye571 Seriously, that cringe-ass song that sounds like an actual squawking bird is your favorite song?
@@Pinkywinkykinky nails on a chalkboard sound better than that
That and every other "Mermaid Movie".
There are so many problems with this movie.
For starters, Ariel‘s characterization is all over the place. They tried to make her „more empowering“ by cutting out certain lines and adding some unnecessary things. Having her sing along with Sebastian during Under The Sea is confusing because it makes it seem that Ariel agrees with everything he‘s saying when in the original she appreciated the gesture, but showed no interest in the song and even left before the song was finished.
Then there‘s the problem with how the movie tries to make sure that Ariel is „not leaving the ocean for a man.“ The problem starts with the fact that in the remake, Ariel has literally never been to the surface before meeting Eric. This ironically makes it seem that she DID leave the ocean for a guy she just met. Whereas the original showed us that she regularly disobeyed her father and went to the surface long before meeting Eric. Not only that, but after she met Eric, the original made it clear that she never intended to become human until her father destroyed everything she held dear until Eric was the only thing left that connected her to the surface world. And she even hesitated before making the deal with Ursula because she knew becoming human would mean she can‘t be with her family anymore. You know what‘s even more ironic? That particular line is cut from the remake, which ultimately makes remake Ariel look selfish and apathetic toward her family.
Then there‘s the problem with Ursula making Ariel forget the stakes. For all the talk about „Kiss the Girl“ not respecting consent, making Ariel magically forget that she has to kiss Eric means she literally CAN‘T consent. Meaning that the remake made „Kiss the Girl“ pointless and disrespected Ariel‘s boundaries. More on consent, Ariel apparently can use a „siren song“ on Eric, who falls in love with that enchanting voice. This begs the question of whether or not Eric was ever in love with Ariel in the remake or if he was under her spell the entire time.
Speaking of Eric, the movie absolutely butchered him too. In the original, Eric had a great personality and actually experienced character development. He started off as a dreamer burdened by expectations, but after he meets Ariel, he starts to gain a more mature idea of love as she teaches him to appreciate the little things in life. He falls in love with Ariel not because she‘s beautiful, but because she‘s spontaneous, spunky and appreciates thrills and adventures just as much as he does. And that‘s where he has grown from being indifferent to romance to someone who is willing to fight for it. And that is perfectly conveyed when he repays his debt to Ariel by saving her life from Ursula.
But in the remake Eric is just a less compelling version of Melody. He even seems quite shallow as he appears to be only interested in his partner having a pretty face, considering he forgot all about his mysterious rescuer the moment he met human Ariel. Heck, Eric isn‘t even allowed to save Ariel‘s life in the end. I know it‘s a movie about mermaids, but it‘s very hard to suspend disbelief when Ariel is the one to kill Ursula with the ship. First of all, in the original, Ursula tried to kill Ariel because she made her kill her pet eels. The same happens in the remake so it makes no sense for Ursula to ignore her and go after Eric. Second of all, it baffles me how Disney forgot the importance of Eric saving Ariel. That deed is literally what convinces Triton that he was wrong about humans. In the remake, he has no reason to have a change of heart since not only did he not witness the event, but it was Ariel who performed the deed. Third of all, how exactly was Ariel even able to operate the ship? She was never taught how, she has no legs and the scene takes place during a hurricane. Heck, the very concept of operating a ship should be completely alien to her considering she doesn‘t even know what a fork is.
The visuals and costume design is just bland and boring. There‘s nothing immersive about Atlantica since it‘s a pile of rubble and Ariel was given the ugliest, blandest dress in Disney history, made even worse with that pink headband.
Finally, they absolutely butchered the songs. In the original, the songs had character because they blended good performance with good singing. Making the experience more immersive. But in the remake, A Part of Your World is butchered because it doesn‘t convey enough emotion (which can be attributed to Bailey‘s bad acting). Why? Because they elongate the song to show off Bailey‘s singing performance. Just compare the two versions of how Jodi and Halle sing the line „out of the sea, wish I could be...part of that world.“ Heck, watch the behind the scenes footage of Howard Ashman directing Jodi Benson and you‘ll see why he would have hated Halle Bailey‘s version. Because he made sure Jodi would be less „singy“ and more focused on inner intensity. In other words; animated Ariel communicated from the heart while remake Ariel was just singing as if she was on stage.
Apparently some tiktokers said that the original Little Mermaid had Ariel use a siren song instead of the remake
THIS ALL OF THIS
I read all of this, and I say this with complete honesty that you really should start your own review channel because you’re great at giving clear and concise points, and don’t just complain about the changes they made but also back up your claims with why things worked in the original where they didn’t work in the remake, good work my dude!
@@captainpep3 Believe me. If I knew anything about editing, I would make my own review channel.
@@doctorquacks87 That's ridiculous. Original Ariel simply had a beautiful voice. It had no magical properties.
As a person who has spent countless thousands of hours underwater, I can say with absolute certainty that NONE of the underwater scenes make the characters movements look like they are underwater. They all look like they're flying, NOT underwater.
For Pirates of the Caribbean 4 they hired synchronized swimmers to play as mermaids for a 10 minute scene. They could have EASILY done the same thing here. All of the mermaids would have looked much more natural and believably underwater. Instead they all look so awkward, it's painful to watch.
Oof
I read somewhere that Hailey couldn't even swim
ginger spells the n word if you move the letters around. Disney marvel dc and other places making gingers into black actors or actress seems sus. those companies are clearly calling all blacks the n word secretively. should post that to them make it more known and open. people with red hair is more rare then a race of people. but gingers into
@@setsu-chon I've heard that, too. It frustrates me deeply, because they could have at least had her taken a simple two-week course and she would have looked far more natural than what the final product turned in. In my opinion, if you're playing a mermaid, then fucking learn how to swim. It's not that hard, and there's no excuse.
Ursula being Triton's sister was in the original draft of the 1989 film, as well. In a deleted scene, when the sailors at the beginning are talking about King Triton, they also refer to him having "a witch of a sister, called Ursula." I suspect Ursula's line of "...when I lived in the palace." is a remnant of that original idea, but for some reason, the idea was just scrapped. Which honestly, them being siblings never made sense to me anyway as they're two different species.
I think the idea was the magic changed her fin to octopus legs implying the magic is evil legs = evil lol I don't know
If I remember, she was a mermaid, but her corrupted soul turned her into the monster that she is.
@@BonTonBunnynope because there's a whole race of octopus people shown in a flashback in the prequel tv series and Ursula was a member of them.
@BradLad56 I was only talking about the cannon of Ursula being Triton's sister which she wouldn't of been of that race based off the orginal script since the show came way after lol
In One Piece Merfolk can be born as any fish/sea creature-form as long as one of their ancestors had that look as well. So children not looking anything like their parents is considered normal.
The use of the "I Love Lucy" clip was PERFECTION.
This might be the first time I've ever heard someone acknowledge that the "original" animated movies are kind of remakes themselves
They were adaptations of fairytales.
Yup, in almost all of the original tales someone ends up dead, and it's not usually the villain lol
Wow, I would have never guessed.
technically theyre adaptations, not remakes. bit of a difference. so the opening skit is funny but it kinda misses the point of why people dislike these remakes as soon as their announced
That's why I never use the whole, "it is not faithful" as criticism. Thing is, the original Disney movies make up for any of its shortfalls with visually stunning animation and classic original songs.
I liked in the original how Ariel saved Eric from the Hurricane and she saved him from Ursula. It showed how they protect and support each other and we’re each others equal. It hinted that their relationship would be a strong supportive one, not the one sided marriage between a weakling and the strong woman who Carrie’s him around like baggage. My worst comments are how Hallie Bailey is very pretty and so is her voice but she has 2 count them TWO facial expressions. They had to give her in inner dialogue because her acting was too weak for you to see what she was thinking. I used to run a fairy tale podcast and some amazing stories have come from historically black areas that are being lost to history. If Disney wanted to make their princess lineup more diverse it would have been more interesting and more respectful of other cultures if they had made an amazing story that originated from African or Caribbean folklore instead of giving them half re heated European leftovers. I would LOVE to see Anansi touched on as a trickster Demi-god or something like that. Instead they gave us a boring use of a wasted opportunity.
It's also what convinced king triton that not all humans are bad, to which he gave the two his literal blessing. In the remake, he just relents for no reason.
I think people were more upset about the hypocrisy of Disney taking such care to ensure movies with non-European cultures are “properly represented” and then not doing same for a traditionally European tale. If Disney is claiming to be “culturally sensitive” then they should try to represent the stories culture of origin properly. If not, then it shouldn’t matter and people shouldn’t make a big deal about who plays what in a non-historical movie
But there were definitely lots of people who were (understandably) upset about the race change and how Disney continues to put political correctness first instead of making a quality movie.
And beyond that, people dislike these remakes because they’re lazy, inauthentic, repetitive, and lower in quality. I mean, compare their multiple masterpieces from the past to their mediocre (or sometimes terrible) modern-day counterparts. It’s super pathetic 😂
This movie does suck but shut the fuck with this European culture bullshit. You don't care about it because I guarantee you haven't read HCA's version of the story of the Little Mermaid. Or any of his versions that Disney made into a movie.
@@Howlingburd19 It might have been alright if they decided to make a new story out of it, instead of the soulless re-hash they made. At least Maleficent went in a different direction, which was nice even if they did probably choose the second-to-worst candidate to try and make a sympathetic character.
But yeah, their laziness is what's doing Disney in. Then they try and use Political Correctness and Diversity as a cudgel and a shield to try and browbeat people into seeing the movie and keep them from criticizing it.
I’ve seen that mermaids DO exist in African folklore, maybe if they wanted black mermaids they could’ve gone with an original movie with something like that?
@@amyvasquez4268 I know several people who hate the race swap here (since it served no narrative purpose) but would have been fine with a story based on a new mermaid from African lore, the deaf black mermaid from the tv series or tiana from princess and the frog.
What irks me about Disney Remakes is that there are a thousand books out there that are based on the Disney stories we grew up with, but have enough twists and differences to make them interesting, yet still keep the idea of the story alive. Any one of these books would make a way better movie than just remaking the originals beat by beat with no soul.
My biggest problem with this one was lack of clarity for why she decided to become a human. In the 89 version it’s clear that she loves the human world and falling in love at first sight plus her father destroying her collection pushed her over the edge. In this version however, Ariel loves the human world but having her sing during Under the Sea makes that less clear. In the 89 version she was either bord or skeptical during the song. Here she’s singing along. She doesn’t fall in love with Eric at first sight so her song to him after she saves him makes no sense. He also doesn’t contribute to pushing her over the edge since she’s not in love with him, rendering the statue meaningless as well. In the 89 version Trition destroying Eric’s statue was almost like killing him but since this isn’t a statue of Eric and Ariel isn’t in love with him it makes no sense. During Poor Unfortunate Souls Ariel admits that she shouldn’t be doing this but then suddenly changes her mind!🤦♀️ Her motivation in this movie is so not clear! Is she in love with him? Is she not? I honestly can’t tell.
Also, the movie ends with her wanting to go out adventuring and see the world? Couldn't she had done that as a mermaid? She wouldn't need the ship, she could literally swim anywhere she wanted!
@@dynostretch9215 The sad thing is, that would have been an interesting direction to take it- they tried to flesh out eric that way, but turned it into boring political small talk that flowed into telling and not showing details they changed to try and justify the changes. If they focused on Eric and Ariel as wanting to go out and experience the world but both being constrained by their family and situation, that could have been a great thread to build their romance around. Double down on Triton's controling nature, wanting to keep Ariel safe at home because of what happened to her mother, tweak Eric's sailing to fit, maybe almost drowning means his family is similarly worried about him and going to prevent future adventures instead of it just being them deciding that there is no value in travel, exploration or TRADE as a coastal kingdom?
Then have the two of them see that potential for adventure with each other and have it blossom into romantic feelings- heck you can avoid the whole marrying after three days thing by explicitly have them go off adventuring instead of marrying right away. Not sure how to get Ursula's side of the story to fit, maybe call back to other versions and have some method of Ariel staying human via killing Eric, or something similarly bad, only for her growing feelings to screw that up?
I am surprised I put this much thought into it but it didn't take much to come up with a better plot then Disney's reheated leftovers.
ginger spells the n word if you move the letters around. Disney marvel dc and other places making gingers into black actors or actress seems sus. those companies are clearly calling all blacks the n word secretively. should post that to them make it more known and open. people with red hair is more rare then a race of people. but gingers into
One of my favorite scenes in Kingdom Hearts is the first game’s Atlantica when Triton confronts Sora about having the Keyblade. Kenneth Mars has this amazing dignity and gravity to him that when he speaks of Kingdom Hearts lore, it makes complete sense. And he actually shuts down Sora, reminding him that he isn’t just going around having adventures, he’s wielding a powerful weapon capable of both great good and evil. It’s when the first game stopped being just a Disney adventure and started becoming more serious. And it wouldn’t have happened if this one side character from one out of several Disney worlds/films didn’t have such a great performance from his actor who brought his A-game to every single time he played the character. “As the Keybearer, you MUST already know! One cannot interfere in the affairs of other worlds!”
Really makes you miss Kenneth Mars. Especially with how Javier Bardem was shockingly checked out of this movie.
And yes people really do conflate fairytale kisses with sexual harassment. It’s extremely frustrating how dopey people have gotten
My issue is the scene shows Ariel giving consent. Eyes shut, lips pursed, leaning forward and she does it twice. At the start of the song when he pulls away then again at the end when they get dumped in the water. I'm sorry but if I'm doing that to a guy I'm not giving consent for him to kiss me I'm asking him to do it.
@@Senkoau plus she wanted to kiss to get out of the spell,you are cursed the last things you care is if somebody ask your consent,even more if you are the one trying to seduce,like the entire song is about the animals trying to force the prince to help her,but somehow the problem is HER consent......WTF?
@@xrosso6515 True. if I were facing a seaweedification fate like she was I don't care if its a guy, girl or anything inbetween please go ahead kiss me and get me out of this fate worse than death.
@@Senkoau Also, people with the mute disability are actually capable of giving consent.
This movie is the perfect example of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Fun fact, I saw Jodi Benson at Fanexpo this year, though I didn’t talk to her
The original Hans Christian Andersen story is an example of that but that didn't stop Disney from Disneyfying it.
What made you not want to
2023 has been a really bad year for Disney but the one thing that has been worth celebrating about Disney is the Once Upon a Studio short that I hope Doug takes a look at maybe for Disneycember.
And more bad days to come, The Marvels is projected to flop and same for Wish.
@@muigokublack6487 you cannot eb serious, there a 100 years
Are we just talking Fiscal Year 2023 (ended Sep 30)? If we are, then yes, it has been an abject disaster for Disney. If we’re talking 2023 for the rest of the world though, there IS a possibility, however remote, that Wish could stop the bleeding at least.
ginger spells the n word if you move the letters around. Disney marvel dc and other places making gingers into black actors or actress seems sus. those companies are clearly calling all blacks the n word secretively. should post that to them make it more known and open. people with red hair is more rare then a race of people. but gingers into
Disney needs a new renaissance era
Halle Bailey deserves a chance to be her own ORIGINAL princess! Just imagine her having more artistic and vocal freedom to convey a fresh, new character for everyone to fall in love with! I blame Disney and their reliance on AI and checklists for the stunted acting. She really has talent and deserves a better opportunity.
That's really what they should have done from the beginning yes the change is not a big deal but the reason to be against it is a fair reason when you think how much money Disney has waisted on these films
Yes! Even if they didn't want to give her an original character, I would still have rather seen Bailey in a live action remake of Princess and the Frog, but only so long as they hired real writers with actual talent to do the script. The girl clearly is brimming with talent, and she would have made a _wonderful_ Tiana, IMO. Pair her with an equally talented leading man like Michael B Jordan as Prince Naveen and Idris Elba as Dr. Facilier, and fans of the animated version would be absolutely redeemed.
Don’t worry, the film adaptation of the musical version of The Color Purple is coming up and she’s going to have a role in that.
@@hunterolaughlin wasn't that already a film
@@shanedaley6236 You’re thinking of the 1985 film. I stated in my comment this is an adaptation of the Broadway musical version of The Color Purple.
The one thing about that interesting twist though with how she reveals her name to him is she's supposed to know what Aries is, but the thing is before going onto Eric's ship, she never has been up to the surface before so how would she know what constellations or stars for that matter?
Eric was showing her the constellations and telling her their names, and that's what gave her the idea for how to tell her name. The review doesn't show the whole scene, but in the movie he literally just pointed at and said "Aries" then she points at it to get him to say it again.
I’m not gonna lie, Scuttle asking if Ariel has killed the Prince yet is funny as hell and made me laugh hard
Would've been funnier if it wasn't Akwafina, she was the worst part of this movie for me
It also ties in quite well with the original story where she has to kill the Prince to regard her tail and return to the ocean so she won't die.
@@patrickkanas3874tru dat. This version of Scuttle would've been so much better if it wasn't Awkwafina. You wanna make the scatterbrained hobo act more like Ariel gal pal, fine, but you couldn't of gotten any other female comedians to play her? Same goes for Sisu from Raya and the Last Dragon. I assure you if she was played by anyone who's not Awkwafina (maybe Haley Tju), along with allowing her learning not everyone deserves unconditional trust, Sisu would've been a good character.
I mean, it's a tiny reference of how the book was written, as someone pointed out.
Interesting, not gonna lie.
@@kylemorello4787 In that regard, Awkwafina clearly can't properly emulate Buddy Hackett (the original Scuttle).
I miss old Disney. The live action reboots have one thing going for them, they’ve reminded us of how phenomenal the original movies were. No matter what these reboots do differently like making our beloved human fish hybrid black, people will always prefer the original
Some people like both.
@@Madallen2002 which is perfectly valid, I don’t get it, but I respect those who like both
It’s theorized that live action Little Mermaid takes place in the Caribbean and animated Little Mermaid takes place in the Mediterranean. But my biggest issue is that Sebastian is a ghost crab, a species of crab that’ll drown if underwater for too long
Well theorized or not, this movie is much more bland compared to the original in basically every aspect, and this movie shouldn’t exist in the first place lol. The idea of something Caribbean-based honestly sounds like a great idea, but make it fresh and authentic, don’t remake an original movie that didn’t need to exist in the first place 😂
@@Howlingburd19 I do feel that if it was something different, rather than a husk of the original, people wouldn't be so inclined to disliking it. Nobody is upset at Princess and the Frog, even though it is an old European tale. The fact that it was designed to be its own thing while still harkening back to the original story helped make it enjoyable, and the makers were able to put their own spin on it.
With this, had they made a new story with new songs and new characters in a different setting, they would have faced significantly less backlash. Instead, they made it a husk of the original, and used Diversity as a shield to try and protect them from criticism.
One thing that bothers me way too much is that Triton does a swimming motion with his hands when hes half above water at the end. Not only does it look awkward but doesn't he have a tail to keep him afloat?
Thank you for summing up my issue with people getting offended over Kiss the Girl, and over the resolution of Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs when Prince Florian kisses her and saves her life. In the case of both films, they’re fairy tales with fairy tale logic, not real life logic. Second, as you pointed out, the animated The Little Mermaid perfectly shows through the title of the song, as well as Ariel’s expressions throughout, that Eric implicitly has full consent to kiss her. That the makers of this version felt the need to force in dialogue or lyrics expressing consent verbally because the 1989 film apparently is ‘problematic’ (when in reality, it’s the furthest thing from that) is absolutely pathetic in my book
Problematic is my most hated word above all words.
While I do understand some of the criticism behind Snow White's kiss (pretty sure Prince Florian didn't know true love's kiss would revive her, so he essentially kissed an unconscious girl he barely knew just because) I also completely agree with the "it's a fairy tale" counter. Fairy tales aren't meant to reflect the standards of reality, they're whimsical, fun stories meant to teach lessons in an approachable fashion that anyone could understand. Anyone with a brain wouldn't watch Snow White and think it's some kind of permission to creep on unconscious women, because anyone with a brain would recognize that it's a fairy tale with fairy tale logic. AKA not take it seriously. I swear the people trying to "cancel" these fairy tales must be so bored and miserable with their lives to waste so much of their time on these "problematic" stories they claim to hate so much.
@@TiredSnowBerry I always viewed "true love's kiss" as a fairy tale CPR so it never really bothered me the way it does others. It's not operating on our reality-based logic, it's its own self-contained world of emotionally rousing catharsis that's very intuitive and easy to follow.
@@Disneyfan82 it’s a word used by stupid people when they try to sound intelligent.
@@TiredSnowBerry To be fair it was a different time and in that context he's not kissing an unconcious girl he's giving a goodbye kiss to a dead one. Still odd by modern standards but very different meaning to the audience of the time.
What Doug says about the “Kiss the Girl” song is what I’ve been saying for a while now! There is NOTHING offensive with “Kiss the Girl” or with kissing in the other fairytales (like Snow White and Sleeping Beauty). Ariel is the one who is leaning in and trying to get Eric to kiss her, and Eric is the one who is backing away until he finally starts to have feelings for her. Like he said, they’re fairytales…in other words, not real life. People need to just calm the frig down and learn to just enjoy movies again. There is something so cathartic about Doug reviewing these live-action remakes.
Remember, the SAME folks that demanded the song be cut, are the SAME folks who canceled Pepe Lepew.
I don't know what stupid idiots have the nerve to say Eric was forcing himself on Ariel. Why the hell did they listen to those morons?
What really makes me sad is knowing that the movie would've sucked, whether they changed Ariel or not.
True
The actual reason people dislike blackwashing pre-existing characters is that its usually done out of ideological reasons, not out of necesity or storytelling reasons, specifically to pander to a certain group, and a lot of time without caution or care for the original work thats being changed.
I despise race swapping for this exact reason. When done well it doesn't pose any harm and can actually elevate a character to a higher level. But this is rare. More often than not characters are race swapped only to achieve brownie points with mindless Twitter masses and any legitimate criticism is deflected as coming from "A small minority of racists." It comes off as incredibly shallow, dishonest, and defensive, and I don't like it at all.
Nobody cared when we got a black Django or a black Heimdall because _gasp_ they were chosen because they're great actors and not based off how much melanin they've got! We got a female Ripley in Alien because she was an amazing actress, not because they wanted a female horror/action lead just to pander. I don't mind race swapping (at least where it doesn't conflict with the story like getting the wrong race in a story based on true events) but what they _should_ do is decide race isn't an issue and then open the floor to the best actress regardless of her race. If you get a Chinese Ariel but she's awesome then great
I think it's true that a lot of people dislike race-swapping for this reason, and find it lazy at best. Unfortunately, there are those who complain about that for racist reasons (though I hope they're just a vocal minority.) I wouldn't be surprised if these distinct groups got lumped together, though.
@@misseli1 that's exactly the plan. Disney and some other companies do "race baiting" by swapping characters races, then pretend like _all_ the criticism is from racists. Same thing the recent Ghostbusters movie did. When going through comments and criticism from these films the vast majority of the complaints are about the films either being pointless remakes because the originals still hold up today and the remakes are if anything take away from the original rather than adding anything new, or they complain about the overall quality of the film. Only a minority of complaints about these movies from viewers and critics even mention race and the vast majority of those complaints are about how lazy the race baiting is or how they changed the race just to virtue signal. You find very, very few complaints that could be viewed as racist.
Racists tend not to watch much from Hollywood since Hollywood has a strong liberal bias and interracial casts with racial and religious minority actors has been a thing for well over 50 years and even earlier Hollywood was disproportionately Jewish going back to the earliest days of film. Since the 70s though there's been quiet a few openly gay actors, barely closeted gay actors, and plenty of black leads. Disney specifically has had multiracial casts across a lot of their films and shows for longer then most Disney viewers have been alive. There are likely some racist viewers of movies like the Mermaid remake but they're a slim minority and I'd be shocked if they made up even 1 or 2% of viewers.
@@misseli1 the "racism"-card is always an easy (and fallacious) way to dismantle an opponents argument, so its no wonder people on one side use it against the other, even if the criticism is genuine and truthful, and not based on actual racism.
I wish Disney would do hand drawn animated films again. That was largely where the originality they were known for came from. That’s what made their company unique for so many years.
They won’t and… they can’t. Disney literally doesn’t have the tools to do 2D animation anymore. That and it wouldn’t make as much money for the amount of effort it takes. They won’t make any beauty and the beast or lion king again
@@catmerchant8699 which is why I think Disney will be gone in a decade or two
@@catmerchant8699the tools? What are you on? Everyone has the tools for 2d animation today
Yeah, should have stick with bastardize fairy tales and legend. And if they want to keep their word of pro diversity. They should do the spider story
Friendly reminder that when they said 3D animation is cheaper, 3D animation wasn't unionized but 2D was
You know what they say
If it's not broke, Disney will break it
More like,
If it's not 'Baroque', Disney will break it.
Disney said: "We want Mulan to be as accurate to the origin culture as we can, which is why everyone is Asian."
Note: They also thanked the death camp guards for their help.
They decided against the "culture origin accuracy" thing for the Little Mermaid and opted to alter a fairytale for virtue points.
It was simply a hypocrisy thing.
That and Bailey's comment and interviews.
Jodi Benson had/has the most angelic singing voice in Disney no one can compare.
To be fair, if you compare only the singing in the live action movies, Halle probably comes out on top XD.
@@Jazzisa311that girl that played jasmine sings better
Paige O’Hara is definitely up there
@@ninjanibba4259 I agree
@@aguycalledjamal most definitely. It seems that the singers from nineties movies are better than these remakes.
I wrote my thesis about the Little Mermaid, and how the changing adaptations reflect the changing times. The original story was about what it means to have a soul, and the power of sacrifice. The 1989 movie was about going after what you want, while also sprinkling in a healthy dose of gender expectations (Ariel's singing voice is valued, but Triton refuses to listen to her; and of course, Ursula says that her looks will suffice in winning Eric's heart because human men would rather have a beautiful wife than a smart one). This one shows how the well of nostalgia has yet to completely go dry, and how creatively bankrupt Disney is.
Oh my god I want to read this!
@@moot_8 Thank you!
Very interesting thesis. I like it 👍
@@wyn1bap Thanks!
Interesting thesis.
Also, don't forget that the Disney adaptation adds a theme about the value of family and coming of age with the whole tension between Triton and Ariel.
On a side note, I've always thought that both versions, despite their differences, show the two sides of the coin when it comes to taking risks for love. In the Disney version we see the triumphant one. In the original one, the failure. But in both versions we understand that it was better for the protagonist to try whatever the costs, than to stay miserable forever. It kinda goes in hand with a poem from Lord Tennyson "It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all".
Honestly the more we get these remakes the more i feel like Disney just doesn't know how to make movies anymore
They're remaking the wrong films
@@theanimeunderworld8338 agreed, we need deserve remakes for the bad films and make them better.
Agreed
Sooooo true
@@theanimeunderworld8338 Exactly. They should be remaking lesser known films like Atlantis or The Black Cauldron.
I think a lot of people forget when they are critiquing orginal disney is that they are teenagers. Ariel is a very realistic teenager. I turned down tickets to see Wicked the stage play, so I could sit in silence in a lounge room for 4 hours with my crush, watching futrama reruns.
CRITIC: "Why would they remake what was already perfectly fine?"
LICKBOOT: "We've got to have .... money."
[ strings begin to play ]
One of my favorite animated songs, ever.
Fun Fact: Melissa McCarthy had no idea she could actually sing before production of this film. She was coached by vocal coach Eric Vetro to prepare for her role as Ursula, and did all of her own singing in the film.
It shows.
Fun fact: You are annoying
It _definitely_ shows.
😂 it shows!
She sounds drunk when she's singing. That's not really a good performance.
So the reason the Kiss the Girl song in the original is seen as “offensive” is because the reason behind Ariel trying to kiss Eric is seen as insincere. Because Ursula’s contract is on Ariel’s mind and there’s a time limit, the whole scene now comes off as less an act of love and more of trying to hook up with a guy because the contract said so. This portrays Ariel as manipulative and not truly loving the prince. So by erasing her memories of needing to kiss Eric, Ariel’s actions are now seen as genuine as she’s doing all this not because of a contract…
This is a lot of BS. Anyone with common sense or who at least thinks for more than 2 seconds would see all this as utter nonsense. The kiss being insincere because of the contract is plain wrong. Yes, one of the reasons Ariel is trying to kiss Eric is because if she doesn’t then she becomes Ursula’s property but it’s not THE reason. Ariel wants to kiss Eric because she does actually love him. In fact, kissing Eric also allows Ariel keep her leg and thus be together with Eric, furthering Ariel’s love for him. The part of becoming property is secondary. Also the contract specifies True Loves Kiss, which means both sides have to be genuinely in love. If Ariel didn’t truly love Eric then the kiss wouldn’t work. This is just a case of people looking for things to complain about because it’s modern times and everything from the past is outdated therefore needs to be changed and improved.
Where did you hear that the song was offensive because she was trying to force herself onto him? Because every idiotic argument I heard had it the other way around, which makes sense given the double standard we live by
I guess some modern folks can't get their head around the old school Disney Fairy Tale classic curse cure of TRUE LOVES KISS (which means both sides have to truly love each other to break the spell with a kiss which has been a thing since Snow White & was also in Sleeping Beauty too though the Prince also proved his love by slaying Dragon Maleficent)!
The whole idea of the song is to simply create a romantic setting for Ariel & Eric (basically Sébastien & his crew are making Ariel & Eric their own version of the Tunnel of Love) in the hopes it will put Eric in the mood to makeout with Ariel (who is already in love with Eric & wants to be with him) as its clear he sees something in her, just is unable to realize she's the one who saved him cause Princes in fairy tales are pretty dense & Ariel can't talk (or write in a language Eric could understand) to explain how she feels nor tell him he was the one who rescued her! Its also clear Usula's human form has Eric under mind control given his blank stare so its not like he was in love with her at any point of the original film!
To modern audiences, the original seems pretty old fashioned but at least Ariel is an active heroine who actually has a freakin body count (she causes the deaths of Ursula's pet eels) was ground breaking for its time (this was before Mulan)!
Todays progressives would put a drag show orgy on a kids channel but a hetro sexual kiss that didn’t have written and signed agreements before hand between the 2 party’s is blasphemy.
They changed like three lines, I honestly barely noticed.
Wait, didn't Ariel get into that whole contract thing precisely *because* she loved Eric?
It's SO stupid that Ariel would sing along to Under the sea, when she clearly wants to experience something new, atleast in the Original. This remake made NOTHING new and valuable, but that might be cause I'm old.
It's just not the same without the late Samuel E. Wright to provide Sebastian's voice.
I think they really should've gone "The Wiz" route with this film. Not only would it be seen as its own thing with a different setting and new songs, but nobody would be angry about it, and Disney gets its ESG money. Oh wait, that'd take effort.
I hadn’t thought of that! An entire Motown take in the little mermaid. Now that is something I want to see. Good thinking.
Well the thing with The Wiz was that it was completely it’s own thing. The Oz books were public domain so you could’ve make a Broadway musical, which it originally was before it got adapted into the movie, out of it and even base it on black music and culture. It was not a remake like The Little Mermaid was. Learn the difference between original and remake.
@@revengeofbcraig5755 Uh, yeah, that was OPs point, make it it’s own thing instead of a remake.
@@revengeofbcraig5755….way to fail idiot
I’m excited for the musical revival of The Wiz next year. Considering the racial tensions from over the last 3 years, we definitely do need a revival at this time.
The only thing I don’t like about this Ariel is the shade of red they chose for her, because all of the ocean scenes are dark and dull, it causes her hair to look like it blends into her skin. Bailey has such a nice skin tone, a rich dark red or a red rose or a red wine would look so nice on her.
Or better yet, make an entirely different mermaid movie altogether. A quick google search netted a result of a water spirit worshipped in subsaharan Africa.
But given Disney’s history with mothers of the main characters… perhaps it’s best we don’t tell them. The only main princess who’s mother is still alive is Tiana, and she technically isn’t a princess.
I agree. But yea it would have been better if they made a original movie
I haven't watched this movie, but I've seen several clips from it. My biggest complaint is that Ariel doesn't have the same passion and energy as the cartoon version. Her passion is what made her who she was. It was what moved her from one scene to the next. I didn't get that from Bailey's performance.
Seeing that King Triton is lacking emotions also is detrimental to the story. In the 1989 cartoon, the dynamic between him and Ariel was a big part of what pushed her work with the sea witch. Ariel felt that her father didn't listen to her and didn't respect her feelings. His temper kept pushing her farther and farther away.
At first I thought that forgetting the kiss thing was to fix the plothole of why Aerial wouldn’t just walk right up to Eric and kiss him by any means necessary.
But the problem I realized with that was that it was never a real plot hole. The kiss has to be “true love.” That eliminates the ability to just kiss him.
I am beginning to think it was just stupid.
When it comes to the Disney live-action remakes, as filmmaker Chris Gore once said, and I can't emphasize this enough:
"You're not here to lecture me, you're here to entertain me."
Or at least make an entertaining lecture.
@@rckblzr I think what he's trying to say is, when someone puts passion and effort into their work, it's fun to watch. But when you rush stuff out, it becomes less fun and more boring.
Sort of like how game developer Shigeru Miyamoto once said: "A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad."
@@rckblzr
I think we've all seen movies that could be defined as an entertaining lecture
ginger spells the n word if you move the letters around. Disney marvel dc and other places making gingers into black actors or actress seems sus. those companies are clearly calling all blacks the n word secretively. should post that to them make it more known and open. people with red hair is more rare then a race of people. but gingers into
@@rckblzr what about a nightmare lecture?
21:55 Great example of the difference between "Not wanting to offend" and "Paranoid to offend".
The Average-Sized...We Consider Any Size Average, All Sizes are Okay, but the Appropriate Size That's Not Too Big and Not Too Small is Not That We Consider That Traditionally Attractive because Everybody is Beautiful and Everybody is Beautiful, and However You See Yourself as Beautiful is Beautiful, but We're Disney, so We Hire Hot People All the Time... NOT THAT WE SEE ANYONE AS MORE HOT THAN ANYONE ELSE, SO... You Know What the Film is Called. Fish-Girl'
00:11:20 "A girl,...rescued me. She had the most BEAUTIFUL quiet reactions."
When Hailey was announced as Ariel my first reaction was "finally, they got someone who can actually sing to play a live action Disney princess". Unfortunately it sounds like they got Emma Watson to play the Prince.
And she can't act very well, which is even more important than the singing.
I'd love to see Doug's rage at the new "Snow White" remake! His rage feeds my soul.
it just got pushed back a year so it'll be a while
Why is everyone is bad about that remake anyway
@@jadenbryant9283because they know what to expect
@@jadenbryant9283 Because it looks like a bad joke. And the fact that they removed the dwarves because Peter Dinklage is a jerkoff who got a bunch of other folks with dwarfism fired from their jobs.
The problem is not that they race-swapped the character (and other characters). The problem is their casting process started with the question "who can we get that's black", and not "who's the best actress for the role". Nick Fury has always been a white dude in the comics, until they cast Samuel L. Jackson to play him, and that was a great casting choice because Jackson makes the character really have that tough but cool characteristic.
In the case of the little mermaid, all she's got is she is black and she can sing. This is a movie, the most fundamental factor in casting should be "can they act" and then "can they fit the role we have in mind". This movie is proof the aforementioned 2 questions never even came up during the entire casting process, because the "actress" they picked can't act!
If the actress couldn't sing, no problem, you can always just dub her singing with another performer, Disney and many other studios have done this hundreds of times in the past! But ACTING is a fundamental, critical, and irreplaceable skill for someone being cast in a movie in a leading role, and she just can't ACT!
You act like you were there in the casting room. She auditioned for the role just like any other actress would and she's the one they chose. And her singing is considered the best thing about this movie so obviously they were onto something.
The fact that whenever black people get chosen for something there's a huge assumption they only got chosen because they're black and couldn't possibly have fairly earned it based on their own merits... that mentality is why diversity in hollywod has become such a complicated mess
@@demetri2716 Are you really so naive that you think casting for these "high profile" movies is in any way a meritocracy? 99% of the time they already know who they want, they just go through the motions so no one can accuse them of anything and the union has no way to prove it happened (despite everyone knowing it did). This is not even a secret, everyone knows this happens. But since they go through the casting process, good luck proving discrimination in court.
Actually, Nick Fury was black in the Ultimate Marvel universe before Samuel L Jackson's casting. ...Though they have admitted they based that version off of Samuel L Jackson, and it's just lucky the actual guy was cast in the MCU, so interpret that how you wish.
@@demetri2716 You nailed the problem the OP said without realizing it. The singing was amazing, but they could've had Haley Bailey do the singing and cast someone else to play Ariel. She shouldn't have been in this movie.
@@extremecentrism9796 there’s literally no reason she “shouldn’t have been in this movie”
So for me personally the reason I get bothered by race swaps is for two reasons.
One, people make a good point that unless it effects the story or character it shouldn't matter that much, but then why change? Because they want to add "diversity" to stories that don't need it. Not every story needs to show case every skin tone under the sun.
Two, the other reason a lot of people were upset is because when something is being adapted from an animation to live action, we want to see the characters we grew up with come to life. This also applies to books. We want to see what these characters we know look like in real life. By changing the appearance, they really no longer are that character.
Also I'm not sure if you've noticed but Hollywood has had this weird obsession with erasing redheads? Almost every time a character is randomly made black, the original was a redhead. Ariel, Starfire, A Wrinkle in Time, Wally West, Jimmy Olsen, etc.
Yeah I really wish they just made a 100% new character for Hailey to play as
And honestly, they always sprinkle the races around at random. It's so odd. Like, if Eric and his parents were ALL black, in the freaking Caribbean, that would make more sense and totally fit in, but having just a few black people here and there is weird.
who cares
One part they added that I actually really liked was Eric’s collection of things from his adventures, and how Ariel was able to show him things he’d never seen before. It showed that they had things in common: a sense of adventure, desire to explore, and sentimentality. I thought the middle of the movie was the best. “For the first time” until “kiss the girl” was worth it, the rest was mostly garbage.
Same!!! I loved ariel and Eric having something in common, and she was so cute in the blue dress! Bailey's acting did get better when she didn't have to speak that dreadful dialog.
Honestly I like the sea god aspect because it means Ariel wasn't the only merfolk who was curious about humans. And if a kingdom who lives near the sea they are gonna have folklore about the sea
There are a few reasons why making her black is triggering to so many people and why it hits different.
(1) there is literally no story or plot-driven reason for it (e.g. with LoTR adaptations),
(2) it makes absolutely zero sense logically (melanin is an evolutionary adaptation for high UVB & UVA light, which does not penetrate water)
(3) given the above, and given how many other times we have seen this trend of black-washing established white characters, it's clear that this change was ideologically motivated. Instead of creating new stories with new and interesting black characters, these ideologues have been regularly deciding to take established white, European characters & stories and randomly inserting black & racially ambiguous "colored" characters.
(4) not only is this wrong from a creative standpoint, it's deeply hypocritical from an ideological standpoint, considering the same people would be frothing at the mouth if a traditionally black character was not only played by a white guy, but whitewashed into being white.
There was absolutely no legitimate reason to make the Little Mermaid black. There was no reason to make Velma black. There was no reason to make Elves black, etc, etc. And all of these projects prove this, and expose how ideologically motivated & creatively bankrupt the people making & financing these projects are, because all of these have been phenomenal failures. Not only do they hate white people and strive to replace them everywhere, but they don't even create anything worthwhile from it. Not that they ever could, because these projects are coming from a place of greed and ideology, not love for the story or the material. And that's why the people engaging in this crap will always make crap.
😂😂😂 and there’s no legitimate reason to be white. If you truly care you would be calling for her to be green.
@@astrowolvez Except she's a Danish folktale, so YES she is...
@@astrowolvez typical dimwit reading comprehension on display here
You know the movie is crap is when Drunk Ursula is the only good thing.
Also who is the A-hole that keeps taking these cute animals and making them terrifying
Fun fact: the species of crab they depicted Sebastian as in this movie is incapable of swimming or breathing underwater.
Iago in the Aladdin remake is also a South-American scarlet macaw that has absolutely zero business being in Arabia, I'm pretty sure they just don't care.
@@rainpooper7088 They never cared. Even the Disney's animated Aladdin already has an obnoxious genie making "funny" modern references. Zero respect for the source material.
Another Fun Fact: According to costume designer Colleen Atwood, every merpeople accessory "had to be from the sea. For King Triton, we were trying to figure out how to make his crown look like a crown but not like it was a crown from above the sea. I saw these really giant shark teeth in a magazine, and I was like 'Oh my god, we should make his crown out of shark teeth'."
I actually like that. For all the problems with this movie, I loved the costumes 👑🧜♂️
The "behind the scenes" on these remakes are more creative than the movie itself. I'd rather follow the technical struggles of adapting these than the spectacle on screen.
@@FunFilmFare well she is one of the best costume designers in the business. No matter if the project is good or bad if her name's in the credits than you know the costumes will be one of the best parts.
Can you review the one remake Disney got right… 1996’s 101 Dalmatians. Glenn Close’s acting was just chefs kiss
That one wasn't too bad. I saw it in theaters when I was a kid so I wonder how I'd enjoy it as an adult.
6:37 that caught me so off guard and I lost it 😂 I can never look at Sebastian the same again
I love that they made Sebastian a species of crab that can't survive in the ocean. Shows how much they really don't give a shit :)
So many species of underwater crabs they could’ve chosen, but they went with a Ghost Crab.
@@Drixenol86They could have just used a blue crab and colored it red for the movie.
Thank you for limiting the Scuttle audio as much as you could. Akwafina's voice in this movie is acid to my eardrums
She sounds like Amethyst.
She was better in the movie "Renfield".
*THERE IS NOT ENOUGH.*
Her biggest crime in the movie is her singing.
She desperately wants to sound stereotypically black. Which is even worse since she's Asian.
I'm with you on that, Bailey's singing is that one thing in the trailer that makes this movie look good even though I will never watch it myself because these live action remakes aren't really my thing.
Which is a shame because, for a Disney classic in which the musical part takes such a good chunk of the movie, I could genuinely see why the director would choose her to be Ariel despite how different she looks
"A clitoris with claws" is the best description of the animated Sebastian I've ever heard.
Sydney in Scream4 said it best, "First rule of a remake, don't f*** with the original"
Scream vi was lucky to make it out alive
@@remixchildScream 6 wasn’t a remake though
Fun fact: This is the closest you’ll get to seeing me watch this.
Amen
Same
Yup...
Well. As long as a UA-camr I watch reviews it
This is me from 2030, the movie is shit.
You're welcome!
Same. I've got D+, and have no ambition to see it.
It's not that fans hate black people. No one was complaining about The Princess And The Frog being almost all black (except for the white servant, who becomes a bad guy, and his motivation was he was tired of being pushed around). It's a combination of the race swapping going one way, and being used as a shield.
Hayden Christensen got a lot of criticism about his acting in Attack Of The Clones. George Lucas didn't call all critics racists who hate white people, and that's the only reason they would criticize the acting.
Exactly, people are sick of lazy swaps for the sole reason of using them as human shields to call anyone who doesn’t like their static movies racist
Like I don't even care that they cast Halle in the role. I really don't. But I also don't believe that she was the right person for the role either because it's clear they cast her for her singing voice and not the whole package.
I don't hate the character for being race swapped, I hate the character for being race swapped in a shallow way only meant for pandering that often leads to terribly written characters that rely on the racism shield to deflect from criticism and that so many Ginger characters are race swapped just feels like a slap to the face when the character isn't done justice. It just makes me lose faith in any adaptation when an existing character is suddenly changed on race, gender or sexuality because I know from experience that it's not done from any story perspective. There are a few examples where it's done great, and I have no problem with that, but otherwise, its just lazy and doesn't improve or really change the character in a significant way, and is therefore a useless change. I have no problem with characters of different ethnicities, sexuality or genders. All of those types of characters have existed for years, and have been received amazingly. It's lazy pandering using existing characters that I have a problem with. Make new characters and tell new stories.
So you're just a racist in denial XD.
Exactly! That's why I didn't mind them casting Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury, because Jackson is an amazing actor who always gives the best performance possible, and Fury's skin color was never an important part of his character. And it's why I hated when Idris Elba was cast as Roland in the Dark Tower movie. Not because I have anything against Idris Elba, or because Idris Elba is black, but because him being white was actually a plot point in the books when he had to team up with Susanna, a black woman who had suffered at the hands of racist white men. They could have used that dynamic to get across an incredible message in the movie, but instead they decided to take the easy, pandering route by making a white character black and patting themselves on the back for it.
@@ThisAdamGuy I'm pretty sure the MCU version of Nick fury is based on the ultimate version of Nick fury, who was actually based on Samuel L Jackson himself. The artist made him look like the actor, and even had the characters in the story acknowledge it. However,
Samuel L. Jackson had always been a big comic book fan, and one of his favorite characters was Sgt. Nick Fury from Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos (1963-1981). Of course, Fury was originally a World War II veteran with two working eyes, would chomp on a cigar, and was white.
Cut to about 40 years later, and Jackson entered a comic shop and saw the first issue of Marvel Ultimates, which introduced the new version of Nick Fury that just so happened to look like Jackson.
According to Jackson, “It was kind of weird. I just happened to be in a comic store, and I picked up the comic because I saw my face. And I was like, ‘Wait a minute, I’m not sure I remember giving somebody permission to use my image.'” This was confirmed in the second issue of The Ultimates when Nick Fury states that Samuel L. Jackson would play him in a movie. Naturally, he called up Marvel pretty upset they did that, and they offered him the role in the movies.
I loved drunk Ursula she felt more real because she's that aunt that allows wants to tell you at family gatherings how much she hates your Dad
Actually, drunk Ursula does make sense to me. Since she does say Triton exiled her in the original.
My issue with Bailey is she’s not doing the emotions…she’s prioritising sounding good instead of conveying the emotion she’s feeling
It’s my same issue with Beyoncé in lion king.
Shes not an actress
YES! That's exactly how I felt when I saw her. I thought she was doing well in the trailer, but she looked stoic the rest of the film! I still she does a good Ariel, it's just as good as the trailer showed her to be, that's all.
Edit: I still think she does a good Ariel, it's just not as great as Jodi Benson and Sierra Boggess, that's all.
Don't pin it on her, EVERYONE is on autopilot in this movie.
She does a great job of looking like a fish with those eyes at least.
At this point, i will generate a scenario on AIDungeon..
23:37 If nothing else, can we agree that Melissa McCarthy's evil laugh here is surprisingly good? I think she actually sounds a bit like Pat Carroll here.
Composer Alan Menken stated in the behind the scenes of both the live remakes of beauty and the beast and little mermaid that they were dedicated to the late Composer Howard Ashman. I say these live remakes dishonors the memory and legacy the late Howard Ashman left behind.
Whether it's a good or bad movie, Nostalgia Critic always manages to do an excellent review vid! Simply marvelous work guys!!!
Agreed
Agreed as well.
Perfectly said
do you remember urchin ariel's merboy friend
What are the odds?
"@danielsantiagourtado3430
44 minutes ago
Whether it's a good or bad movie, Nostalgia Critic always manages to do an excellent review vid! You guys are the best! face-red-heart-shapeface-red-heart-shapeface-red-heart-shapeface-red-heart-shape"
This is kinda sus.
As good as a singer Hally Bailey was, she had a really weird moment in Part of Your World, when she said the words "wandering free." It sounded like someone punched her stomach in the middle of her singing that sentence.
Yeah, no disagreement there. I think he explains it well by saying she has a good voice but her talking parts in the song sounds wonky/ weird
The writers were watching Pirates 5 and went “hey Bardem is great at caring about some magical trident in the ocean”
6:38 this is last thing you see when you drowning in the sea
This will be an... interesting Disneycember this year since it has been really rough for them.
I hope he talks about stuff other than what came out this year. I hope he covers Moon Knight or Hawkeye this Disneycember.
Im actually kinda surprised he didnt mention how Flounder, Sebastian, Scuttle and the Eeel's roles in the remake were pretty much pointless and were just in the movie for Nostalgia sake.
If anything I think they gave Aerial WAY too much to do in this movie.
Every time Doug asks, "Why would they do that?" I am reminded that he doesnt get why they race swapped and changed the story. Why call the statue the little mermaid? Because it's wrong to call a women little. Why change who kills Ursula when it is what shows King Triton Eric will put his life at risk for Ariel? Because Ariel is a strong woman who doesnt need to be saved and giving her what she wants to make her happy is the more important reasoning. Why add the scene of just her and Eric at the end of the movie? Because she and her getting what she wanted is what matters.
Why did they race swap? To pander.
10:46 You know, this kinda reminds me of the Lion King remake where “Can You Feel The Love Tonight” is sung in the DAYTIME as opposed to the nighttime in the animated original. What even was the point of that? Honestly, Disney should’ve known better.
"Arabian nights, like Arabian day's more often than not are hotter than hot in the arctic circle". . . what, what? You have hit on a major issue with a lot of these remakes whoevers doing them has this idea of "We need X" with no interest in context and what should be happening. Rather than a quiet longing "part of that world" hallie belts it out full volume or the lion king remake you mentioned. Its not just songs either take Ariel joining in on the song to convince her to stay underwater then just vanishing because the next scene says she's not there. They're reading the script regardless of whether it makes sense or not.
I’m amazed that no one pointed out that Scuttle, Flounder and Sebastian have voices while Flotsam and Jetsam (Ursula’s henchmen) don’t have voices
I just wanna say that the reason why the daughters are all different is because each represent a sea. So maybe they could have the same mother but just take look after the different sea's they end up named after since their father is king of all the oceans.
They could have done what Luca did, with the mer folk being all fantasy underwater and then take on a human shape that they like or that feels like them.
Maybe re-introduce the old plotpoint of the merfolk going to the surface once a year when they come of age, like the fairytale did. And them traveling far and seeing different cultures, which is why each and everyone takes a different form over water.
The reason could be that Triton wants them to see how much better it is underwater, so that they'll all stay down.
I was looking for this comment. This is what I heard too.
@@z2yn that would completely negate his paranoia about the surface world. Also the animated film was made years ago and lets be honest majority of the mermaids in the animated are white people that all look about the same but just different tail colors. I think the tv show had different mermaids of different races. but doing what they did here adds so much more depth to the merfolk. Even their tails are so different from each other. and in the end its just fantasy. when magic is involved realistic expectations can kinda get thrown out the window.
I rather just believe the King be getting busy. ^_^
@@dtester Well in Greek mythology Triton is the son of Poseidon, and if there's one thing the Greek gods are known for, is that they got busy whereever they went.
Honestly its not that strange to imagine his daughters would be from every ethnicity. He's a Sea King-Demi God being so he probably does have multiple wives. Plus they all look pretty and it gives a chance for extras of different races to get to be in a big motion picture.
And where are these wives? Oh, I forgot, giving random extras 10 seconds of screen time for "diversity" is more important than world building or story telling.
very but so is the whole story XD@@WiegrafFolles
@billjacobs521 When you're trying to make it as an actress, being an extra in a major Disney movie is greatly appreciative. But I agree if Disney spent as much time on creative ideas as they do making things diverse their movies would be far better received these days.
The thing I just cannot stand about these live action remakes is the fact that they’re missing the soul, life, and energy of their original counterparts. For The Little Mermaid, the 1989 movie is so bright, colorful, and energetic, while this one looks so bland, dull, and monotone. Trying to push realistic visuals when they're supposed to look magical will never work.
I'd love to see a review by the team where they rate/grade all the remakes and the reasons why they rated them as such.
Definitely avoided seeing this one in theaters, didn’t wanna support yet another live action Disney remake.
to be clear: people didnt hate on this film because mermaid was race swapped and we didnt wanna see a black person in the role. people didnt like it because disney is CONSTANTLY doing it for nothing more than woke virtue points. its pandering, and its gross. imagine the backlash if we made black panther white (there are white africans so this wouldnt change the fundamental plot of the story as you stated in your example) or replaced him with an undescernably mixed gay person. its especially problematic because it seems to be the case its always a redhead thats being race swapped, as if gingers dont matter and shouldnt exist. theyre being erased
we want to see more black characters and movies, i have been BEGGING for a static shock film for years, and a new green lantern with idris elba as john stewart (best green lantern, fight me). but we wont ever get to because studios are too concerned with race swapping for easy points instead of actually trying to make good black characters and movies. the DEI agenda of disney and many other coproations is a very toxic and racist agenda and it needs to be scrapped.
Here's how I would do The Little Mermaid as a live-action remake.
First, I'd change some of the casting. I'd have Kelsey Grammer as King Triton, Harvey Fierstein as Ursula (since he does drag shows), Ziggy Marley as Sebastian, and Jack Black as Scuttle. Also, I would include Chef Louis and have Martin Short play him.
As for the story, I would definitely change a few things. First, I would keep Ariel's mother alive and have Triton hate humans because his parents were killed by them. And he would have only two daughters, not seven. I can't imagine having that many kids. Also, Ariel shares her father's hatred for humans at first, but then, while at the beach looking for shells, she sees Prince Eric rescuing a dolphin from a net. Seeing his act of kindness towards the dolphin, Ariel realizes not all humans are bad and falls in love with Eric. That's when she starts collecting human objects. And like in the original, she follows his ship and saves him from drowning in the storm. And when Ariel trades her voice to Ursula for legs, I'll have her write her name in the sand so Eric knows who she is. Of course, she won't tell him that he must fall in love with her and kiss her within three days, so she hopes to win him over naturally. Also, when Ursula disguises herself as Vanessa and hypnotizes Eric, Ariel doesn't just run back to her room crying. She runs down to Eric and tries to get him to look at her, but because of the spell, he doesn't recognize her and has her locked in her room. So, her friends have to rescue her and get her to the wedding ship. And as much as I would like to have Ariel defeat Ursula, I know it still has to be Eric, so Triton can see that not all humans are bad and accept Eric as his son-in-law. And I would make Ariel at least 18, because I don't think people should marry while they are still teenagers. Or if she has to be 16, she can put off the wedding until she is older. And to show her development, she could even offer to leave Eric because of all the trouble she caused. But then, Triton gives her his blessing so she can be with him.
That's how I would do it. Any one agree or disagree? How would you do it?
I like the idea of casting Ziggy Marley as Sebastian, as the son of one of my favorite singers, Bob Marley, I know he can deliver great song performances with “Under the Sea” and “Kiss the Girl”.
However, I do disagree with putting off the wedding just because of the reason of in the original Ariel was 16 and Eric was 18. While the age gap can be questionable, you gotta keep in mind that The Little Mermaid takes place in the 19th century, around the time Hans Christian Andersen wrote the original fairy tale, and back then, a lot of young girls under the age of 18 were married to men. Heck, in Romeo & Juliet, Juliet is engaged to Count Paris and marries Romeo while she’s fourteen years old. Plus, the age difference between Ariel & Eric doesn’t matter anyways because seeing them married and her dreams of being part of the human world fulfilled is just so emotionally satisfying that it’s easy to overlook. I’m honestly more bothered of the more explicit underage relationships in other media that are worse. Examples: Indy dating Marion while she was in her teens and he was already a legitimate adult or Professor Dave Jennings having an affair with Katy when he’s a college professor and she’s a college student in Animal House.
Keegan Micheal Key should have voiced remake Sebastian
Fun Fact: The species of crab they used for Sebastian's design, the Ghost Crab, isn't aquatic and cannot breathe underwater! 😅
1:05 Excuse you! Making the Little Match Girl a millionaire would save me a lot of tears and heartbreak! Robot Chicken’s parody gave me a happy ending and THAT’S FINE!
My biggest problems, aside from all the ones Doug mentions, honestly…is the fact that I CAN’T SEE WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON DURING THE UNDERWATER SCENES!!! NO SERIOUSLY!!! I CAN’T SEE A THING IN THOSE SCENES!!! WHY ARE THEY SO DARK?
You know I always thought, wouldn't it be an interesting opportunity for character development if Triton took Ariel's place, putting him under the same conditions on the contract she was? Three days on land, true love's kiss, ect?
And then I found a fic that explored that exact idea just a few days ago, and it's kinda neat. We get a very unique perspective from someone who is essentially xenophobic, forced to interact with a race that he saw as barbaric, only to have to rely on the kindness of strangers, discover humans are just as varied as his own people, and maybe Ariel was right about their inventions being helpful and fascinating.
That's fascinating! Was it an AO3 fic? I'd be uncomfortable with Triton having to kiss someone in 3 days given he has no prior link to the overworld unlike his daughter (& in fact initially hates humans)? But putting him in a situation where he has to consider a more nuanced attitude to humans would be really interesting!
@@anna_in_aotearoa3166 Yup! Found it on AO3, it's called Candle on the Water. It's only 2 chapters long so far, but I like where it's going. Not sure what they're going to do with the 3 day thing though. Hopefully it won't be too weird.
Add: I'm currently waiting for an update and reading their pokemon fics til then. Apart from typos and grammar, their work is pretty solid. So I got hopes TLM fic will be good too.
@@mmecharlotte Thanks! 😊 I've never checked out AO3 before, but this concept def sounds like it's worth a read, esp. with a writer who's doing pretty solid work.
It's fun seeing how many authors actually transition from fanfic to later commercial sales, seems to provide quite a useful nursery of training skills & getting audience feedback?
@@anna_in_aotearoa3166 Seems like it. I wish I could write, I have ideas I'd like to try but no ability, so major respect for those who can flesh out a concept and tell an interesting story that people enjoy.
@@mmecharlotte so I checked this fic out but got drawn into their other fic Come What May for the past half hour. I honestly hate how good it is and how much lore is ref'd. The author really did their research.