OG Fork scene. It was very funny but also showed Eric being confused by Ariel but still enjoying her company. It’s also important that when she blows the pipe it makes Eric laugh and it’s mentioned that that’s the first time he’s smiled in weeks. It’s the first real step for them and his attraction to her.
17:43 the sparkling dress was already *VERY* nuanced!!! The dress is a conclusion to Triton's arc, that's why it was so memorable. When Ursula turns Ariel human she leaves her naked. Triton gifting Ariel *CLOTHING* is symbolic of his new understanding of humans, and him finally accepting Ariel for who she is. The dress not only functions as a goodbye gift to her, but it also makes up for him destroying her collection. Triton doing this is a beautiful resolution to many years of suppressed grief and generational trauma. Since this scene was cut, Triton left her naked on that rock. Ariel wearing a pretty dress doesn't make her a bad role model nor does it encourage young girls to be materialistic. It encourages parents to love their children unconditionally. Her blue dress isn't as powerful of a message. It just feels like it's there to show that she doesn't need a pretty dress...or a man...or to be saved...yeah you get the point lol
When you put it that way, I love this symbolism. It also signifies the two parties' views on Ariel's wish to be human. Ursula left Ariel naked as a human because it reflects that she doesn't really have faith in Ariel's new life as a human: she doesn't EXPECT Ariel to live as a human for long. Triton gives Ariel a beautiful dress to give her his blessing: he's making certain that Ariel's new life as a human starts off on the right foot, so to speak.
I assumed that he or her sisters found the dress since Eric set it adrift? Like for her, the dress is one of the first human things given to her specifically by others and via a kindness, rather than just finding artifacts left from shipwrecks. So she gets to come back in her dress to the human world but this time as an equal and on her own terms. That being said, I understand the symbolism and the original intent, and definitely with that reading, it's disappointing to not have seen the sparkly dress.
Them removing Ariel's coming out of the water in her new dress is criminal. That was a key moment not only for her father but also for Ariel. And overall, they should have given her better outfits smh.
I did like that they fleshed out Eric's character more by having him also collect artifacts from his voyages. However, I wished that they'd kept the scene of him saving Ariel by ramming the ship into Ursula, as opposed to having Ariel do it herself, since it gives him more agency outside of her.
I disagree with you, I think Ariel and Eric defeating Ursula together was great. It’s really reinforced that this story is about Ariel and defeating Ursula with Eric help is her fixing her own mistakes. She isn’t the teen girl who is over protected by her dad. But a bright young woman capable of making decisions, and be responsible for them
@@yunabroadway3033 Also, Ariel does the same move she had watched Eric do to try and avoid the rocks at the beginning. She used what she had learned from him, the human, to save the mermaids. I liked that change a lot, actually.
@@artatmidnight I understand why they cut out Ariel's sisters: to stop comparisons to the lead actress and to keep the focus on Ariel and Eric. Unfortunately we live in a world that's prejudiced and Vanessa, with 2 minutes of screen time, was weaponized against Halle bailey's Ariel by Tik Tok-ers. It got so bad the Vanessa actress, Jessica Alexander, had to block people on her 'For You' page. Sad we live in a world that is not supportive across the board - hence why Feminism is faling.
I kinda disagree. This is Ariel’s story and Ursula was the one that manipulated her, erased her memory of needing to kiss the prince, tried to get the prince to marry her(Ursula) instead and did whatever is was she did to Ariel’s father. I think Ariel should be the one to rescue her father since it was her fault what happened to him. And I think she knew what to do because she remembered how Eric bravely tried to save his crew so she learned from him and did what he did in the beginning. And it also shows how she fixed her mistake herself and was responsible for it.
You mentioning the need for them to have a conversation after everything happened hit SO HARD. I remember how in Kingdom Hearts 2, after defeating Ursula, Ariel reveals to Eric that she's a mermaid (in the game, Ursula dragged her back to the sea before she transformed back) and tells him that that's why everything happened, even telling him goodbye. But he accepts her and asks her to help him practice his swimming. It's a really sweet scene, especially since they still get married at the end.
Fully agree that Eric should have been the one on the ship in the final battle. I feel like this change for this movie was honestly just a product of “girl-bossification” and effectively renders Eric kind of useless. A lot of people seem to forget that even before he’s on that ship she’s saved him 2 times once from the shipwreck(which was equally as dangerous for her) and the second is when she pulls Ursula’s hair and kills flotsam and Jetsam. Eric is literally just being part of the team they are when he’s on that ship cuz realistically she’s a magicless mermaid at the bottom of a giant world pool created by a massive sea witch who has conveniently forgotten about Eric who’s a seafaring prince with knowledge of steering ships, there’s nothing “night in shining armor” about his actions in the animated movie he’s literally returning the favor she’s bestowed upon him 2 times now!!!! And it makes them stronger as a pair! Also in the new one when she’s like “I wasn’t alone Eric was with me” I’m like yea just hanging around! 😒also she’s a full 3 costumes short of a complete wardrobe!!! Pink gown, silver water dress, and a GOD DAMNED a WEDDING GOWN!!!! That pink ruffle frock was honestly mean to the audience like I’m sorry NO UNACCEPTABLE!!!!
No. I think they don't want to advertise in a film that killing your girlfriend's family members is okay. It was okay with Maleficent or The Evil Queen in Snow White because it's not even her real mom but Ursula in 2023 live action is her father's sister.
@@suzygirl1843 what are you talking about that’s exactly what he did in the first one and I can say without a shadow of a doubt that absolutely no one was thinking that about the situation. I can’t even wrap my head around how superfluous your reasoning sounds. By this point even triton has banished her cuz she’s a problem. No one and I mean no one looks at like “oh well I’m glad he didn’t kill her she’s his girlfriend’s aunt” NO ONE THOUGHT THAT NO ONE🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣 sorry try again!
@@Elphaboy In the animation, Ursula is NOT Ariel's Aunt. In the 2023 version, she is. Some cultures would find that offensive for a boyfriend to kill a family member then the daughter marry the guy. It's a slippery slope
@@suzygirl1843 If they used the DELETED plot point, your reasoning still doesn't make sense, as for your reasoning to work, Triton would also have to keep Ursula in the palace. Why would he want to keep a dangerous person around? Ursula being a family member does not suddenly make her someone who is safe to be around, this is certainly how Triton views it and how the audience views the situation, she's not safe to be around so Triton banished her. I was just thinking Eric killed the villain when he delivered the final blow in the animated version and how good he looks doing that, the only person thinking that isn't okay is you though🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣
YEAH I WANTED TO SEE A BLACK GIRL BE A DAMSEL IN DISTRESS But at least it means This version of Ariel actually knows how to take responsibility for her recklessness unlike the Original one
8:17 - I really wish the sisters played a bigger part of the story. In some versions of the little mermaid at the sisters that trade it there long beautiful hair for information on how Ariel can become a mermaid again.
I understand why they cut out Ariel's sisters: to stop comparisons to the lead actress and to keep the focus on Ariel and Eric. Vanessa, with 2 minutes of screen time, was weaponized against Halle bailey's Ariel by Tik Tok-ers. But bless the actress's heart, Jessica Alexander actually defended Halle. That's how Feminism works.
@@suzygirl1843 Today's Feminism isn't the true definition of Feminism, as today's Feminism focuses more on overpowering men instead of equality, the actress had to do that because she's under contract, if she didn't say the things she said, she will become the next person to be attacked by the public. It is all in the business, don't take that to heart lol.
@@clairelin0216 You were waiting to make this comment somewhere, I KNOW that modern Feminism is garbage but I don't live in USA or UK and it's strictly just a white female thing. Everywhere else women are just getting by in their own societies. They don't have time for this Capitalistic schlock
@h.f6364 I know what I said was true because Jodi Benson defended Ariel in the past, but now since they wanted to change the legacy, she has to go with it to make a living. You’re the one that’s deluded.
Tbh although I liked Erics collection, I feel like it made him TOO similar to Ariel. If they would have kept his musician/flute aspect then again it would have made him more fleshed out since he yes has a hobby similiar to Ariels but he still has hos own unique hobby
i love Eric's flute too - especially because he plays her melody and it's what connects him to the fantasy girl. it would have been nice if he played the flute AND was a collector haha
Especially when the flute plays an important role for Eric’s development with Ariel. In the scene after their date, he’s still playing the theme of Ariel singing while at the same time realizing what he has with her and how real it actually is. Him throwing away the flute into the sea, actively throwing away the idea of the girl and embracing what he’s made with Ariel is a really beautiful moment and important to their romance. But of course, the dumbasses behind this movie don’t understand any of that.
@@artatmidnightmaybe a collector of musical instruments? 🤔 then they could even include Ariel showing him the seashell and demonstrating that it can make sounds too - thereby interesting Eric for its musical quality.
10:23 The difference between Ariel questioning the consequences of leaving in the animated version & live action version is that we see her living alongside her sisters in Atlantica in the OG film but it’s shown in the remake that she only sees her sisters during the time of the Coral Moon 🪸🌙 or when they have to clean up shipwrecks due to her sisters each reigning over one of the 7 seas respectively, so Ariel doesn’t even live with her sisters, which gives her choice to leave far less weight in the remake than in the original.
I don't think you want to advertise to an audience of kids that killing your girlfriends' family members is okay. Ursula is Ariel's aunty in the 2023 version rememeber?
@@suzygirl1843 That family plot point was removed in the OG animation because it would make the story way too complicated, so adding that and having Ariel kill Ursula isn't improving anything either.
I don’t think we enjoy fairy tales for realism, so all the added context doesn’t really help the movie. The whole siren song thing and “forgetfulness” spell just rob the character of her agency and the film of the same ticking clock that compels that agency’s forward motion.
I love your points about expanding the theme of trust between species. It would’ve been nice to see that. And oh my biggest complaint is how flounder looked so ugly!
I HATEEEE the fact that she forgets the fact she needs to kiss him. They give Ariel the hero moment at the end, but take away her agency in that way. Also like you said, I feel like they take away some of that rebellious-ness from Ariel, which combined with the fact that Halle is obviously not a teenager, made it weird tonally for me, as sometimes she’s very smart and mature, and other times she’s acting very childish.
I for one LOVED that they made Ariel forget she had to kiss Eric. For one, story wise it makes sense that Ursula would not play fair. Second, I felt like it made their relationship feel more genuine. I think that if Ariel spent all her time worrying about having to kiss Eric it would've made their relationship more strained, instead it felt like a normal flow.
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.
This is a wonderful breakdown of Eric. I swear the people that make those sorts of criticisms of TLM have the depth of a spoon. Not one frame or line of dialogue is wasted. Every piece contributes to the whole. It is a beautiful story that has a lot of emotional depth from many of the characters.
damn, I wanna be your friend because anyone who can write so much and eloquently about one of my favorite films must be an interesting person! I absolutely agree with everything you said.
I think I liked the memory loss spell not only for the connection to be mutual, but because it really shows how manipulative and a cheater Ursula is. The fact that she has to prevent it at all costs to win shows her desperation. In a way, it makes Ariel a threat too because she doesn’t fully underestimate her. Also, it makes Kiss the Girl the last straw for Ursula because no matter what she does, Ariel is one step closer to getting the kiss anyways.
I actually don't really like that part of the movie. What was great about the original Ursula was the fact that her and Ariel were on equal footing. Ariel knew the terms of the contract, took that risk willingly and lost. Original Ursula didn't need to cheat to get things done, her manipulation tactics were enough for her to succeed. She was way more vicious and snicky.
I hate that they take Ariel’s memory away in the new one. How exactly is this movie supposed to be about her “ taking her power back” when you’ve literally taken the choice away from her by having Ursula pressure her into signing the contract AND making her forget the reason she made the deal in the first place. Regardless of Ariel’s impulsive nature and immaturity in the original, she had autonomy. She did what she wanted regardless of consequences. She makes the decision to go on her own and she actively makes every decision on her own. This Ariel has none of that.
@@alizeestl8021uh no, original ursula did cheat…she dumped the boat when they were about to kiss the first time and then she literally becomes human and hyptontizes eric…
@@brainwashed2534 What I meant is that they both knew the terms of the contract. And tecnically Ursula never said she wouldn't interfere so I don't even count that as cheating, Ariel was just naive.
Wow girl you should be a director someday for a movie like this. You have really great knowledge on these types of films. Would you ever do a series where you talk about if they made a remake of another disney movie, what would you want them to do with the story and setting and what to add to it? I ask because I am really curious on what you think if they make a remake on Tangled. Its my favorite disney movie.
thank you! I love Tangled sm 💖 i think i want to do a video on why it's so great first! i might consider doing what i hope to see in the live action, but it's so hard, because the animation is perfect to me
@@artatmidnight ooouu I love your insight. Thank you so much for replying! I would really excited to see a video like that in the future. I love your content and I hope everything goes well for you gorgeous!
Great video! What dumpens this relationship for me is how Ariels loss of voice also subsided her character. Not as in "her struggling without something that came to her as naturally as swimming", but in the fact she became childish and naive. Maybe I misinterpreted the direction everyone wanted to take, but it was tough for me to watch
thank you! i didn't mind when she lost her voice per se, but i was hoping for more internal dialogue/voiceover on land. I liked the For the First Time song and the second Part of Your World reprise bc we got a deeper look into her character, even though she couldn't speak
For the sparkly dress, one idea could have been Ariel’s ripped dress is transformed into a new one: where Triton used a spell to fix it into one with details/embellishments and sea details like her wearing pearl straps and a sparkly bodice with shells or mother of pearl or something cool! Maybe the sea creatures help transform the ripped dress like Cinderella (though magic can also work!) That would be a garment that’s combining the human and mermaid world, Ariel carrying the first piece of human clothing she ever received while the sea details is representing her connection to her family and heritage, and carrying her father’s blessing. It’d be representing her journey of her transformation, reflecting both who she was and who she’s become.
Ahhhhhhh that would've been so COOL!! Man I wish someone with the costume designer's ear had convinced them to do something like that, it would've been perfect!
what you said is sooo valid. I didn't notice any of that but i totally see it now. But i just can't get over their chemistry, i think it was like almost as good as Kit and Ella's. Aghhh they're so cute.
The reason Triton was kept alive was so he could witness everything, especially Eric saving the day. In the remake, it's totally ruined as Triton can't witness anything and Eric doesn't end up saving the day. If I saw my daughter rescue a man instead of the other way around, my opinion about that man would be even lower, and Triton's opinion about humans is low enough as it is. It's a completely unneeded and nonsensical change that ruined the whole thing. What was the point of Ariel being the one to finish Ursula this time? What did that lead to that wouldn't have happened otherwise?
Triton in general just frustrated me. Javier Bardem was fantastic in PotC and so much animation in his expressions and his scenes. Here? He was so flat. He wasn't scary at all. He never raised his voice. And when it came to his "death," I was so uninvested that I just didn't care. And then he comes back to life and immediately tells her she has to be home safe and sound and then the next scene we see him he completely changes his mind? It makes no sense.
agree and completely understand what you’re saying, but at the same time i think it was way more impactful for ariel to defeat her own villain in her own story. that means a lot more to girls and women since this is for them. the impact of that outweighs the need for eric to look a certain way to triton
@@laurennicole851 So they thought it was a good idea to turn Ariel into a murderer, who not only killed a fellow sea creature, but a family member as well. That is ridiculous. And in the process they took away the one thing Eric could have done in the film. This was so the wrong movie to be doing this type of crud.
The issue with this for me are backstory and scenes that doesn't connect to this scene very well. For one, we were told Eric's parents died in a ship wrecked. And grew up in a country that blames merfolk of all shipwrecks. Although it's good that he disagrees. We never saw WHY he disagrees, when he wouldn't be in his current situation, wanting to LEAVE the country, if not for the loss of his parents at sea. And in terms of Ariel, I like what you said about the mermaid figurine and how it reminds her of where she's from. But only IF they have kept the original Poor unfortunate souls lyrics, where you see Ariel hesitate to become human because she was thinking about her family. Which leads to Ursula using Eric as a distraction. Meanwhile, in the remake, Ariel was about to leave, when Ursula mentions Ariel's father. About her being with him forever. Which leads Ariel to STOP and hesitate from rejecting Ursula's offer. Aka the thought of her father made her WANT to become human. The complete opposite of the classic. The so figuring things wouldn't work for Ariel, unless she suddenly was homesick. Which she clearly isn't. So once stuff like this is remembered. This scene kind of falls apart.
2:58 I love that they add it. The idea of the relationship that humans have with Mermaids and See creatures. How they fear each other. In this movie is really shown how Ariel and Erick connect them and unite them. In animation it was kind of obvious but they didn't show more of it
18:26 tbf to the original movie, the wedding faded to a scene that could have been any time in the future. So we don't know for sure if they were "settling down right away" in the OG
Firstly, I have to express how happy I am to see someone who didn't like something 100%, and still manages to be extremely polite and kind in their words. I had never thought of these details mentioned throughout the film, and in fact each punctuation said would have made an extreme difference in this Live Action. I am extremely passionate about the 2015 Cinderella Live Action, and as a pleasant surprise, The Little Mermaid Live Action made me feel the same feelings as Cinderella. It's not a perfect Live Action, the CGI gets in the way in many moments because it's not well finished, Ariel's costumes lacked beauty, and I found Eric's and Sabidão's music with Sebastião unnecessary. But overall, I was deeply enchanted, I'm still listening to the soundtrack to this day. I really looked forward to a scene of Ariel talking to Eric's, it would have been incredible for them to have a dialogue about everything that happened. I missed Ariel with her sisters, some cute and fun scene. I thought they weighed a lot on Triton, there could have been scenes between him and Ariel where they both showed affection and affection. and I would have loved to have seen Eric's try to remember his parents, to have some object that reminded him of his family. I really wanted Ariel's final dress to be exuberant, it could have had navy details, a beautiful hairstyle, it would have made a huge difference. And yes, I missed the people at the bottom of the sea, I honestly think that was the part I missed the most. In general, I think it's a charming Live Action in her own way, Halle is so cute to me, she was born to be a Disney princess. The couple of actors were the strength of this Live Action, perfect chemistry. Honestly, I think it was by far a closer Princess Live Action than Cinderella, my opinion.
I like the OG fork scene, since the OG already had Eric enjoy the sea freely and had him pretty much blend in with the sailors with the way he clothes himself, I don't really feel that there is a need to show that he collects stuff. I think that the extra material made Eric and Ariel too much alike, and one thing about the Eric and Ariel love story is that their background is the complete opposite except for the status in society. That complete opposite background added a layer to why Ariel feel that having Eric would be a nice addition to her dream, as now she wanted to be a human and also be with Eric. What did Eric have that Ariel don't? Sure, Eric was being pressured into marriage in the OG animation, but that was because in the OG animation he's 18 and his parents were presumed dead by the audience, which means he have 3 years before he takes the throne as king and he had to find a wife before that happens, it's a pretty typical royal responsibility back when the story was set in, but other than this pressure, Eric seems to be free, he can dance among the people in town and blend in like everyone else, proving that even before Ariel came into his life, Eric is really down to earth and also have the freedom to explore the town, the fact that Eric has a flute means that he has his own hobby, the hobby is same with Ariel's hobby in the sense that it's also music, but different at the same time, as someone who can sing does not mean that person can play the same melody on an instrument. I don't think that the memory loss part was needed, in the OG, Ursula didn't feel the need to do anything more than to give Ariel an impossible time limit to complete the task, it showed that Ursula was a true villain who had succeeded many times in her deals and she's confident in her own abilities, Ursula underestimated Ariel in the OG animation, but that was because she's confident that all she had to do was to give an impossible time limit and she could just watch it play out to her own plan, if Ursula had to add a memory loss in there to make sure that Ariel will pull away from the kiss when the romance part and the kiss is a huge deal in the story, that means Ursula isn't really confident in her own abilities for her to cast a memory loss spell so she will be sure that they didn't kiss before the three days are up. If I was Triton I'm definitely going to give my daughter to the OG Eric, he's got my respect for doing the final blow consider the fact that the society he unintentionally saved had hated his kind for a decade before that. Eric knows how to operate a ship in a storm, so as audience, you kind of expect him to do that. He's there delivering the final blow with the pure intention of freeing Ariel, as he didn't know that he would by saving everyone that was imprisoned by Ursula, but I feel like it is because that his intentions are pure that Triton is willing to trust Eric.(Also, there was a scene deleted from the OG animation because of time limit where Triton said something along the lines of "That human saved my life." after Eric risked his life to save Ariel and collapsed on the beach.") I think there are really great materials in the deleted scenes of the animated version that could be added, but I feel like the remake just cut the really important plot points so I don't know what story they're trying to tell whereas in the OG animation I can tell that there's an introduction of the characters and what they will possibly contribute to the story, and we got a focus on the romance that later become the reason for the main conflict to resolve. Nice and simple structure. The only way they can ruin this is if they make the nice and simple structure so complicated that even they don't know what they want to focus on anymore, but they did exactly that so it kind of just fell apart once they decided that they will make the remake more complicated than it really needs to be.
11:14 Ursula's spell has a *VERY EASY FIX.* instead of the amensia spell, she shouldve just made a *BET* with Ariel . Here's a much stronger script URSULA - Now here's the deal, I'll make a potion that will turn you into a human for three days. *Can't be any longer or daddy will come looking for you, right princess?* *Why would you want to stay with humans forever anyway?* They're all 𝙘𝙧𝙪𝙚𝙡 and 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙜𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 creatures ARIEL - *That isn't true!* URSULA - Oh??? Want to bet? *If you can prove to me that a human could possibly love you, I'll make the spell permanent.* Before the sun sets on the third day, you need to be kissed, and not just any kiss, *only the kiss of true love can seal the deal.* And if you don't you turn back into a mermaid...and belong to me. ARIEL - ...If I become human...I'll never see my father or sisters again... URSULA - That's right! but you'll have your *wish.* Life is full of tough choices innit?
Why this works: In this rewrite Ursula gives Ariel two choices. Be a human for 3 days and go back to living miserably afterwards OR be a human permanently and live the life she wants only if she proves a human can love her. Ursula intentionally provokes Ariel to pick the second option by calling humans cruel and disgusting (She's imitating Triton). Ursula knows that Ariel will retailiate in response in defense of humans. Since it's now a bet, Ariel will say yes to the deal because it proves Triton and Ursula wrong. This rewrite also fixes the complaints people had about the original that Ariel was "only doing it for a man" and replaces it with a much deeper reason. Ariel is challenged to find humanity in the world that killed her mother. This manipulation is much more impressive because giving Ariel a choice makes Ursula seem more trustworthy. ALSO it doesn't matter which option Ariel picks. If she chose the first option, Ursula knows Ariel will just keep coming back to her for more time on land. Ursula never mentions Eric in this version either. She's pretending she doesn't know that Ariel is falling in love with a human. Ariel has seen how good humans could be through Eric, so she underestimates the stakes of the deal, also pushing her say yes.
If they had done everything you said in this video, this would have been the most PERFECT live action. (plus adding a more colorful photography but thats another topic)
Yes, Ariel is capable of saving herself…but doesn’t she deserve to be saved sometimes too? To have someone care enough about her that they are willing to take that burden from her…to have someone love her so much that they are willing to sacrifice themselves in her place?
I don’t think it’s a bad thing giving Eric a bit more to do. I also think it’s very cute and in character that he collects artifacts from his trips. Given how much of a sea dog he is, it makes perfect sense. However, apart from that, they have completely stripped Eric of everything that made him so endearing in the original movie. Instead of the humorous, energetic, caring and courageous man we have in the original, we have a brooding, uninteresting, and non courageous man who has been reduced to a damsel in distress by people who completely missed the point of him saving Ariel in the original. They don’t even get his fucking costume right.
Yes. They turned him into a whiny little B that "doesn't want the responsibility of being a leader to his people". Well. Fine. Don't. YOU aren't even Legitimately a prince... So go off on your way and fuss about life having expectations to someone else. Adoption is wonderful, but given the time period and the way monarchies have worked throughout all of time taking in some kid from a shipwreck that holds no resemblance to you or your people sounds like an over throw waiting to happen. This Eric is just inept and meh. He realizes she can't speak and dismisses her to be dealt with by others. Because Max is awesome and OG Eric has been actively searching for any sign of his dream girl for weeks he finds Ariel. He is immediately concerned. Feels a connection, but is then disappointed because his only way to identify her has been taken away. He doesn't pout and just leave her there. He immediately tries to help her. His finding her has him take personal responsibility for her rather than being some random person who is in his castle. I always promise myself I won't rant.
Everything you said is so true omg!! About the final battle against Ursula, Tommy Ross suggested in his latest video about The Little Mermaid that Ariel and Eric could have defeated Ursula TOGETHER, by having Eric hurting her with the ship, which could have caused her to drop the trident so that Ariel can use it to take her down and this would have been PERFECT in my opinion! I LOVE his ideas for what the movie could have been! Also, I think that Ariel should have gotten a big puffy gown during a ball scene that could have been used to strengthen her relationship with Eric AND the sparkly dress! Maybe not the exact same design as in the animated version but maybe something a little more fantasy, like maybe an Ancient-Greek-inspired dress that would have made her look like a majestic goddess emerging from the sea! And even more outfits! She should have worn a different during the engagement party! Otherwise I wish the movie had more fantasy, grandeur and splendor in its designs, especially for the underwater kingdom! And brighter colors of course! Rob Marshall said he wanted to go for something more "natural" but that's nonsense honestly, because this is a fantasy mermaid movie and it's based on another one that has astonishing designs! I don't absolutely dislike this more naturalistic approach but honestly, it doesn't work for a remake of Disney's The Little Mermaid! It would work better for a TV Show or literally any other adaptation of The Little Mermaid or any other mermaid story but not this one. Not the high-budget live action adaptation of the iconic 1989 movie! Heck, even the human world lacked magic! It's really disappointing when you look at the concept art and you see that Eric's castle was supposed to be more colorful and have more sea-life-inspired shapes! And I wholeheartedly believe that it should have been a village tour scene instead of a marketplace! Or at least have a marketplace IN a village! I also wish that they had kept Ariel bubbly! Halle is bubbly in real life so I wonder why they went that way with her character! She has such a melodious life! Where were the Ariel giggles?!
Since you are doing a lot on the Disney live action remakes, the fact that the little mermaid was really good, especially the on the surface stuff, it made me think Disney should just reanimate their movies if they want to modernize them. Like I feel like this movie would have so much more soul, and visual flair if it was animated with modern 2D animation.
I love the movie mostly their relationship is pretty nice but.. Sebastian just looks... so weird in 2d it works but in live action it scares me zoo much
I agree with alot of your points. I agree with the symbolism of the figurine and I would have loved to have seen Eric call the Merpeople for help against Ursula. Maybe even his human sailors come to help him too. It would really spiced up the ending instead of being a predictable carbon copy. Or they could have gone with the original ending, which I would have loved to have seen. Making Ariel the one to defeat Ursula was very predictable and not in a good way. The beauty of Ariel and Eric's relationship is that they help and save each other. She saves him, then he saves her. That's a healthy relationship. In this film, she does most of the saving and it takes away from Eric's character for no reason. I think the sisters were terribly underutilized. They went through so much trouble to change the sisters for no reason at all. This film is longer, and they only have one good scene of dialogue, BARELY. I honestly don't see the point in changing the sisters so much if they didn't add anything to the story. The fact that they took away Ariel's sea foam dress was criminal. It was such a magical and moving scene, and it was taken away for no reason. What we got was unbelievably underwhelming. We were robbed. And the union of Merpeople and Humans was just not as magical as it should have been. One of my biggest problems in this film is Triton and Ariel's relationship. It was so cold and had no chemistry at all. Ariel and Triton are imposing forces, but they still loved each other. These two are so stiff with each other, it was terrible. My biggest problem is that Ariel constantly called Triton " Father." Ariel's sisters call him father, but Ariel always called him " Daddy." It made her unique and it showed that their love was special. She only called him father she was angry. I really felt this Triton and Ariel were terrible together. There is one thing I will disagree with you. I DESPISE Ariel's new tail. I don't mind the new coloring, and I can appreciate the pink highlights. I cannot, for the life of me, stand Ariel's new fluke. It is way too big and way too long. It had no personality at all. It has no defined silhouette and a fluke that massive and floppy would really slow her down. It was terrible and I hate what they did with it. I am a life long fan of this franchise, but unfortunately, I am not a fan of this film.
I loved this video 😋 and this movie I adored at first and now I love but I can confidently critique it, and I think you were right, I wish they paid more attention to certain details within the story, like completely different plot lines etc. and ALSO HALLEE & VANESSA SLAYED
I was thinking about Aurora from Sleeping Beauty, and how so many people denounce the film for having a helpless princess who needs saving by a strong prince, but it’s not like that at all. Her being led to the spinning wheel is not her being gullible and weak, she’s under a spell. If Philip were in that situation he would’ve touched the needle as well. Also, let’s be clear, Philip relies HEAVILY on Flora, Fauna and Merryweather’s magic. They rescue him from Malificients castle by breaking his chains, they save him from the arrows, they free his horse, and stop all the other offenses from M’s goons. Then on the fight against the dragon, they give him the shield and sword (I think?) that can kill the dragon and cast a spell on it that finally brings down M. I’m not sure why they put the castle to sleep, maybe to not worry anyone? Or protect them from M’s magic if she comes for them, I’m not sure. I wonder if, like before, if the roles were reversed and she were fighting the dragon…..I believe she could do it. She’d have all the magic backing from the fairies, and from what we’ve seen when the fairies tried to make Auroras birthday without magic, she’s much more capable. At household tasks, yes, but her humanity is a part of it as well. Let me explain: it’s not just a matter of defeating M and getting into the castle. If it were, Philip would stand to the side while the fairies used their magic. Therefore, his will to save Aurora and his love for her (I get it, fell in love in a day, it’s stupid, but they don’t get much other choice. They just wanted to spend time together in the quiet woods where they could grow a bond and a romance, but now you’re both imprisoned and perpetually unconscious and there are fairies telling you to defeat a DRAGON to save the girl you met YESTERDAY and liked quite a lot, who’s actually a PRINCESS so you’re marrying anyway , and she’s never even met her parents or anything, but there’s no time for this now GO GO GO) are inferred to be necessary to defeat M. Their first kiss should’ve been a sweet moment after they’ve spent together WHEN THEYRE BOTH AWAKE, but no it’s after a dragon battle, and he has to kiss him to save her life and she’s royalty and they’re betrothed so they’ll be getting married in a hot minute so hurry up. Also, he isn’t her love, he’s a guy who likes her quite a bit, the situation they’re in is just so insane and he’s the only option so Yh you’re her one true love now Philip. It is quite sad that they couldn’t have a slower relationship timeline. They went from affectionate acquaintances to true love to betrothed so fast, and it’s even sadder when you think they would’ve gotten even less if he hadn’t met her that day, they would’ve been under all that pressure, her having all these realizations, and having to marry and live with each other without knowing anything about each other. If they’d lived the lives they were promised, A being raised as a princess, they would’ve courted, but the bond would be somewhat forced, as they’d be aware of the lack of choice they have in the marriage. There’s a lot of that in the film, Aurora and Philip having no choice and being caught in the middle of this magic madness. They’re lucky they got that one day of casual time together, where they could build a genuine connection without the pressure or true love and magic and mortal peril and a transactional royal marriage. My keyboard is lagging so badly. Also I you couldn’t tell Sleeping Beauty is my favourite move and I think about it a lot. 😊 no one steal this I’m gonna make a video essay from my comment
OMG IM SO GLAD ITS STILL HERE!! Hi, so I am now permanently locked out of my account (this one ^^ 🎃) and was worried all my comments would be erased. Specifically this one, because I want to edit and add to it for my extended project 😂, so that’s a releif
Ok, your arguments are convincing and I agree with you. I was afraid this was clickbait but you really did a good job with the suggestions on the changes to strengthen the themes and plot.
18:14 I thought Ariel & Eric had already gotten married by the time of their send off to set sail. The Queen mentioned how their marriage would unite their worlds so I figured that part was already over & done with 😕
I think they got scared to show their wedding because I haven't see a wedding between black and white people on the silver screen, correct me if I am wrong. Maybe its pushing too far.
Wow! I am new to your channel and LOVE your content. It’s so thoughtful and eloquent and perfectly explains WHY things felt a particular way. The ending felt like a let down but I could not put my finger on it. I loved that new scene but I wanted to love it more. You have Spielberg level understanding of all the facets of storytelling that make a production connect with an audience.
First of all THANK YOU FOR DOING ANOTHER VIDEO ON THE LITTLE MERMAID, your analysis and style are BEYOND!!! I genuinely loved how they approached Eric in the live adaptation, With this movie, we actually see Eric's fascination and adoration of Ariel, i believe in their love more in this than in the animation, at least in Eric's love for Ariel - mostly due to the actors' real chemistry. Though i will say Eric's character was half-baked, and i feel like we could've had more intimate moments between them. Not to say the ones presented were bad, they were incredible because THIS is definitely my favorite live adaptation couple, i just feel with the movie in general, i feel like we could have gotten more than what we got, because LITERALLY they have everything. Anyway this is long but again, i dont know how you do it, but again another AMAZING video👌🏿🔥🌋
I always love reading your comments Aldrine! thank you! I agree Halle and Jonah are so cute. even in their promo interviews for this movie, you can tell how well they vibe together. while i do think there are some flaws, I'm also grateful that it's one of the better live actions 💗
@@artatmidnight not me getting starstruck sheeesh, but i love your points, you genuinely helped connect a lot more dots, damnnn i wish you had a hand in the film
I just watched little mermaid this weekend, and immediately went to watch the animated original. There was a lot to like about the new one. I liked the nuances about Eric and ariels relationship. I like how much he's into ariel, and I liked all the gags about her eating non food items. However, you can't beat the original. I blame the CGI when the actors are trying to connect with Sebastián or flounder. Its stilted, wooden, and clearly just there for show. I understand in a modern retelling that Ariel is not in love with this guy she just met, but it feels like other people are telling Ariel and Eric that they are soulmates. That she seems like she agrees to Ursulas deal not out of desperation, but because it would be rude to leave in the middle of her spell. The ocean doesn't seem populated by mermaids other than her multicultural family and the guards. Perhaps this is an issue with the live action films, but I missed the small moments, of Ariel glaring at flounder fortatting, Ursula having legitimate fondness for her henchmen, Triton feeling guilty about wrecking Ariels cave.
I absolutely love this movie so I don’t fully agree with everything you said but I agree with a lot of it and I think most of it could have been done with a longer run time 😅 but then it would have way too long for kids 😂 I loved the small change you suggested of Eric finding the figurine instead of the dress, never thought of it and that would have been super cute and easy to fix 😢anyway, I wouldn’t mind a sequel or mini series on Disneyplus exploring their relationship 😍 love your video ❤❤❤
I wish they kept the version where he shaped the ship into Ursula...it really showed they cared about eachother. She started the movie by saving him and he returned the favor❤
I agree with most of your points. I actually wish the conversation piece included Triton and The Queen coming to an agreement, facilitated by Eric and Ariel about Triton stopping the ship wrecks so the island could trade, and the humans revising their boat designs to not hurt the coral. That would solidify both parties new trust of each other and then their exploration mission is also the first trade mission.
On the sparkly dress I am of two minds. There's something right about Ariel appearing in her shabby and destroied blue dress when Eric thinks the end of all of this chaos will be yet another incredibly painful loss to the ocean - her not needing the visuals ofa grand entrance to create andoverflow of emotion and her,as usual, not being able to human quite right but doing it anyway with what she's got. On the other hand,we could get Triton's makeover gift dress later, closer to his actual conversation with Arial at the end alongside the mermaid community. It would be quite powerful if it was clearly made from the things of the sea and a product of mermaid culture, gifted as another reminder of where she came from. For that matter, Triton could return her mermaid statue to her at the same time, to remind her to call home often in her travels.
Yes agree this shabby poor dress instead of sparkly stunning dress actually works. Exactly like you are saying. I thought that I am the only one who had that thought. It just wouldn't fit to the character. They wanted to make her human so they didn't give her sparkly godess dress. The simplicity of this dress really suit the character.
Great video! I love your idea of the humans and merpeople team up to defeat Ursula, instead of just Ariel or Eric doing it. A very similar mermaid book series "Emily Windsnap" is in film development. It has the same beats about humans and merpeople working together, hope it learns from "The Little Mermaid" (2023).
I like the thought here that more needs to be done to explain why Triton so quickly and decisively flips his value system to allow the merfolk community to meet humans, offer support to the new union,and presumably start a new alliance between people and merfolk. Specifically, the loss of life-saving medicines in a shipwreck is bemoned by Eric's mother and given as yet another reason for her isolationist stance toward trade and interaction with the wider world, as well as affirming her fears about all thing and entities from the seas. It would be such a nice, easy touch if the mermaids had become aware in the movie of the threat posed by human illness and the loss of this medicine and after innitially seeming unwilling, ultimately were shown to have conversed as leaders in their own right and disobeyed their father to help humans, quite apart from any impact on their own sister. The need to understand what happened could easily lead to this and it would give a sense of other voices slowly motivating the shift in Triton's political values, besides just his focus on his one dauther's personal struggles. Imagine them presenting several shell-baskets filled with medicine to Eric's surprised mother that they had carefully combed from sand at the sea floor, asking if it is, in fact,the correct life-saving object.
Are you kidding?! I am so annoyed w when people critize this movie in every aspect. The fact that he share the same interest, they got connected because she also love collecting. That's awesome.
I appreciate that you give ideas instead of just saying this movie is bad. I don't like this movie, but I would have loved ALL of these ideas to be incorporated ❤
So, rewatching this video, I'm reminded of the Twisted Tales Antology book. Twisted Tales, imo, is just a bunch of bad published fanfics of the Disney canon but with a "What If...?" elements. The anthology book had one for The Little Mermaid called The Secret Exchange, where Ariel and Eric actually meet right after she saves him and their getting to know each other and learn about their different worlds. And in the end, through teamwork they use Eric's human items to not subdue Ursula long enough for Triton to finish her. It hits on that exchange of ideas and the coming together of two worlds in a different way but I think one that's pretty satisfying since Eric still gets to prove himself to Triton and Ariel gets to fully engage with her passion for the human world.
I couldn’t believe what the costume department did to Halle. How did any of this get approved? The final dress she wore in the ending was ugly and bland. The other live action princesses got beautiful wedding dresses in the final scene of their movies. Jasmine had 10 outfit changes and all of them were bold and colorful and fit with the scene. It is definitely one of the better live action remakes from Disney. As for the princess remakes, it is the 3rd best for me. Aladdin is my favorite followed by Cinderella.
This would’ve made this scene so much better... But to Disney's eyes, it's just another remake, and it makes them money and they really don't care which make it so much worse.
Just watched it now, I enjoyed it a lot more than most other live action remakes but as I was watching it I went on switching between dopamine hits and disappointment, i kept thinking how cool it would have been to see a Disney live action adaptation of HCA's little mermaid rather than a Disney copy of a Disney adaptation of the tale, it looked too rough to be bubbly and lightweight and too close to the animated movie to be completely atmospheric, it felt as though it was stuck within the other movie where it could have been so much more, it could have been one of my favorite live action like the original was my favorite as a kid, most of the choices I felt cold about turned out nice and the song where Ariel arrives on land is my favorite, heck all of the scenes where she discovers the human world were more compelling than in the animated version: '89 Ariel feels like see has to adapt to a new environment quickly to survive were the '23 version really added that passion interest curiosity and nerdiness that is so quintessentially Ariel The ending did feel to me a lot more bittersweet and gut wrenching (like no matter what she chooses, Ariel will never be happy and that she has to "settle" and make the right choice for herself despite the pain) which was really interesting I expected the seashell to play a part in the ending, like Eric would use it to warn Ariel or something
While it would be lovely to see the symetry of Eric saving Ariel's live in the boat scene, it would be at least as effective to highlight better how what she learns from Eric the very skills she needs to save him, such as how to stear a ship. We get awefully close to this very thing already, with her observing how the ship works before the wreck, and later learning to stear a carriage with hilarious run-away-ride results). Then too, what if Ursula had made an attemp to destoy Triton's body entirely before she was killed and Eric, realizing suddenly that this was Ariel's father, had outmaneuvered her, at risk of taking the magical bullet himself, and restored Triton's life? If the first thing Triton discovered upon recovery was that a human had saved his life out of an instict tpo protect his daughter's family, mermaids or otherwise, it would naturally challenge his core fear that humans most serve to endanger his own powerful royal mermaid family and the mermaid way of life in general. Anyway, what I love about this movie is that it does at least a good enough job that when we expand the worldbuilding in natural ways we start to sound like mermaid anthropologists and political analysts comparing these two fictional royal kingdoms. This just doesn't work with the original movie, which is far less thought out ,politically and culturally.
14:03 I think they should have done it together. Then, you still get the whole "girlboss" thing that people want as well as the unity between the two really strengthening their romance, as well as the impact that you explained.
what i think is that they made a lot of changes that had potential, but they were not competent enough or maybe too scared to fully implement the changes.
I havent watched the movie. But honestly, it sounds like it would be about on par with Beauty and the Beast remake for me. Just. Plenty of good elements or concepts but just don't quite work as well as it could.
In the cartoon, Triton had to BANISH Ariel...for you know almost killing everyone in the ocean for her own selfish 16 year old choices. But you know its played for 'letting her grow up'.
I still don't like the movie lol. I hate that they made everything about Ariel by essentially taking scenes from other characters or making the other character has less screentime for no reason. Like Eric ramming the ship into Ursula has so many meanings. It shows the merpeople that humans aren't all that bad and it also is him rapaying Ariel (not sure if that's the correct word) since she save him at the beginning. I hate how they tried to prop her up by tearing other down (there was a scene where people was helping her get an item from Vannessa and it is just questionable why someone would help this random girl steal an item from another girl.) Her acting doesn't help as well and she ruins the song.
There are a couple of scenes I skip when I watch The Little Mermaid 2023 - * the scene when she gets found by a stranger instead of Eric when she first becomes human. * the entire final scene. I wish Disney could have had Eric and Ariel getting married like they did in the animated version and in the Broadway version. I would love the movie a lot more if they did.
17:48 I know it didn't fit to the character. This Ariel is more innocent more sensitive more gentle. And if she is coming to the human's world she has to have human dress.
This movie was a botched opportunity. The original came along at a time when Disney was in going through a dark age. Walt Disney passed away, and there was uncertainty with the very empire he helped create. “The Little Mermaid,” in 1989, was the film that reminded those folks that, in a world without hope, the very things that dreams are made of were not not dead, which is what the name, Disney, was all about.
Imo the only live action remake that improved on the original was Cinderella, before the age of live-action remakes. Also, Forevermore from Beauty and the Beast. Once Disney realized how lucrative remakes were, they exploited them right away without realizing what made the first ones so sucessful. Y'know, classical corporate greed. Gotta beat that horse until it's dead, gotta milk that cow.
The way they ruined an amazing and beatiful classic by actually adding a lot of nonesense and just incoherent stuff that cannot and wont happen in real life, for me the worst thing of all was ariels saving eric from ursula like when or how did she managed to be this badass taking control of the ship, a mermaid that knows nothing nor has experience at sailing while eric being born in a family of Mariners with innate skills for sailing, being one himself great at what he does of course, with actual knowledge about sailing, years of experience and most Likely one or too degrees, graduated with honors besides having all of his documents in check, owns a ship himself yet couldnt do the nothing at all not even the sailing part😅 so ariel (the mermaid) had to do it herself 😅😂 meanwhile eric be thinking all those years at sailing college didnt prepare him for this😂❤ ( part of your World reprise starts playing in the background) they get married, END🎉.❤
Honestl, the OG remains the best partially because the original story wasn't a love story at all. Eric is genuinely in love with another princess and Ariel's story is abbout self-sacrifice, wanting to explore the world and that she didn't needed a man to make her dreams come true because she was awarded the opportunity to work for her wish because God saw Ariel was willing to give up her life to allow Eric and the princess to have their happy end. SHE is the other girl, not Ursula. And like many other flaws in the movie, the more they try to add to the OG Disney's plot and stray away from the novel's plot, the worse the story becomes. In the book, the only kiss time Ariel kisses someone- it's a sweet kiss on the forehead of Eric's bride who actually mounrs her disappearance alongside Eric at the end. Andersen was allegedly autistic, homosexual and a feminist and the novel showed that VERY much. I cannot express how much I hated some of the movie's add ons like Ariel forgetting she needs to kiss Eric. That literally robs her of her agency on top of muddying the mermaid folklore (which this moie did A LOT). In Northern west European folklore, mermaids need to have a wedding kiss with a human man in order to permanently become humans so they actively seduce humans, that's where the whole 'true loves kiss' in this story comes from. Sailors weren't just horny for mermaids without a reason, mermaids could either drown a man because he was unworthy or reciprocate their advances. They remove Ariel's knowledge about her being a mermaid and what it entails for her to succeed her mission under the guise of making the romance more organic?! No, Ariel was a seductive, eager little thing but she was sweet and selfless too. Why aren't girls allowed to be sexual if female sexuality is part of the story?! Don't even get me started on other things like her family. The sisters honestly feel like they are even less important whilst they were such an important part of the novel! Like, for one Ariel learnt about the human world from her sisters as in the novel Triton isn't against humans but simply put an age limit on visiting the human world like we do with drinking or voting. Perhaps the only thing novel thing this remake reintroduced was Ariel going to the surface for the first time when Eric's boat sinks. Scuttle as a character literally replaces the role Ariel's sisters had and why I low-key dislike any iteration of the character because Scuttle only exists so thatTriton can be a tragic single father hating humans for the sake of angst. He doesn't has character development and neither does his mom, its her sisters that have character development in the novel. Because Ursula wasn't evil in the novel, they even cut off their hair for Ariel in exchange for a knife that could get Ariel out of the deal but she would have needed to kill Eric. Not only is the hair thing such a thing in European folklore, but mermaids were known for their long beautiful hair and being vain as fuck (if you saw Ruby Gillman, they absolutely got that right). So Ariel's sisters cutting off their hair was also to showcase how deeply they loved their sister and would swallow their pride and lose face in the eyes of the mermaid kingdom just for her! Also, I hate how she still doesn't has a grandma in the remake. Her grandma's role in the novel was to make a point on the pressure women faced to look beautiful even if it is to their own detriment. It makes the sisters cutting off their hair even more powerful because it's also an act of defiance in the face of their grandma's antiquated beliefs and directly spell out to the reader that there are more important things then beauty and pride! In the social media/ plastic surgery era we have going on that message is worth SO much! The OG animation was my favorite Disney movie as a little girl too and as someone who grew up as a folklore nerd and read the novel out of my love for the OG, I actually ended up preferring the novel over Disney's adaptation because it is such a good female coming of age story and a rejection of society's pressure on women. It's a feminist story that still holds up to this day and an absolute timeless classic.
Hated the amnesia change. Eric and Ariel are too similar. The romantic connection wasn’t really there for me, compared to the OG. They seem like they should just be friends in this one. Ariel had an extreme lack of enthusiasm, too. The life in her wasn’t there
do you like the OG fork scene better or Eric’s study scene??
Og fork scene all the way, though the new one isn't bad
we should have gotten both tbh but i still like the study scene better
Eric's study ❤❤❤
Study scene 💯👏
OG Fork scene. It was very funny but also showed Eric being confused by Ariel but still enjoying her company. It’s also important that when she blows the pipe it makes Eric laugh and it’s mentioned that that’s the first time he’s smiled in weeks.
It’s the first real step for them and his attraction to her.
17:43 the sparkling dress was already *VERY* nuanced!!! The dress is a conclusion to Triton's arc, that's why it was so memorable. When Ursula turns Ariel human she leaves her naked. Triton gifting Ariel *CLOTHING* is symbolic of his new understanding of humans, and him finally accepting Ariel for who she is. The dress not only functions as a goodbye gift to her, but it also makes up for him destroying her collection. Triton doing this is a beautiful resolution to many years of suppressed grief and generational trauma.
Since this scene was cut, Triton left her naked on that rock. Ariel wearing a pretty dress doesn't make her a bad role model nor does it encourage young girls to be materialistic. It encourages parents to love their children unconditionally. Her blue dress isn't as powerful of a message. It just feels like it's there to show that she doesn't need a pretty dress...or a man...or to be saved...yeah you get the point lol
When you put it that way, I love this symbolism. It also signifies the two parties' views on Ariel's wish to be human.
Ursula left Ariel naked as a human because it reflects that she doesn't really have faith in Ariel's new life as a human: she doesn't EXPECT Ariel to live as a human for long.
Triton gives Ariel a beautiful dress to give her his blessing: he's making certain that Ariel's new life as a human starts off on the right foot, so to speak.
Actually, never thought of it that way, thanks! :)
Thank you!! Thank God somebody has a brain!
I feel like it _might_ have seemed to have that depth to me if the dress was more believable for the setting.
I assumed that he or her sisters found the dress since Eric set it adrift? Like for her, the dress is one of the first human things given to her specifically by others and via a kindness, rather than just finding artifacts left from shipwrecks. So she gets to come back in her dress to the human world but this time as an equal and on her own terms.
That being said, I understand the symbolism and the original intent, and definitely with that reading, it's disappointing to not have seen the sparkly dress.
Them removing Ariel's coming out of the water in her new dress is criminal. That was a key moment not only for her father but also for Ariel. And overall, they should have given her better outfits smh.
I did like that they fleshed out Eric's character more by having him also collect artifacts from his voyages. However, I wished that they'd kept the scene of him saving Ariel by ramming the ship into Ursula, as opposed to having Ariel do it herself, since it gives him more agency outside of her.
i agree! i mention how i wished he still saved her in the video. it makes the story about humans & mermaids coming together more impactful
I disagree with you, I think Ariel and Eric defeating Ursula together was great. It’s really reinforced that this story is about Ariel and defeating Ursula with Eric help is her fixing her own mistakes. She isn’t the teen girl who is over protected by her dad. But a bright young woman capable of making decisions, and be responsible for them
@@yunabroadway3033 Also, Ariel does the same move she had watched Eric do to try and avoid the rocks at the beginning. She used what she had learned from him, the human, to save the mermaids. I liked that change a lot, actually.
@@artatmidnight I understand why they cut out Ariel's sisters: to stop comparisons to the lead actress and to keep the focus on Ariel and Eric. Unfortunately we live in a world that's prejudiced and Vanessa, with 2 minutes of screen time, was weaponized against Halle bailey's Ariel by Tik Tok-ers. It got so bad the Vanessa actress, Jessica Alexander, had to block people on her 'For You' page. Sad we live in a world that is not supportive across the board - hence why Feminism is faling.
I kinda disagree. This is Ariel’s story and Ursula was the one that manipulated her, erased her memory of needing to kiss the prince, tried to get the prince to marry her(Ursula) instead and did whatever is was she did to Ariel’s father. I think Ariel should be the one to rescue her father since it was her fault what happened to him. And I think she knew what to do because she remembered how Eric bravely tried to save his crew so she learned from him and did what he did in the beginning. And it also shows how she fixed her mistake herself and was responsible for it.
You mentioning the need for them to have a conversation after everything happened hit SO HARD. I remember how in Kingdom Hearts 2, after defeating Ursula, Ariel reveals to Eric that she's a mermaid (in the game, Ursula dragged her back to the sea before she transformed back) and tells him that that's why everything happened, even telling him goodbye. But he accepts her and asks her to help him practice his swimming. It's a really sweet scene, especially since they still get married at the end.
Fully agree that Eric should have been the one on the ship in the final battle. I feel like this change for this movie was honestly just a product of “girl-bossification” and effectively renders Eric kind of useless. A lot of people seem to forget that even before he’s on that ship she’s saved him 2 times once from the shipwreck(which was equally as dangerous for her) and the second is when she pulls Ursula’s hair and kills flotsam and Jetsam. Eric is literally just being part of the team they are when he’s on that ship cuz realistically she’s a magicless mermaid at the bottom of a giant world pool created by a massive sea witch who has conveniently forgotten about Eric who’s a seafaring prince with knowledge of steering ships, there’s nothing “night in shining armor” about his actions in the animated movie he’s literally returning the favor she’s bestowed upon him 2 times now!!!! And it makes them stronger as a pair! Also in the new one when she’s like “I wasn’t alone Eric was with me” I’m like yea just hanging around! 😒also she’s a full 3 costumes short of a complete wardrobe!!! Pink gown, silver water dress, and a GOD DAMNED a WEDDING GOWN!!!! That pink ruffle frock was honestly mean to the audience like I’m sorry NO UNACCEPTABLE!!!!
No. I think they don't want to advertise in a film that killing your girlfriend's family members is okay. It was okay with Maleficent or The Evil Queen in Snow White because it's not even her real mom but Ursula in 2023 live action is her father's sister.
@@suzygirl1843 what are you talking about that’s exactly what he did in the first one and I can say without a shadow of a doubt that absolutely no one was thinking that about the situation. I can’t even wrap my head around how superfluous your reasoning sounds. By this point even triton has banished her cuz she’s a problem. No one and I mean no one looks at like “oh well I’m glad he didn’t kill her she’s his girlfriend’s aunt” NO ONE THOUGHT THAT NO ONE🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣 sorry try again!
@@Elphaboy In the animation, Ursula is NOT Ariel's Aunt. In the 2023 version, she is. Some cultures would find that offensive for a boyfriend to kill a family member then the daughter marry the guy. It's a slippery slope
@@suzygirl1843 If they used the DELETED plot point, your reasoning still doesn't make sense, as for your reasoning to work, Triton would also have to keep Ursula in the palace. Why would he want to keep a dangerous person around? Ursula being a family member does not suddenly make her someone who is safe to be around, this is certainly how Triton views it and how the audience views the situation, she's not safe to be around so Triton banished her. I was just thinking Eric killed the villain when he delivered the final blow in the animated version and how good he looks doing that, the only person thinking that isn't okay is you though🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣
YEAH I WANTED TO SEE A BLACK GIRL BE A DAMSEL IN DISTRESS But at least it means This version of Ariel actually knows how to take responsibility for her recklessness unlike the Original one
8:17 - I really wish the sisters played a bigger part of the story. In some versions of the little mermaid at the sisters that trade it there long beautiful hair for information on how Ariel can become a mermaid again.
I understand why they cut out Ariel's sisters: to stop comparisons to the lead actress and to keep the focus on Ariel and Eric. Vanessa, with 2 minutes of screen time, was weaponized against Halle bailey's Ariel by Tik Tok-ers. But bless the actress's heart, Jessica Alexander actually defended Halle. That's how Feminism works.
@@suzygirl1843 Today's Feminism isn't the true definition of Feminism, as today's Feminism focuses more on overpowering men instead of equality, the actress had to do that because she's under contract, if she didn't say the things she said, she will become the next person to be attacked by the public.
It is all in the business, don't take that to heart lol.
@@clairelin0216 You were waiting to make this comment somewhere, I KNOW that modern Feminism is garbage but I don't live in USA or UK and it's strictly just a white female thing. Everywhere else women are just getting by in their own societies. They don't have time for this Capitalistic schlock
@@clairelin0216youre deluded
@h.f6364 I know what I said was true because Jodi Benson defended Ariel in the past, but now since they wanted to change the legacy, she has to go with it to make a living. You’re the one that’s deluded.
Tbh although I liked Erics collection, I feel like it made him TOO similar to Ariel. If they would have kept his musician/flute aspect then again it would have made him more fleshed out since he yes has a hobby similiar to Ariels but he still has hos own unique hobby
i love Eric's flute too - especially because he plays her melody and it's what connects him to the fantasy girl. it would have been nice if he played the flute AND was a collector haha
Especially when the flute plays an important role for Eric’s development with Ariel. In the scene after their date, he’s still playing the theme of Ariel singing while at the same time realizing what he has with her and how real it actually is. Him throwing away the flute into the sea, actively throwing away the idea of the girl and embracing what he’s made with Ariel is a really beautiful moment and important to their romance.
But of course, the dumbasses behind this movie don’t understand any of that.
@@artatmidnightmaybe a collector of musical instruments? 🤔 then they could even include Ariel showing him the seashell and demonstrating that it can make sounds too - thereby interesting Eric for its musical quality.
Agree
10:23 The difference between Ariel questioning the consequences of leaving in the animated version & live action version is that we see her living alongside her sisters in Atlantica in the OG film but it’s shown in the remake that she only sees her sisters during the time of the Coral Moon 🪸🌙 or when they have to clean up shipwrecks due to her sisters each reigning over one of the 7 seas respectively, so Ariel doesn’t even live with her sisters, which gives her choice to leave far less weight in the remake than in the original.
Eric is one of my favorite princes, so I hated how his moment of defeating Ursula was taken from him.
I don't think you want to advertise to an audience of kids that killing your girlfriends' family members is okay. Ursula is Ariel's aunty in the 2023 version rememeber?
@@suzygirl1843 That family plot point was removed in the OG animation because it would make the story way too complicated, so adding that and having Ariel kill Ursula isn't improving anything either.
Yeah because thats the main message kids are gonna take from this magical mermaid love story 🤨@@suzygirl1843
@@StayArtsy Handle your own business, even if its family. I doubt Ursula is dead
@@suzygirl1843 okay? I wasn't trying to be nasty or anything, just point something out....geez ppl on the internet these day are so mean...
I don’t think we enjoy fairy tales for realism, so all the added context doesn’t really help the movie. The whole siren song thing and “forgetfulness” spell just rob the character of her agency and the film of the same ticking clock that compels that agency’s forward motion.
I love your points about expanding the theme of trust between species. It would’ve been nice to see that. And oh my biggest complaint is how flounder looked so ugly!
i'm not a fan of the live action animals either - i miss the chubby Flounder haha at least his voice actor did a good job!
I HATEEEE the fact that she forgets the fact she needs to kiss him. They give Ariel the hero moment at the end, but take away her agency in that way.
Also like you said, I feel like they take away some of that rebellious-ness from Ariel, which combined with the fact that Halle is obviously not a teenager, made it weird tonally for me, as sometimes she’s very smart and mature, and other times she’s acting very childish.
Halle was 19 when they filmed the movie though
@@awhimsyreader9015 didn't it get delayed by the pandemic?
@@Aisha_Luv she said in an interview that they started filming when she was 19
@@awhimsyreader9015 yeah but they filmed very little before getting shut down. Plus there's a big leap from 16 to 19/20s
I for one LOVED that they made Ariel forget she had to kiss Eric. For one, story wise it makes sense that Ursula would not play fair. Second, I felt like it made their relationship feel more genuine. I think that if Ariel spent all her time worrying about having to kiss Eric it would've made their relationship more strained, instead it felt like a normal flow.
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.
This was amazing, thank you. It was like watching TLM through Eric's character and I loved every second of it
This is a wonderful breakdown of Eric.
I swear the people that make those sorts of criticisms of TLM have the depth of a spoon.
Not one frame or line of dialogue is wasted. Every piece contributes to the whole. It is a beautiful story that has a lot of emotional depth from many of the characters.
👏👏👏👏 spot on!! That's why he's my favorite prince!! And why I was so apprehensive about this adaptation of him. It just wasn't the same.
Thank you! People haven’t watched the movie in so long. He had a great personality.
damn, I wanna be your friend because anyone who can write so much and eloquently about one of my favorite films must be an interesting person! I absolutely agree with everything you said.
I think I liked the memory loss spell not only for the connection to be mutual, but because it really shows how manipulative and a cheater Ursula is. The fact that she has to prevent it at all costs to win shows her desperation. In a way, it makes Ariel a threat too because she doesn’t fully underestimate her.
Also, it makes Kiss the Girl the last straw for Ursula because no matter what she does, Ariel is one step closer to getting the kiss anyways.
I actually don't really like that part of the movie. What was great about the original Ursula was the fact that her and Ariel were on equal footing. Ariel knew the terms of the contract, took that risk willingly and lost. Original Ursula didn't need to cheat to get things done, her manipulation tactics were enough for her to succeed. She was way more vicious and snicky.
I hate that they take Ariel’s memory away in the new one. How exactly is this movie supposed to be about her
“ taking her power back” when you’ve literally taken the choice away from her by having Ursula pressure her into signing the contract AND making her forget the reason she made the deal in the first place. Regardless of Ariel’s impulsive nature and immaturity in the original, she had autonomy. She did what she wanted regardless of consequences. She makes the decision to go on her own and she actively makes every decision on her own.
This Ariel has none of that.
@@alizeestl8021uh no, original ursula did cheat…she dumped the boat when they were about to kiss the first time and then she literally becomes human and hyptontizes eric…
@@brainwashed2534 What I meant is that they both knew the terms of the contract. And tecnically Ursula never said she wouldn't interfere so I don't even count that as cheating, Ariel was just naive.
@sophieamandaleitontoomey9343. MAN SHUT UP! THIS IS EXACTLY WHY ARIEL WAS THE ONE TO KILL URSULA INSTEAD OF ERIC!
Wow girl you should be a director someday for a movie like this. You have really great knowledge on these types of films. Would you ever do a series where you talk about if they made a remake of another disney movie, what would you want them to do with the story and setting and what to add to it? I ask because I am really curious on what you think if they make a remake on Tangled. Its my favorite disney movie.
thank you! I love Tangled sm 💖 i think i want to do a video on why it's so great first! i might consider doing what i hope to see in the live action, but it's so hard, because the animation is perfect to me
@@artatmidnight ooouu I love your insight. Thank you so much for replying! I would really excited to see a video like that in the future. I love your content and I hope everything goes well for you gorgeous!
I love this movie. OG and 2023. I love the scene were Jodi Benson passes on the Dinglehopper to Halle. Such a cute passing the torch scene. 😊
Great video!
What dumpens this relationship for me is how Ariels loss of voice also subsided her character. Not as in "her struggling without something that came to her as naturally as swimming", but in the fact she became childish and naive. Maybe I misinterpreted the direction everyone wanted to take, but it was tough for me to watch
thank you! i didn't mind when she lost her voice per se, but i was hoping for more internal dialogue/voiceover on land. I liked the For the First Time song and the second Part of Your World reprise bc we got a deeper look into her character, even though she couldn't speak
For the sparkly dress, one idea could have been Ariel’s ripped dress is transformed into a new one: where Triton used a spell to fix it into one with details/embellishments and sea details like her wearing pearl straps and a sparkly bodice with shells or mother of pearl or something cool! Maybe the sea creatures help transform the ripped dress like Cinderella (though magic can also work!)
That would be a garment that’s combining the human and mermaid world, Ariel carrying the first piece of human clothing she ever received while the sea details is representing her connection to her family and heritage, and carrying her father’s blessing. It’d be representing her journey of her transformation, reflecting both who she was and who she’s become.
Ooh that sounds really cool!
Ahhhhhhh that would've been so COOL!! Man I wish someone with the costume designer's ear had convinced them to do something like that, it would've been perfect!
what you said is sooo valid. I didn't notice any of that but i totally see it now. But i just can't get over their chemistry, i think it was like almost as good as Kit and Ella's. Aghhh they're so cute.
The reason Triton was kept alive was so he could witness everything, especially Eric saving the day. In the remake, it's totally ruined as Triton can't witness anything and Eric doesn't end up saving the day. If I saw my daughter rescue a man instead of the other way around, my opinion about that man would be even lower, and Triton's opinion about humans is low enough as it is. It's a completely unneeded and nonsensical change that ruined the whole thing. What was the point of Ariel being the one to finish Ursula this time? What did that lead to that wouldn't have happened otherwise?
Triton in general just frustrated me. Javier Bardem was fantastic in PotC and so much animation in his expressions and his scenes. Here? He was so flat. He wasn't scary at all. He never raised his voice. And when it came to his "death," I was so uninvested that I just didn't care. And then he comes back to life and immediately tells her she has to be home safe and sound and then the next scene we see him he completely changes his mind? It makes no sense.
agree and completely understand what you’re saying, but at the same time i think it was way more impactful for ariel to defeat her own villain in her own story. that means a lot more to girls and women since this is for them. the impact of that outweighs the need for eric to look a certain way to triton
@@laurennicole851 So they thought it was a good idea to turn Ariel into a murderer, who not only killed a fellow sea creature, but a family member as well. That is ridiculous. And in the process they took away the one thing Eric could have done in the film. This was so the wrong movie to be doing this type of crud.
Ariel killing Ursula was necessary to pander to the ~girl bosses~. Unless a female character isn’t killing people left and right she is weak.
I agree @@laurennicole851
The issue with this for me are backstory and scenes that doesn't connect to this scene very well.
For one, we were told Eric's parents died in a ship wrecked. And grew up in a country that blames merfolk of all shipwrecks.
Although it's good that he disagrees. We never saw WHY he disagrees, when he wouldn't be in his current situation, wanting to LEAVE the country, if not for the loss of his parents at sea.
And in terms of Ariel, I like what you said about the mermaid figurine and how it reminds her of where she's from.
But only IF they have kept the original Poor unfortunate souls lyrics, where you see Ariel hesitate to become human because she was thinking about her family.
Which leads to Ursula using Eric as a distraction.
Meanwhile, in the remake, Ariel was about to leave, when Ursula mentions Ariel's father. About her being with him forever. Which leads Ariel to STOP and hesitate from rejecting Ursula's offer.
Aka the thought of her father made her WANT to become human. The complete opposite of the classic.
The so figuring things wouldn't work for Ariel, unless she suddenly was homesick. Which she clearly isn't.
So once stuff like this is remembered. This scene kind of falls apart.
Honestly Vanessa's actress was on her Oscar era
For protecting Halle Bailey
@@suzygirl1843 No, she was on her Oscar era because she's a good actress who can actually act.
2:58 I love that they add it. The idea of the relationship that humans have with Mermaids and See creatures. How they fear each other. In this movie is really shown how Ariel and Erick connect them and unite them. In animation it was kind of obvious but they didn't show more of it
good points all around but GOD i just cant handle how dirty the colors are in that movie
18:26 tbf to the original movie, the wedding faded to a scene that could have been any time in the future. So we don't know for sure if they were "settling down right away" in the OG
Firstly, I have to express how happy I am to see someone who didn't like something 100%, and still manages to be extremely polite and kind in their words.
I had never thought of these details mentioned throughout the film, and in fact each punctuation said would have made an extreme difference in this Live Action.
I am extremely passionate about the 2015 Cinderella Live Action, and as a pleasant surprise, The Little Mermaid Live Action made me feel the same feelings as Cinderella. It's not a perfect Live Action, the CGI gets in the way in many moments because it's not well finished, Ariel's costumes lacked beauty, and I found Eric's and Sabidão's music with Sebastião unnecessary. But overall, I was deeply enchanted, I'm still listening to the soundtrack to this day.
I really looked forward to a scene of Ariel talking to Eric's, it would have been incredible for them to have a dialogue about everything that happened. I missed Ariel with her sisters, some cute and fun scene. I thought they weighed a lot on Triton, there could have been scenes between him and Ariel where they both showed affection and affection. and I would have loved to have seen Eric's try to remember his parents, to have some object that reminded him of his family. I really wanted Ariel's final dress to be exuberant, it could have had navy details, a beautiful hairstyle, it would have made a huge difference. And yes, I missed the people at the bottom of the sea, I honestly think that was the part I missed the most.
In general, I think it's a charming Live Action in her own way, Halle is so cute to me, she was born to be a Disney princess. The couple of actors were the strength of this Live Action, perfect chemistry.
Honestly, I think it was by far a closer Princess Live Action than Cinderella, my opinion.
I COMPLETELY AGREE, I wanted Ariel to pull a H2O: Just Add Water, where she is a mermaid when she goes in water, but can be a human when she’s on land
I like the OG fork scene, since the OG already had Eric enjoy the sea freely and had him pretty much blend in with the sailors with the way he clothes himself, I don't really feel that there is a need to show that he collects stuff. I think that the extra material made Eric and Ariel too much alike, and one thing about the Eric and Ariel love story is that their background is the complete opposite except for the status in society. That complete opposite background added a layer to why Ariel feel that having Eric would be a nice addition to her dream, as now she wanted to be a human and also be with Eric.
What did Eric have that Ariel don't?
Sure, Eric was being pressured into marriage in the OG animation, but that was because in the OG animation he's 18 and his parents were presumed dead by the audience, which means he have 3 years before he takes the throne as king and he had to find a wife before that happens, it's a pretty typical royal responsibility back when the story was set in, but other than this pressure, Eric seems to be free, he can dance among the people in town and blend in like everyone else, proving that even before Ariel came into his life, Eric is really down to earth and also have the freedom to explore the town, the fact that Eric has a flute means that he has his own hobby, the hobby is same with Ariel's hobby in the sense that it's also music, but different at the same time, as someone who can sing does not mean that person can play the same melody on an instrument.
I don't think that the memory loss part was needed, in the OG, Ursula didn't feel the need to do anything more than to give Ariel an impossible time limit to complete the task, it showed that Ursula was a true villain who had succeeded many times in her deals and she's confident in her own abilities, Ursula underestimated Ariel in the OG animation, but that was because she's confident that all she had to do was to give an impossible time limit and she could just watch it play out to her own plan, if Ursula had to add a memory loss in there to make sure that Ariel will pull away from the kiss when the romance part and the kiss is a huge deal in the story, that means Ursula isn't really confident in her own abilities for her to cast a memory loss spell so she will be sure that they didn't kiss before the three days are up.
If I was Triton I'm definitely going to give my daughter to the OG Eric, he's got my respect for doing the final blow consider the fact that the society he unintentionally saved had hated his kind for a decade before that.
Eric knows how to operate a ship in a storm, so as audience, you kind of expect him to do that. He's there delivering the final blow with the pure intention of freeing Ariel, as he didn't know that he would by saving everyone that was imprisoned by Ursula, but I feel like it is because that his intentions are pure that Triton is willing to trust Eric.(Also, there was a scene deleted from the OG animation because of time limit where Triton said something along the lines of "That human saved my life." after Eric risked his life to save Ariel and collapsed on the beach.")
I think there are really great materials in the deleted scenes of the animated version that could be added, but I feel like the remake just cut the really important plot points so I don't know what story they're trying to tell whereas in the OG animation I can tell that there's an introduction of the characters and what they will possibly contribute to the story, and we got a focus on the romance that later become the reason for the main conflict to resolve. Nice and simple structure.
The only way they can ruin this is if they make the nice and simple structure so complicated that even they don't know what they want to focus on anymore, but they did exactly that so it kind of just fell apart once they decided that they will make the remake more complicated than it really needs to be.
11:14 Ursula's spell has a *VERY EASY FIX.* instead of the amensia spell, she shouldve just made a *BET* with Ariel . Here's a much stronger script
URSULA - Now here's the deal, I'll make a potion that will turn you into a human for three days. *Can't be any longer or daddy will come looking for you, right princess?* *Why would you want to stay with humans forever anyway?* They're all
𝙘𝙧𝙪𝙚𝙡 and 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙜𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 creatures
ARIEL - *That isn't true!*
URSULA - Oh??? Want to bet? *If you can prove to me that a human could possibly love you, I'll make the spell permanent.* Before the sun sets on the third day, you need to be kissed, and not just any kiss, *only the kiss of true love can seal the deal.* And if you don't you turn back into a mermaid...and belong to me.
ARIEL - ...If I become human...I'll never see my father or sisters again...
URSULA - That's right! but you'll have your *wish.* Life is full of tough choices innit?
Why this works: In this rewrite Ursula gives Ariel two choices. Be a human for 3 days and go back to living miserably afterwards OR be a human permanently and live the life she wants only if she proves a human can love her. Ursula intentionally provokes Ariel to pick the second option by calling humans cruel and disgusting (She's imitating Triton). Ursula knows that Ariel will retailiate in response in defense of humans. Since it's now a bet, Ariel will say yes to the deal because it proves Triton and Ursula wrong. This rewrite also fixes the complaints people had about the original that Ariel was "only doing it for a man" and replaces it with a much deeper reason. Ariel is challenged to find humanity in the world that killed her mother.
This manipulation is much more impressive because giving Ariel a choice makes Ursula seem more trustworthy. ALSO it doesn't matter which option Ariel picks. If she chose the first option, Ursula knows Ariel will just keep coming back to her for more time on land. Ursula never mentions Eric in this version either. She's pretending she doesn't know that Ariel is falling in love with a human. Ariel has seen how good humans could be through Eric, so she underestimates the stakes of the deal, also pushing her say yes.
@@penpendoggo Wow...this is actually pretty genius!!
If they had done everything you said in this video, this would have been the most PERFECT live action. (plus adding a more colorful photography but thats another topic)
Yes, Ariel is capable of saving herself…but doesn’t she deserve to be saved sometimes too? To have someone care enough about her that they are willing to take that burden from her…to have someone love her so much that they are willing to sacrifice themselves in her place?
I don’t think it’s a bad thing giving Eric a bit more to do. I also think it’s very cute and in character that he collects artifacts from his trips. Given how much of a sea dog he is, it makes perfect sense. However, apart from that, they have completely stripped Eric of everything that made him so endearing in the original movie.
Instead of the humorous, energetic, caring and courageous man we have in the original, we have a brooding, uninteresting, and non courageous man who has been reduced to a damsel in distress by people who completely missed the point of him saving Ariel in the original.
They don’t even get his fucking costume right.
Yes.
They turned him into a whiny little B that "doesn't want the responsibility of being a leader to his people". Well. Fine. Don't. YOU aren't even Legitimately a prince... So go off on your way and fuss about life having expectations to someone else.
Adoption is wonderful, but given the time period and the way monarchies have worked throughout all of time taking in some kid from a shipwreck that holds no resemblance to you or your people sounds like an over throw waiting to happen.
This Eric is just inept and meh. He realizes she can't speak and dismisses her to be dealt with by others.
Because Max is awesome and OG Eric has been actively searching for any sign of his dream girl for weeks he finds Ariel.
He is immediately concerned. Feels a connection, but is then disappointed because his only way to identify her has been taken away. He doesn't pout and just leave her there. He immediately tries to help her.
His finding her has him take personal responsibility for her rather than being some random person who is in his castle.
I always promise myself I won't rant.
So true. His song was so lame lol
Everything you said is so true omg!! About the final battle against Ursula, Tommy Ross suggested in his latest video about The Little Mermaid that Ariel and Eric could have defeated Ursula TOGETHER, by having Eric hurting her with the ship, which could have caused her to drop the trident so that Ariel can use it to take her down and this would have been PERFECT in my opinion! I LOVE his ideas for what the movie could have been!
Also, I think that Ariel should have gotten a big puffy gown during a ball scene that could have been used to strengthen her relationship with Eric AND the sparkly dress! Maybe not the exact same design as in the animated version but maybe something a little more fantasy, like maybe an Ancient-Greek-inspired dress that would have made her look like a majestic goddess emerging from the sea! And even more outfits! She should have worn a different during the engagement party!
Otherwise I wish the movie had more fantasy, grandeur and splendor in its designs, especially for the underwater kingdom! And brighter colors of course! Rob Marshall said he wanted to go for something more "natural" but that's nonsense honestly, because this is a fantasy mermaid movie and it's based on another one that has astonishing designs! I don't absolutely dislike this more naturalistic approach but honestly, it doesn't work for a remake of Disney's The Little Mermaid! It would work better for a TV Show or literally any other adaptation of The Little Mermaid or any other mermaid story but not this one. Not the high-budget live action adaptation of the iconic 1989 movie! Heck, even the human world lacked magic! It's really disappointing when you look at the concept art and you see that Eric's castle was supposed to be more colorful and have more sea-life-inspired shapes! And I wholeheartedly believe that it should have been a village tour scene instead of a marketplace! Or at least have a marketplace IN a village!
I also wish that they had kept Ariel bubbly! Halle is bubbly in real life so I wonder why they went that way with her character! She has such a melodious life! Where were the Ariel giggles?!
Since you are doing a lot on the Disney live action remakes, the fact that the little mermaid was really good, especially the on the surface stuff, it made me think Disney should just reanimate their movies if they want to modernize them. Like I feel like this movie would have so much more soul, and visual flair if it was animated with modern 2D animation.
Honestly I like their relationship in this better than the original but I do agree that there’s also a bunch of missed potential
I did enjoy this movie, but it could've been the best remake! Through the use of vibrant colors similar to Cinderella's Live Action remake!
Yes! Cinderella is still my top fave by far. i wish we had the same quality of visuals in TLM to make it even better 💙
16:10 I'd argue that animation eric still had interest in the sea BUT completely agree the live action went further with it and could have done more
I love the movie mostly their relationship is pretty nice but.. Sebastian just looks... so weird in 2d it works but in live action it scares me zoo much
Your additions to the plot were absolutely amazing!! It would have been epic
I agree with alot of your points. I agree with the symbolism of the figurine and I would have loved to have seen Eric call the Merpeople for help against Ursula. Maybe even his human sailors come to help him too. It would really spiced up the ending instead of being a predictable carbon copy. Or they could have gone with the original ending, which I would have loved to have seen. Making Ariel the one to defeat Ursula was very predictable and not in a good way. The beauty of Ariel and Eric's relationship is that they help and save each other. She saves him, then he saves her. That's a healthy relationship. In this film, she does most of the saving and it takes away from Eric's character for no reason.
I think the sisters were terribly underutilized. They went through so much trouble to change the sisters for no reason at all. This film is longer, and they only have one good scene of dialogue, BARELY. I honestly don't see the point in changing the sisters so much if they didn't add anything to the story.
The fact that they took away Ariel's sea foam dress was criminal. It was such a magical and moving scene, and it was taken away for no reason. What we got was unbelievably underwhelming. We were robbed. And the union of Merpeople and Humans was just not as magical as it should have been.
One of my biggest problems in this film is Triton and Ariel's relationship. It was so cold and had no chemistry at all. Ariel and Triton are imposing forces, but they still loved each other. These two are so stiff with each other, it was terrible. My biggest problem is that Ariel constantly called Triton " Father." Ariel's sisters call him father, but Ariel always called him " Daddy." It made her unique and it showed that their love was special. She only called him father she was angry. I really felt this Triton and Ariel were terrible together.
There is one thing I will disagree with you. I DESPISE Ariel's new tail. I don't mind the new coloring, and I can appreciate the pink highlights. I cannot, for the life of me, stand Ariel's new fluke. It is way too big and way too long. It had no personality at all. It has no defined silhouette and a fluke that massive and floppy would really slow her down. It was terrible and I hate what they did with it.
I am a life long fan of this franchise, but unfortunately, I am not a fan of this film.
I loved this video 😋 and this movie I adored at first and now I love but I can confidently critique it, and I think you were right, I wish they paid more attention to certain details within the story, like completely different plot lines etc. and ALSO HALLEE & VANESSA SLAYED
I completely agree with you. Eric should have been the one to kill Ursula
I was thinking about Aurora from Sleeping Beauty, and how so many people denounce the film for having a helpless princess who needs saving by a strong prince, but it’s not like that at all. Her being led to the spinning wheel is not her being gullible and weak, she’s under a spell. If Philip were in that situation he would’ve touched the needle as well. Also, let’s be clear, Philip relies HEAVILY on Flora, Fauna and Merryweather’s magic. They rescue him from Malificients castle by breaking his chains, they save him from the arrows, they free his horse, and stop all the other offenses from M’s goons. Then on the fight against the dragon, they give him the shield and sword (I think?) that can kill the dragon and cast a spell on it that finally brings down M. I’m not sure why they put the castle to sleep, maybe to not worry anyone? Or protect them from M’s magic if she comes for them, I’m not sure. I wonder if, like before, if the roles were reversed and she were fighting the dragon…..I believe she could do it. She’d have all the magic backing from the fairies, and from what we’ve seen when the fairies tried to make Auroras birthday without magic, she’s much more capable. At household tasks, yes, but her humanity is a part of it as well. Let me explain: it’s not just a matter of defeating M and getting into the castle. If it were, Philip would stand to the side while the fairies used their magic. Therefore, his will to save Aurora and his love for her (I get it, fell in love in a day, it’s stupid, but they don’t get much other choice. They just wanted to spend time together in the quiet woods where they could grow a bond and a romance, but now you’re both imprisoned and perpetually unconscious and there are fairies telling you to defeat a DRAGON to save the girl you met YESTERDAY and liked quite a lot, who’s actually a PRINCESS so you’re marrying anyway , and she’s never even met her parents or anything, but there’s no time for this now GO GO GO) are inferred to be necessary to defeat M. Their first kiss should’ve been a sweet moment after they’ve spent together WHEN THEYRE BOTH AWAKE, but no it’s after a dragon battle, and he has to kiss him to save her life and she’s royalty and they’re betrothed so they’ll be getting married in a hot minute so hurry up. Also, he isn’t her love, he’s a guy who likes her quite a bit, the situation they’re in is just so insane and he’s the only option so Yh you’re her one true love now Philip. It is quite sad that they couldn’t have a slower relationship timeline. They went from affectionate acquaintances to true love to betrothed so fast, and it’s even sadder when you think they would’ve gotten even less if he hadn’t met her that day, they would’ve been under all that pressure, her having all these realizations, and having to marry and live with each other without knowing anything about each other. If they’d lived the lives they were promised, A being raised as a princess, they would’ve courted, but the bond would be somewhat forced, as they’d be aware of the lack of choice they have in the marriage. There’s a lot of that in the film, Aurora and Philip having no choice and being caught in the middle of this magic madness. They’re lucky they got that one day of casual time together, where they could build a genuine connection without the pressure or true love and magic and mortal peril and a transactional royal marriage. My keyboard is lagging so badly. Also I you couldn’t tell Sleeping Beauty is my favourite move and I think about it a lot. 😊 no one steal this I’m gonna make a video essay from my comment
OMG IM SO GLAD ITS STILL HERE!! Hi, so I am now permanently locked out of my account (this one ^^ 🎃) and was worried all my comments would be erased. Specifically this one, because I want to edit and add to it for my extended project 😂, so that’s a releif
Ok, your arguments are convincing and I agree with you. I was afraid this was clickbait but you really did a good job with the suggestions on the changes to strengthen the themes and plot.
Definitely my favourite live action remake under Cinderella
it's second after Cinderella for me too 🫧
same omg 😭❤️
18:14 I thought Ariel & Eric had already gotten married by the time of their send off to set sail. The Queen mentioned how their marriage would unite their worlds so I figured that part was already over & done with 😕
I think they got scared to show their wedding because I haven't see a wedding between black and white people on the silver screen, correct me if I am wrong. Maybe its pushing too far.
Wow! I am new to your channel and LOVE your content. It’s so thoughtful and eloquent and perfectly explains WHY things felt a particular way. The ending felt like a let down but I could not put my finger on it. I loved that new scene but I wanted to love it more. You have Spielberg level understanding of all the facets of storytelling that make a production connect with an audience.
First of all THANK YOU FOR DOING ANOTHER VIDEO ON THE LITTLE MERMAID, your analysis and style are BEYOND!!! I genuinely loved how they approached Eric in the live adaptation, With this movie, we actually see Eric's fascination and adoration of Ariel, i believe in their love more in this than in the animation, at least in Eric's love for Ariel - mostly due to the actors' real chemistry. Though i will say Eric's character was half-baked, and i feel like we could've had more intimate moments between them. Not to say the ones presented were bad, they were incredible because THIS is definitely my favorite live adaptation couple, i just feel with the movie in general, i feel like we could have gotten more than what we got, because LITERALLY they have everything. Anyway this is long but again, i dont know how you do it, but again another AMAZING video👌🏿🔥🌋
I always love reading your comments Aldrine! thank you! I agree Halle and Jonah are so cute. even in their promo interviews for this movie, you can tell how well they vibe together. while i do think there are some flaws, I'm also grateful that it's one of the better live actions 💗
@@artatmidnight not me getting starstruck sheeesh, but i love your points, you genuinely helped connect a lot more dots, damnnn i wish you had a hand in the film
I just watched little mermaid this weekend, and immediately went to watch the animated original. There was a lot to like about the new one. I liked the nuances about Eric and ariels relationship. I like how much he's into ariel, and I liked all the gags about her eating non food items. However, you can't beat the original. I blame the CGI when the actors are trying to connect with Sebastián or flounder. Its stilted, wooden, and clearly just there for show. I understand in a modern retelling that Ariel is not in love with this guy she just met, but it feels like other people are telling Ariel and Eric that they are soulmates. That she seems like she agrees to Ursulas deal not out of desperation, but because it would be rude to leave in the middle of her spell. The ocean doesn't seem populated by mermaids other than her multicultural family and the guards. Perhaps this is an issue with the live action films, but I missed the small moments, of Ariel glaring at flounder fortatting, Ursula having legitimate fondness for her henchmen, Triton feeling guilty about wrecking Ariels cave.
I like your ideas sooo much ❤❤❤ and the respectful way you went about them by pointing out what changes you liked ❤❤❤
I absolutely love this movie so I don’t fully agree with everything you said but I agree with a lot of it and I think most of it could have been done with a longer run time 😅 but then it would have way too long for kids 😂 I loved the small change you suggested of Eric finding the figurine instead of the dress, never thought of it and that would have been super cute and easy to fix 😢anyway, I wouldn’t mind a sequel or mini series on Disneyplus exploring their relationship 😍 love your video ❤❤❤
Sequel is possible according to Rob Marshall.
I do think Eric should have defeated Ursula, to balance everything out. And the memory loss was unnecessary in my opinion
I wish they kept the version where he shaped the ship into Ursula...it really showed they cared about eachother. She started the movie by saving him and he returned the favor❤
15:41 that's actually a good point. Also the one with Triton
I agree with most of your points. I actually wish the conversation piece included Triton and The Queen coming to an agreement, facilitated by Eric and Ariel about Triton stopping the ship wrecks so the island could trade, and the humans revising their boat designs to not hurt the coral. That would solidify both parties new trust of each other and then their exploration mission is also the first trade mission.
On the sparkly dress I am of two minds. There's something right about Ariel appearing in her shabby and destroied blue dress when Eric thinks the end of all of this chaos will be yet another incredibly painful loss to the ocean - her not needing the visuals ofa grand entrance to create andoverflow of emotion and her,as usual, not being able to human quite right but doing it anyway with what she's got. On the other hand,we could get Triton's makeover gift dress later, closer to his actual conversation with Arial at the end alongside the mermaid community. It would be quite powerful if it was clearly made from the things of the sea and a product of mermaid culture, gifted as another reminder of where she came from. For that matter, Triton could return her mermaid statue to her at the same time, to remind her to call home often in her travels.
Yes agree this shabby poor dress instead of sparkly stunning dress actually works. Exactly like you are saying. I thought that I am the only one who had that thought. It just wouldn't fit to the character. They wanted to make her human so they didn't give her sparkly godess dress. The simplicity of this dress really suit the character.
So that's why she wasn't thinking about her father and sisters because she had memory spell put on her
Great video! I love your idea of the humans and merpeople team up to defeat Ursula, instead of just Ariel or Eric doing it. A very similar mermaid book series "Emily Windsnap" is in film development. It has the same beats about humans and merpeople working together, hope it learns from "The Little Mermaid" (2023).
Emily Windsnap is in film development?? That’s so cool
8:50 Hmm interesting. I didn't even thought about it. I would be open for that
19:46 SAME. That was awesome
13:58 That's actually an awesome idea
I like the thought here that more needs to be done to explain why Triton so quickly and decisively flips his value system to allow the merfolk community to meet humans, offer support to the new union,and presumably start a new alliance between people and merfolk. Specifically, the loss of life-saving medicines in a shipwreck is bemoned by Eric's mother and given as yet another reason for her isolationist stance toward trade and interaction with the wider world, as well as affirming her fears about all thing and entities from the seas. It would be such a nice, easy touch if the mermaids had become aware in the movie of the threat posed by human illness and the loss of this medicine and after innitially seeming unwilling, ultimately were shown to have conversed as leaders in their own right and disobeyed their father to help humans, quite apart from any impact on their own sister. The need to understand what happened could easily lead to this and it would give a sense of other voices slowly motivating the shift in Triton's political values, besides just his focus on his one dauther's personal struggles. Imagine them presenting several shell-baskets filled with medicine to Eric's surprised mother that they had carefully combed from sand at the sea floor, asking if it is, in fact,the correct life-saving object.
Girl, this is such a well thought out video. All your points are right on ! You have amazing potential to be a pro script writer 😁
Are you kidding?! I am so annoyed w when people critize this movie in every aspect. The fact that he share the same interest, they got connected because she also love collecting. That's awesome.
I appreciate that you give ideas instead of just saying this movie is bad. I don't like this movie, but I would have loved ALL of these ideas to be incorporated ❤
Yeah, the film wasn't nescessary.
All the remakes are not necessary.
Omg please do an analysis of the other movie remakes they messed up 😅🥰🙏🏾
So, rewatching this video, I'm reminded of the Twisted Tales Antology book. Twisted Tales, imo, is just a bunch of bad published fanfics of the Disney canon but with a "What If...?" elements. The anthology book had one for The Little Mermaid called The Secret Exchange, where Ariel and Eric actually meet right after she saves him and their getting to know each other and learn about their different worlds. And in the end, through teamwork they use Eric's human items to not subdue Ursula long enough for Triton to finish her. It hits on that exchange of ideas and the coming together of two worlds in a different way but I think one that's pretty satisfying since Eric still gets to prove himself to Triton and Ariel gets to fully engage with her passion for the human world.
I couldn’t believe what the costume department did to Halle. How did any of this get approved? The final dress she wore in the ending was ugly and bland. The other live action princesses got beautiful wedding dresses in the final scene of their movies. Jasmine had 10 outfit changes and all of them were bold and colorful and fit with the scene. It is definitely one of the better live action remakes from Disney. As for the princess remakes, it is the 3rd best for me. Aladdin is my favorite followed by Cinderella.
17:38 Also would love that scene. That made sense
I love by adding eric character they made there love story feel real by making them outsiders with shared interest making them best couple
This would’ve made this scene so much better... But to Disney's eyes, it's just another remake, and it makes them money and they really don't care which make it so much worse.
Just watched it now, I enjoyed it a lot more than most other live action remakes but as I was watching it I went on switching between dopamine hits and disappointment, i kept thinking how cool it would have been to see a Disney live action adaptation of HCA's little mermaid rather than a Disney copy of a Disney adaptation of the tale, it looked too rough to be bubbly and lightweight and too close to the animated movie to be completely atmospheric, it felt as though it was stuck within the other movie where it could have been so much more, it could have been one of my favorite live action like the original was my favorite as a kid, most of the choices I felt cold about turned out nice and the song where Ariel arrives on land is my favorite, heck all of the scenes where she discovers the human world were more compelling than in the animated version: '89 Ariel feels like see has to adapt to a new environment quickly to survive were the '23 version really added that passion interest curiosity and nerdiness that is so quintessentially Ariel
The ending did feel to me a lot more bittersweet and gut wrenching (like no matter what she chooses, Ariel will never be happy and that she has to "settle" and make the right choice for herself despite the pain) which was really interesting
I expected the seashell to play a part in the ending, like Eric would use it to warn Ariel or something
While it would be lovely to see the symetry of Eric saving Ariel's live in the boat scene, it would be at least as effective to highlight better how what she learns from Eric the very skills she needs to save him, such as how to stear a ship. We get awefully close to this very thing already, with her observing how the ship works before the wreck, and later learning to stear a carriage with hilarious run-away-ride results). Then too, what if Ursula had made an attemp to destoy Triton's body entirely before she was killed and Eric, realizing suddenly that this was Ariel's father, had outmaneuvered her, at risk of taking the magical bullet himself, and restored Triton's life? If the first thing Triton discovered upon recovery was that a human had saved his life out of an instict tpo protect his daughter's family, mermaids or otherwise, it would naturally challenge his core fear that humans most serve to endanger his own powerful royal mermaid family and the mermaid way of life in general. Anyway, what I love about this movie is that it does at least a good enough job that when we expand the worldbuilding in natural ways we start to sound like mermaid anthropologists and political analysts comparing these two fictional royal kingdoms. This just doesn't work with the original movie, which is far less thought out ,politically and culturally.
I completely agree with your ideas and I really wish you’d been there to make them happen!!!! 🧜🏾♀️
I will say the confusing part of the jade mermaid is the tail it kept changing from smooth to spiked
They should have gotten married at the end, that shows the true commitment to one another
I need this version of a fan fiction
I usually hate Magical Amnesia plots in fantasy, but I don't mind it here! It got annoyingly overused on Ouat, though!
14:03 I think they should have done it together. Then, you still get the whole "girlboss" thing that people want as well as the unity between the two really strengthening their romance, as well as the impact that you explained.
what i think is that they made a lot of changes that had potential, but they were not competent enough or maybe too scared to fully implement the changes.
I havent watched the movie. But honestly, it sounds like it would be about on par with Beauty and the Beast remake for me.
Just. Plenty of good elements or concepts but just don't quite work as well as it could.
They did not break this love story at all. It was beautiful. That's what they did better in live action than in the animated one
SO MANY GOOD POINTS!!!!!!!
In the cartoon, Triton had to BANISH Ariel...for you know almost killing everyone in the ocean for her own selfish 16 year old choices. But you know its played for 'letting her grow up'.
I still don't like the movie lol. I hate that they made everything about Ariel by essentially taking scenes from other characters or making the other character has less screentime for no reason. Like Eric ramming the ship into Ursula has so many meanings. It shows the merpeople that humans aren't all that bad and it also is him rapaying Ariel (not sure if that's the correct word) since she save him at the beginning. I hate how they tried to prop her up by tearing other down (there was a scene where people was helping her get an item from Vannessa and it is just questionable why someone would help this random girl steal an item from another girl.) Her acting doesn't help as well and she ruins the song.
i love your videos
thank you 💛
There are a couple of scenes I skip when I watch The Little Mermaid 2023 -
* the scene when she gets found by a stranger instead of Eric when she first becomes human.
* the entire final scene. I wish Disney could have had Eric and Ariel getting married like they did in the animated version and in the Broadway version. I would love the movie a lot more if they did.
The original one will always be the best no matter what.
You’re so right
17:48 I know it didn't fit to the character. This Ariel is more innocent more sensitive more gentle. And if she is coming to the human's world she has to have human dress.
This movie was a botched opportunity.
The original came along at a time when Disney was in going through a dark age. Walt Disney passed away, and there was uncertainty with the very empire he helped create.
“The Little Mermaid,” in 1989, was the film that reminded those folks that, in a world without hope, the very things that dreams are made of were not not dead, which is what the name, Disney, was all about.
Imo the only live action remake that improved on the original was Cinderella, before the age of live-action remakes. Also, Forevermore from Beauty and the Beast.
Once Disney realized how lucrative remakes were, they exploited them right away without realizing what made the first ones so sucessful. Y'know, classical corporate greed. Gotta beat that horse until it's dead, gotta milk that cow.
The way they ruined an amazing and beatiful classic by actually adding a lot of nonesense and just incoherent stuff that cannot and wont happen in real life, for me the worst thing of all was ariels saving eric from ursula like when or how did she managed to be this badass taking control of the ship, a mermaid that knows nothing nor has experience at sailing while eric being born in a family of Mariners with innate skills for sailing, being one himself great at what he does of course, with actual knowledge about sailing, years of experience and most Likely one or too degrees, graduated with honors besides having all of his documents in check, owns a ship himself yet couldnt do the nothing at all not even the sailing part😅 so ariel (the mermaid) had to do it herself 😅😂 meanwhile eric be thinking all those years at sailing college didnt prepare him for this😂❤ ( part of your World reprise starts playing in the background) they get married, END🎉.❤
Can you please do Cruella??????
Honestl, the OG remains the best partially because the original story wasn't a love story at all. Eric is genuinely in love with another princess and Ariel's story is abbout self-sacrifice, wanting to explore the world and that she didn't needed a man to make her dreams come true because she was awarded the opportunity to work for her wish because God saw Ariel was willing to give up her life to allow Eric and the princess to have their happy end. SHE is the other girl, not Ursula. And like many other flaws in the movie, the more they try to add to the OG Disney's plot and stray away from the novel's plot, the worse the story becomes. In the book, the only kiss time Ariel kisses someone- it's a sweet kiss on the forehead of Eric's bride who actually mounrs her disappearance alongside Eric at the end. Andersen was allegedly autistic, homosexual and a feminist and the novel showed that VERY much.
I cannot express how much I hated some of the movie's add ons like Ariel forgetting she needs to kiss Eric. That literally robs her of her agency on top of muddying the mermaid folklore (which this moie did A LOT). In Northern west European folklore, mermaids need to have a wedding kiss with a human man in order to permanently become humans so they actively seduce humans, that's where the whole 'true loves kiss' in this story comes from. Sailors weren't just horny for mermaids without a reason, mermaids could either drown a man because he was unworthy or reciprocate their advances. They remove Ariel's knowledge about her being a mermaid and what it entails for her to succeed her mission under the guise of making the romance more organic?! No, Ariel was a seductive, eager little thing but she was sweet and selfless too. Why aren't girls allowed to be sexual if female sexuality is part of the story?!
Don't even get me started on other things like her family. The sisters honestly feel like they are even less important whilst they were such an important part of the novel! Like, for one Ariel learnt about the human world from her sisters as in the novel Triton isn't against humans but simply put an age limit on visiting the human world like we do with drinking or voting. Perhaps the only thing novel thing this remake reintroduced was Ariel going to the surface for the first time when Eric's boat sinks. Scuttle as a character literally replaces the role Ariel's sisters had and why I low-key dislike any iteration of the character because Scuttle only exists so thatTriton can be a tragic single father hating humans for the sake of angst. He doesn't has character development and neither does his mom, its her sisters that have character development in the novel.
Because Ursula wasn't evil in the novel, they even cut off their hair for Ariel in exchange for a knife that could get Ariel out of the deal but she would have needed to kill Eric. Not only is the hair thing such a thing in European folklore, but mermaids were known for their long beautiful hair and being vain as fuck (if you saw Ruby Gillman, they absolutely got that right). So Ariel's sisters cutting off their hair was also to showcase how deeply they loved their sister and would swallow their pride and lose face in the eyes of the mermaid kingdom just for her! Also, I hate how she still doesn't has a grandma in the remake. Her grandma's role in the novel was to make a point on the pressure women faced to look beautiful even if it is to their own detriment. It makes the sisters cutting off their hair even more powerful because it's also an act of defiance in the face of their grandma's antiquated beliefs and directly spell out to the reader that there are more important things then beauty and pride! In the social media/ plastic surgery era we have going on that message is worth SO much!
The OG animation was my favorite Disney movie as a little girl too and as someone who grew up as a folklore nerd and read the novel out of my love for the OG, I actually ended up preferring the novel over Disney's adaptation because it is such a good female coming of age story and a rejection of society's pressure on women. It's a feminist story that still holds up to this day and an absolute timeless classic.
Nice ❤😊❤
Hated the amnesia change. Eric and Ariel are too similar. The romantic connection wasn’t really there for me, compared to the OG. They seem like they should just be friends in this one. Ariel had an extreme lack of enthusiasm, too. The life in her wasn’t there
This actually had so much potential! I'm sad that this movie sucked overall.
Ohhhh