Who has not watched The Little Mermaid, the classic Disney animated movie released in the late 1980s? If you were a girl, Ariel would have been your favourite; in case you were a boy, Prince Eric would have been your ideal. Disney’s recent attempt at readapting the animated flick turns out to be a brave attempt, keeping in mind the recent history of classics that were revisited with live-action techniques.

Ariel, a mermaid princess and the youngest daughter of King Triton is quite famous amongst the merpeople of Atlantica. After her mother was killed by humans, King Triton forbade all the merfolk from going above water, but could not stop his free-spirited daughter Ariel, who collects goods from shipwrecks and is fascinated by the human world. An accidental meeting with a prince changes her life and she trades her voice for legs, instead of her tail. Her aunt, Ursula, tricks her and finally manages to get her hand on the throne, from which she was banished years ago.

The story is mostly the same, loosely based on the 1837 fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen. However, the casting of Halle Bailey as Ariel was met with criticism. Disney was slammed for taking a dark-skinned actor as the title character, but the anger cooled down with time. Bailey, an accomplished singer, mesmerieed the viewers with her voice, which was perfect for the role. Javier Bardem as King Triton is caring, Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric is dashing, Melissa McCarthy as the mischievous Ursula, the many-tentacled sea witch, is threatening while Daveed Diggs as Sebastian, the eyes for King Triton, is funny.

The classic Howard Ashman and Alan Menken tunes, from the 1989 flick, mostly remain intact here, including the Oscar-winning ‘Under the Sea’. The iconic scenes from the older version have been recreated in live-action and were not at all easy, but the director managed to execute most of them, including the scene when Ariel flips her hair.

The underwater sequences may not be a match for Avatar: The Way of Water, but gives a clear view of life in the sea. The movie is a family watch as elders could rekindle their memories while young ones could make memories of their own.

Published in Dawn, Young World, September 29th, 2023