#flounder wasn't as bad in the movie

[baronessblixen]

Went and saw The Little Mermaid today. Let me tell you I was ready to cry several times - and I never cry. I just loved it. I never thought I could ever love a real life Disney movie but this one works so well. Halle Bailey is amazing. She is so incredible.

A few changes (and songs) aside, the movie stayed very close to the animated version. I sat there, silently singing "Part Of Your World" and feeling like a child again. May kids see this movie and fall in love with Halle Bailey's Ariel.

[mymarifae]

the new little mermaid was actually good... but literally it was just Too Dark. yes disney we know there's not much light in the ocean. and i don't care can you please add some more bright blues. some more colors. idk. jellyfish as lampposts. come on take some creative liberties guys

[theultimatekamehamehavoc]

More Random Headcanons - Semi Togiri Edition (semi cus it's not THAT coded as Togiri though it can be read that way!)

· Kyoko is really good at wearing heels. She can also run pretty well in them though she doesn't like to do it that much. Last thing she wants is twisting an ankle on a case! · Byakuya acts like he forgets the names of people because they're too "unimportant" or that they're just "no-named peasants". However, he's actually just bad at remembering names. He's got so much stuff up there in that noggin of his that names are the thing he flounders on. · Kyoko can't snap to save her life but she whistles pretty good. Byakuya is jealous as hell. He acts like he's not being obvious but Kyoko sees right through him. Even if she wasn't a detective, she'd notice. · When Byakuya tries not to laugh at something he internally believes is beneath him or just outright goofy, he tries his best to look annoyed or mad. The heir does this by facepalming or putting a hand at his temple like his head is in pain. It's both to cope and to not look like an idiot. Also, despite acting like his head's hurting, it never is. Only thing that's hurting the prospect of the heir's pride crumbling before his eyes. · Kyoko sometimes twirls her little hair braid when she's speaking or thinking. Or both. She doesn't intend to do this and it's just a small fidget she's been doing for years. Byakuya likes teasing her for it since she does it without her noticing. In turn though, Kyoko teases Byakuya for his tsundere glasses adjustment. · Byakuya hates the Mr. Krabs, Elon Musk jokes and the Ben Shapiro comparison jokes at his expense. Like, what do they think he is? Dumb? Oh please! For the Mr. Krabs part, hates it when people chalk up what he does and his whole personality as "I like money". He's also sick and tired of people assuming he'd be a Crypto Bro and that he's into NFT's. · Kyoko dislikes fast food for different reasons Byakuya does. She especially has the gripe of everything looking brown and breaded and fried. It just throws her off. She could stomach the food though unlike Byakuya who's just a bit of a wimp and a drama queen about it. He also doesn't have that strong of a stomach for that kind of food. · Byakuya is deathly afraid that he'll get male-patter baldness. Doesn't even matter if he physically can or not. He's just doesn't wanna be bald. He loves his luscious locks. He also totally didn't freak out when one of his classmates showed him an edited pic of him bald. Both cus, bald, but also cus he didn't think he looked that bad. Even worse! · Kyoko isn't too fond of crocs but she'd wear them to annoy the living shit out of Byakuya. Byakuya finds crocs oversaturating, overrated, and feels just a WEE bit betrayed that Kyoko would fall this low. · Byakuya hates it when people categorize chocolate as "candy" and also despises that word in general. To him, chocolate is in its own category. · Kyoko doesn't understand fashion trends. It's not like she doesn't like fashion. She just doesn't understand the obsession with these trends that go in and out of style.

· Byakuya also doesn't get fashion trends but for different reasons. Specifically, he doesn't get the obsession the peasants have and finds them idiotic for having small attention spans. · Kyoko likes to savor her food and never gets the people who purposely rush. She can sometime forget that she was initially eating a meal though which can lead into her not getting enough to eat. · Byakuya likes arson. And fire. It makes him very happy and he hides it internally. He doesn't like the action movie fires and explosions cus they bore him. He's into the real deal. Minus the inhaling of smoke cus that blows! · Kyoko's fine with carbonated drinks. She's not one to drink them the majority of the time and she doesn't get the people who are obsessed with sodas. Byakuya's the same way in regards of not getting the obsession with these types of drinks. Byakuya also dislikes them for being way too sugary and the carbon hurts his throat. · Byakuya's never got the obsession the populous has with asses and he probably never will. Might not help that his is flat. · Kyoko has several back up pairs of gloves in case of emergencies. She also has some ones she uses for sleep. She would also like to build a collection of of more gloves besides her base ones but she can't seem to fully commit to it.

· Byakuya hates crabs, alive and dead. He refuses to delve into why. · Kyoko and Byakuya hate summer. They can't wear their favorite clothes when it's too hot. Kyoko has more heat resistance while Byakuya has less heat resistance. Not that both of them have bad heat resistance. They can handle it but they still both don't like the heat. · The two like to read in silence and also discuss books together. Kyoko and Byakuya specifically bond over mystery books and also bad mystery books too in which they dunk the bad twists. · As platonic homies, they've gone on a few outings together. They usually chill in silence though they do chat about stuff occasionally.

· Kyoko and Byakuya like taking turns doing each other's hair. Byakuya likes doing elaborate braids with Kyoko's hair that she never really goes out with anyway. Kyoko also likes braiding Byakuya's hair as well. She once did a secret braid in his hair when he took a brief power nap (unintentionally. he was just exhausted that day) and it took him a whole 3 das to notice. Here's the previous post btw!

[loracarol]

I think that the Little Mermaid live action remake may be the only remake that was worth it tbh.

Thoughts:

For all the complaints about Sebastian and Flounder looking creepy in stills, I didn't actually find them that bad looking when moving? They looked fine to me, honestly, and I thought they had good voices.

For all the complaints about the Scuttle song, I expected it to be a lot worse? It wasn't my favorite song of the movie, and I probably won't go out of my way to listen to it, but if I'm listening to the soundtrack, I probably won't skip it?

Like I was expecting something hellish, and it was fine. Just fine.

There were a couple of kids in the audience, and when we saw Ariel in her blue dress the first time, one of the kids said, "she looks pretty!" and later after the lagoon scene, another kid said, "I want them to kiss already," you and me both kid. |D

They cut out Ursula's stanza about body language, but then also changed it so that she'd tricked Ariel with an amnesia spell, so that change made sense; why bother telling Ariel how to seduce Eric when the whole point is she doesn't want Ariel to?

TBH I didn't like that plot point at first, then I talked myself into liking it lol, since it let them both fall in love without any ulterior motives. Nice job fixing it Ursula.

As someone who has cosplayed Ursula, I really want to try making this costume. The last time, my corset top broke in the back mid-con and I had to hug it to my chest while sneaking into the medical center to get it taped up until I could get to my hotel. It was. A problem. This one looks safer lmao.

On one hand, fuck Disney, on the other hand, if they made live action remakes and had Halle Bailey and Jonah Hauer-King as the leads in all of the movies, I would probably watch them. They had great chemistry holy shit.

There were only a couple of places where I found the CGI to be funky, like the end scene where Triton had to be above water. Everywhere else I was able to ignore it.

When the reunite at the end and you think it's gonna be a Big Damn Kiss and it is! But it's also them holding onto each other for dear life because they're together again.

I just liked it a lot y'all.

[aviculor]

It's the last day of my vacation and I'd be remiss if I didn't watch a movie.

I don't know when MaXXXine got its digital release, but here it is in full HD rather than a camera recording with "WIN REAL MONEY AT SLOTS.NET.RUS.EXE" plastered on it. I've heard middling reviews about this, but I loved X and I respected the vision for Pearl so I've been looking forward to finishing the trilogy. We're following Maxine Minx, the final girl from X who's trying to get her big break in Hollywood several years later and there's a serial killer on the loose. I can probably guess the twist based on the "Pearl and Maxine are basically the same person" concept of X and the fact that Pearl was all about Pearl killing people for allegedly being in her way of stardom. I'm sure Mia Goth has given another stellar performance if nothing else. There is a new Dead Meat Podcast ep about this, so I'll be checking that out afterwards.

As you would expect, the arc phrase "I will not accept a life I do not deserve" is back. We see a young Maxine doing the Pearl dance, which is a connection that just raises further questions. Is it a real dance move? Is it a reference to something? Is it meant to imply that Maxine actually is a long-lost relative of Pearl and being played by the same actress wasn't just a narrative parallel? Or maybe it was just meant to highlight that Pearl actually was just floundering around like a small child at her professional audition. Another call-back is that Maxine has dyed her hair blonde, while the talent scouts in Pearl were looking for an "All-American Blonde". That's a real juicy piece of environmental storytelling considering we're following Maxine struggling to become a "real" actress after having already made a name for herself in the adult film industry. A career move she has come to regret and resent.

Oh, well, now I have a different theory about where this is going.

"The Texas Porn Star Massacre". Clever.

It was certainly a creative decision to have the detectives' final standoff against Maxine's dad be entirely offscreen.

I'm noticing a lot of...passiveness from Maxine despite ostensibly being a confident girlboss movie star with X factor. She just stands there silently while her director or her co-star or whoever else is there basically monologues at her. She follows orders and directions from people without question. In order to keep her role in the film, she was literally told to just obey whatever she was told. She stated verbatim to the director that she would do whatever she says. Then she essentially stumbled into other people solving her problems for her without much action on her part. The PI chases her into the Bates Motel, but does she kill him in a scene homaging Psycho? No, he gets stopped by security before he can enter. When the PI was lured into the alley and Maxine was facing him down in a car, I thought for sure she was going to run him over as a nod to the end of X, but no, her agent and the bouncer are the ones who got their hands dirty on her behalf. Then the climax comes and the detectives save her from her father rather than her saving herself, and she's not even present when her father is mortally wounded. When the police show up, it *looks* as if she had taken matters into her own hands and acted with agency, but she actually just happened to be in that place at that time. I feel like all this is clearly deliberate. I'm looking forward to hearing other people's thoughts and if they picked up on this too.

I'm not sure what to make of the ending. I'm glad everything worked out in the end? I'm glad nothing bad happened to her or her career after she blew someone's head off with a shotgun while surrounded by police helicopters telling her to drop her weapon? Was any of that even real or was Maxine still fantasizing?

I think I did like this film. The way people were talking about it, I was worried. It wasn't outstanding, but it was a lot better than I was led to believe. There were hints towards the "fear of aging" theme of X, but they definitely could have made it more prominent. If they did a better job of tying together what X and Pearl had going, the ending might have been a little stronger.

[emsylcatac]

They made Chat Noir a misogynistic asshole lmao who is this guy, I don't know him (lol wtf are you talking about lmao that's just not true)

None of the characters backstory is exploited nor make sense. Adrien was in school all along? He's not a model? He can stand up to his father like it's normal? Sorry but no(Yea they gave him aspine and gave him and his dad a conclusion)

WHERE IS THE TENSION NONE FOUND HERE. There's an identity reveal that couldn't fall more flat because there's no time to see the characters interact, there's no time to build some tension of sort( Identity reveal was cute and the cliffhanger was clever as hell)

The way they fall in love is just....lame and empty?? Marinette just falls for a guy in a library who asks her if she's alright. Cool. Chat Noir falls for Ladybug after she saved his sorry macho ass and there's no big moment or whatever apart from Careless Whisper playing (Again like wtf with this mysoginistic crap you actually sound like your coping with how bad the show actually is)

The themes were basics and done in the most cliché way (be yourself, not be afraid, loveeee wins etc)

(Worst part of the show is how Astruc indulges in ideas of subverting tropes and then falling flat, so Jeremy going with the classics actually made it interesting)

Marinette wants to be ladybug again because?? Of some song with Tikki??? And that's it? No big moment where she realises she has to stand in or anything. She just suddenly goes 'ok I have to do that' (ok fair)

Don't get me started on the Gabriel/Adrien reveal and their hug and all fjzjjdje anyways ( That was genuinely a good moment and made up for the shit ending of Season 5 lmao your out of your mind)

Marinette's cleverness and what makes her a hero in the series just isn't here. She's not standing out. Zag said fuck u feminism for real

(She had an arc and a conclusion to an arc and it was simple and to the point which is good for a 90 minute movie, unlike the show where we have fake feminism where marinette is always in the right and cat noir is always her lesser. )

The more you explain yourself the more I realize how bad the show is and what it could offer if Thomas wasn't around. You can shit on Zag for being rich but the dude supplied me with what I wanted and gave it to me when Thomas floundered all that build-up for nothing. You can act all uppity all you want but this just confirmed that people still coping and that this show is still any good like the movie, while those who hate the show can appreciate it for what it can be.

Well if you're just gonna salt about the show in my inbox you can leave then 👋👋👋

[calpalsworld]

For the OC Ask Game: 32 (What were Hellmann and Windows like in high school?), 52 (What’s their diet like?) (I’m wondering if becoming part of the Hivemind changes this for Hellman :0 ), and 5 (What’s their most useless, weirdest, or least marketable skill? For any of them). U don’t have to do all of them hehe.

HEHEHE 32. They were both way different. Dr. Hellmann was really quiet and didn't have many friends in high school. People didn't really like him, and there were rumors that he used to beat people up back in middle school and elementary.... because.... well yes he used to beat people up. LOL. Dr. Windows would heavily attach to anyone who was nice to her, and be afraid to get on their bad side. She joined the robotics team because her friend did. 52. Uhhhhhhhhhhhh... *puts on my narration voice* The freshly re-created Hellmann body double opened the breakroom fridge and grabbed tupperware. Pretending to eat her wife's leftover cooking, in actuality the Hivemind was too distracted to form a digestive tract, carelessly letting the cooking drip through the crevices of the body's amorphous insides. It wasn't what Hellmann was hungry for. She looked through sewage lines, miles North and underground, where there floated carcasses (far more nutritious!). She easily sifted one out, using a web of phalanges. The Hivemind urged her to think about absorbing more human bodies. East of there, she was digesting the last one, letting the half-eaten body flounder. She wasn't ready yet... 5. Treetop recites speeches about the movies he likes, and hopes someday someone will ask him to give him hyper specific opinions on said movies, so then he can give his speeches (if he ever says anything corny it is him pulling ideas from these speeches). He really needs to start a YouTube channel lmao.

[alanoliva2020]

Return For The 40th

My favorite time is here and once again to contribute to my favorite movie of the franchise: Return of the Jedi among it's 40 anniversary!

And what better way of doing so then with another Sponge Wars poster!

Of course I've come a long way to make this to even try improving the skill (In fact it's not the first time I made a picture of it) And just like before Less Star Wars and more SpongeBob!

Comes with an included list:

The Title was (Of course) originally called "Return of the Sponge" but ever since the concept changed, so does the title, (That and it was too 'On the Nose' if it were a parody)

It went through several changes like "Requite of the Sponge", "Comeback of the Sponge" or "The Sponge Returns" To me None of them work. It wasn't until by accident I looked for definition of Sponge and consider as a cleaning tool "Rinse" seem like a funny idea that it actually works

The story for this After SparkBob defeat in the second story, He goes out to battle in His Way, with only his friends trust, and beliefs is the real source of defeating the empire

What also given is a twist where everything in the end is not what it suppose to be.

Another twist to the story of by the major concept to be like almost a remake crossover in a sense. Yes it's mainly "Star Wars made like a SpongeBob cartoon" But what I give additional concept from other movies like the Force Awakens and Rise of Skywalker

What even also give the idea of making SparkBob special is to fight in peaceful and (yet Goofy) way (Think like Anakin if he were to go rouge but in a good way) it's even hinted with the Lightsaber now turn to a spatula (Inspired by the episode: All that Glitters)

Dark Scuba get another upgraded armor as he's now crowned in command by the evil Emperor Planktine (and yes it really Plankton)

Pat and Sandia Still don't have a romance but instead is to trust one another ideas even if they are good or bad.

The Battle of Endor is taken place in the Kelp Forest and all the Ewoks are cloaked Sea Bears, now called "Seawoks"

Ms Puff also takes more the 3 roles, mainly as Boba Fett, but also Mon Mothma (in the style of Finn from the Force Awakens) and a bit of Nien Nunb as the weapon expert to fight the empire.

The "Full" role of Nien Numb is actually given to Pearl, who was originally was suppose to be Mon, But her teenage personality seem more suited as the copilot in the Millennium Patty

Unlike the 2nd Death Star which is the same weapon but unfinished, This weapon is now the "Dented Bucket" which is like the Chum Bucket with a laser coming out of the glove (Along with a rusted exterior to give it the similarity)

For Jabba the Hutt territory was given to more of a comical turnover

Bubble bass is Playing the role, but also Lazy as to not even change his name. All the other member are played out as "Comic Book geeks at a major hangout" house party Including familiar faces like Flats the Flounder, and Johnny Shark. The palace itself is taken place in his basement of his Mother's house, and The Rancor is Literally his Mother!

[likeabxrdinflight]

watched the new little mermaid movie through *ahem* somewhat dubious means

halle bailey killed it, she was perfect as ariel, 10/10 no notes. might be worth watching the movie for her performance alone ngl.

eric was...decent I guess. they made a few changes to his character and it's...I mean it's fine. it really doesn't make him a much stronger character than the original. they did give him a new solo song though and it's genuinely terrible. but they also added some nice scenes between ariel and eric that were admittedly cute, so...yeah. he's fine.

daveed diggs as sebastian felt extremely phoned in. never mind the uncanny valley cgi crab nonsense, the performance by diggs just. wasn't good. his lines are largely unchanged from the original movie, and I mean like, it is word for word in some places, but diggs is just worse all around. all the charisma and charm of sebastian was just sucked right out of it. and this is a shame because I know diggs is talented, he's way more talented than this, so I have to assume the problem was either the directing or the fact that he knew he was reading for a cgi crab. unclear. can't blame him either way tbh.

why was flounder even in this movie? he adds nothing except uncanny valley fish cgi. I mean it somehow they took what felt like an essential character from the first film and made him feel irrelevant I hate it.

speaking of hate who the fuck let awkwafina rap??? I've never much cared for her comedy, but she was especially unfunny as scuttle and frankly annoying most of the time. and then they added this awful rap number because god forbid lin manuel miranda not insert himself into every movie he touches.

triton was such a downgrade from the original. what a wooden, dull performance. and for such an essential character it could not be more disappointing to see. I felt nothing during the scenes between triton and ariel, which are some of the most intense and emotional in the original.

melissa mccarthy surprised me at how good she was as ursula, but I'm still upset they didn't cast a drag queen. what I did not like was that they had ursula make ariel forget that she was supposed to get eric to kiss her? which is smart on ursula's part but it really makes the movie a little weird because...what the fuck does ariel think the deal is then? like what is the goal for her exactly? it really takes away some of ariel's desperation and motivation and also weirdly de-sexualizes the film even further and I don't like it.

the lyric changes were minimal but also annoying because they were so unnecessary and so obviously trying to pander to modern sensibilities in a very...corporate, squeaky clean way. like ursula doesn't get her lines about men on land preferring silence and the "body language, ha!" gets cut. and it's just. a crime.

speaking of dumb changes meant to appease some imagined version of feminism, they changed vanessa and eric's wedding to just an engagement party and oh my god it was the worst tension killer. why would you do that. all urgency is sucked out of it like WHO CARES if it's just an engagement?? that's not binding???? stupid change.

also at the end they have ariel and eric run off to go explore together which. fine I guess. but again this felt like a change meant to appease the bad faith feminist critiques of the early 2010s. it's not like a terrible change but it just feels like it's meant to say "look she doesn't marry him right away!! #feminism" and it's. like. it's a fucking fairytale. also in the original the wedding is such a lovely ending with triton coming up to send her off and everything so idk. it's not offensive just kinda silly.

oh and they also added this bizarre plot point where the human characters like...know about merpeople and blame "the sea gods" for causing ship wrecks and hunt them for sport and it...it kind of weakens the point of triton's prejudice being just that, prejudice, by making it this weird "both sides are equally bigoted!!" thing and I have just never liked that approach. ariel's argument becomes "but not all humans are bad, just the ones that kill!" and it's........*sigh*. tiresome. this never gets properly addressed either, because there isn't time, and by the end everyone's just cool with each other like ariel and eric getting together just solved all the tension or something. extremely tiresome.

they did cut les poissons. this I am fine with.

overall it's...I mean it's very watchable. nothing horribly wrong with it. but it's just another shot for shot remake with a few changes here and there to address internet criticisms from ten years ago. somehow half the soul gets sucked right out of it with the move from animation to live action, the same with all of these films. halle bailey was phenomenal though and I do think she absolutely deserved this part and I hope her career flourishes from here.

overall I'd say it's on par with the aladdin remake. like. it's fine. some good moments, some good performances, but very mid. not as egregious as mulan or the lion king, I'd say it's also better than beauty and the beast, but not as good as cinderella.

[cartoonygothopossum]

The Little Mermaid (2023)

Admittedly, I'm not too interested in most live-action remakes of classic Disney movies, though I did enjoy the live-action remake of Cinderella. But the day after my gynecologist appointment, my sister expressed interest in the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid. I wasn't initially planning to see it, myself, but after that, I was open to at least giving it a try. So, we saw it together on Disney+, and we both enjoyed it.

The overall plot is mostly the same, but I can definitely say that this version added some stuff that the 1989 classic didn't touch on. It was established that humans and mer-people were considered enemies, with the crew on Prince Eric's ship actively trying to capture a mermaid. There was more character depth for the prince, himself, who was adopted at a young age. It was clear that he and Ariel were actually quite similar, even before they met! Not only were they both young royalty, but they were also adventurous and not content with the traditional royal life. They both had acquired large collections too. King Triton's distrust of humans was understandable, given that one killed his wife. Of course, it still didn't justify him wrecking his youngest daughter's collection. I don't recall the 1989 movie establishing a familial relation between Ariel and Ursula, but this movie definitely made it clear that the latter is the former's evil aunt, kinda like a female counterpart of Scar from The Lion King. Instead of just signing a contract, Ursula had Ariel pluck one of her own scales, causing her to bleed. Ursula even made Ariel forget that she had to kiss Prince Eric in three days, in an extra attempt to sabotage her! Not only were the classic songs there, but the movie also added some new ones, even giving Eric and Scuttle their own songs!

Speaking of Scuttle, I thought it was interesting that Scuttle was re-interpreted as a female diving bird. I thought she was equally funny as her male counterpart from the 1989 movie. Though her initial attempts to sing annoyed Sebastian, I liked that she and Flounder sang along during the "Kiss the Girl" scene, in a surprisingly pleasant voice. There was no Chef Louis (or a character in a similar role), but I didn't notice it at the time. Yes, the animals seemed less anthropomorphic than the ones in the 1989 movie. Ursula's eels Flotsam and Jetsam didn't even talk. But I didn't mind. The wedding crash scene didn't seem as chaotic, as it was Ariel who directly attacked Ursula's human form, Vanessa, and broke the shell pendant that contained her voice. After Ursula was killed off, it seemed that Eric and Ariel wouldn't be able to be together, though Eric's adoptive mother finally realized how much her son loved the mermaid. Thankfully, like in the 1989 movie, King Triton realized how much Ariel loved Eric and made her permanently human, allowing them to marry.

Yes, I would recommend this version of the movie, if you're okay with Ariel being cast by a black actress. The cast was more racially diverse in this movie than in the 1989 classic, and that's not a bad thing.

[marciabrady]

What were your thoughts on the Disney live action version of The Little Mermaid??

It's a live action Disney remake and they're known for being creatively bankrupt for good reason. At worst, live action remakes ruin the original and at best they dilute the brand so it isn't as if it's going to be a good movie, but I think a lot of people are surprised it isn't as bad as we've come to see with other movies? Which, I will say, it isn't as bad as Cinderella 2015 (could anything ever be lol) and I would place it more in the shot by shot remake category of BATB and TLK. Over all though I wish they did their own thing with it (it's tricky though because it was a copy and paste in some respects, but then they left certain things out too that I thought was odd given how identical the plot is and how the absence of aforementioned dropped material weakened certain characters and storylines). I'm someone who holds original content dear to my heart (I haven't even seen the Broadway iteration because seeing someone who's not animated Ariel/Jodi be referred to by that name or singing Part of Your World just makes me sad, I even limit the park performer content I take in and I don't watch the sequels at all) so I did feel a little disheartened to see how much they copied and ripped from the original. Like the opening scene we see of her is taken directly from the animated movie, down to the dialogue, how they copied Part of Your World, even with the shot of her reaching toward the surface at the top of her Grotto, the waves splashing behind her on the rock, just everything and I don't know, it just makes me sad because it's done on such a higher budget now and people are saying it's "so much better than the original" and obviously this movie JUST came out and there's a way higher budget so it's going to appeal to modern audiences more but. It just feels like they carried everything over from the original to this film's detriment? Like...you can say the 1989 movie takes from the original story too and isn't original, but that production gave the mermaid the name Ariel and it gave her red hair and a green fin and a best friend named Flounder that was a fish and a crab named Sebastian and created the song 'Part of Your World' and a Prince named Eric, etc etc etc, and this movie copies it to the point where it doesn't even make sense? (Like even the new face character, who they market as a different person, is brushing her hair with a dinglehopper and is talking about her friends Sebastian and Flounder and it's like how is this different? lol why not give Halle's mermaid new or different friends or just something that set her apart and allowed the story to be original to Halle)

Like Sebastian and Flounder were invented for the medium of animation, so to put them in this photorealistic world just doesn't make sense. Why not make them merpeople and adjust their characters, or replace them with new characters that are humans/real actors? Also, why does her name have to be Ariel- why does she have to sing the same songs? Why can't she be her own character, why can't this film its own thing? (Also, Melissa and Halle both imitate the original at times heavily so that, even in the same scene sometimes, when there's a line that wasn't in the original movie and they don't have that vocal reference to go off of, they sound completely different than they did a few seconds ago; Naomi Scott's Jasmine does this sometimes, too) Because this movie is just going to suffer unflattering comparisons to the original- the Grotto destruction scene makes me feel nothing in this movie, the performances are flat and uninspired, the singing isn't anything to write home about. I think a lot of it comes from the fact that most of the cast didn't really fit the roles they were given- Melissa and Javier admitted to texting the director, begging for a part- and the director's openly shown that he doesn't understand a lot of the original movie so, if you don't understand the source material, it could never be adapted well. The first rule in Hollywood is never bash the movie you're remaking and the director did this many times (every live action Disney movie does). But, like I said previously when discussing BATB, maybe if it was its own thing, it would be passable because we wouldn't constantly be reminded by the superior version that already exists? I don't think Emma's Belle would've been that bad if they didn't make her an interpretation of the animated character? She doesn't need to be named Belle or have a garish yellow dress or sing the songs from the animated. They should've readapted the story and gone from there. Brandi's Cinderella is a perfect example- she doesn't dilute the original and, while there are parallels, she's totally her own performance and both can coexist peacefully without being at odds or making the other worse. She doesn't steal the original's dialogue or songs (I know she's an adaption from the stage show) and she brought forth her own portrayal that isn't copying or stealing anything from any other ones. I see a universe in which Ilene's Cinderella would exist without Brandi's and in which Brandi's Cinderella would exist without Ilene's.

Also, I don't really want to get into it, but I do think that this film presents us with really questionable ideals when it comes to how we depict women and there's so much in that movie that's genuinely problematic/reinforces negative stereotypes and I hope people will realize and push forth for better representation and artistic integrity moving forward. However, unlike really bad live action films where nothing good comes of it (Cinderella 2015, Maleficent), I do like how much positivity has surrounded the fandom because of this movie and I think viewing this film as a star vehicle for Halle fares much better than treating it like an interpretation of an animated film. I also hope this is a step in the right direction for better diversity and more people of color finding leading roles and that our casts will be more diverse in front of and behind the camera moving forward, because they were only scratching the surface here with what could've been done and it still ultimately reads as a very hetero/white production.

[tygerbloom]

Just watched The Little Mermaid (2023)

Just saw tlm and the sure made some interesting choices...

But let's talk about positives! Halle is great! Beautiful singing voice and adorable face. I enjoyed the new songs for her! They gave a lot of insight to her inner turmoil! Flounder is very cute in this! Like he was cute in the original but for some reason the voice actor for flounder really shined! The costume design and design of the mermaids was amazing as well! I really liked the scenes with ariel and eric bonding for the first time! very cute! Also the actress that plays Vanessa??? She was so fun and hamming it up it was iconic honestly! Also the reaction from young black girls/ little girls in general to Halle and the praise Halle has gotten has been so heartwarming to see! Like having jodie benson on her side too is just incredibly sweet and I hope she ends up dating the actor that plays prince eric like they have great chemistry! That being said.... I don't like it more than the original. They made some strange choices that left me more confused than fulfilled and the characterization of certain characters was not done as well as the original plus that new song that shall not be named is really that bad like its shockingly bad and lin manuel miranda should be ashamed like why would he do that to us? I mean I know why but also I wish he would've shown restraint... They also rearrange lyrics/ who is singing in certain songs from the original that I didn't think added anything new... So will I watch it again? No. Will I watch clips on youtube and listen to the soundtrack sometimes? Yeah! Honestly it wasn't at all offensive to the original as some other remakes have been so that's a blessing but I just don't think I will ever like a remake more than the original... I love 2D animation too much to ever believe it can be improved through live action... I just can't do it... But yeah what did you all think of the movie? I could go into spoilers but idk if anyone needs all of that

[bearpillowmonster]

Ok, I think it's prime time for this post. So, I've been tired of the live action remakes as much as everyone else, no need to reiterate, they started interesting but tumbled into what seems like a daily occurrence. But there's something that I must point out.

Back in the 90s they had movies that weren't animated but the animals talked, done with real animals and people dubbed over them. There's wasn't CGI to move their mouths so it was awkward. Now and days, we have the technology but it's not satisfying when a studio like Disney has an iconic design that everyone knows and they reinvent it to fit real life rather than trying to translate it.

Take Lion King-

Big difference, eh?

Little Mermaid?

And it's only becoming progressively worse and it shows because in the 90s, they marketed the crap out of the toys but now, there's no difference between these lion toys and any others. You can barely even tell them apart, which ones are the Lion King ones?

They can't do that now, do you see any Flounder merch anymore? Sebastian? Scuttle?

I may not care about the movie but at least Pinocchio attempted something.

They didn't market those toys either, despite being closer to the...(well not "source material" but you know what I mean). But they also withheld the trailer until it was practically released already, they knew it was bad.

But I've also seen mentioned that Disney knows this and purposely hides designs until its too late to change them to avoid another Sonic the Hedgehog situation aka inflating the budget/spending more money, just pump and dump as the crypto space would say. I'd rather go back to the 90s with Homeward Bound style. They at least provided entertainment value and didn't have a cartoon counterpart to compare to.

It's called "brand recognition", Bob Iger, let me in and run your business for you, PLEASE. It'll at least be better for kids than this-

[nolanhollogay]

an exploratory kiss,  testing the waters between them 

hehe

+

"I can't believe you just listen to music through a CD player," JJ said, astonished. "It's not 2003."

JJ had just discovered that Edgar was one of the few people in Kildare who didn't have a phone. He'd spent the better part of ten minutes bemoaning the fact that this now meant he would never be able to text him.

When he was done being dramatic, Edgar asked if he wanted to see his CD collection.

"I also have a stereo, and I use my laptop," Edgar explained.

They were lying in his bed, headphones between them, Tyler The Creator's "Flower Boy" playing loudly in their ears. Their knees kept knocking together every time one of them shifted so much as an inch. It felt like there was only the two of them in the world, and even though that wasn't true, Edgar wished it was, if only for a moment.

If Edgar was braver, he would've looped their legs together.

Garden shed, garden shed, garden shed, garden shed

For the garden

That is where I was hidin'

That is what love I was in

JJ, fearless as ever, pressed his hand to the exposed strip of skin above Edgar's hip. "Is this song about bein' gay?"

Ain't no reason to pretend

Garden shed, garden shed, garden shed

Garden shed for the garçons

Them feelings I was guardin'

Edgar nodded, eyes fluttering closed at the feel of JJ's cold fingertips on him.

Leaning close, JJ teased, "Didn't take you for the type to listen to gay people music."

Edgar snorted, opening his eyes to send him a look. "Sorry I don't listen to Christian music, or whatever you were thinking."

Moving even closer, so close Edgar could see the lines in his irises, he said, "You're forgiven."

They both moved closer as the next track started.

When you're having fun, fun

(Time flies, time flies, time flies)

When you're having fun (Time flies)

Out the window (It goes, goes, goes)

They were a breath apart. Edgar could feel JJ's body heat seeping into his.

"This is a bad idea," he announced, though he didn't stop the hand JJ threaded into the hair on the back of his head. Any of his aunts could walk in at any time. Or, worse, his grandfather.

JJ hummed in acknowledgment. "That's my favorite kind of idea." Then he kissed him.

There wasn't fireworks like in the movies, no colors bursting behind Edgar's eyes.

But he felt something open up inside of him, a door to his heart, and sunlight burst out.

"Woah," he whispered against JJ's mouth.

JJ exhaled hard. "Yeah, woah."

Edgar grabbed the collar of his shirt, pulling him back in. He'd kissed guys before, a few boys from the church and a Touron here and there, but it'd never felt like this. Like he was learning about a new part of himself that he never knew existed.

JJ's hand slid from his hair to cup his face, and Edgar threw caution to the wind, throwing his leg over his hips.

It earned him a pleased noise from the back of JJ's throat that he wanted to hear over and over again.

"You're so—" JJ cut himself off as he kissed him again, rolling then so Edgar was on his back beneath him.

Edgar gasped, and was met with JJ's tongue between his teeth. He gripped his collar even tighter.

"Mijo," his abuelo said, through the door, knocking three times. JJ rolled off of him, tangling himself in the headphones and nearly falling off the bed. "Can I come in?"

Edgar floundered, buzzing with energy, watching in a daze as JJ struggled to unwrap himself. "Yeah, uh, just one second!"

His abuelo was opening the door before he finished his sentence. He looked between them, taking in their rumpled appearances and the mess JJ was in, and smiled.

"I just wanted to know if your.. friend was staying for dinner," he said, eyes lit up with amusement. He sounded seconds away from laughter.

JJ, unlooping an earbud from his wrist, shook his head. "Uh, no, sir. I gotta leave soon." He turned to Edgar, noticing the frown on his face. "Nov and her dad already bullied me into their family dinner," he turned back to Abuelo, "Thank you, though. I appreciate it."

Abuelo nodded, sending him a smile. "I'll leave you alone now." He sent Edgar a look that definitely meant they'd be talking about this situation later before he closed the door.

Edgar looked at JJ, and laughed when he saw he was still tangled. "You're a mess. Like a little puppy," he teased, leaning over to help him out. "Mi perrito."

JJ responded by pulling him into another kiss.

[sfss-a]

I came back from see L/ittle Mermaid. -PERSONALS DNI!

Favorite parts:

Ariel exploring the human world. It's my favorite part in the movie. We actually see the people within the land and Ariel interacting with them. More proof that Ariel didn't want to be human just for a guy. The animated version wasn't like that either, but we see more evidence of this here. And Eric teaching Ariel about his collection and other countries and the pair spending time together during Kiss the Girl are the finishing touches. Plus, Jodie makes a cameo and gave Halle a fork for her to play with! Thank you, Marshall.

Eric's characterization. It is so much better in the animated movie. I was never one of the haters who say he's boring, but Ariel did overshadow him. In this version, Eric protests against her mother and loves the sea just like Ariel clashing with her father. I love how the movie shows they have a lot in common. And I love Uncharted Waters. I have this feeling it was fanservice for the parents.

More violence. It's funny that it's PG and it's marketed to little kids, but there are fish getting slaughtered, sailors trying to harpoon mermaids, Ursula playing with mermaid skulls, dead bodies are shown, a wrestling fight, and there's even a death scene (and the murder is shown), not implied or off-screen). How Ariel signs her fate with Ursula is ripping one of her bloody scales and Ursula uses it for the transformation spell. The writers did their homework with the original fairytale, because it was brutal too. I'm surprised it was PG-13 or even R-rated by all the on-screen violence it's shown.

Not-so favorites

Flounder's design. I don't agree with the outrage of how "colorless" the underwear scenes are, but the CGI sucked out Flounder's colors and the fish lips are weird. It's too bad because Jacob's voice is so adorable.

Not enough screentime with the sisters. They had more than the first movie, but I still wish to see more of them like in the original fairytale.

Ariel killing Ursula with the ship. The first movie had Eric do this and it still doesn't make sense to me. At least in the first movie Eric shows experience when stirring a ship. How Ariel drove the ship into Ursula was just a lucky accident. Why the storybooks made Ariel look like a girlboss/badass in that scene when it's not canon, I don't even know. It kills the epic-ness of the final battle. The remake reconfirmed Ursula is a god so why would a stabbing from a jagged ship kill her so easily? This is why I used the broadway version of Ariel throwing the trident at her. A god vs god fight makes more sense and cooler to me.

Javier as Triton. He's good in the gentle parts, but he's not intimidating enough for me. He's the God/King of the Sea and a might warrior, but how he lectures Ariel and fights Ursula makes him look "meh, whatever". This is why I prefer Jason Momoa or Idris Elba.

The ending. No sparkly dress or wedding. I was really looking forward to those parts. I will, however, like Triton apologizing to Ariel and the other mermaids sending her off with Eric.

Unpopular opinions.

I would prefer Eric to be black too. Before y'all get mad, there's nothing wrong with interracial relationships! But unlike the first movie that didn't show any cultural significance (ie accused of Danish), this movie is firmly set in the Caribbean. The accents, food, music, clothing, and dancing is islander-style. And the mother/queen is black. And we're LONG overdue for a black prince. I do enjoy Jonah as Eric, but I wouldn't mind a black Eric preferably a Caribbean actor.

David Diggs voice as Sebastian and Sebastian's design doesn't bother me. In fact, Sebastian had the best lines in the movie. Maybe as someone who looks after strong-willed girls myself, I understand his frustration when taking care of Ariel. But still, I love Sebastian.

Scuttlebutt is not as annoying as I thought, but still unnecessary.

It's not perfect, but the movie is very good. Don't let the toxicity in the internet stir you away from it. Not just the diversity, but the writing. There are parts the live-action adaption did better than in the movie. And it teaches the audience a good lesson about overprotective parenting on both ends. I highly recommend it.

[impulsea]

How do you envision Ariel's mother?

Hi there! I've shared some of my headcanons on this before, so forgive me if I'm repeating myself, but I don't think Ariel's mother is anything like what we see in the third movie because I don't respect or value anything the third movie presented (I'm still not over the banning of music...like that plotline is maybe the dumbest thing I've ever seen. And the fact that it wasn't just bad fanfic that was scrambled together by a 11 year old that has internet access and something that was ACCEPTED at Disney. Also the way they changed the birth order of the sisters, their personalities, how Ariel and Flounder met, entire character personalities and sensibilities! They train minimum wage workers at the parks to respect character integrity more than this, like I'm genuinely SO confused). The one thing I do like is the name "Athena" but, again, I'm not keen to accept anything from that film/universe lol

I think Ariel's mother had a shade of chestnut-almond brunette hair in an intense cloud of trailing waves that always caressed her bare shoulders, deep dark eyes, and a red tail that's on the side of vermillion. She had a sense of intrigue and natural allure that seemed at the same time mystifying but also coolly serene, to the point where it put everyone at ease. She was this odd mixture of not being over-the-top and actually being almost mundane to some extent but also having almost hypnotic energy? It's really difficult to explain but it feels as though someone might be capable of overlooking her, but when they do notice her, there's something different about her that's almost unsettling while not igniting any potent emotions. I think she was a Libra and was capable of placating those around her but in an effortless way, like when a wave of sleep hits you, soothingly, right when you're on the edge of passing out. Triton was so happy around her and she calmed a lot of his anxious thoughts, about the future and himself and she taught him how to just be. She seemed to be mostly accepted by everyone but didn't have too many close bonds with people- she didn't even really know Ariel too well and Ariel doesn't remember her too much. The relationship the two share is almost greater when she's gone than it would've been if she were alive because Ariel experiences her as an element of nature- the concealing kind foam at the top of the ocean, obscuring her form from humans looking by, the beam of the illuminating moon against her exposed upper-body that's revealed to the human world at night while her tail is safely swaying in the waters below, the gentle yet cipher like sensation of a soft wind meeting you.