#live action flounder

[missamerican-pie]

[actual-haise]

[forthedragonqueen]

When she sang for us it was so emotional, she set the bar and no one ever surpassed it.

Rob Marshall about HALLE BAILEY in The Little Mermaid Behind The Scenes Featurette "A world reimagined".

[artist-issues]

And another thing.

The original The Little Mermaid is about understanding. One of the main plot devices is that the witch takes what from Ariel, ladies and gentlemen?

Her voice.

Ariel did not leave the sea “for a boy.”

Ariel left the sea to be understood. Because for the whole first part of the movie, we’re shown hints of what her life is already like, and how she’s tried to be understood but nobody’s listening or communicating.

She’s introduced by describing a ship as amazing and wonderful, while her fish friend clearly does not understand and wants to get out of there.

Even her best friend doesn’t share her love for another world.

Her first interaction with her father, count how many times he’s speaking over her.

He has this prejudice against humans, and because she’s disobeyed him, he won’t listen to any of her evidence that they may not all be bad.

Even when she has a voice and a cavern full of proof that humans aren’t all barbarians, her father won’t listen to her, so he can’t understand.

And the truth is, she doesn’t have that much proof. She knows that humans are clever and make “wonderful things,” and that’s what she bases her belief in them on. But those beautiful objects, and her pretty ideals, are not enough to make her abandon her family and culture and world.

When she sings and talks about why she wants to be Part of That World, it’s because she wants to understand it. And, subconsciously, Ariel also hopes to be understood up there. Where they make cool devices, and maybe daughters can stand instead of being reprimanded. There’s this hope for freedom and being known associated with the surface.

But it’s not until she meets Eric that those ideals are really, actually, proven true.

Ariel sees Eric out on the sea exploring instead of staying in a palace on his birthday. He gets a gift from the closest person to him, and it’s clear that even the closest person to him doesn’t understand his tastes—he doesn’t want an over-dramatic statue of himself. He sticks to his ideals in an argument that somewhere out there, is the right girl for him. But he doesn’t have to leave the argument in frustrated tears. In the end, he risks his life to not only watch out for his friend, but nearly dies going back to a burning ship to save his dog.

Eric personifies everything Ariel has always idealized about the Human World—AND he might understand her.

In her one observation of him, she finds out that he, a human, is:

A Prince, but nobody can tell him what to do.

More interested in activity and exploration than palace ceremony.

Unable to relate to his closest companions.

Handsome—beautiful, not a savage.

Criticized for “silly, romantic notions” but sticks to the idea of something wonderful out there in the great beyond.

Brave, self-sacrificial, and compassionate to animals.

Eric is, all at once, everything Ariel always hoped a human could be, and yet still so like herself. They have twin souls.

She’d rather be exploring human ships, he’d rather be out exploring the sea. She believes the surface world is good and beautiful, he believes in the girl of his dreams, no matter what anyone says. She has nobody who gets excited about new adventures, and he has nobody who gets excited about new adventures.

When she sees him, she falls in love not just with his upstanding character, or even the human world he represents—she falls in love with the hope that he might understand her in away nobody under the sea does.

Then the ironic thing is, she’s got to make him understand who she is and what she should mean to him without a voice. And unfortunately, that’s really hard because he is suddenly associating his dream girl with a voice and a magical rescue.

As close as they may get when she finally does meet him face to face and gets herself human legs, Ariel and Eric can’t be together until he knows who she is, for real. After all, how can love be true without understanding?

And we’re not DONE with understanding. Because even after he learns what and who she is and still commits to her and saves her and loves her, Ariel’s back to having a tail. She’s back to being in a world where he can’t be.

Except now, Triton is the one who understands. He finally sees what they’ll do for each other—and that Eric, ”savage, spineless, harpooning fish eater with no regard” saved his daughter. He sees that they love each other and are each worthy of the other’s love.

It’s not until Triton understands what Ariel has known and felt all along that he gives her human legs the right way.

That’s the point of Disney’s The Little Mermaid. “True love is found in understanding and sacrificing for one another.”

Triton had the sacrificing idea down, but he didn’t have understanding. Eric had understanding, but he didn’t have the chance to sacrifice for it.

Ariel has both. She understands that Eric’s world is not only barbaric, but beautiful, and she’s willing to sacrifice her tail to be understood in that world.

That is what this movie is all about. And because they’re probably willing to sacrifice critical scenes, like the Prince saving the day (which is important because it provides Triton with a new understanding of humans) or the girl leaving the ocean to be with the boy (which is important because what she really wants is to be understood) the creators of the Live Action Little Mermaid are going to miss the point and ruin the movie.

[phoenixes-and-wizards]

i just wanna talk about that shot towards the end of part of your world because yes the shot of animated ariel singing her heart out and reaching through a tiny crevice before she sinks to the bottom of her grotto is pretty popular, but i can't get over the fact that in the live action film, they chose to zoom out and show us ariel already on the ocean floor in the dark, the only light illuminating her shining down from up above, as if to represent that this is it, this is as close as she can get, no matter how far or how much she yearns and wants and burns, and it's just THIS is how you do a remake, you take something from the original and add to it to make it even better

[d4jamso]

Mermaid Byers gushing to crab Murray and fish Lucas about the Prince

Close up and w/o filter

[capturingdisney]

[emmster]

I forgot it was may

[prplocks]

♡☆♡ the little mermaid wallpaper

reblog if you save ▪︎

-----------------------------------------------------------

[fannyspammy]

just saw an early screening of the Little Mermaid!! & as someone who did not love any of the other live-action remakes I was surprised to find myself thoroughly entertained

like I actually enjoyed it as much as the original

the parts they kept from the original were spot on, but it’s definitely its own. I liked the changes they made & I think it brought more depth and clarity to the concept

good job on this one disney!!!!

[will post a more in depth review soon]

[missamerican-pie]

[arielbonestrike]

Thinking about Halle's heavenly mermaid voice of dreams...

Part of your World (reprise II) still breaks my tiny heart.

[forthedragonqueen]

Watch and you'll see, someday I'll be part of your world!

Halle Bailey as Ariel in The Little Mermaid (2023) Official Trailer

[phoenixes-and-wizards]

love love love how they fleshed out prince eric's character in the live-action film. they make him relatable af, especially with his 'search for identity being hindered by a loving-yet-smothering parental figure' arc. they make him feel like an Actual Person with his own wants and needs and silly quirks instead of the satellite love interest they portrayed him as in the animated film. what's more, they actually show us why and how ariel fell so hard so fast for him in the first place. plus it just makes me really happy thinking about how now that they they're working on their happily ever after together, eric can learn as much as he wants about the seven seas and ariel can learn everything her heart desires about the human world and they'll just have such a good time discovering new treasures together UGH this movie wasn't perfect but the character development was very much *chef's kiss*

[memoryaqua]

I really wish the 1950s had given us more mermaid movies like this, in technicolor. I love the '50s styled ocean stuff.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

it’s okay 🥲 no it’s not

THE CGI ANIMALS FOR THE LITTLE MERMAID LIVE ACTION MAY BE NIGHTMARE FUEL BUT AT LEAST THE EELS the most important ones/j LOOK COOL 😭

(Flounder and Sebastian look especially 😬 LIKE WhY IS FLOUnDE r SO GREY AnD DEAD LOOKING… WhT Y DOES SEBqs5-TIAN lOOK LIKE THAt fUVking CRAB DAnCE GIF…

They look like reaction memes if you crop them too, and not the cute kind 😭 I’m sure if real fish and crabs could talk, they too would be offended by this:

xbkdhkwgsje and I guess Scuttle doesn’t look TOO terrible, but live action Scuttle isn’t as fluffy as the animated one… so the impression I get of live action scuttle is maybe he hasn’t been eating a lot????

The eels though 😩 cool as still images, not sure how good they’ll look actually moving… Fingers crossed 🤞