#sebastian and flounder look so bad

[scarlct-vvitch]

if i start talking shit abt how bad that little mermaid remake looks pls know its not about ariel herself and instead the fact that all of these remakes look like soulless bullshit

[34choco]

So sorry to report to my fellow live-action remake haters but... My older sister wanted to go see TLM with me so i did and........

IT'S REALLY REALLY REALLY GOOD

[time-rogue]

step right up to hear the little mermaid flower husbands au

i watched the live action today. i loved it and it reminded me of them. big shout out to @catboy-scott-agenda and @omvimo for helping me figure this bad boy out <3

so first: jimmy is the mermaid, but instead of being beautiful, he’s a bit of a weird looking creature

pretty after you get a good look, but fundamentally weird looking nonetheless

lizzie and jimmy are seablings still; their parents were killed by people on the surface and as his older sibling she tells him to be wary of humans and stay away from the surface if he can help it.

nature wives is canon in this au because of course they are!! they are the role of sebastian and flounder but not sebastian and flounder yaknow. like somewhat of an equivalent

xornoth is the equivalent of ursula, however instead of him being related to the other mermaids, he was cursed to become one. he was not born as a mermaid; scott is still his brother

PRINCE SCOTT!!!

he comes off as normal but he’s also just a freak

he meets jimmy when he’s still a mermaid and instead of being put off by the scales and the slimey exterior, he’s like “yeah this is exactly what i want in a man”

they have a bit of a thing even before jimmy gets transformed

scott leaves poppies by the ocean for jimmy <3

(jimmy eats them) (scott is hiding behind a rock. while watching jimmy eat the flower he decide he will marry this man)

jimmy becomes human and his cursed to lose his voice, which is a big issue because jimmy is a little chatterbox

he becomes human and woah this is scott’s first time seeing his full height and wow was he this tall the whole time and scott just didn’t know????

after the conflict resolves, lizzie has more issues with them being together, but not for any actual reason! it’s more like

lizzie: ‘you’re jimmy’s boy toy right’ scott: ‘yeah’ lizzie: ‘why. he’s pathetic’

[rei-does-stuff]

Watched new the little mermaid movie and I have a LOT of thought! Enough for a whole post!!

Little mermaid thoughts LETS GOOOO

-I LOVED IT FIRSTLY but I do have a few nitpicks

-Firstly I don’t like the cgi animals, they look bad, I get they don’t wanna do the cartoony look for all the fish, but I feel like at least for flounder they should’ve so we could’ve connected to him more, Sebastian was fine, so was scuttle but flounder really got the short end of the stick

-The lighting wasn’t that bad, sure there was some scenes that maybe should have been a tad brighter but it really wasn’t as bad as everyone was saying

-Hailey Bailey singing is INCREDIBLE, I was worried that she would be able to sing well, but not be able to sing in CHARACTER, but goddamnit she KILLS it man! You can really FEEL her emotions and she does so well

-ALSO SHES SO PRETTY???? LIKE OMG???

-Sebastian and King Triton don’t really have as much of a friendly dynamic as I’d like, King -Triton especially doesn’t seem as friendly towards him compared to the original, so Sebastian’s quips seem like ACTUAL complaining instead of something more innocent yk??

-Also because they cut out the song where the daughters sing and Ariel is missing we don’t really get that Sebastian is a conductor/composer so his part during ‘kiss the girl’ doesn’t flow as well imo, bc like how would he know this? He doesn’t know anything about music

-They don’t introduce Eric’s statue, so it’s appearance later on doesn’t make sense unless you’ve watched the original, something I don’t really like about disney remakes

-And Ariel finds it BEFORE under the sea, which brings two issues, one is that the statue is supposed to be a gift from flounder TO Ariel, which strengthens their relationship, and two it makes her leaving at the end of under the sea make no sense, since she left TO see the statue

-OH AND UNDER THE SEA WAS AMAZING, I love how they did their own thing instead of copying the og, makes it way more memorable and it looked rlly good!!!

-ALSO ARIEL JOINING IN ON IT WAS GREAT!!!

-OH, and whilst part of your world was amazing, I feel like Sebastian should have seen it. Since he wasn’t there, he doesn’t know much about Ariel’s motive and her desire for going to the surface, they didn’t have to add all the slapstick that was in the original but just having him there instead of him come after would strengthen their relationship a lot more, especially to those who haven’t seen the original

-I like them setting up how Eric and Ariel are two sides or the same coin, both wanting more from their lives and wanting what they can’t have

-when Eric goes to save Max, I think the original does it better, him jumping from the boat and going BACK onto the ship shows his compassion than him about to leave the ship but going back for max

-When Eric sees Ariel with his blurred vision I feel like it was a bit TOO blurry, in the original the og Ariel had this ethereal aura to her from his vision that added to his whole fantasy of her, that the remake doesn’t really capture due to how blurry it was

-When King Triton destroying all of Ariel’s things was good, not as powerful as the original but still amazing, but one nitpick I have is that Triton tells her “never leave again” and doesn’t LOOK at her. In the original he doesn’t say anything, but does look at her crying and you can see the guilt in his eyes.

-Also, the whole, “your mom was killed by humans thats why i forbid you going there” feels a bit??? Unnecessary?? Idk how to describe it, I think because the original had this sort of queer undertone in it, like the original fairytale had, and I feel like the line is removing that a bit?? The whole humans are barbarians thing feels unnecessary too. I feel if they just stuck with the whole “you’re a mermaid he’s a human” thing would’ve been better, no need to over complicate things yk?? Also it gave said human-mermaid line less power imo

-Flotsam and Jetsam aren’t really in the movie, they don’t tell Ariel about Ursula, which is double edge sword I’ll explain later, but them not being in presence makes the ‘kiss the girl’ scene and them dying and Ursula being pissed about it less powerful imo

-How the double edge sword thing does come with a good side, of course, Ursula being the one to tell Ariel gives her more manipulative side strength, and it adds to Ariel’s trust of Ursula, her being related to her adds to that as well, you understand WHY she doesn’t immediately leave yk??

-NOW URSULA’S MAKEUP, im gonna say it, it’s bad, they didn’t go far enough with the drag queen look and it really hinders it imo, she just looks boring and not menacing at all which sucks because the actress really gives it her all

-POOR UNFORTUNATE SOULS, it’s an amazing song of course, but they do change the lyrics to be less about Eric which makes more sense for this movie so I won’t fault it for that

-They did remove the ‘BODY LANGUAGE’ lyric tho so points off,

-And the song is a lot shorter, which isnt good considering PUS was originally a 5 minute song cut to 3 minutes THEN NOW cut to 2, hinders it a lot I feel

-I LOVE THE VISUALS THO, love them doing their own thing and I love how glowy Ursula’s tentacles are, I do wish they kept the lil hologram thing from the original, could’ve added a whole lot to it!

-Them replacing Ursula’s henchmen forcible shutting Sebastian and flounder from telling Ariel to not trust Ursula to just flounder shushing Sebastian isn’t great, makes Ursula less scary imo

-They removed the scroll, and replaced it with her putting her scale in with blood, more intense which I like and removes the question of “if she could sign the scroll then why couldnt she write to Eric” thing the original had

-The transformation sequel isn’t as flashy as the og, the imagery of her tail splitting in two and forming legs was iconic,

-Also Sebastian and flounder not helping her to the surface is something I didn’t like, hinders their relationship

-The whole ‘Forgetting she has to kiss Eric’ thing felt unnecessary? I don’t think the original had it but I could be misremembering

-At first I didn’t like Ariel not immediately meeting Eric but I grew to like it ngl, her seeing the town was really good, and her song is also neat!

-The moment she realizes she cant talk is GOLDEN

-Her bonding with Eric in the little trinket area was SUCH a nice addition, it really strengthens their bond together

-Also the “my little mermaid” thing ADORABLE

-OH OH ALSO, eric and ariel have such autism energy I love it sooo much

-Them going on the town was SOOOO cute, I love them so muchhhhhh, and the dress Ariel wears is really cute, I do wish she had more things to wear it’s really just one outfit and her wedding gown which isn’t that different from her regular outfit, in comparison to the og which had her in a lotta outfits, especially with how pretty hailey bailey is?? She would’ve killed it!!

-OH ERICS SONG IS SO GOOD??? I wasn’t expecting to like it so much but the way it mirrors part of your world is SO good????? And his voice????? Incredible

-Oh i love Sebastian and scuttles friendship it’s really sweet

-also scuttles song wasn’t that annoying?? Idk it was cute and fun and Sebastian joining in was cute!

-They cut out the Poor unfortunate souls reprise which Is a huge let down I really liked it!!!! They use the music for it but she doesn’t SING!!!!

-Vanessa is SO pretty??? Exactly like the og too!!

-I feel like Eric being under control should’ve been hammered in more though, the subtle vibes doesn’t work as well for it imo

-Ariel being the one to stab Ursula wasn’t a good choice imo, the of gave Eric more character, and it would work even better in this movie since theyre so similar. She saved him and now he gets to save her yk?

-Also killing Ursula didnt look that great, you couldnt even tell she was stabbed it had no punch

-When Ursula takes Ariel away she doesn’t say anything to Eric like in the original she just leaves, which is a bit disappointed, they do a lotta things that rob Ursula of her iconic personality

-I think we should’ve seen Ariel get back her legs like in the movie, cutting that I feel like, loses a lot, especially with the bond with her father

-No 80s dress, sad.

-I think that’s everything????? I’m rewatching the original movie tomorrow so I’m sure I’ll have a few more things to add, especially when the 2023 movie goes onto disney plus

-Overall the movie was really good, Haliey Baliey stole the show and the visuals were really nice, special shoutouts to the visuals for Ursula’s tentacles, triton’s triton and the scenes for kiss the girl and under the sea, VERY pretty,

-All the voice actors were great ngl,

-The movie didn’t feel too long either, the stuff they added was good and moved along nicely, didn’t even feel like 2 hours yk???

[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.

[h0wv3ry]

miss americana and the heartbreak prince - chapter 1

overview

chapter 1

chapter 2

also available on ao3 and wattpad

༄

Ariel fluttered her eyelashes as she pulled down her sunglasses to stare at her surroundings. She sat on a blanket under a tree as she listened to Scuttle’s demo for their new songs. Was Scuttle their actual name? No. Did Ariel know their name? No. Even though, Ariel hated listening to herself, she thought the vocals and the instruments mixed well together.

She sent a text to the band’s group chat, praising the mix. Flounder was the first to respond because of course he was. He was always the first one to reply no matter how serious or how unimportant the conversation was. Unlike Flounder, Sebastian, told the group chat to stop texting because he was in class.

“Does he know he can silence his phone?”

Ariel took out one of her headphones as she looked up to see Scuttle, a short, Asian person, staring at their phone. She shrugged before she replied, “because Sebastian is the embodiment of an old man who doesn’t understand technology”.

She looked down at her phone to see the time, “Don’t you have Ancient Rome like right now?”  

Scuttle flecked their hand towards Ariel as they sat down on her blanket. “Yeah, but I hate that class”.

“You’re an archaeology major”.

“I don’t have to love all of archaeology, unlike you.” Scuttle stole Ariel’s sunglasses and put them on. “Speaking off, did you finish the homework for Grimsby’s class?”

Ariel sighed as she slid her journal over to Scuttle. Scuttle took their own journal and started to copy Ariel’s notes.

“Can you try to be more subtle about it?” Ariel searched around the area.

“Who cares?”

Ariel rolled her eyes. “I do. I don’t want Professor Grimsby-”

“Professor Grimsby, Professor Smishby.” Scuttle flipped through Ariel’s notebook. “He doesn’t even leave his office unless the chancellor asks him”.

Before Scuttle could copy down the next page, a big, sheepdog ran over, and grabbed Scuttle’s notebook by the mouth.

Scuttle screamed and stood up quickly, watching as the dog bolted away. They yelled as Ariel laughed. Scuttle chased after the dog but as they got closer, the dog kept moving around before Scuttle could catch.

“Max!”

Ariel looked up to see a black-haired white man, about twenty-one, dressed in a white shirt and a short dark navy sweater over it, chasing over to the dog. The dog, Ariel guessed Max, instantly dropped the journal, and ran over to his owner like nothing happened. Max jumped all over the man in excitement as he apologized to Scuttle about the dog and handed them back their journal.

“Sorry! I recently just brought him on campus, and he’s not used to-”

“Stealing people’s notebooks?”

Scuttle grumbled while they grabbed the journal back from the man and stomped back to Ariel. She watched as the man ruffled Max’s fur. He turned around and his sea blue eyes looked at Ariel. His smile was bright and genuine that made her blush. Suddenly, Ariel felt a slap on her shoulder. She turned to Scuttle.

“Is your aunt cool with our gig Friday night?”

“Oh, yeah, she is.”

“What’s the theme?”

“I think it’s like Victorian?”

Scuttle scoffed. “Wow, damn, she didn’t take my bird costume suggestion.”

Ariel crinkled her face in confusion, “Why birds?”

“I like birds”

༄

Eric sat outside Professor Grimsby’s classroom on a long bench. Grimsby didn’t tell him why he wanted to meet with him. Eric’s thoughts spiraled on what that could mean. Was it something good or something bad? Was he failing or was he going to recommend that he go to a higher-level class? No matter what, Eric’s knees shook.

His anxiety was oozing out so much that Max put his head on Eric’s lap. However, his worries eased as he moved his hands through Max’s fur. He leaned his head forward while Max’s long, pink tongue touched his face, causing him to give a small chuckle. Eric leaned back and patted against Max’s stomach.

“I know, I know, buddy,” Eric sighed, “It’s just this one meeting and then we can go back to the beach”.

Max barked in response and began wagging his tail. Max loved going near the water. He would run around splash around. However, he didn’t love the water as much as Eric.

Eric loved the water. He would spend his summers with his mom in their house in Brighton before she became the chancellor of the university. That’s where he first fell in love with the sea and water. He became fascinated by it. What lived and grew in those uncharted waters? At some times, he felt like he grew up there and felt connected to it. This obsession spanned into his adult life. That’s what he wanted to do. He wanted to study and help the water. Sadly, that is not what his mom envisioned for him.

The door opened to Professor Grimsby and short but muscly, blonde, white boy, Eric guessed probably a first year. Grimsby patted the boy on the back.

“Just focus on the study guide and you should be fine.” Grimsby said as the boy walked away. “Oh, Flounder?”

The boy, Flounder, turned around and stared at Grimsby. “Tell Scuttle if they miss another class, I’m taking away their participation points from their grade”.

Flounder chuckled before holding his backpack straps and walking away. Grimsby noticed Eric on the bench with Max and patted Max on the head.

“Well, hello there, Max.” Grimsby looked to Eric. “I’m guessing the paperwork went through”.

Eric nodded as him and Max stood up from the bench. “My mum said I didn’t need to, but I didn’t want special treatment”.

Grimsby nodded while he watched Eric and Max walked into the office.

The office was small but still packed with bookshelves surrounding the walls. A wooden desk sat in the middle with a leather chair behind it and a small, not as lavish chair in front. Eric sat in the front chair and Max laid down at his feet. Grimsby took a breath before moving his hands forward.

“Eric, you’re failing my class”.

Eric’s mouth went wide in shock. “I can’t be, I studied, and I do the homework-”

Grimsby sighed. “But you’re not really doing the homework and you’re not really studying. You’re memorizing the answers, not understanding the answers.”

“But I need this class, it’s a pre-req for the Secrets of the Ocean.”

“I know, Eric, I know.” Grimsby said. “But you’re treating my class as a throwaway class.”

“I’m not, I just have a lot of other intense classes-”

“I know you don’t mean to, but you are.”

Eric sighed. He was almost on the verge of tears. His anxiety picked up and Max sat up, putting his head on Eric’s knee to try to calm him down. But Eric wasn’t calming down. He needed to ace this class. It wasn’t just that this was his entrance into the major he wasn’t allowed to have but he was interested in the class. He wanted to learn as much as he could about the ocean.

Grimsby noticed Eric’s frustration. “But it’s only the first few weeks of the semester and that’s why I asked you to come so we could figure it out. I have an idea on how to help you.”

Eric sniffled as Grimsby lied back. “There is this first year, she has gone above and beyond, even advanced to classes that are only sophomore and juniors.”

Eric’s head perked up while Grimsby continued to speak, “She has agreed to tutor you.”

“A tutor? I don’t have time-”

“I think you should give her a chance and see what happens.”

Eric sighed as Max grumbled and Grimsby handed him a piece of paper with the contact information. He opened up the piece of paper to reveal the name.

 Ariel  Atlantica  – aatlantica@denmare.uni

[amyyythestarry]

TSUMITSU LITTLE MERMAID AU!

——

| The Little Merman |

——

[ Character Roles ]

Eric - Mitsuba

Ariel - Tsukasa

Ariel’s sister(s) ( Tsu’s not rly gonna have multiple siblings ) - Amane

Flounder - Olive ( an oc )

Sebastian - Natsuhiko 

Scuttle - Sumire

Ursula - Sakura

Flotsam and Jetsam - Nene and Aoi

Triton - Mr. Yugi

Max - Mokke

Chef Louis - Teru

Carlotta - Mei

Notes: 

Mitsuba is going to have two moms, except they're not married, and one is his nobel mother and the other one is just mother Mitsuba, who is not a royal nobel. Also his big brother Karasu is also a prince.

Nene and Aoi are sirens and not conjoined.

Max is a pink ( actual ) bunny named Mokke.

Carlotta/Mei is Mitsuba’s best friend.

This oneshot is inspired by ‘Kiss the Girl’ by ‘MusicalMoritz’ on AO3.

Strange Tides

✩︎

As soon as Mitsuba lays his eyes on the curly black haired blasian boy with cat-like but clueless amber eyes, the first thing he thinks is ‘poor guy’. The knights reported to him and his Nobel mother, Fuku/Mitsuba Yumi, that the boy must have lost his memory, and is not able to speak.

The nameless boy wore a button up black pocket patched shirt with black jeans, and Mitsuba wore a long sleeve red shitagi and pink hakama pants. With additional jewelry, like his blue whale right earring and charm bracelet.

Mitsuba couldn’t help but think for a second that those eyes were the same ones he saw the day he was saved by an unknown male. The one with a singing voice dripping honey and flowers, a magnificent sound. The unknown male he’s been trying to find ever since. 

His savior.

But, the boy sitting in front of him couldn’t even speak, nevertheless sing. So his wishes for them to be the same people were dispelled.

It’s such a shame though, and it makes Mitsuba feel a little less hopeful than before and sends him out of the room. Everything matched up, the same hair, eye color, skin color. If he were to see his teeth, maybe the same fangs as well?

He can see his face, but he can’t hear his voice.

And that’s the key memory. His key memory.

So Mitsuba puts that aside, and tries to see what to make out of the boy himself.

The boy in question acted like a newborn child, or just a baby coming outside for the first time. So curious and excited and new. He looks at his food, something given to him by the servants, like it’s something he’s never seen before. Like it was a stinky rat they just fried and threw on a plate. Because he scrunched up his nose, inspected it, and instead of even touching it with the utensils, he looked much more interested in a spoon, fork and chopsticks.

Mitsuba thinks that it was much more logical if the boy was just a ‘tall’ 2 year old. 

He continues to be fascinated by music boxes and fire and even his own two legs and feet, he walks like he doesn’t know how to use his own two legs and feet.

He’s always smiling and excited, the only thing that seems to make him drop the cheerful demeanor is seeing sea animals get cooked in an open restaurant window.

Maybe he’s vegan?

Mitsuba wishes to be just as happy as the boy is all the time. Instead, Mitsuba’s life is filled with royalty. The only thing that’s intriguing about him is his good looks and status.

He wished he knew what the boy thought of him. He hopes it has nothing to do with him being a prince.

What if the boy was much more interested in princesses instead?

The whole thing made Mitsuba’s head spiral, it made him frustrated with himself. He’s supposed to be thinking about his savior, not a random boy with amnesia and overly cute, well, everything..

Maybe not as cute as himself.. But, he still can’t help but look at him in an adoring way.

If there is anything that Mitsuba will admit about himself ( Except that he’s good looking ) is that he’s a pretty bad prince.

He doesn’t care about finding a spouse or ascending to his throne or producing an heir or any royal responsibilities. He never even dreamed of being a prince, not even as a kid. He dreamed of being anything that had anything to do with anything in the sea.

He wanted to be a marine scientist ( Even though he’s not that good at science, he would work his a** off ), but mostly a sailor, a captain, a pirate even. He wanted to be involved with the sea world, he wanted the sea animals and plants and water to acknowledge him. 

Because that seemed more exciting than boring politics and crowns and paperwork.

When people dream of being king, queens, princes, princesses and any royal Nobel, they dream of ballrooms, respect, wealth, spouses, status. Not politics, or  paperwork. Maybe crowns, but definitely not having to be responsible for everything that goes wrong in your life, and in other people’s life.

The girls Mitsuba met weren’t so bad, but they weren’t interesting, and he couldn’t imagine himself falling in love with any of them. Or anyone for that matter. His mothers tried suitors, he didn’t like them either. The people he met were dull, fake-fancy, and had expensive personalities. In his book, they weren’t worth a dime. Maybe a penny cut in half.

They could have been good people, good suitors or suitresses. But again, he wasn’t interested in ‘people-love’, he wanted the earth to love him. Again, not people.

Pretty selfish, right?

He wanted animals to love him, plants, even air. A little bit more like Snow White. Because to him that meant that he was truly important, truly loved. People only loved him because of his status, even his Nobel mother. Maybe except for his real mother and brother.

At least he has his own pirate crew, but they even respect him because he’s Prince Sousuke. 

Mitsuba wants to be known as Mitsuba. Too many people call him Prince Sousuke. It holds no meaning anymore.

But whatever, he can’t drop out or anything. He’ll continue to be pretty good at politics and crowns and paperwork. 

He’s not one of those angsty teens in indie movies, and even if he may be one at least he’s the prettiest angsty teen in an indie movie.

He’s grateful though, of course. He’s grateful that his family was taken out of poverty after their father left them in the dust. He’s grateful that his mother still loves him. He’s grateful that his brother still loves him, even though Karasu claims he’s gay and emo. He’s grateful that people respect him, and that he’s not picked on or bullied like other kids, he may have been if he hadn’t turned into a Prince and exerted into royalty.

But sometimes he wished he was a normal boy.

Mitsuba didn’t notice that he rambled to the boy about cons of royalty and his dreams, including how he wanted to be earth and marine. Like a merman. The boy giggled, but no actual giggles were heard.

Mitsuba didn’t think he could admire the boy anymore than he already did.

His eyes shone in the sun in a way that added teal and gold and gray into his irises, they looked even prettier than before ( Mitsuba dare say prettier than his own ). 

His eyes looked like the most beautiful blocks of gold, and even citrine crystals.

Mitsuba loved crystals.

This boy was much more interesting, than even himself and anyone he’s ever met. Nature, air and sea right in front of him with the glory of Mother Earth.

He realizes he’s staring too much so he looks away sheepishly, he’s never looked someone in the eye that much before.

Despite spending the very few days together, Mitsuba still doesn’t know much about him. It’s difficult to learn anything about the boy because he can’t speak to him, can’t tell him anything about himself. But still, it wouldn’t hurt to try a little, right..?

“I feel bad for not knowing your name..” He says, still not looking the boy in the eye.

He perks up at that.

Mitsuba doesn’t know what to do after that, how would he try to figure out his name?

He looks up from the sea and gets an idea.

“What if I try to guess it?”

The boy thinks, then nods eagerly.

Mitsuba turns to face him again, looking at his face to see what name would suit him.

“Is it Akira?”

He shakes his head, still smiling brightly.

“How about,” he ponders some more, “Tsu…..”

He gasps and leans in, that must mean he’s close…

“Tsu…. Basa..?”

He shakes his head again, but looks at him even more expectedly.

Then he writes something in the air with his finger slowly two times, something that looks like a ‘K’.

“Tsu.. Ki.. Tsuki!”

He indicates another ‘no’.

Mitsuba thought that was so close.

But he was getting closer.

What other name started with ‘TSUK’..?

Suddenly, the name hits him upside the head like a strong wind. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say it was sung to him. The same singing voice he heard the time he was saved. 

Tsukasa.

“Tsukasa?” He says with much more confidence this time. ‘That has to be it-‘

The boy lights up, nodding so fast Mitsuba worries he’ll hurt his neck.

A victorious smile spreads across Mitsuba’s face, trying to suppress the urge to stomp his feet and flap his hands to release the energy.

“Tsukasa,” he tries. “I like it.”

Tsukasa's smile turns smaller, and Mitsuba thinks he must have said something wrong once Tsukasa turns away so he doesn’t see his face.

But then he sees his cheeks turn a mulberry pink, and starts blushing himself.

Mitsuba doesn’t know what to do now. He had a goal, did he not? An original one, one that came before wanting to get to know Tsukasa’s name. He had a mission before meeting Tsukasa, and he has no plans on giving that mission up.

He has to find the guy who saved him. He has to see him, hear his voice again, thank him with everything he’s got. Sure, now he really wished Tsukasa and the guy were the same people, but life wasn’t that simple, he learned that even before becoming a prince.

He had to hold his pride and put aside meaningless flirting. 

But god would he be lying if he said Tsukasa didn’t make his stomach upset, fizzy and nervous. Maybe it felt like that because he was trying to swallow the words wanting to call him pretty, good looking. That’s Mitsuba’s thing, being pretty. He was the prettiest boy in this town! Tsukasa couldn’t come a close to that, he wouldn’t let him.

Though Mitsuba was a man, a man with eyes, that couldn’t deny Tsukasa’s attractiveness for the life of him. Not even just his physical appearance, everything about Tsukasa seemed attractive. His attitude, personality.. Mitsuba didn’t think he even had a bad trait.

But everyone did, so that was unrealistic.

And one thing about falling in love is the delusion that someone couldn’t be bad in any way.

And now Mitsuba thought this was horrible, the urge to kiss Tsukasa was overwhelming. He doubted for a second he would get turned down, but fear of rejection took place.

People all over his town ( Around his age of course ) would send him heartfelt love letters and flowers just to be with him, to either be royal or because they ‘loved’ him. He could hardly walk around his palace without someone confessing their undying adoration for him. He’s never, ever been the one confessing, even when it comes to saying his appreciating love for his family. He couldn’t do it, it would break his pride and make him uncomfortable.

So imagine how he’s feeling right now with the most lovable person in front of him.

This was more risky. A guy he’s only spent a day with kissing him sounded rushed if he were to tell his mother, or his brother, or his maid. It was rushed, and desired. That was horrible.

Looking at Tsukasa another time, who’s just recovered from the compliment and is now looking at the water, he knows he wants him. He wants Tsukasa more than anything right now. He’s unlike any person he’s ever met, as a prince who met half the whole town, that’s saying a lot. 

It’s possible Tsukasa wants him too, right? Those gold eyes have been lingering on him all day, he could say with all his confidence. Tsukasa would invade his space like he couldn’t be separated from him for a moment. 

Mitsuba can tell when someone is interested in him, Tsukasa checks every box.

Little did he know the boy himself was just as nervous, maybe by five times.

He had suppressed bouncing his leg or fidgeting with his hands  in front of the prince so he wouldn’t look unstable, but really he didn’t know what to do either.

What do you do when you're on a boat with a human in silence? The prettiest human you’ve ever seen, the first human you’ve seen ever since coming up to the surface?

Prince Sousuke was exactly how Tsukasa imagined a human would be. Gorgeous, humble and elegant. Even more than merpeople. Even more capable and interesting.

Tsukasa wasn’t so clueless, he’d read romance books, he’s seen romance, he’s known about it ever since he was a kid. It was written on his father’s face when facing his mother, it smudged off of it when their mother left, it floated in bubble hearts around people giving romantic tension. 

He wondered, if Mitsuba and him were under sea, would they have a bubble heart too..?

He doubted it like he’s never doubted anything before.

But there was so much tension.

And the timing was perfect. On a boat, sea creatures and birds all around them, no one else. The lighting and atmosphere was something out of a romance movie, and they both heard a soft melody coming from the distance where fishermen were playing music on the dock, far from them of course.

The moment is subtly ruined by the squawking of a seagull. Mitsuba jumps at the noise, while Tsukasa laughs, a little too quietly. 

Tsukasa takes Mitsuba’s hand unwantedly and takes him back to his previous concern.

He does want to kiss the boy.

Now’s their moment, the nature was urging them, the wind pushed them in close proximity and out of the corner of Tsukasa’s eye he sees leaves flowing along loopy lines all around the boat.

No time could be better, they’d lose the chance if they didn’t take it now. 

Fish were circling around them, they’ve made it under a willow tree and the leaves continued dancing. The sight might have been strange to Mitsuba, all the sea creatures now beside their boat, all of the Earth focusing on this one moment if he weren’t so focused on Tsukasa.

Everything was set up so perfectly, like the universe wants this to happen. Mitsuba wasn’t so big on fate, since the coming out of poverty with a royal request felt like nonsense to him when he was younger, but he could roll with this one.

His hands reach out to find Tsukasa’s. He could no longer hide it. 

At that moment he wanted to kiss Tsukasa more than anything.

Tsukasa smiles, more like an attempt to pull himself together because he would never be ready for a kiss, by a human, by anyone. Not ever. His heart was still beating hard in his chest, loud enough for Prince Sousuke to hear it, his ears were ringing and his eyes fluttered to shut close to not see what comes next.

Mitsuba smiles, no longer shy like Tsukasa, but flirty, like he’s daring Tsukasa to follow his plan in making them as close as possible.

Tsukasa’s hands are shaking, his legs are shaking, his whole body is now. He’s never been more nervous in his life. Maybe.

But he shakingly accepts the challenge.

Tsukasa and Mitsuba inch closer and closer toward each other. The distance in their faces is closing in, and Mitsuba can feel the overwhelming warmth of Tsukasa’s body heat. Their lips brush against each other, and then-

In an instant, the boat flips over.

It happens so fast that it gives Mitsuba whiplash. He’s not able to process what just happened, but surely he will not be admiring the water engulfing him after ruining the chance he had with Tsukasa.

His immediate response was to find Tsukasa, reaching out to him under the water and then pulling them both up to the surface ( Ever the gentleman ).

Once they both come up, they breath in air through their mouth, it almost gives Mitsuba flashbacks of almost drowning.

A black and purple fish is swimming frantically around Tsukasa, looking comically panicked. Mitsuba can’t help but stifle a laugh at the sight, deciding to question everything later.

“Looks like you have a friend,” he points out.

Tsukasa’s eyes dart everywhere but Mitsuba’s, all memories of the moment they were about to share coming back to him like a speedy truck, and then hastily swats away the flounder.

“Hey,” Mitsuba teases, “Don’t be mean to it.”

He takes Tsukasa’s hand, giving him a dreamy look to try cheering him up. It takes a while for Tsukasa to register it before blushing profusely and looking away again, hand still quaking.

A feeling of disappointment sweeps over Mitsuba as he realizes he missed the chance to kiss Tsukasa. Although, this situation was just hugely ridiculous and he does nothing but laugh and encourages Tsukasa to flip the canoe back over.

It’s an easy task, and Mitsuba starts rowing them back to shore.

He wants to kick himself for not kissing the boy sooner, when will an opportunity like that come again?!

He tries convincing himself that it’s fine, he’ll take Tsukasa somewhere nice next time, and go to a cafe to apologize, maybe. Hopefully royalty didn’t take up all his time again, because the only thing he wanted to be occupied with now is Tsukasa.

And finding his savior..

Yes, of course.

Mitsuba doesn’t notice Tsukasa fuming, thoughts running wild with questions and everything above while steering the boat.

Tsukasa hides his face in his hands as a seagull lands on the boat and tilts its head at him.

Sumire smirks, amused by an overly flustered Tsukasa she’s never seen before. Also thinking it was a shame the sirens working for Sakura had to ruin the romance between Tsukasa and the boy she thinks, she knows, he likes a lot.

Mitsuba and Tsukasa will hopefully get a chance in the future.

✩︎

[mysoftboybensolo]

My Thoughts and Theories on Little Mermaid 2023

AVOID IF YOU DON’T WANT SPOILERS

Acting- I knew Halle was going to knock it out of the park with her singing ever since I heard her cover Unforgettable by Nat King Cole, but she truly embodied Ariel and made it her own. Jonah, I had only once seen before in Masterpiece Theatre’s Little Women as Laurie, and I liked him in that, so I was very curious on how he’d do Eric. Before I go on about him, I just want to say that I feel that people are too harsh on animated Eric, because Eric was very sweet, adventurous and brave, the live action film just helped to expand on that. Jonah’s Eric was just the sweetest but also quite smart in wanting to try to open the ports again. I love that the film expanded on his character and showed how he had no prejudice against Ariel and the merfolk. His and Halle’s chemistry was just beautiful, and I really ship them so much, more so than the original version (but that’s not a criticism of the cartoon, just that a few couples superseded them). Also, let’s talk about how Jonah is Jewish, so Eric is out first Jewish prince.

Daveed Diggs’ Sebastian was so fun and cracked me and my mom up so much, his delivery on certain lines were just perfect, and he had great chemistry with Awkwafina and Jacob Trembly. I don’t think his accent was that bad, I mean I have heard worse Caribbean accents, and his is nowhere as bad as the others I’ve heard. Melissa McCarthy was so good as Ursula, she brought that same theatrical and frightening performance that Pat Carroll gave, and Javier Bardem did a really good job with Triton, though I was there was a little bit more of his character explored, but that is mostly the writing than the acting. I did really love his delivery of the line “You didn’t have to lose your voice for me to hear you,” it sounded so sincere and so apologetic that it made up for it. Awkwafina and Jaconb Trembly did a really good job in voice acting, and I didn’t expect to like Grimsby as much as I did, and it is all due to Art Malik’s wonderful performance. Overall, this was a solid cast and no one to me were a sore thumb.

Changes/Additions- I really liked the changes and additions to the story, like using a quote from the original fairytale was a really call back to the original fairytale, but also a parallel to how Ariel, being unable to properly express herself feels her suffering even more thus pushing her to make the deal with Ursula. I know some people were upset that we didn’t get the song the sisters sing, but I wasn’t too bothered by it, not when there was a very cool change to it. Pretty much, the sisters help to control the different seas from around this fantasy world, which is a nice call back to a theory people had about Ariel and her sisters representing the seven seas. My only issue with the film, and it is a small one, is that I wish we saw more of the sisters and Ariel’s relations to them, but other than that, solid. I like that we had a parent for Eric, helps to make his story broader and the idea that we was happily adopted, love that!

Small changes I liked were confirming that Ursula and Triton being siblings, and possibly hinting that the reason she was banished was because she had a hand in the death of Ariel’s mother. The change from Ariel signing a contract to taking a scale off and making a deal in blood does make sense considering they are in the water. Eric, despite being under Ursula’s spell still looking for Ariel, including his interest in collecting things just like Ariel, etc.

I liked that we had Ariel forgetting that she has to kiss Eric, not only because it helps to make the relationship a bit more genuine, but also it makes sense for Ursula to play dirty and do whatever she could to win. It also helped to show how good friends Sebastian, Flounder and Scuttle are for helping. I had been worried that they were going to change the ending and be something different, namely how it was in the stage version, which works for the stage, but would have felt anti-climatic for the film, so I was grateful to see that they kept the Ursula becoming a giant and being killed by the ship, and for Ariel to know how to because she saw Eric do it, nice touch. Also, it’s a small scene, but I really liked it, but the scene where Ariel is found by the fisherman who immediately goes to help and give her clothes without ogling her, it was so refreshing to see and I know someone will say, of course they wouldn’t it’s a kids movie, that hasn’t stopped other kids movie for having similar scenarios happen and it feeling really creepy.

Songs- Halle did an amazing job of her rendition of Part of Your World, and I was one of the many who cried while listening, she seriously has the voice of an angel. Under the Sea was fun and I liked having Ariel being part of it, and Kiss the Girl was also very good, but I loved that we had Sebastian, Flounder and Scuttle singing it to try and help their friend. It was crazy how well Melissa McCarthy had done with Poor Unfortunate Souls, not because I think she is a bad singer I knew she could sing beforehand, I was just surprised at how many times she sounded just like Pat Carroll. In regards to the new songs, I really liked them, I liked that we had songs with Ariel even after she lost her voice, get a glimpse of what she is thinking even if she can’t say it. 

Eric’s song Uncharted Waters was an unexpected delight and you just gotta love that he is singing about longing for a girl while getting drenched, thank you Rob Marshall for that. And I think some of you are pretty harsh on the Scuttlebutt song, because I thought it was fun and served the purpose of the story. My mom said her one small criticism is that she didn’t get Les Poissons, but even she admitted she was a little bias as she loved that song from the original and understand how it wouldn’t have worked in the remake.

Also, I think people were making a big deal over the changed lyrics for nothing. In Poor Unfortunate Souls, they removed the “body language” line and “men don’t like blabber”, but it doesn’t feel like they did it because it makes Ursula bad, but that in the context of the moment, it wouldn’t make sense for her to say that. Ariel’s big issue in the scene isn’t that she won’t be able to speak to Eric but that she isn’t sure if this is the right thing to do, so to have Ursula say those lines wouldn’t make sense. Kiss the Girl makes the tiniest change of “There is one way to ask her, It don't take a word, Not a single word, Go on and kiss the girl” to “Possible she want you too, Use your words, boy, and ask her, If the time is right and the time is tonight, Go on and kiss the girl” It is seriously not a big deal and if that is an issue for you, then you really need to reevaluate your choices.

Theories- Some people were curious as to why Sebastian said that Ariel used her siren voice to save Eric, and here is my thought. As Eric said at one point about the idea of mermaids leading sailors to their deaths with their voices, I think that he wasn’t wrong, that really it saves them. If you notice in the scene where Ariel saves Eric, he is just laying motionless even after water escapes from his lungs, but once she started to sing, he begins to move, come back from being unconscious. You know how relatives of coma patients will play audio of their favorite actors or music or whatever in hopes that it will help pull them back from the coma, I think that was what was happening in that moment. Ariel’s siren song was powerful enough it could pull someone on the brink of death back to life.

Vanessa’s voice. The other thing I’ve seen people question is why doesn’t Vanessa/Jessica sound more like Ariel/Halle when speaking, and again, I think the film set it up for us to understand why. As Ursula explained before making the deal with Ariel, she says that she didn’t want Ariel to use her “siren song” to get Eric, the emphasis being on her singing as why she wouldn’t want her to have it. Also, considering that Eric was only able to identify her through her singing voice, it makes sense that her speaking voice wouldn’t have to necessarily match as he is unaware of what she sounds like talking.

Conclusion- Overall, this remake is definitely in my top 3 favorite remakes, it had a wonderful cast, music was incredible and it truly felt like it honored the original in the best way possible. To those who hate it because of Halle, then guess what, die mad because the film’s biggest charm is her and she deserves to be our Ariel.

[princess-of-the-corner]

Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix Recap: Atlantica (Ursula's Revenge)

I just realized that I forgot to include the ingredients needed to synthesize “Save the King” in the last recap, even though I had done that for “Save the Queen”. So to craft Goofy’s ultimate shield, you need:

1 Orichalcum

3 Twilight Crystals

5 Twilight Gems

7 Twilight Stones

9 Twilight Shards

But back on topic, with Magnera, you can talk to Ariel, and you’ll be prompted to try and retrieve that pendant with it.

If you agree to, then Chapter Four: Ursula’s Revenge will begin.

We cut to Ariel’s grotto, where she, Sora, Donald, and Goofy are looking at the pendant.

“This is great, Sora,” Ariel declares, “I know he’ll be happy to have this back.”

“And just who is this ‘he’?” King Triton questions as the overworld music cuts out.

Triton proceeds to scold Ariel, reminding her how “dangerous” human are.

Ariel points out that he doesn’t even know THIS human, and that she wants to prove that not all humans are bad to him.

Triton replies by destroying the statue of Prince Eric, insisting it’s for Ariel’s own good.

Ariel, heartbroken, swims away, followed closely by her friends.

We then cut to her sitting out in the undersea courtyard, all alone, in a cutscene with no voice acting.

“Ariel, you poor child,” a textbox says.

This textbox belongs to Ursula (The Little Mermaid), who died in the previous game.

“You’re Ursula – the sea witch!” Ariel remarks, “Didn’t my father banish you?”

We are at the part of the game where Kingdom Hearts II pretends the first game’s Atlantica visit didn’t happen.

But yeah, Ariel tries to swim off, but Ursula convinces her to stay by offering to make all her dreams come true.

Ariel bitterly notes that her father won’t allow it, and Ursula replies that it must not be love if she’d give up that easily.

She’s finally convinced Ariel to hear her out, and tells her the only way to get what she wants is to become human herself.

Sebastian and Flounder swim up to see Ursula talking to Ariel, and Sebastian tries to send Flounder to get King Triton, only for Flotsam (The Little Mermaid) and Jetsam (The Little Mermaid) to intervene. Even though both of them died in the first game as well.

Thus, Ursula promises to turn Ariel into a human right that moment, so long as she signs a contract. The price? Ariel’s voice.

Also, the magic only lasts for three days, so if she can’t get Prince Eric to kiss her by sunset on the third day, she’ll turn back into a mermaid and become Ursula’s property.

Ursula verbally twists Ariel’s arm a little bit more, until we get to a voice acted cutscene, wherein Ursula pretends she’s about to leave, at which point Ariel caves.

Ursula zips right back over to her and conjures up the contract and quill.

“All I have to do is sign?” Ariel asks.

Ursula nods and grins.

Ariel hesitates, takes the quill, and signs her name.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy finally arrive, with Flounder and Sebastian trying to stop Ariel from signing the contract she’s already signed.

Sora attempts to physically stop Ursula, only for a whirlpool to form around the sea witch and princess. Ursula takes Ariel’s voice and puts it inside that weird nautilus shell necklace thing she wears.

When the whirlpool subsides, Ursula is nowhere to be seen, and Ariel is now a human wearing a tattered sail like a dress. Because this is an E10 game, and thus we can’t get away with how the equivalent scene went down in the movie.

“Oh no!” Sora shouts, “She can’t breath like that!”

He takes her hand and swims her up to the surface, Ursula laughing as she watches.

That night, Prince Eric arrives to find Ariel lying unconscious on the beach. He runs up to her as the scene fades to black.

“Are you the girl? Please wake up.”

Ariel opens her eyes, sees Prince Eric, tries to stand up, only to stumble around on account of havin both never walked before in her life AND having recently undergone a drastic change in shape.

“Woah, easy there!” Prince Eric remarks as he catches her hand to keep her from falling, pulling her up to help steady her.

Ariel, clearly flustered, attempts to introduce herself, before remembering that she doesn’t have a voice anymore. At that point, she’s too embarrassed to meet his gaze.

“What’s wrong?” Prince Eric asks, noticing her distress, “You can’t speak?”

Clearly sympathetic to her, he asks where she came from.

Ariel points out over the sea, where Sora, Donald, and Goofy are watching from behind a rock.

Noticing this, she quickly distracts the Prince and points inland, probably figuring that’d raise less questions she currently lacks the ability to answer.

She then searches her sail-dress and pulls out the Prince’s pendent. Not sure where she was keeping it… Even the crudest possible answer makes little sense when you consider how her body drastically changed shape not that long ago.

Regardless, Prince Eric is happy to be reunited with his missing pendant, and he thanks her.

“Please. Come with me,” he requests, “I want to help you.”

He catches her when it looks like she’s about to stumble again, and guides her by hand as Sora, Donald, and Goofy look on.

Back in the undersea courtyard, we go back to the textboxes as Sora remarks that things are off to a good start.

Goof suggests telling King Triton, but infamous kiss-up Sebastian immediately shuts that down, saying it would break his heart to hear about this.

Sora doesn’t know what to do instead, and Sebastian insists that they’ll stay and take care of Ariel.

Sora notes that’s all they really can do, and the player is given control of him once more.

This is your final breather for this chapter. If you talk to Sebastian, he’ll mention that he should go check on Ariel.

The game will then prompt Sora to choose between “Take a break first.” (you’ll exit out of the conversation and can resume swimming around the Undersea Courtyard and can go back to exploring this world that has nothing for you to do outside of its “rhythm” minigames) and “Let’s go.” (continuing the story).

In the resulting textbox cutscene, Sora, Donald, Goofy, Sebastian, and Flounder watch as Ariel (now wearing a proper dress) and Prince Eric go for a walk on the beach.

Sora asks if they’re just going to float and watch, and Sebastian asks if he has a better idea.

Sora suggests tracking down Ursula and making her fix all of this, and Sebastian replies that she wouldn’t even bother with Sora, to which Sora replies that they won’t know if they don’t try.

Sebastian concedes that Sora might have a point.

“Can I trust you to take care of Ursula?” he asks.

“Of course,” Sora answers.

Sebastian clutches his head in his claws as the screen fades to black.

That night, Prince Eric and Ariel sit on the beach as Eric talks to Ariel about something.

Sebastian and Flounder watch from a distance.

They go for another walk the next day.

Sebastian and Flounder watch again.

That night, Prince Eric takes Ariel out on a rowboat.

Flounder watches from a distance, and Sora surfaces, revealing that this part of the montage has voice acting.

“Hey, where’s Sebastian?” Sora asks as Donald and Goofy float behind him.

“Uh… oh… well…” Flounder replies, “King Triton wanted him at the palace.”

“I wonder if it’s about Ariel,” Goofy ponders.

“If King Triton finds out what happened, we’re in hot water,” Sora points out as the camera pans up, Eric still rowing in the background, “Especially since we kept it a secret.”

“What about Ursula?” Flounder asks.

“She disappeared,” Donald answers.

“Well, how’s Ariel doing?” Sora asks, “She’s only got until sunset tomorrow, right?”

Flounder turns to look at the rowboat.

“Hey, look!”

Prince Eric and Ariel lean in for a kiss, prompting Sora to cover Flounder’s eyes.

Flotsam and Jetsam nudge the boat, causing both Eric and Ariel to stumble, killing the romantic atmosphere.

“They’re okay!” Flounder remarks.

“Man, they were so close,” Sora grumbles.

“Well, I think we oughta get back to lookin’ for Ursula,” Goofy suggests.

“Yeah, good idea!”

The three dive back underwater as the scene fades to black.

The scene fades in to an orange sky as the music fades out. It’s the evening of the third day.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy surface once more.

“No sign of Ursula anywhere…” Sora grumbles.

“I wonder where that sea witch coulda gone,” Goofy ponders.

Donald notices something.

Over on the beach, Ariel is crying into her knees by the sea as Flounder floats nearby.

“Ariel’s been crying for a long time,” he explains.

A heartbreaking, vocal-only reprise of “Part of Your World” starts playing over the scene as the camera pans over to reveal Prince Eric walking by, arms linked with a thin woman wearing a nautilus-shell-necklace thing.

The woman appears to be saying something to Eric (though SDG and the player can’t hear whatever it is), and his eyes are kinda glossed over and looking kinda dead.

SDG lower themselves so only their eyes-up are out of the water.

“Hey, what’s up with the prince?” Sora asks (in a nice attention to detail, the water in front of his mouth actually bubbles while he’s whispering).

“Look! There!” Flounder shouts as he points at the woman’s aforementioned nautilus-shell-necklace-thing, which just so happens to look identical to Ursula’s. “It’s Ursula! She must’ve turned herself into that girl!”

“Okay! That’s it!” Sora takes out his Keyblade, points it at the necklace, and blasts it with the Keyblade’s unlocking power.

The shell is destroyed, returning Ariel’s voice to her, and breaking Ursula’s spell over Prince Eric.

“What… what happened?” Prince Eric asks as he comes to his senses. He glances around, and sees Ariel approaching him.

“Eric!” Ariel greets.

Eric runs up to her.

“You… you can talk…” he remarks, clearly thrilled that Ariel seems to have regained her voice, “You’re the one… The girl who sang to me.”

“Oh, Eric, I wanted to tell you.”

“Of course! It was you!” Eric realizes, “You were the one who… who saved me that night in the storm!

“Oh, Ariel,” he continues, having somehow learned Ariel’s name offscreen, “I’m sorry I didn’t figure it out sooner. You’re the one I love.”

“Eric…”

“Not so fast!” Ursula cuts in, having reverted to her true form offscreen, “Do you see what I see?”

Ursula points to the setting sun, boasts that Ariel’s deadline has passed, and drags the transformed mermaid back into the ocean.

Eric calls out to her as Sora, Donald, and Goofy dive to give chase.

Back beneath the waves, Ariel has reverted to a mermaid as Ursula drags her down to the shipwreck (Atlantica doesn’t have a lot of “sets” in this game).

Sora shouts at Ursula to stop, but she tells them to stay out of it, taking out the contract Ariel signed.

“Now dearie…” Ursula says as she turns to Ariel, “Let’s see how beautiful you are when I’m through with you!”

Sora claims the contract is no good. King Triton shouts to let Ariel go, before blasting Ursula into a rock. Unfortunately, the blast couldn’t damage the legally binding contract.

Flotsam and Jetsam restrain Ariel so Ursula can transform her, and King Triton, desperate to save his daughter, surrenders, begging Ursula to let Ariel go.

Ursula points out that she and Ariel had a deal.

“Unless you’re offering to take her place?”

King Triton agrees, replacing Ariel’s name on the contract with his own, and is transformed into one of those weird things that were everywhere in Ursula’s grotto in the previous game as Ursula bellows with laughter.

“At last!” she declares as she takes the trident.

“Daddy!” a horrified Ariel shouts.

“Who’s the ‘mighty ruler’ of the seas now?” Ursula taunts as she points the trident at the transformed Triton.

“You – you monster! Let him go!” Ariel begs.

A harpoon or spear or something scratches Ursula’s arm.

Eric had given chase in his own way.

“Eric!” Ariel calls out.

An enraged Ursula sends Flotsam and Jetsam after Prince Eric, allowing Ariel to escape in the process.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy block the eels’ way, allowing Prince Eric to escape.

“Ha ha!” Ursula boasts as she’s enveloped in a black cloud of ink, trident glowing in her hands, “Now you all bow to me!”

Flounder and Sebastian tremble as the ink-cloud envelopes the waters around them.

Ariel swims after Prince Eric as the inky vapors gain on her.

It’s time for the penultimate “rhythm” minigame.

Every note hit will deplete a purple gauge at the top of the screen.

There are also some notes that let you spam-click the attack button, with every click counting as a successfully hit-note, which in turn will allow you to completely deplete the purple gauge WELL before the halfway point of the song.

Pausing the game will still force you to restart or quit, btw.

Still though, welcome to what many people consider to be one of the worst boss fights in the whole series, even if “Ursula’s Revenge” is probably the best of the three original Atlantica songs in this game.

Throughout the song, Ursula attempts to terrorize Prince Eric and Ariel as she boasts of her victory, in song of course.

Sora, at one point, interjects that Ursula got what she deserved, prompting Ursula to summon Flotsam and Jetsam (again, in song).

During the instrumental sequence, SDG clash with Flotsam and Jetsam, until Sora uses the Keyblade’s unlocking powers to pop both of them like bubbles (don’t ask why he doesn’t do that more often).

The next batch of lyrics has Ursula taunting and attacking Prince Eric, until he retorts that he won’t let her hurt Ariel.

Ursula attempts to summon Flotsam and Jetsam in song once more, even getting hit in the face by Donald and Goofy, only for Sora to inform her that they’re “toast” once she’s done repeating those lyrics.

After forcing the player to hit some notes to make SDG dodge a swing of her trident (which is pointless as you’ll have completely depleted her health by the time she summoned Flotsam and Jetsam at the start of the song), Ursula gets the closing lines, declaring that “it’s not over until Ursula has won!”

If you’ve completely depleted her purple health gauge, this’ll then immediately be followed by the word “CLEARED” appearing over Ursula’s grumpy-yet-still-animated face, which continues to be animated as the screen fades to black, making it seem as though she’s in denial.

Seriously, I’d suggest looking Ursula’s Revenge up yourself, because the animations that play when you miss the notes are hilarious, and it’s also an okay song as opposed to lyrical torture the way some of Atlantica’s other songs are.

“That’s what you think!” Sora retorts as he jumps out of the water.

With one whack of the Keyblade, he knocks the trident out of Ursula’s hand, causing it to land (back in its normal size) in the rowboat Eric took shelter in during the minigame.

“No…” Ursula remarks, “it’s not possible!”

“It’s over, Ursula,” Sora casually deadpans without even looking at her as he falls back into the ocean.

“That belongs to me!” Ursula shouts at Prince Eric.

“All right, then–” he pulls the trident free from the wooden beam it was stabbed into, “you can have it!”

Prince Eric hurls the trident like a spear. It turns into a golden beam of light and pierces Ursula’s chest and comes out through her back.

Ursula screams and writhes as she sinks beneath the waves, black vapors rising from the waters around her titanic form.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy surface as the last of Ursula’s writhing tentacles vanishes into the glowing, bubbling water.

We cut to shortly after the fight.

Prince Eric tries to coax Ariel out of the water, assuring her it’s safe now.

Ariel dives back under the water, and then bursts out, dolphin-jumping over his boat, and splashes back under the water.

She gives Eric some time to process what he just saw before she surfaces again.

“You see, Eric…” Ariel begins, “This is why I went to Ursula.”

“This can’t be…” Eric remarks.

“I would have told you sooner…” Ariel continues.

“To think…” Prince Eric replies.

“Eric… good-bye,” Ariel finishes, before turning to leave.

“I had all that time and I didn’t work on my swimming,” Prince Eric comments out loud.

Ariel turns to face him, and Prince Eric dives into the water to swim up to her.

“Well, I guess it’s never too late to learn, right?” he remarks, “Will you teach me?”

“I’d love to!” Ariel eagerly answers, before the two embrace.

And THAT is how you know he’s a keeper.

Sora’s certainly happy about this resolution.

King Triton, who was also watching the scene, turns and dives back under to swim away, clearly having some thoughts on his mind.

Sora obtains the “Mysterious Abyss” Keychain.

It’s a waterspout-themed Keyblade whose guard takes inspiration from Atlantica’s music stage.

It grants +3 attack, +3 magic, and Blizzard Boost (increases damage the user inflicts with Blizzard-typed attacks by 20%).

The following morning (in a textbox cutscene), Sora remarks that Eric’s a great guy, and really brave too.

Sebastian swims up and interjects that he is a human.

Donald does not have the energy to go through this again.

Ariel and Flounder swim up, and Sora asks how things went with her father.

“Great!” Ariel answers, “Thanks for your help. I gotta go. See you later!”

She swims up to the surface to rendezvous with her new boyfriend.

“Hey, wait…” Sora tries to say, but she’s already gone.

Flounder then passes on a message from the King.

King Triton said that this year’s festival is going to be REALLY important, so the musical had better be Sebastian’s best ever.

Sebastian starts thinking on that, then turns to face SDG

“All right, what’s goin’ on?” Goofy asks.

“You gotta do me a favor,” Sebastian replies, before whispering into Sora’s ear.

“What?” Sora replies.

“Huh?” Donald remarks.

“But how?” Goofy asks.

Sebastian laments that it would’ve made the song perfect if SDG could’ve pulled it off.

You are then booted back to the Gummi Ship.

The grand finale of Atlantica’s story will become available once you have access to “Thundaga” magic.

Next time, it’s off to Halloween Town once more.

-

Ya know. Calling it ‘Ursula’s Revenge’ really makes me question the everything about Ursula. Like in general there’s been speculation on her having specific beef with King Triton, not just general ‘oh she’s evil and wants to take over’.

But also props to both Sora and Eric for seeing a problem and realizing the best solution was to throw hands and go for the kill.

[amy-love5]

My Thoughts On The Little Mermaid Live Action

I personally loved the movie.

The visual affects were stunning. It made it seem like it was actually taking place underwater, which was the point and they achieved that pretty well.

I personally don’t mind Flounder and Sebastian looking realistic because every other fish is also realistic in the movie, so they fit in and don’t look out of place.

I especially loved the music. I’m a huge fan of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s work in general, and he did not disappoint and amazed me with his work once again. In my opinion the songs were the most entertaining and enjoyable part of the movie and kept it from being boring.

The songs feel like musical theater songs, I’m not surprised by that because Lin-Manuel Miranda worked on them and he has worked for Broadway musicals before. They sounded fantastic.

The Scuttlebutt didn’t feel so out of place. Out of context it feels weird but with the context not so much. Because Scuttles mostly blabbers in the movie.

The rap wasn’t bad in my opinion.

Also, I found Daveed Diggs’ (he voices Sebastian in the live action) rap at the end of the song to hype up Ariel to get ready to be kinda similar to Daveed Diggs role in Hamilton as Lafayette when he was telling Washington to get his right hand man back for the war. If this was intentional, it felt like a nice reference.

I love how different Halle Bailey is to the original Ariel.

The original Ariel’s Part of Your World song seemed a bit melancholic and Ariel seemed resigned to her fate. Halle Bailey’s Ariel’s Part of Your World song was a combination of frustration and determination. This made the two reprises of the song later on in the film even more powerful. With one being hopeful and the other being sorrowful. I commend Halle Bailey on conveying all those different emotions, she’s an excellent singer and actress.

Unlike the animated film, Ariel doesn't actually go up to the surface until after her fight with her father which is a small but smart change that I liked. Instead of being rebellious because she's a teenager this version of Ariel is frustrated at the fact that she's constantly ignored and controlled and I like that Triton's unreasonable behavior effectively becomes the catalyst for her to go to the surface, I like that irony.

The storm in the beginning of the movie felt almost identical to the animated movie. The effects felt realistic and climactic.

I love how Ariel got a song when she first became a human. It made us see her perspective and understand her better.

Compared to to the animated Ariel, this version of Ariel was less Love Struck. Instead she seems to be more intrigued by Eric in the human world which does feel more realistic. It shows her curiosity for the human world a lot more. Which is a change I liked.

I’m glad they didn’t go for the love at first sight thing for the remake and gave Ariel and Eric time to bond. I loved the chemistry between them.

I personally prefer their bonding time in the live action over the dinner they had in the original, and we still got a “dinglehopper” scene.

Also, I found the way Eric learned Ariel’s name to be adorable.

In the animated film it's kind of a love at first sight moment with Ariel falling for Eric after he talks about looking for his dream girl but in the live action it's more like their kindred spirits both feeling pressured to live up to their family's expectations of them and sharing a desire to explore the world. They understood each other and related to one another without the use of words, which I find adorable.

I loved the market Eric and Ariel went to. The production team made a fantastic job, it really seemed like it could be a marketplace in the kingdom. I also love the choreography, the music and the dance for the place, it seemed very fitting and not out of place.

I also love how we got to see Prince Eric’s side of the story, he even had his own song.

In my opinion him being adopted gives him more character depth, him loosing his parents in a shipwreck gives him more reason to be so drawn to the sea.

When Eric recovered he sends people to look for the girl who saved him and I like that he takes a more active role in finding her in the live action, unlike in the animated movie where he’s just wandering around on a beach. Because of the incident his mother forbids him from sailing again which leads to our first new song of the film wild Uncharted Waters. The lyrics are filled with Maritime references which are a bit obvious which is good in my opinion because it makes the viewer understand them easier. It works for the new direction they've taken with Eric's character. It feels like a heartfelt song, I think Jonah Hauer-King made a great delivery of it.

I also liked how Ariel instantly forgot she had to kiss Eric. It made it seem like their love was even more “impossible” because if she couldn’t kiss Eric she’d turn back into a mermaid and be under Ursula’s control. It also made Ursula even more evil.

Ursula and Triton were actually siblings during the early development of the 1989 film but this dynamic was scrapped, I’m glad we got to see it in the live action.

I think Trident and Ursula being related helps with Ariel’s deal with Ursula.

Because Ariel had never met Ursula, she had just heard what her father said about her. She doesn’t fully believe her father because he also told her people are evil and she saw that to be false with her own eyes when she saw Eric. She was already doubting about what her father thought of “evil”.

She had also just gotten into a big fight with him and her trust for him had decreased.

She was also scared of her and thought about leaving but Ursula successfully manipulated her.

I also think the live action Ursula is pretty good. She’s manipulative and evil, she also has a great voice.

Overall, I think the changes were good changes and fit into the story.

[iwillhaveamoonbase]

Genuinely so disappointed in how dull the Little Mermaid live action looks (not you, Halle; you're a delight. Best choice Disney made was hiring her).

Where are my bright and bold pinks?

Where's my super saturated yellows?

Where's my pops of vibrant green?

Where is the color???? That's literally one of, if not the first thing people think of when they think of the Little Mermaid. COLOR. Bright, bold, in your face. The most colorful thing you've ever seen.

WHERE IS THE COLOR, DISNEY???????? I didn't ask for realism; I asked for Halle Bailey surrounded by COLOR. It's bad enough you did Flounder and Sebastian dirty; did you really have to sap the color out? Couldn't the castle have been pink??? Or the starfish orange??? SOMETHING????

[thedethklokmuse]

The Little Mermaid 2023 review

Okay. So there were some parts I loved and some parts that I didn’t like.

Firstly, Halle Bailey, she was an absolutely famous performer, she killed it as Ariel. She’s brought so much life to Ariel that it was no doubt that she enjoyed playing the role. Even as human Ariel, she was absolutely really adorable. I liked how naive and innocent Halle was. She gets what it was like being a mermaid and a human. 

Another is Melissa Mcarthy as Ursula. I think she really nailed the role. At first I was doubting it but I liked how she gave Ursula sarcasm and sass. It was really funny.

Another is the underwater scenes (for the most part), I love diving so seeing the ocean scenes made me really feel like I was there. Some CGI felt a bit off, it could have been better but it was still alright. 

I also loved the land setting, I mean they shot in Sardinia in Italy and it felt like a fresh breath of air to have a live action Disney movie set in another place that isn’t England or the UK. 

Now for the things I didn’t really like,

The Under the Sea sequence, it wasn’t as pretty or as visually appealing as the original one was. I felt that they were trying really hard with the photo- realistic ocean scenes but I didn’t think they needed too much effects for that scene. It could’ve just been simple and I think it would’ve worked. Maybe shooting in the actual ocean would have been much cooler for this scene tbh. 

Sebastian and Flounder’s appearance were really bad. This is nothing new but I couldn’t help but think that Disney is obsessed with trying to make everything as real as possible but it doesn’t work. I mean look at Rocket from Guardians, he looks real and emotes a lot so I wished Flounder and Sebastian had been like that as well.

Next is, they removed Les Poissons which I honestly thought was annoying because I think I that song was really iconic. They replaced this song with a more forgettable one, Scuttlebutt which I honestly didn’t like.

Lastly, the performances by Akwafina and the guy who played King Triton weren’t really memorable for me. They could just be cut from the movie and nothing would have changed. 

Overall, I’d give this movie a 7.5/10, this is one of my favorite live action movies by far but I really wished they could have done more with this film. 

[moviemunchies]

I saw this movie with friends, because they wanted to see it. And I don’t think it’s a bad film; as a family film, it’s just fine. However, I can’t say that this movie feels like it justifies its existence. 

It doesn’t need to exist! We already have The Little Mermaid! It didn’t need to be redone!

Alright! So! Ariel is the mermaid daughter of Triton, the King of the Seas, and she’s obsessed with humans and their world much to her father’s disapproval. Then she falls in love with Prince Eric and saves his life. When Triton finds out, he wrecks her collection of human artifacts, which the sea witch Ursula uses as a way to manipulate Ariel. She offers to make Ursula human for three days, with a chance to be human forever if she can get her true love, Eric, to kiss her. Except she won’t have her voice, and she’s forgotten that she needs the kiss. And if she fails, she belongs to the sea witch now. Ursula, of course, only wants Ariel as leverage to overthrow Triton, her brother.

Alright, so, let me first put forward this: I don’t know if I’ve ever seen the original animated The Little Mermaid all the way through. If I have, I’m not that familiar with it, so while I’ve had some input on what’s changed, through asking friends and looking up for myself, I might get something wrong.

I am going to start with things I liked or thought were well-done:

-Performances in general. For the most part, the acting in this movie is good, and Halle Bailey is a standout star. Her singing is fantastic, and she is absolutely an excellent choice to lead this movie. I heard someone say that she cried when she heard “Part of Your World” in the theater this time around, and I didn’t get it, but I admitted she does a damn good musical number when she gives it a go.

-Daveed Diggs is also doing a pretty good job as Sebastian. Admittedly that doesn’t make his character in this movie great, his design is uninspired for one, only that Diggs is doing incredibly well with what he’s given.

-When the special effects are bright and colorful, it’s really cool. Look, this is an undersea magical world, so it SHOULD be colorful and fantastical. There’s a lot that’s great to look at in some sequences, especially in “Under the Sea” (though put a pin in that, we’ll come back to that number).

-Things that have been headcanon or limited to supplementary material/expansions, like Triton’s queen having been slain by humans or Ursula being Triton’s sister do a lot to explain these characters, and they’re quickly established without taking up too much of the movie. It works a lot better than whatever the heck they were doing with Belle’s mother in the Beauty & the Beast remake.

But you know, there are also a lot of things that also kind of fall flat. Going back to the “Under the Sea” argument, there’s a whole bit where Sebastian sings about the different sea creatures playing different instruments–only to have almost none of those creatures appear on the screen at those moments, or have them playing instruments at all. I thought I might be mistaken, so I looked up the original scene in the animated film, and the animals are all doing exactly that as Sebastian describes them. So why have this song, with these lyrics, if the sea animals aren’t on screen doing what you’re saying they’re doing?

This is probably an extension of the obsession with the remakes of making animals look “realistic” and “realistic animals don’t play instruments”. Or something. It’s at the absolute worst whenever Flounder’s on screen, because he doesn’t look like a character as much as a real fish who is baffled to be there and would rather you stop touching him, thank you very much. 

Also they go through the trouble of changing Scuttle to a diving bird so she can go underwater to talk to Ariel and friends, but like… that means she can breathe underwater for short periods? Which is as unrealistic as it gets.

The less said about “Scuttlebutt” rap, the better. Lin-Manuel Miranda is a great songwriter, but Disney needs to stop hiring him for everything. It doesn’t fit here–every song in the original serves a dramatic or character-building purpose. Here, “Scuttlebutt” tells us something that’s proven untrue a minute later: that Eric is proposing to Ariel that day.

Also, when the “Under the Sea” sequence, and some of the others, show off a fantastical world of color and wonder, it’s a little disappointing to see exactly how drab Triton’s palace is. He’s King of the Sea and his house is drab, undecorated stone?

The conclusion is also a bit strange. In it, Ariel is the one who drives the wrecked ship to impale giant Ursula instead of Eric. I get why they did this, so that she’s a much more straightforwardly powerful protagonist with agency–SHE’s the one who defeats the villain in the end. Okay, fine, but this also means that Prince Eric does almost nothing in the climax of the movie. He, the experienced sailor, just flails about while Ariel, the one who didn’t know what a fork was a week ago, steers a ship into the Big Bad.

Yeah, that makes sense, right?

More than anything though, my main complaint about this movie is: why does this exist? I know the answer, it’s money. I am fully convinced that there could have been a great movie made out of reviving The Little Mermaid. We could get a movie about Ursula’s story, Triton’s rule, other mermaids like Ariel’s sisters, Ariel adjusting to life on land, putting this in a different setting, gender-swapping this… really, Disney could be doing anything right now and instead they’re telling the same story again, but with a bigger budget and tiny little patches to cover up perceived failings and Plot Holes, like making Ariel magically forget that she has to kiss Eric.

But no, it’s about the money. 

There’s some good in this movie, and I maintain that as a family film, it’s just fine. Whatever. But The Little Mermaid already exists, and you could watch the original one instead. This is just a copy that feels less creative, blatantly developed because Disney wants our money. 

And they’re getting it, apparently. Ugh.

[cineflections]

You know, when I saw that live action Cinderella (like a 1000 years ago), I was pleasantly surprised in how it mingled the classic Disney animated movie with the original story as well as giving the prince and the titular princess some more scenes together. It felt innovative, it felt like it brought something new, you know? There's been tons of other remakes since then, of varying quality. I haven't watched all of them, but today I felt to watch a more recent one. A remake of a beloved Disney animated movie. I'm ofc talking about The Little Mermaid.

I would be both blind and deaf if I say I did not read or listen to the *discourse* surrounding this movie since its inception through its trailers and during its release. And I have to admit that I was hesitant to acknowledge Halle Bailey as Ariel, since in my head it made more logical sense for deep sea creatures (and mermaids) to be of a lighter skin tone. Have Eric be non-white, and the entire kingdom for that - was my thinking.

But in the end, this is fantasy. That involves talking fish and crabs and mythical sea creatures. So while I was "hesistant" I was never "against" her casting. What was, and is, important is that she *embodies* the spirit of Ariel's character. A child (of 15 I believe?) Who is curious, feels stifled by an overbearing and overprotective father, and enamored with the surface world.

And I think Halle Bailey managed that quite well.

And following that casting decision came the call to have her and her sisters be the seven sea personified (I'm guessing?), that's cool and new. But I wish we got to see what that entailed. And what seas each sister was? I guess one could guess by the actresses race, but I don't want to guess, I want to know!

So, about the characters. I think Ariel is great. Hair color nitpicks, sure, hairstyle nitpicks ok (like where's that bang?). But goddamn if her voice ain't goated. Eric is serviceable (his not exactly inspiring). The queen is there. Grimsby is mvp. I really like Sebastian. King Triton? More like King trite-on. Let's not talk about Flounder. Oh, the bird is alright, I guess.

But the true queen of this movie was surprisingly Melissa McCarthy as Ursula. Damn what an inspired casting. She chews her scene and gives it her all. Any scene she's in is where the movie is at it's liveliest and energetic. My only complaints are really the 2 monologue scene before she meets Ariel. I wish we got her motivations in a less "I'm evil cuz I'm evil" kinda way.

Sebastian and Flounder. Seeing them in the trailers did not inspire confidence. And they're a mixed bag for sure (and the bird to a degree). But while Sebastian works, Flounder, well, flounders (sorry I had to). Sebastian's design works alright. And they managed to give *some* expression through his eyes, and uh.. claws. Flounder, however, fails in all aspects. You barely see him on screen (why is he so thin? I don't care that the fish he is is supposed to look like that, change fish then!), his eyes look dead as he stares straight into the void. And the only thing "expressive" on him is his goddamn cursed "lip-ified" mouth. He sounds like Flounder, at least. I love the voice for Sebastian, though! I think they went Jamaican instead of French? Excellent choice of both accent and voice actor.

You tell me this isn't cursed.

But about the cgi and vfx. Shots of the environment and mermaids swimming in the distance look really good. And I like the intro with the ocean waves, there's cool visuals in here! But when it comes to the mermaids/men, there's something off about the heads. Especially around the hairline. It needs a bit more cooking, I would say, as the face seems "plastered" on? It looks off and, in some cases, ill-fitting. Doesn't really take away from my enjoyment (it's not "bad", but not "good") but with a budget of 250 million dollars you'd except a bit cleaner vfx, huh? (Let's leave at that and not get into the whole vfx artist crunch debacle, since it's not just this remake, it's all of Disney and Hollywood).

The music is great. I love all the songs. I don't think there's any stinker here. But there's one little hiccup I'd say and that is Eric's solo number. It kinda feels like the "I'm just Ken" song from Barbie? You know his whole melodramatic solo song? Like that but less self-aware I guess? Hell, I would almost compare it to the "AGONY" song from Into the Woods?

Ok, a bit mean to say, since I don't dislike it, but still... I like the added touch of Ariel vocalizing, symbolizing how enthralled he was of her voice.

I liked that they put some time into Ariel's and Eric's relationship. It's a story over three days, and, well, I suppose it's a fairytale and so I can forgive the true love at first listen(?).

The tone of the movie stays consistent, giving the curious feeling and joyfullness.

Quick thoughts: Ursula's lair is absolute sick and the coolest ever. "I'm auntie Ursula", "the sea-witch?" "The what?!" Hilarious delivery!

Overall:

A good and faithful retelling of the animated movie. I love that they kept the romance and expanded a bit upon it. The music is stellar (it's Lin Manuel Miranda like, what you expect??). The very end when Ariel and King Triton reconcile and he pushes her towards the unknown (literally) was beautiful. Melissa McCarthy as Ursula was inspired casting imo. Javier Bardem is such a good actor, but I wish he had a bit more to do. Did he put any effort in? Was it just a paycheck? I think all the other characters were well realized and had depth.

Complaints would be cgi and vfx, especially the heads and hair underwater. I also think they could've expanded on the human side's "antagonism" against seafolk. The seafolk's opinions about surface dwellers are explained in a couple of ways but the humans only talks about the storm (ok sure it's a real concern for island dwellers but still maybe 1 more example?).

But it's a nice watch that translated the original animated movie to live action. It doesn't bring anything new to the table but it's the comfort food you like.

[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.

[bearpillowmonster]

So other than that one Funko pop that doesn't highlight it as much, I found some individual Sebastian, Flounder and Scuttle merch and oh boy do they stand out from the rest.

They're just backpack clips but I feel bad for any kid that gets any one of the dull 3, like Flounder in particular is so ugly, I just can't believe that was okayed, he looks DEAD.