The Little Mermaid is like a Disney parade, a Bridgerton Broadway show, a Hallmark movie and an aquarium themed screensaver.
The most shocking in this film is the visual incoherence between the ocean world and the human world. The ocean is all horrible cgi hair and crazy psychedelic colors but it feels like a proper universe. On the other hand the human world is insanely cheap looking, a green screen studio Bridgerton with questionable colonial undertones. The market scene is appalling, so shiny and weirdly modern looking as if you were in a themed tourist trap. The studio lighting makes all the actors look like soap opera extras. I feel so bad for the Eric actor who had to deliver that embarrassing solo that reaches the highest levels of camp. And the edit is so stiff, the acting so stilted it seems the director was inspired by Gone With the Wind.
So sure there are some so-bad-it's-good campy moments like the mermaids group looking like a doll display in a kid's bedroom, or the OTT actress playing human Ursula. But oh boy Javier Bardem looks like an AI gone wrong. His out of the water shots had the whole cinema laughing as you could just imagine him shooting them in a tiny pool trying to look serious with that hobo beard and cheesy shell outfit.
At least Halle/Ariel delivered and Ursula was just what you expected from one of the best Disney villains. I wish the climax was a bit longer because those visuals were stunning.
This new remake won't age well at all as all those unapologetically mediocre cash grabs.
The most shocking in this film is the visual incoherence between the ocean world and the human world. The ocean is all horrible cgi hair and crazy psychedelic colors but it feels like a proper universe. On the other hand the human world is insanely cheap looking, a green screen studio Bridgerton with questionable colonial undertones. The market scene is appalling, so shiny and weirdly modern looking as if you were in a themed tourist trap. The studio lighting makes all the actors look like soap opera extras. I feel so bad for the Eric actor who had to deliver that embarrassing solo that reaches the highest levels of camp. And the edit is so stiff, the acting so stilted it seems the director was inspired by Gone With the Wind.
So sure there are some so-bad-it's-good campy moments like the mermaids group looking like a doll display in a kid's bedroom, or the OTT actress playing human Ursula. But oh boy Javier Bardem looks like an AI gone wrong. His out of the water shots had the whole cinema laughing as you could just imagine him shooting them in a tiny pool trying to look serious with that hobo beard and cheesy shell outfit.
At least Halle/Ariel delivered and Ursula was just what you expected from one of the best Disney villains. I wish the climax was a bit longer because those visuals were stunning.
This new remake won't age well at all as all those unapologetically mediocre cash grabs.