Malaika Aman
When the trailer for The Little Mermaid live-action remake first aired, it sparked outrage for casting Halle Baily as the titular Ariel, who was white in the animated film. But, regardless of where you stand in this debate, there is no denying that no one asked for another live-action remake. We’ve all witnessed Disney’s current fall from grace, and it doesn’t appear that it will end anytime soon, as critics have panned this new remake as well.
While most people have praised Halle Baily’s performance in the film, they believe that the film’s magic has been sapped. While the original animated film was not groundbreaking due to its dated themes, it was still beautiful to look at and the songs are a bop that we will never forget. However, Disney appears to be hell-bent on making every live-action remake as ‘realistic’ as possible, removing all of the colorful scenery that made the original films so exciting to watch.
The CGI in The Little Mermaid looks worse than in a 2010 film.
People expected the backlash against casting a black actor as Ariel to continue, and while it has, the biggest surprise has been the awful CGI that early viewers of the film have pointed out. Even in the trailer and other tidbits, we’ve seen, it’s clear that the world of The Little Mermaid that we knew is nowhere to be found, and it’s just another cash grab while Disney brags about ‘equal representation’.
Fans also dislike the hyper-realistic nature of fan-favourite characters like Sebastian, and it appears that Disney has sucked out all of the originality that made The Little Mermaid so enjoyable to watch even decades later.
The Little Mermaid will be released in theatres around the world on May 26, 2023.