The Little Mermaid (2023) (1 Viewer)

[Jake Lipson]

There's nothing special about McCarthy's voice.

I think the difference is that Carroll was scary. It doesn't feel like McCarthy is all that intimidating.

but they can find time to let Disney promote "Little Mermaid".

The Oscars do air on ABC, which is owned by Disney. That being said, I was surprised that they had Bailey and McCarthy introduce it from the stage instead of just running it during the commercial break.

 

[Joe Wong]

Has the Oscars promoted a forthcoming film like this before? I understand the ABC-Disney connection, but it seemed odd.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Has the Oscars promoted a forthcoming film like this before?

Yes.

This happened last year right after Best Supporting Actor was presented. I assume Evans recorded five versions of this in advance and they just ran the one with Kotsur's name after he won.



Disney also debuted the first trailers for Mary Poppins Returns and West Side Story in the Oscar broadcast.

 

[Joe Wong]

Yes.

This happened last year right after Best Supporting Actor was presented. I assume Evans recorded five versions of this in advance and they just ran the one with Kotsur's name after he won.



Disney also debuted the first trailers for Mary Poppins Returns and West Side Story in the Oscar broadcast.

Thanks - I had forgotten that.

Trailers I understand since they're decided by the network, but I thought the Academy would have had more control over the show's content, and not try to give favour to one particular studio for promotional purposes during the show itself. But I suppose Disney and the Academy negotiated it.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Trailers I understand since they're decided by the network

Again, "the network" IS Disney in this case. I'm sure that people high up at Disney are involved in the decisions about the Oscars ceremony. It isn't just some garden variety TV show, so the management of the studio probably takes a bigger interest in it than a normal program. Jimmy Kimmel was certainly selected to host in part because of his long association with Disney/ABC. To put it another way, you wouldn't see Jimmy Kimmel as Oscar host if the show was on NBC or CBS.

There were also ads for other movies and studios during the commercial breaks. I remember a couple for Netflix and one for Warner Bros. 100th anniversary. So it's not like Disney is the only studio that gets to advertise during the show.

 

[Tino]

The trailer looks...competent.

Obviously, this is only a taste and the whole movie will have to be judged as a complete whole. But so far, I'm not impressed by Melissa McCarthy as Ursula.

She was more impressive than Bailey to me.

 

[Alex...]

That was a good first trailer, the test screening said one of the positives was McCarthy as Ursula. I have no doubt she'll be fine in the role.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

The Oscars do air on ABC, which is owned by Disney. That being said, I was surprised that they had Bailey and McCarthy introduce it from the stage instead of just running it during the commercial break.

I fully get that, but it still seemed immensely tacky that they used actual Oscar ceremony time for a freakin' trailer - and they used HB and MM to intro the trailer like it was an award!

 

[Chuck Mayer]

I only saw the trailer (if it was truncated) that ran during the ceremony. Felt like the other live-action adaptations. Soulless and overcooked. Showing those "underwater" scenes a few months after Avatar made them feel completely dry (which they obviously were). Bailey looks like she will bring some energy, but not nearly enough to get me to see it, theater or Disney+ or otherwise.

 

[Malcolm R]

I would tend to agree. None of the live action versions have bettered the animated originals. Nothing I've seen about this film leads me to believe this is anything special, either.

 

[Alex...]

She's got the laugh down perfectly.

 

[Alex...]

 

[Rob W]

I would tend to agree. None of the live action versions have bettered the animated originals.

I think the live-action Mulan is every bit as good as the original, possibly better. Gorgeously shot, and eliminating the songs made it less of a cookie-cutter remake like so many of the others have been.

 

[Joe Wong]

Good to see Lin Manuel Miranda co-writing the song!

Howard Ashman’s lyrics are pretty unique (to the point where the songs he penned for Aladdin were distinctly different to the ones written by Tim Rice).

If anyone can do something that honours Ashman’s legacy, I’d put my money on Miranda!

 

[Jake Lipson]

So Ariel is going to be singing a song "the moment she hits land"...when her voice is taken away?

That doesn't really make much logical sense.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I would tend to agree. None of the live action versions have bettered the animated originals. Nothing I've seen about this film leads me to believe this is anything special, either.

I think, for better or worse, each of these “live action” redos has grossed a billion dollars and been widely appreciated by the audience that’s being targeted. I know they’re not all to our individual tastes here, but they’re working for the audiences they’re being made for, so I wouldn’t really expect the mindset behind them to change.

 

[Jake Lipson]

None of the live action versions have bettered the animated originals.

They're not being made with the intention of doing that.

The live-action remakes basically serve the same function as the direct-to-video sequels that Disney used to pump out in the '90s and early 2000s. They cost a lot more money to make -- and, in success, make more money back -- but the intention is to appeal to people with pre-existing nostalgic affection for the property based on the original film. In that respect, they usually tend to be successful.

As has been well documented around the forum, I ended up hating the remakes of Aladdin and The Lion King. But I still paid to go see them once based on my love for their original counterparts. As a fan of the original, I was too curious not to see what they did with the adaptation. I'll do the same thing with The Little Mermaid at least once for the same reason. It will have to be good in order for me to want to see it again or buy the eventual Blu-ray. But in order for me to see it once, it just has to be The Little Mermaid. Disney knows this, and that's why they keep making these.

Based on the grosses for Aladdin and The Lion King, a lot of people seemed to like those remakes well enough to see them again. Nostalgia is a strong enough force to get a good opening for these titles, but it takes a film that people like to enjoy a longer run such as those titles had.

Nothing I've seen about this film leads me to believe this is anything special, either.

I think based on what we've seen so far, Halle Bailey seems to be the best thing about this. I love her voice. It's almost a shame that they've used so much of Part of That/Your World in the marketing because we won't be able to hear it for the first time in the context of the movie. It is funny to consider how iconic that song has become because it wasn't even nominated for the Oscar when the animated film came out. Under the Sea won and Kiss the Girl was nominated, but they didn't recognize Part of That/Your World at all.

On the other hand, they do appear to be hiding many of the other characters here. Based on the one line Daveed Diggs has in the trailer, it sounds like he's doing a Samuel E. Wright impression. Wright was so effective in this role that I suppose that's kind of inevitable, but it does sound strange. I think using Awkwafina as Scuttle is a smart choice; because the character is now female, it will have to be reinterpreted instead of getting a guy to do a Buddy Hackett impression.

 

[Jason_V]

So Ariel is going to be singing a song "the moment she hits land"...when her voice is taken away?

That doesn't really make much logical sense.

Lots of ways this could make sense.

Just one: she’s singing it in her head. No outward voice needed.

You’re also taking it as a given this version will progress exactly like the animated version. I’m not willing to assume that.

 

[Jake Lipson]

she’s singing it in her head. No outward voice needed.

You are right that they could certainly do this. They did it in the Broadway show and gave Ariel two songs in the second act with this approach. But I think that letting the audience hear her devalues the whole idea of her losing her voice. The original film was extremely effective because they stuck to the rules that they established and had the animation carry the weight of Ariel's expressions when she wasn't able to speak. It would have been easy to give Ariel an internal monologue for Jodi Benson to say when no one else could hear her, but that would be cheating. You really feel the loss of Ariel's voice because they drop her out of it for that period of time.

You’re also taking it as a given this version will progress exactly like the animated version. I’m not willing to assume that.

This is a Disney live-action remake of one of their most popular films of all time. The vast majority of the previous remakes have played out like their animated counterparts. The trailer certainly seems to indicate that this will largely be the case here too. So yes, I expect it to remain close to the structural basis of its predecessor. Ariel trading her voice, specifically, is such a fundamental source of drama in the original that it drives basically the entire second half of the movie. I don't think it is truly The Little Mermaid if they don't keep that.

 

[Jason_V]

This is a Disney live-action remake of one of their most popular films of all time. The vast majority of the previous remakes have played out like their animated counterparts. The trailer certainly seems to indicate that this will largely be the case here too. So yes, I expect it to remain close to the structural basis of its predecessor. Ariel trading her voice, specifically, is such a fundamental source of drama in the original that it drives basically the entire second half of the movie. I don't think it is truly The Little Mermaid if they don't keep that.

Storylines and details have been tweaked/added in all the live action films to varying degrees.

The drama is that she can’t talk to the people around her, for sure. But she can still communicate with them. (Let’s not ask why she didn’t write to Eric with a pen and paper, it I digress.) It would be interesting to see what she is thinking during this whole part of her life when she’s normally very into being vocal.