Lynn R

As a person who went to see the movie and did not read the books, I found the pacing of the movie slow and boring. The flirting and lack of apparent plot had me frustrated. People were laughing at times during inside jokes, but I was not amused. Far from it. If you want a movie that will put you to sleep, watch this movie.

Disney is very cyclical and I could not help to think I saw a similar storyline before from another Disney property. Scott Lang/Sam Flynn get accidentally pulled into the Quantum Realm/The Grid. Janet van Dyne/Kevin Flynn trapped or once trapped angered the leader Kang/Clu and was forced to evade him. They seek the help of a friend Kylar/Zuse who once helped to fight against the leader at a bar/club where they are betrayed. The turncoat dies. The leader wants an object, Kang’s Power Source/Flynn’s Master Key. The leader also converts someone, Darren-MODOK/Tron-Rinzler, known to the protagonist to someone who does their bidding . The protagonist try to prevent the leader from sending an army from their realm to earth. Darren/Tron end up helping the protagonist. The leader is destroyed. Also, did I mention that there were advanced species/ beings in that realm - ISOS/advanced Ants. I felt like I was watching a variation of Tron-Legacy. What do you think? Did I miss any other similarities?

I want to start off by saying Disney’s animated The Little Mermaid was a movie I watched so many times over the years. I like that Disney tries to do new things. For example, Disney’s 1997 Cinderella with Brandy was great. I was counting down so excited to experience the hype of what was reported to be the makings of a “new classic”. However, sometimes doing things different does not always work. For me, a movie has a rhythm to it of highs and lows. For example, the animated opening scene with the song Fathoms Below brought excitement to the movie where one can sing along too and then dropping down to the calm of the sea below. In contrast, the live action movie took so long to even get to the first song that I got bored. Even though there is no doubt Halle Bailey can sing and sing really well, it took so long to get to the first song that I checked out. Also the live action King Triton’s acting was so dry. I felt it was emotionless and monotonous. There was no connective emotional tissue between Trition and Ariel to feel the genuine love and affection between the two. He was too stern. Leaving that part of the storyline flat. Same goes for Grimsby - flat. Also, don’t even get me started on the new useless songs especially Scuttlebutt. (Cringe worthy). Kiss the Girl and Part of Your World were probably the only passable acceptable remake versions in the whole movie. I do love the enhanced storyline to Eric’s backstory and Ariel’s genuine personality that helps Eric to truly falling in love with her. However, I sorely missed certain scenes like Scuttle looking for a heartbeat on Eric’s foot, Chef Louis’ song, and Ariel’s “I love you DADDY.”( Not “father” as said in the live action movie.). Again the formality shows no true affection between the two. It just makes me appreciate the craft and skill the original animated voice actors put into their roles. I felt all the emotions just from the affectations and nuances in their speech and the musical cues that were in the original movie. I challenge you to just listen to the animated version versus the live action with your eyes closed and I bet you will find the latter very flat. Over 33 years ago I left the movie theater emotional with my heart full of possibilities. Yesterday, I left heartbroken with what could have been a great movie . . . that was just so-so.