Haley Muschlitz

So I went to watch this last night and I was 50/50 about going into it. I’ve loved the little mermaid ever since I was a kid. I’d watch it to go to bed at night and always dressed up as her when I went to Disney. There was so much I disliked about this movie. For one, no concert scene with the sisters. Just a “family meeting” with all the daughters. And not was has their original name. And shocker, all different ethnicities. King triton looked like an old Nick Cage and that’s all I saw. And he had no compassion with Ariel at all. He was soulless and just bad acting. Prince Eric, played by a white man, has a black mother and no father. A mother?? Since when? And if they were going to cast those two, maybe have a Prince Eric that is mixed at least? Cause in no way do they even resemble or make me think “mother and son”. The CGI was scary and the movie was very dark and gloomy. I expected light and shimmering sea floor. Back to the casting, I love Melissa McCarthy and she wasn’t funny at all. Honestly the movie wasn’t really funny at all. Skuttle wasn’t a boy and that bothers me a lot. I think it’s the same actress who voiced Penelope in Barbies Rapunzel which was super annoying. And that song with Skuttle was just awful. Like super cringey. THE OUTFITS!!!!! I felt like I was watching a tropical Little House on the Prairie. The dress they put her in to see Eric? Not pink. The ICONIC blue sparkle dress when she emerges out of the water? Nope. Just the raggedy blue one she wore the whole movie that got torn off when Ursula took her back down. Her “wedding dress”? PINK???? RUFFLES? I was so appalled. Her wedding dress could have been the pink one she wore to see Eric after her bath. And Eric wore literally the same thing the entire movie. Not once was there an outfit change. White open shirt, blue vest, blue trousers and boots. Even for their “wedding attire”. The setting, why are we in tropical islands and not Scandinavia? The village scene? It felt like Moana’s village scene. Everything just felt so wrong about the scene. The palace felt out of place as did the royals and their attire. The acting just felt so wrong and forced. Like it makes he concept of the little mermaid that can’t speak seem stupid because of the acting. None of her facial expressions really expressed anything she was feeling or trying to say. Her relationship with Eric felt so wrong. Like maybe a friendship but anything other than that feels forced. All in all, this was simply a film to fill Disney’s political agenda. My childhood icon and favorite movie was turned into a cash grab. Plenty other mermaid movies that felt more magical and comforting than this.