I have watched this movie 7 times since it was released. When I feel down I would go watch this film. It helps that I work at a theater. Every scene was beautifully done, absolutely loved the new songs. That fact that they were able to capture that Ariel was more curious about everything around her and not so caught up in chasing Eric, was simply well done.
It was hilarious that Eric was the one chasing after Ariel instead of the other way around.
edit: I felt the need to come back and clarify some things because of all the nitpicking negative reviews.
Ariel is a fictional character so she can be any race. She could be vulcan for all I care. If you are old enough to remember HBO's Happily ever After: A story for every child, Ariel and the entire cast was Asian. Why is everyone so caught up in the Disney version? Disney is into the business of making happy endings. The real little Mermaid DIED in the original story, and it was horrific because she dissolved into sea foam when Eric married someone else.
Some African American people do in fact have red hair but the color comes out almost a gold-ish blonde and pale brown. So no her hair could not be blood red.
Flounder is a tropical fish. In the animated film Flounder is large enough to help Ariel swim to shore, again this is supposed to be the real world. And all they did was shrink Flounder down to size.
They changed having Sebastian in the kitchen because he was nearly KILLED. The part with the chef in the animated film would not have been something to let kids watch because the chef was practically unhinged chasing after Sebastian to kill him.
They wanted Ariel to not be so reliant on Eric to save her. They wanted to show a Princess that was like all Disney Princess before and after her, strong enough to save themselves and the people they care about.
THERE IS NO LIGHT IN THE OCEAN! The ocean is a dark abyss that only gets light when the sun is up. That is practically middle school science, people should know this! The scenes were dark because there is no natural light in the Ocean.