Given that I wasn’t a fan of the original 1989 film (*gasp*), I thought this “live action” remake was a little better than the original. It still has a few of the same issues but it makes improvements to the story and characters. But since it’s only about 50% a good flick, I come down right in the middle.

This adaptation follows the same plot as the original. Ariel wants more, her dad doesn’t, she meets a human with those things (oh, yeah, feet) and falls in love, etc.

But this time the prince gets a personality injection and a bit of a backstory… and we can see why Ariel might be attracted to him (besides his disturbing resemblance to Patrick Dempsey when he smiles). Having two romantic leads with things in common fixes one aspect of the original. They were cute together and they pulled off the Kiss the Girl sequence quite well. I was actually rooting for them in the second half of the film. I cared.

But that still leaves a kind of a drag of a first half with its devotion to the original and the bulk of my least favorite Disney Renaissance songs. I didn’t much care for them before and they haven’t gotten much better now. In fact, I think lovely newcomer Halle Bailey (<sings>who has a name too similar to that other Hollywood actress… what’s her name…?) over-sings her power moments (or perhaps my theater’s sound system was turned up to eleven).

Also, I could have lived a long unsettled life without anatomically realistic Sebastian and Flounder. The site of an actual crab scuttling around was weird… watching their crab and fish lips speak and sing was weirder. There’s a reason they want cartoony in 1989… to better relate to the viewer… and to sell more toys! Will these depictions sell toys? I hope not!!!

They did some tinkering to the plot and added a few new songs. In an improvement to the plot, the prince gets his own “I want” song… which is kind of boring but at least it exists. And to the annoyance of probably everyone, the seagull – as voiced by Awkwafina – gets a rap. It’s grating on the ears but that’s the point… and I thought it was a hell of a lot of bouncy fun (and clearly written by Lin-Manuel Miranda… to the annoyance of many).

Overall, I don’t think this is a great film but it’s a lot better than it could have been. They stuck to the expected standards but made some smart changes. Hiring Halle Bailey and John Hauer-King was a good move as they bring life to the romance (and Melissa McCarthy is campy fun as Ursula). It’s a good effort… though not my favorite “live action” Disney remake.

Score: 78