Halle Bailey as Ariel in The Little Mermaid. Image Credit & Copyright: Disney/AP
Sea creatures follow the Princess of Wales. There have been reports of a treacherous dig at the expense of Katherine, Princess of Wales, who was smuggled into Disney's new remake of The Little Mermaid. An underwater shadow is cast when Ariel, the eponymous mermaid, meets the dashing Prince Eric. While trying to guess her name, he first lands on Diana and then on Katherine. At the last, Ariel grimaces. “Okay, definitely not Katherine,” says Eric.
This admittedly low-key insult is sure to draw negative comments — something this holey 200 million juggernaut really doesn't need. Since Disney's first announcement in 2016, the project has faced controversy, both fake and real. Some of them are nothing but the internet doing what it does best and being racist.
Others speak of a wider concern about Disney's ongoing project to turn its most beloved animated films into flesh-and-blood films. And then there is the third category, represented by the gag of the Princess of Wales. They should be registered in the section: What were they thinking?
The Little Mermaid is a cartoon, but there is more to it. Disney was at an all-time low when the original was released in November 1989. He experienced a series of failures, the most humiliating of which was Oliver & The Company is a retelling of Oliver Twist featuring a «group of street dogs.»
It's a sure sign that bottom is coming when the beloved studio comes down to giving Dickens a doggy makeover. At this point, Disney was facing creative bankruptcy. And then came The Little Mermaid, with its Howard Ashman and Alan Menken winning collection of songs, and just like that, the Magic Kingdom regained its charm. There is no movie more loved by Disney fans.
However, with the remake, it's unclear whether those now in charge of Disney appreciate the original's subtle undersea magic. First, there was a carousel casting of a potential Ariel (voiced in the original by Jodi Benson). Lindsay Lohan's name was floated, as was Ariana Grande's (many fans' choice). Euphoria's Zendaya was reportedly in the picture, though she insisted it was «just a rumor»:
In 2019, it was officially announced that Ariel would play Halle Bailey, half of the pop duo Chloe x Halle. For the racists on the Internet — it turns out there are quite a few of them — it was a moment of blood in the water. There was a huge howl of fake outrage, and the first teaser trailer garnered 1.5 million dislikes. This was followed by several petitions demanding that Disney «honor» the roots of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale by choosing a white actress (not to mention that the original cartoon shamelessly misrepresented the source material).
«The Little Mermaid is Danish!» started one petition. «I feel like Disney is using Ariel's race change as a political tool,» said another. One «fan» of Ariel who had too much free time created a fake trailer, replacing Bailey with a white CGI actress.
1989 Disney animated version of The Little Mermaid. Posted by Alami
Fans were shocked once again when it was revealed that the original lyrics had been changed to reflect the «changing cultural attitude towards consent». «Kiss the Girl Songs» and «Poor Unfortunate Souls» have been remastered, said Alan Menken, who worked on the score for the new film with Hamilton's Lin-Manuel Miranda.
«There are some lyrical changes in 'Kiss the Girl' because people have become very sick of the idea of [Prince Eric] imposing himself on [Ariel] in any way,» Menken told Vanity Fair.
All of these contradictions, fake or not, could be brushed aside if the trailers hit the public. But the teasers for the film went from stunning to terrifying. Dark and dirty, they are nothing compared to the underwater marvels that James Cameron recently created in Avatar: The Way of the Water. And then there's the latest trailer featuring the must see talking CGI fish and the terrifying Sebastian crab.
Sebastian is a mouth mollusk in the cartoon. However, the live-action format requires Disney to create a «realistic crab» — just like they did with the wildlife in Jon Favreau's The Lion King. So we get a David Cronenberg-esque ghost when the snapping crab asks Ariel to kiss her one true love. It will make your insides shrink and your soul freeze.
I don't want to be one of those reactionary Disney guys or whatever, but Sebastian, the terrible crab in the new The Little Mermaid, is an abomination that needs to be destroyed pic.twitter.com /qLNggqnoQq
— Rob (@robrousseau) May 18, 2023
As The Little Mermaid continues to garner negative headlines, one wonders why Disney even wanted to remake it. The obvious answer is that remakes of classic cartoons have proven incredibly profitable: The Lion King 2.0 grossed $1.6 billion and Guy Ritchie's Aladdin grossed over $1 billion. like Tim Burton's deplorable Dumbo (a disappointing $350 million at the box office, which meant Disney was practically break even) and last year's hollowed-out retelling of Pinocchio by Robert Zemeckis, which starred Tom Hanks as the half-witted Geppetto to terrible reviews. «Pinocchio urges the star to wish that Disney would stop diluting the legacy of their favorite animated films with these soulless fakes,» wrote the LA Times.
According to the trailers, «soulless fake-off» is a term equally applicable to new «The Little Mermaid», released on May 26. By all accounts, Bailey is a revelation; if anything, the film serves as a confirmation of her casting. But otherwise, early reviews suggest that this is a mild disappointment. With so much invested in this — and working hard to create this royal climax — Disney will desperately hope it doesn't sink without leaving a trace.
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