We watched soon after learning that our friend worked on the film. As you maybe or may not know, my opinions of these remakes have been hit-or-miss. Some of them were great and had something unique to offer that the original didn’t, The others were akin to a community theater performance of a Broadway production: it’s good because it reminds you of how great the original was.
This movie was the former. The original film was one of those movies that defined a stage of my childhood, where the songs were not just the soundtrack of the film, but of my life. I wanted to be a part of something bigger than what I had, and as I was still shy at that point, I wanted to connect with people in a way more meaningful than what I was capable of. And the original movie captured all of that, propelled by it’s amazing songs and score. It didn’t occur to me until just now, as I write this, that Ariel’s experience of being voiceless mirrored my own. Except she eventually found what she was looking for, so no wonder I enjoyed it so much. I thought this new version did a great job at capturing these elements, but did it differently than the original.
Melissa McCarthy absolutely killed her role as Usual and was just amazing! I had no idea she could sing, and her version of Poor Unfortunate Souls was better than the original. As I recall, I haven’t thought any of the new versions of the songs were better then the original, so kudos to Melissa. The things that I most appreciated about her performance was that she truly played Ursula, and didn’t bring any of her trademark comedic personality to the character. When Jim Carrey did Grinch, or Will Smith did Genie, it was like “here’s the Will version of Genie”. Or, “It’s the Grinch, only he’s wacky and slapstick like Carey”. I didn’t know Melissa played the character while I was watching, and wasn’t even sure if it was her or an actor that looked like her until we got to the credits. And seeing as how the sea witch is one of Disney’s most charismatic, iconic villains, that’s an impressive feat.
One other piece of this new version that warned my heart was the sequence in which Jodie Benson (the original Ariel) handed a dinglehopper to Halle Bailey’s version of the character. Jodie will always be the iconic voice, but Halle is a human face that looks fast more authentic as an actor than any of the theme park versions which try to look like a real life version of animated Ariel. I really works, having an actor of different ethnicity than the original. And despite that, she still looks and feels like her animated counterpart! I was original okay with them not using a white actor simply because Halle looked great as the character. Once I saw the movie, however, I realized the change was far more significant than just one character. They expanded the original theme, of wanting to belong to something foreign, to a literal explosion of other cultures. I’m other words, we’re not just limiting this to mythical creatures anymore: we’re talking about real peoples in the world today. They took Sebastian’s Island accent and used a Caribbean culture as the dominating local culture! They kept Eric anglo, but made it a point to identify him as adopted. And that lead to a depending of his character, as it gives him motivation for his drive to explore. I don’t know any adopted person who hasn’t been curious at some point about their birth parents, especially when their own ethnicity different from the rest of their family. Eric’s character plays a larger, appreciated role in this film, breaking the Disney tradition of “generic hottie” romantic interests. Flounder plays less of a role, Flotsam, Jesom, and Vanessa didn’t even get named, but Scuttle plays a larger role and even gets a musical number(?).
Lastly, and I won’t spoil the ending for anyone reading this who is now Chris too check the film out, but there is a subtle yet significant change during the climax that is well appreciated, and quite honestly should have been done in the original. I thoroughly enjoyed it.