The Little Mermaid came out on May 26, 2023 with Halle Bailey playing the role of Ariel, Jonah Haurer-King as Prince Eric, Daveed Diggs as Sebastian, and Melissa McCarthy as Ursula.
This movie was one of the movies I’ve been looking forward to since it was announced. It definitely lived up to my expectations and I think more people agree with me than disagree. If you haven’t seen it yet then you should stop reading.
This movie’s cast was absolutely amazing and Halle’s performance as Ariel deserves all kinds of awards. Her voice is so princess like and she really fit the role. Melissa McCarthy as Ursula was genius casting and she was amazing as that character. Her voice really fit the role of Ursula.
There were things that were changed in the movie which I actually loved and thought it added to the movie. The Little Mermaid was never my favorite princess movie so I didn’t remember every detail, but for people that do remember every detail then the differences may annoy them.
One of the changes from the original Disney movie was that when Ariel gave Ursula her voice she signed her name, but in the new version she gives her one of her scales. I saw this change as crucial because it eliminated a plot hole from the original movie. Ariel being able to sign her name implied that she could’ve written down everything and told Eric, but with the change it makes more sense.
There have been some criticism on Daveed Digg’s performance as Sebastian. People have been saying that his accent wasn’t the best which I do agree with. But I was still able to really enjoy the movie.
There was an added song for Prince Eric which added on to the movie and showed that Eric and Ariel did have the same wants in life. They both longed to explore which his song really shows. I see his song “Wild Uncharted Waters” as his version of Ariel’s, “Part Of That World” because the meanings are similar.
While all the songs and song scenes were amazing there are some that really stood out to me. Specifically, “Kiss the Girl” and “Under the Sea” were the best ones. These scenes were unbeatable for me and you could tell how much work went into it. They were just amazing to watch.
When watching the behind the scenes of “Under the Sea”, I was able to see how much imagination and creativity that was needed for a movie like this.