Review: The Little Mermaid

The Little Mermaid is the latest live-action remake of a Disney animated classic. Starring Melissa McCarthy, Javier Bardem and Halle Bailey as Ariel. Directed by Rob Marshall (Chicago, Into the Woods).The 1989 Little Mermaid was the film that turned the Disney studio's fortunes around after a string of uninspired animated features. It was a stone-cold classic, the sort that Uncle Walt used to make. It got everything right - a modern heroine, genuinely amusing sidekicks, some great songs and the clever Disneyfication of Hans Christian Anderson's romantic but tragic original.And for a solid decade, Disney animators could do no wrong. They followed The Little Mermaid with Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King - all original, deftly produced and enchanting. But for the last decade, Disney's decided to abandon original and enchanting in favour of simply duplicating what worked before. And here they go again.The rationale is that what worked before will work again if it's given flashier 3D animation, and new, more relevant performers.I've seen no evidence that this is the case, incidentally. The audience I saw this Little Mermaid with were clearly indoctrinated already, calling out favourite plot points as they happened.Still, comparisons being odious, let's all pretend this is the original movie. And we open on a ship above the sea, where Prince Eric is having some difficulty in a storm.Under the sea we meet mermaid Ariel, who it seems is fascinated by the world of humans.Despite the warnings of her father, the King of the Sea, she hangs around the shore and of course regularly bursts into song, explaining why she's doing it.Actually - breaking my "ignore the original movie" rule for a moment - my complaint about most films from the Disney Renaissance of the Nineties was that they tended to overdo the songs a bit. Did we really need a song about every twist of the plot?Apparently we do. In fact, the remake goes even further. Original songwriter Alan Menken and new lyricist Lin-Manuel Miranda have written even more songs, all a solid two or three minutes long.Anyway, Ariel saves Prince Eric, then flees before he can get a good look at her. This doesn't go down well with either Eric's mum, the Queen of Dry Land, or Ariel's Dad, the Undersea King.Ariel obsesses over Eric because - well, you know, love at first sight, Hans Christian Anderson. And, despite the advice of her comedy sidekicks - a crab, a gannet and a fish called Flounder - she decides to get help from Ursula the evil Sea Witch…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details