"The Little Mermaid-A Movie Review by Sey"

Sey
Jun 7, 2023
3 min read

We’re baaaack and have plenty of moves for you to look forward to this summer. If you’re a little late to the party, let me get you hip to a movie that’ll definitely be #TheMove for friends and family alike; The Little Mermaid!

Disney made huge waves in September 2021 when they officially announced Halle Bailey as their lead for the highly anticipated live action version of the classic, The Little Mermaid. It would be Disney’s first time to date casting a Black actress to play the lead role of any of their live action princesses on film! The movie originally came out in 1989, before releasing a sequel, The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea.

ree — Courtesy of Heidi Venable, CinemaBlend

Most people assume singer and actress, Brandy, made the first Disney princess debut as a Black woman, but her movie was actually produced by CBS in the late 90’s (Erickson). It was owned by Westinghouse Corporations during this time NOT Disney. Disney doesn’t even own the copyrights to popular fairytale stories Snow White and Cinderella (Runge), just their animated adaptations. This being said, Disney took a pretty big leap in the diversity pool with the casting of the 2023 version of The Little Mermaid.

This has to be one of Disney’s most diverse films. We see this from the beginning as they introduce Ariel’s sisters. Another example of them switching things up, is changing the gender of supporting character, Scuttle. It hasn’t been confirmed if Disney did this on purpose before casting or afterwards. Either way, Scuttle is portrayed by Asian American-Awkwafina. Prince Eric’s immediate family shows us a bit of diversity as well with Noma Dumezweni casted as the Queen.

ree — Courtesy of Lana Porter, Disney Dining

ree — Courtesy of Lana Porter, Disney Dining

ree — Courtesy of Lana Porter, Disney Dining

ree — Courtesy of Lana Porter, Disney Dining

Alright, now let's get into the real tea, the movie! The Little Mermaid was casted wonderfully and had excellent production. For starters, the mic was onnnn honey. Everyone was sharing their vocals. Halle Bailey, Jonah Hauer King, Daveed Diggs, and even Awkwafina belted out a note or two. Halle Bailey delivered a wonderful performance where she displayed plenty of emotion and embodied her role. She already has a princess-like aura about her so it's no surprise. Another person who really wowed me with their performance was, Daveed Diggs. He had pretty big shoes to fill portraying Samuel E Wright's character, Sebastian. It took me a few scenes to get adjusted to Digg's version of Sebastian's accent, but he soon carried the same emotion, annoyance, and humor as the original. I thought he did excellent.

Another underrated component of the movie was the CGI, computer generated images. I really felt like I was in an underwater kingdom. The coral, the terrain, and even the animal characters were pretty realistic with the tiniest bit of a Disney twist. The mermaids looked magical with their glittery skin and authentic swim movements. Let's also shout out the hair and makeup team for Black Ariel! I say this because having people who are used to dealing with your hair texture and skin tones is important. You could tell there were some black and brown people apart of Halle's team because she looked stunning. She was a princess through and through.

ree — Courtesy of Jamie Body, Digital Spy

Overall The Little Mermaid is an excellent film for families, friends, nostalgic 90's babies, and Disney princess lovers. On a serious note, it was amazing to see a girl that looks like me on a screen that big. It was her face with little additives and authentic Black features. I did tear up like a little punk, but I don't care because it was beautiful. I'll be showing this to all the little girls in my life.

The Little Mermaid is currently still in any of your local theaters. I highly recommend the 4D version if you don't have a sensitive stomach.