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The Little Mermaid is an 2023 American live-action musical film which will be distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. It is a remake of the 1989 Walt Disney Animation Studios feature film of the same name, and loosely based on the fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen. Lin-Manuel Miranda and Marc Platt will produce the film. In addition to supervising the story, Miranda will be teaming up with composer Alan Menken to re-work songs from the original and the two will also be composing new songs for the film. The film is scheduled to be released on May 26, 2023.
Synopsis[]
The Little Mermaid is the beloved story of Ariel, a beautiful and spirited young mermaid with a thirst for adventure. The youngest of King Triton’s daughters and the most defiant, Ariel longs to find out more about the world beyond the sea and, while visiting the surface, falls for the dashing Prince Eric. While mermaids are forbidden to interact with humans, Ariel must follow her heart. She makes a deal with the evil sea witch, Ursula, which gives her a chance to experience life on land but ultimately places her life – and her father’s crown – in jeopardy.
Plot[]
Ariel is a mermaid with an insatiable curiosity for human culture and the surface world, despite the fact she has never seen it, as her father King Triton ruler of the ocean kingdom of Atlantica, has forbidden merpeople from visiting the surface world after Ariel's mother Athena was killed by a human. Ariel finds solace in human objects she finds, with support from her friends, Flounder, a sergeant major and Scuttle (voiced by Awkwafina), the gannet.
After having learned that Ariel was missing the Coral Moon meeting, which she was supposed to attend with her sisters, Triton scolds Ariel. Later that night, Ariel sees fireworks on the surface and decides to investigate. The fireworks come from a ship belonging to Eric, the prince of an island kingdom in the Caribbean. Ariel eavesdrops on a conversation between Eric and Prime Minister Grimsby about the former's desire to travel the world and help the people of his kingdom. A storm strikes and the crew head for the lifeboats. Eric is tossed overboard and almost drowns underwater. Ariel saves Eric from drowning, bringing him to shore, waking him with her singing voice. As Eric regains consciousness, Ariel flees. After Eric comes to, his adoptive mother Selina (Noma Dumezweni) forbids him from sailing again.
Ariel's absent-minded behavior is commented on by her sisters, and Triton learns from his advisor, Sebastian (voiced by Daveed Diggs), the crab, that Ariel visited the surface and saved a human from drowning. Triton confronts Ariel in her grotto, and when she refuses to stop visiting the surface world, he destroys her collection of treasures in anger. As Ariel tries to stop him, Triton destroys the statue. After Triton leaves, Ariel begins crying in the shattered hand part, and two eels with electric powers arrive and show Ariel a vision of the sea witch Ursula (Melissa McCarthy), her estranged aunt who is Triton's younger sister, who offers her help.
Ariel travels to her Auntie Ursula's cave, where the sea witch strikes a bargain with her; she will transform Ariel into a human for three days, in which time she must receive true love's kiss from Eric; if she succeeds, she will remain human forever. If she fails, she turns back into a mermaid, and will belong to Ursula. The deal, however, comes with a price; Ariel must sacrifice her abilities to breathe underwater, her tail, and her voice, which Ursula traps inside a nautilus. Ariel accepts the deal, and her tail is transformed into legs. Flounder and Sebastian take Ariel to the surface, where a fisherman saves her, and takes her back to Eric's castle. Eric, who has been searching for the woman who saved him, rushes to meet Ariel when he hears of her arrival. Ariel is excited, but her lack of voice turns the prince away. That evening, Ariel explores the castle, and discovers Eric's collection of items from his travels, and she and the prince pore over the collection.
The next day, Ariel and Eric explore the kingdom; where Ariel meets a market vendor (Jodi Benson, who was the original Ariel who made a special guest cameo). Sebastian has stowed away and discovers that Ursula has rigged the deal to make Ariel forget she has to kiss Eric. Sebastian, Scuttle and Flounder take it upon themselves to get the pair to kiss; they are almost successful, but Ursula sends her eels to thwart them. Enraged by the close call, Ursula transforms herself into a beautiful young woman called Vanessa (Jessica Alexander), using Ariel's voice to hypnotize Eric.
The next morning, Ariel and her friends discover that Eric will be announcing his engagement to Ursula as Vanessa. Scuttle discovers Ursula's true identity and informs Ariel, who rushes to the engagement party, breaking the nautilus shell, restoring her voice and breaking Eric's enchantment. Eric finds that Ariel is the right woman for him. Ursula warns Eric to leave Ariel alone. Before the two can kiss, the sun sets, and Ariel transforms back into a mermaid. While reverting to her original true form, Ursula grabs Ariel with her back into the sea.
Triton confronts Ursula and orders her to release Ariel, but Ursula informs her older brother that the deal Ariel made is unbreakable. Triton saves Ariel and takes her place, handing his trident to Ursula, while her eels release Ariel and disintegrate Triton. Ursula steals Triton’s crown and trident and declares herself the new ruler. Witnessing the incident, Ariel confronts Ursula and attempts to attack her. Ursula attempts to destroy Ariel, but after arriving, Eric saves Ariel and hits Ursula with a harpoon. Furiously, Ursula orders her eels to capture Eric. In the skirmish, Ursula almost destroys Eric, but while not in a good side, Ariel intervenes and attacks Ursula who accidentally kills her eels. As Ariel hurries to join Eric, Ursula shortly mourns the deaths of her eels. In a fit of rage, Ursula uses the trident to transform herself into a giant sea monster, creating a thunderstorm to threaten Ariel and Eric; a shipwreck is brought to the surface. At the midst, Ursula attempts use the trident to kill Eric, but fails. After pulling herself on the shipwreck, Ariel kills Ursula with its bowsprit. When Ursula dies, the trident she leaves behind sinks into the ocean and hits the sea floor, reviving Triton back to life. Ariel picks up Triton’s trident and hands it back to Triton, who now reclaims it. Triton and Ariel recognize the other's sacrifice for them. Eric returns home, where Selina acknowledges his love for Ariel was real.
Triton eventually accepts that although Ariel is home, she will not be happy without Eric. At Sebastian's request, he transforms her back into a human permanently. After Eric and Ariel marry, the two decide to travel the world together, with the support of their respective families and the people of the human and mer-world.
Cast[]
- Halle Bailey as Ariel
- Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric
- Daveed Diggs as Sebastian
- Awkwafina as Scuttle
- Jacob Tremblay as Flounder
- Noma Dumezweni as Queen Selina
- Art Malik as Grimsby
- Javier Bardem as King Triton
- Melissa McCarthy as Ursula
- Jessica Alexander as Vanessa
- Martina Laird as Lashana
- John Dagelish as Mulligan
- Christopher Fairbank as Hawkins
- Jude Akuwudike as Joshua
- Emily Coates as Rosa
- Karolina Conchet as Mala
- Kajsa Mohammar as Karina
- Simone Ashley as Indira
- Lorena Andrea as Perla
- Sienna King as Tamika
- Nathalie Sorrell as Caspia
- Jodi Benson as Market Vendor
- Russell Balogh as Triton Guard #1
- Adrian Christopher as Triton Guard #2
- Gary and Edna as Max
Differences from the 1989 film[]
- Ariel has vibrant red hair in the 1989 film, while she has a more natural red hair that is in locs in this film.
- Scuttle will be a female diving bird instead of a male seagull.
- Queen Selina and Eric's mother are new characters who appear in the remake.
- Flounder will be a teenage blue fish instead of a young male regal angelfish.
- Eric has his own song in this film.
- Unlike the 1989 film, Ariel is the one who defeats Ursula rather than Eric. This is more akin to the stage production of The Little Mermaid.
- Due to Ariel's seashell bra being replaced with Fish-skin, the scene on the beach with Ariel learning to stand and using the discarded sail was replaced with being fished out of the ocean by a fisherman. During this scene Ariel inspects her legs instead with her hair covering her chest due to Ariel now being completely naked post transformation.
- Ariel's six sisters have different names in this film: Mala, Karina, Indira, Caspia, Perla, and Tameka.
- Instead of their names all starting and ending with A, all of their names just end with A, with the exception of Ariel.
Trivia[]
- The film was originally supposed to be released in 2020, but it got delayed 2 times due to the COVID-19.
- This is the fourth collaboration between Rob Marshall and Disney after Marshall previously directed Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Into the Woods, and Mary Poppins Returns.
- According to Lin-Manuel Miranda during an interview on BBC's The One Show, all of the songs from the original 1989 animated film will still be part of the live-action adaptation.
- This is the sixth Disney Princess remake, after Maleficent, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Mulan.
- This is also the fifth movie from the Disney Renaissance to be remade.
- This will be Melissa McCarthy's first role for a Disney film since she played the Sky King waitress in The Kid.
- Due to Pinocchio being switched to Disney+ releases, this is the first exclusive theatrically-released remake of a Disney Animated Canon movie since Maleficent: Mistress of Evil.
- This is the first The Little Mermaid movie to be produced in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio. The other two were produced in 1.85:1.
- This will be the first ever Disney film to use the new 2022 on-screen logo.
- The movie trailer was criticized by the internet cause of how Ariel was portrayed as black.
- Both Halle Bailey and Jonah Hauer-King have expressed interest in returning for a sequel with Ariel and Eric having a child, If this becomes the case it may be the first instance of a Live-Action adaption of a Disney Direct-To-Video sequel.