• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

The Little Mermaid Live Action (no politics)

Best song in the movie


96k dislikes, goddamn
9OKdYlu.png
 

Batiman

Banned
The argument that this film is targeted for kids (on who's authority?) so we can't criticize it's quality, or adults won't enjoy it because its for kids doesn't make any sense.
Is it not targeted at kids? If this isn’t, what is then?
 

Batiman

Banned
Disappointed King Of The Hill GIF


If anything, this is far MORE of a thing today. As generations go on, people are gradually maturing from this childish idea of animation being for kids.

And no, most of Disney‘s animated films can appeal to anyone. We’re not talking Blue’s Clues here. Now, some Disney animated films might focus a bit more for kids while still being able to appeal to adults and vice versa (kind of a world of difference between Beauty and the Beast and Hunchback of Notre Dame, for example), but ultimately most can be enjoyed by anyone.
Have you ever seen adults go to the theatre for animated/Disney movie with out kids? I’ve never seen that in my life am I go frequently with my son and nieces. With the exception of maybe spider verse. It’s a kids movie through and through. Targeting kids. That doesn’t mean adults can’t have an opinion on it though. Most kids like every movie they see too. Some movies they just like a lot more than others. I can’t remember a kid ever walking out a theatre saying they didn’t like a movie. They’re easily pleased. Around 10-12 is when they start being more picky with what they want to see
 

AmuroChan

Member
Have you ever seen adults go to the theatre for animated/Disney movie with out kids? I’ve never seen that in my life am I go frequently with my son and nieces. With the exception of maybe spider verse. It’s a kids movie through and through. Targeting kids. That doesn’t mean adults can’t have an opinion on it though. Most kids like every movie they see too. Some movies they just like a lot more than others. I can’t remember a kid ever walking out a theatre saying they didn’t like a movie. They’re easily pleased. Around 10-12 is when they start being more picky with what they want to see

When I took my kids to see the movie on opening weekend, I would say about 25% of the audience were there without kids. They were mostly couples on dates or groups of women in their 30s.
 

Happosai

Hold onto your panties
When I took my kids to see the movie on opening weekend, I would say about 25% of the audience were there without kids. They were mostly couples on dates or groups of women in their 30s.
Yup. And like I said, the kiddos aren't the majority writing post viewing reviews.
 

Kilau

Member
When I was 16 I lost my virginity. I thought as a prelude to the night her and I should watch a film, she chose The Little Mermaid - the original as this was many years ago. We left it playing as we took each others innocence and came of age, then came again. To this day I'm unable to achieve orgasm without hearing Sebastian singing "Under the Sea".
il_1588xN.1499741502_kb3n.jpg
 

Batiman

Banned
When I took my kids to see the movie on opening weekend, I would say about 25% of the audience were there without kids. They were mostly couples on dates or groups of women in their 30s.
Never seen this in my life. Maybe TLM is a little more understandable though
 

Kiwicha

Member

I just saw a clip of this rant in the remake and I don't understand how can anyone say that the live action is better. While the crab is talking, Ariel is just looking away like she's boring. The director didn't or couldn't replicate those little details that make the original so much more emotional.
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
I would easily betray my country and give up all of its secrets if I was forced to listen to this song again and again as a form of torture
What did they play against Noriega in Panama?


The troops' playlist came care of the Southern Command Network, the US military radio in central America. It featured hits picked for their irony value, including I Fought The Law by The Clash, Panama by the stadium rock band Van Halen, U2's All I Want Is You, and Bruce Cockburn's If I Had A Rocket Launcher.
Guns'N'Roses and The Doors both played starring roles.
 

yazenov

Member
Is it not targeted at kids? If this isn’t, what is then?

Its not target exclusively for kids.
Maybe some of the audience for this movie grew up watching the original animated film and wanted to check the live action movies?

I mean, who decided for us if this movie is specifically targeted for kids or adults? Unless Disney says specifically that this movie is for kids guys and you filthy adults aren't allowed to watch it :p
 

Pagusas

Elden Member
Have you ever seen adults go to the theatre for animated/Disney movie with out kids? I’ve never seen that in my life am I go frequently with my son and nieces. With the exception of maybe spider verse. It’s a kids movie through and through. Targeting kids. That doesn’t mean adults can’t have an opinion on it though. Most kids like every movie they see too. Some movies they just like a lot more than others. I can’t remember a kid ever walking out a theatre saying they didn’t like a movie. They’re easily pleased. Around 10-12 is when they start being more picky with what they want to see
My wife and I go to every Disney movie, we have no kids. We have a large group of adult friends who also enjoy every Disney release. All without kids.
 

jufonuk

not tag worthy
Im sure my daughter will want to watch this. I will bet the animated version is the better version overall but this could be fun.

Tbh I don’t think any live action version of a Disney film has been better than the animated version. They just seem to lack something. Maybe it’s too much green screen and cgi? I don’t know.

Maybe jungle book because of Christopher Walken?
 
Last edited:

Batiman

Banned
Im sure my daughter will want to watch this. I will bet the animated version is the better version overall but this could be fun.

Tbh I don’t think any live action version of a Disney film has been better than the animated version. They just seem to lack something. Maybe it’s too much green screen and cgi? I don’t know.

Maybe jungle book because of Christopher Walken?
Jungle book was the only one I really liked. I know Aladdin wasn’t great but for some reason I enjoyed it…. I don’t remember it though…
 

mcjmetroid

Member
Something is really off about this one review wise.

The audience score in Rottentomatoes is way too high.. 95% is extremely unlikely.
IMDB's score then is too low but they have responded to it by removing a lot of the 10s and 1s apparently.

The film by all accounts is neither a 10 or a 1. The gist I'm getting is that it's,.... OK.
 

Fake

Gold Member
Something is really off about this one review wise.

The audience score in Rottentomatoes is way too high.. 95% is extremely unlikely.
IMDB's score then is too low but they have responded to it by removing a lot of the 10s and 1s apparently.

The film by all accounts is neither a 10 or a 1. The gist I'm getting is that it's,.... OK.

We got to a point that 'every low score' is troll or hate, so if you delete lower score without even analyze if there are a conversation about, sure the score will be replace for the higher numbers.

Most of them just think trolls just do low scores, never high. Of course if you delete zero numbers and leave the 10 numbers the score will be high.
 

BadBurger

Many “Whelps”! Handle It!
Disappointed King Of The Hill GIF


If anything, this is far MORE of a thing today. As generations go on, people are gradually maturing from this childish idea of animation being for kids.

And no, most of Disney‘s animated films can appeal to anyone. We’re not talking Blue’s Clues here. Now, some Disney animated films might focus a bit more for kids while still being able to appeal to adults and vice versa (kind of a world of difference between Beauty and the Beast and Hunchback of Notre Dame, for example), but ultimately most can be enjoyed by anyone.

Alright. As I mentioned I haven't seen much of any of them but it's impossible not to have absorbed the plot and focus of these films by merely existing and being exposed to the internet these past 20+ years.

That said, they all appear focused very much on children without challenging them or examining deeper subject matter. Studio Ghibli they are not. For example, My Neighbor Totoro is obviously a kid's film, but it deals with the potential ache of losing a loved one in a realistic fashion. Princess Mononoke has graphic depictions of violence but also introduces children to more complex subjects such as man versus nature, nature versus nurture, even things like industrialization and egalitarianism in favor of fellow man despite the consequences. I could go on and on about Ghibli films, but suffice to say they're a good example of animated films that appeal largely to children but also very clearly appeal to adult sensibilities and worries.

Disney movies on the other hand might have a rather milquetoast depiction of death or something on that level, but in the end they're largely just coming of age stories about princesses or princess-like archetypes that overcome some supernatural or otherwise fantastical dilemma to find love at a young age.

Anyways, I hope anyone who saw The Little Mermaid 2023 thoroughly enjoyed themselves, child or not, I don't really care. Was just adding my two cents to the whole meta conversation orbiting the film.
 

Doom85

Member
Alright. As I mentioned I haven't seen much of any of them but it's impossible not to have absorbed the plot and focus of these films by merely existing and being exposed to the internet these past 20+ years.

That said, they all appear focused very much on children without challenging them or examining deeper subject matter. Studio Ghibli they are not. For example, My Neighbor Totoro is obviously a kid's film, but it deals with the potential ache of losing a loved one in a realistic fashion. Princess Mononoke has graphic depictions of violence but also introduces children to more complex subjects such as man versus nature, nature versus nurture, even things like industrialization and egalitarianism in favor of fellow man despite the consequences. I could go on and on about Ghibli films, but suffice to say they're a good example of animated films that appeal largely to children but also very clearly appeal to adult sensibilities and worries.

Disney movies on the other hand might have a rather milquetoast depiction of death or something on that level, but in the end they're largely just coming of age stories about princesses or princess-like archetypes that overcome some supernatural or otherwise fantastical dilemma to find love at a young age.

Anyways, I hope anyone who saw The Little Mermaid 2023 thoroughly enjoyed themselves, child or not, I don't really care. Was just adding my two cents to the whole meta conversation orbiting the film.

I much prefer Disney over Ghibli (and I’m a massive anime fan, I just think only a select few Ghibli films live up to the hype). They’re generally better at engaging characters, story, and humor to me.

Also, Ghibli’s subject matter isn’t really that varied particularly when Miyazaki is at the helm. As someone who actually read the book Howl’s Moving Castle, I was bewildered when an environmental message was awkwardly forced into the final act of the film (and people give his son Goro crap for how he adapted Earthsea, yet his dad gets a free pass?). And then Ponyo, well the environmental message fit better but at this point it was like, “bro, we get it, the environment, stop it already”, and just the issue of Ponyo being mostly a dull affair IMHO.

Funny enough, if one actually looks into Miyazaki’s opinions, he’s a massive SJW. Like, look at his opinions on the Indiana Jones films, it’s like, holy shit dude, they’re just fun adventure films, calm down.
 
Last edited:

Sonik

Member
Something is really off about this one review wise.

The audience score in Rottentomatoes is way too high.. 95% is extremely unlikely.
IMDB's score then is too low but they have responded to it by removing a lot of the 10s and 1s apparently.

The film by all accounts is neither a 10 or a 1. The gist I'm getting is that it's,.... OK.

They're shamelessly manipulating user scores now everywhere, hoping that these San Fransisco cucks won't censor real user feedback is a fools's errant nowadays. Just don't trust user scores about anything on the internet and only listen to a few youtubers you trust or small communities that you know they haven't been infested with corporate astroturfers... yet.
 
Last edited:

jason10mm

Gold Member
They're shamelessly manipulating user scores now everywhere, hoping that these San Fransisco cucks won't censor real user feedback is a fools's errant nowadays. Just don't trust user scores about anything on the internet and only listen to a few youtubers you trust or small communities that you know they haven't been infested with corporate astroturfers... yet.
One of the most prophetic films ever created...

k8ohcVL.jpg


Why people say they've been "red pilled" instead of "wearin' mah sunglasses" is beyond me :p
 

Rran

Member
As someone who's seen both every Ghibli and animated Disney film (I know, I know...) I think both studios have their merits and weaknesses.

It's true that Disney falls into archetypes and trends: the princess (and princes) are often interchangeable in motivation and personality, a "by-the-numbers" feel at points, the requisite funny animal sidekick (sometimes with a song), the campy villain (less recently), the twist villain (more recently), the overly quippy dialogue (more recently), the minor inversion of a trope or two like it's the most clever thing ever. And it's also true that Ghibli films can have forced theming and can suffer from being unfocused; Miyazaki's emphasis on feeling and patching together individual setpiece scenes sometimes leads to low cohesion and shaky plots, and many of the movies are simply longer than they have to be.

But they're both beloved for good reasons. At its best, Disney has awesome Broadway-style musical numbers, punchy pacing, smooth and lively animation, and broad appeal in both its character design and humor. Ghibli has a real mood that nails the softer moments of life, scenes dripping with atmosphere and wonder, sincere characters and animation that reflect human nature, and lovely soundtracks.

If pressed I'd probably say Disney is the stronger catalogue overall, but they've also been making animated movies for almost 90 years compared to Ghibli's 40. Ghibli has the edge in variety and experimentation though, tackling a larger number of genres rather than everything being a comedy adventure. My favorite films from each company (The Lion King and My Neighbor Totoro) display how incredible the two studios' talents can be with the right combination of factors.

(Pixar can also hang with the best of them)
 
Last edited:

TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler
This was a fantastic, fun, contemporary take on a beloved classic, updating the story for modern sensibilities by proving not every woman is a damsel in distress, not every princess is white as the driven snow, and - more than anything, it teaches the masses that change can be a good thing, and the same stories can be told, with the same morals -just with names and modern relatability attached!

People need to learn to let go of the notion that there's a hidden agenda behind everything, and just learn to have F.U.N. Come on, guys, that Scuttlebutt number was straight 🔥! My vagrant little keester was sure planted for the duration!

nicole kidman film GIF
 

Dr. Claus

Banned
This was a fantastic, fun, contemporary take on a beloved classic, updating the story for modern sensibilities by proving not every woman is a damsel in distress, not every princess is white as the driven snow, and - more than anything, it teaches the masses that change can be a good thing, and the same stories can be told, with the same morals -just with names and modern relatability attached!

People need to learn to let go of the notion that there's a hidden agenda behind everything, and just learn to have F.U.N. Come on, guys, that Scuttlebutt number was straight 🔥! My vagrant little keester was sure planted for the duration!

nicole kidman film GIF
Walking Glancing GIF
 

Happosai

Hold onto your panties
This was a fantastic, fun, contemporary take on a beloved classic, updating the story for modern sensibilities by proving not every woman is a damsel in distress, not every princess is white as the driven snow, and - more than anything, it teaches the masses that change can be a good thing, and the same stories can be told, with the same morals -just with names and modern relatability attached!

People need to learn to let go of the notion that there's a hidden agenda behind everything, and just learn to have F.U.N. Come on, guys, that Scuttlebutt number was straight 🔥! My vagrant little keester was sure planted for the duration!

nicole kidman film GIF
riraOIN.gif
 

RoboFu

One of the green rats
Just saw it. It was fine.. as far as the live action remakes it was better than most.

The big surprise was that prince eric stole the show! They should have named it the little prince lol. That guys level of acting was so much better than everyone else. It would have probably been better to cast someone who wasn’t as good as he was so it didn’t make everyone else look worse.

Ariel was okay. She didn’t over sing anything which I appreciated. She did a decent job over all but she couldn’t pull off the non-verbal emotions. You just never felt like she was really falling in love with the prince. Which goes back to maybe the guy playing the prince was too good for this movie.

Ursula was okay but nothing special.

The king Triton sucked.
 
This was a fantastic, fun, contemporary take on a beloved classic, updating the story for modern sensibilities by proving not every woman is a damsel in distress, not every princess is white as the driven snow, and - more than anything, it teaches the masses that change can be a good thing, and the same stories can be told, with the same morals -just with names and modern relatability attached!

People need to learn to let go of the notion that there's a hidden agenda behind everything, and just learn to have F.U.N.
You're trolling, right?
 

Lord Panda

The Sea is Always Right
This was a fantastic, fun, contemporary take on a beloved classic, updating the story for modern sensibilities by proving not every woman is a damsel in distress, not every princess is white as the driven snow, and - more than anything, it teaches the masses that change can be a good thing, and the same stories can be told, with the same morals -just with names and modern relatability attached!

People need to learn to let go of the notion that there's a hidden agenda behind everything, and just learn to have F.U.N. Come on, guys, that Scuttlebutt number was straight 🔥! My vagrant little keester was sure planted for the duration!

nicole kidman film GIF
Mad Max Reaction GIF
 

CGNoire

Member
This was a fantastic, fun, contemporary take on a beloved classic, updating the story for modern sensibilities by proving not every woman is a damsel in distress, not every princess is white as the driven snow, and - more than anything, it teaches the masses that change can be a good thing, and the same stories can be told, with the same morals -just with names and modern relatability attached!

People need to learn to let go of the notion that there's a hidden agenda behind everything, and just learn to have F.U.N. Come on, guys, that Scuttlebutt number was straight 🔥! My vagrant little keester was sure planted for the duration!

nicole kidman film GIF
I know the gif should be the give away but Im still not 100% sure if joking.
 

Fake

Gold Member
Spider-man on the other hand is getting good reviews from users. Is this have to do with the movie being good?
 

mcjmetroid

Member
Spider-man on the other hand is getting good reviews from users. Is this have to do with the movie being good?
You would think so yes and I have no doubt Spiderman is good. Normally a combination of review scores between the critics and RT is a good indication. The critics can often give boring artsy films too high of a review where audience can give dumbass enjoyable movies too high of a score. The middle ground is the happy one usually.

Something is very off about the little mermaid though.

Websites desperately want it to be a hit. I saw an article on collider today that's basically saying it's doing really well internationally now after having a bad first weekend and that the entire movie broke even finally.

I'm sorry but after 2 weeks a movie just breaking even constitutes a bomb to me. They want those movies to make a hell of a lot more than that.

There is a little bit of dishonesty around this picture it seems.
 
Last edited:

AmuroChan

Member
Websites desperately want it to be a hit. I saw an article on collider today that's basically saying it's doing really well internationally now after having a bad first weekend and that the entire movie broke even finally.

I'm sorry but after 2 weeks a movie just breaking even constitutes a bomb to me. They want those movies to make a hell of a lot more than that.

There is a little bit of dishonesty around this picture it seems.

This movie has become a battleground in the culture war. So it's obviously why there will be dishonest and misleading takes all around. The movie will end up turning a profit, but I don't think it will get anywhere near $1B like Aladdin or Lion King or Beauty & The Beast did.
 

mcjmetroid

Member
This movie has become a battleground in the culture war. So it's obviously why there will be dishonest and misleading takes all around. The movie will end up turning a profit, but I don't think it will get anywhere near $1B like Aladdin or Lion King or Beauty & The Beast did.
I know this yes but it's just so brutally obvious on this movie especially when they are looking at numbers and some websites are like " hey this is great" and some are " this is the worst thing I've ever seen". No middle ground.

It's growing very tiresome.

Personally I just don't like Disney live action remakes. That's about it.
 

F0rneus

Tears in the rain
I actually liked this quite a bit! It has some qualities that top the original in some ways, but also some failures that makes them...about even? I really enjoyed how much darker it was than the animated film. Ursula was dope as hell! And I didn't know that Halle Bailey was that tiny. She like's....4f10 at best or something lol.
 

supernova8

Banned
I haven't watched it (don't intend to) but I listened to Part of your World (from the 2023 movie) and I thought it sounded good. Sounds like she didn't go overboard with the "wooo ohhhh eeeee hee------" (Mariah Carey OTT bullshit that American singers often do)... so I have no complaints about Halle Bailley's singing specifically....

But still....

If they really really really had to do a race swap for Ariel, couldn't they at least find an attractive black woman?
They could've told Alicia Keys to lose a bit of weight (she still looks great despite her age), put her in a red wig with thick red lipstick and it would've been better (and the singing would've been as good or better).
 
Last edited:

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Im sure my daughter will want to watch this. I will bet the animated version is the better version overall but this could be fun.

Tbh I don’t think any live action version of a Disney film has been better than the animated version. They just seem to lack something. Maybe it’s too much green screen and cgi? I don’t know.

Maybe jungle book because of Christopher Walken?

The bolded is 100% true. But me and my wife liked the movie. I give it a B. The original is an A+. But to my 3-year-old daughter.......it was literally the best movie ever created. She has not seen the original yet. But all she wants to do is be a mermaid now.
 
Last edited:

Marvel14

Banned
This movie has become a battleground in the culture war. So it's obviously why there will be dishonest and misleading takes all around. The movie will end up turning a profit, but I don't think it will get anywhere near $1B like Aladdin or Lion King or Beauty & The Beast did.
Indeed. I viewed it as any other movie and with no axe to grind. It is to Halle's great credit that you stop noticing that she doesn't look like the cartoon as you watch (and to answer a previous critique, red headed people of African descent must be even more of a minority than gingers).

It won't do as well as it could because a lot of people are hostile to it- even previous fans of Disney live action...it's their loss though because it is definitely one of the better ones.

Yet considering how much its very existence is loathed by so many, it's doing very well indeed. £40m in its second weekend with that woke rubbish Spiderverse as competition(#sarcasm) means it has got good word of mouth- oh and foreign take is now at 40+%. It must burn them up that it hasn't actually tanked like they'd hoped so now the goalpost is"it won't be a megahit" which they can take some credit for. Hopefully that makes them happy.

As for the kids/adults debate..it definitely drags, I saw kids in the theatre have to go to the bathroom after 90 mins so it is not made exclusively for them. It's made for both.

As for the Scuttle song....it's the comedy relief song ...it's meant to be the polar opposite of all the gorgeous Alan Menken numbers. And that's exactly what it is...
 
Last edited:

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives


Okay and......




The real issue was that it cost over $200 million to make and only had 7 days to be out before SpiderVerse 2. No room to stretch. But hitting $500 million in the post Covid era is still good. It'll break even. It just won't make 100s of millions in profit for Disney. But to be fair, with Disney+ does it have to?

But still....

If they really really really had to do a race swap for Ariel, couldn't they at least find an attractive black woman?
They could've told Alicia Keys to lose a bit of weight (she still looks great despite her age), put her in a red wig with thick red lipstick and it would've been better (and the singing would've been as good or better).


Halle-Bailey-16x9-1.jpg



Sitting Excuse Me GIF by grown-ish





Really bro?
 

jufonuk

not tag worthy
The bolded is 100% true. But me and my wife liked the movie. I give it a B. The original is an A+. But my 3-year-old daughter.......it was literally the best movie ever created. She has not seen the original yet. But all she wants to do is be a mermaid now.
I think this is what a lot of the internet is missing. This film ain’t for us. It’s for the kids.

I thought the Peter Pan and Wendy film was meh but my daughter loved it. I’m sure it will be the same for this film.

Also the actress playing the part is hot
 
Last edited:

kruis

Exposing the sinister cartel of retailers who allow companies to pay for advertising space.
Okay and......



The real issue was that it cost over $200 million to make and only had 7 days to be out before SpiderVerse 2. No room to stretch. But hitting $500 million in the post Covid era is still good. It'll break even. It just won't make 100s of millions in profit for Disney. But to be fair, with Disney+ does it have to?


Damage control in action here ...

Aladdin cost $183 million to make (marketing costs not included) and made 1 billion dollars worldwide.

The Little Mermaid costs $250 million to make (marketing costs not included) and is probably going to make $500 million worldwide.

Marketing is expensive. Disney spent $110 million dollars on the recent Lightyear CGI movie and will have spent even more on TLM. Theaters will get about half of the box office, movie studios the other half, (In countries like China Disney gets even less). That's why a big budget movie needs to make at least 2- 2.5 times the budget plus marketing costs to break even. So if TLM cost at least $350 million to make and promote than $500 million in the worldwide box makes this an expensive flop.

Disney can still recoup some of the costs (worldwide tv broadcasting deals, movie rentals and sales), but it will be less than even 10-20 years ago now that video rental is dead and DVD/Blu-Ray sales are cratering.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom