The Little Mermaid Review: 5 Ups & 5 Downs
1. It Lacks The Charm Of The Original
All in all, The Little Mermaid is by no means a sacrilegious remake - its Flounder slander aside - yet it also fails to fully recapture the magic and charm of its predecessor.
Much as it tries to exploit the audience's nostalgia for what came before, it's only sometimes successful, and ultimately this feels like far more of a mechanised, corporate Product than the film that inspired it.
That's not terribly surprising, but it is disappointing all the same. That younger generations may grow up knowing these remakes as the "definitive" versions of these stories is undeniably bleak - at least until Disney starts remaking them again in another couple of decades.
These notable gripes aside, though, this isn't a terrible movie by any means, and actually gets plenty right. Here's what works...