10 Most Cringeworthy Moments In Recent Movies
3. Flounder's Design - The Little Mermaid
Even the very best remakes of the Disney classics have failed miserably to recapture the magic that made them so popular in the first place, and it feels like with each new release the studio gets further and further away from achieving such a feat.
The latest Disney retelling, 2023's The Little Mermaid, saw Ariel return to cinema screens alongside all of her underwater friends, and behind The Jungle Book and The Lion King, this took more CGI than most. The results were not good.
The obsession with adapting these beloved animated stories into live-action, or at least more realistic special effects, robs them of any kind of magic, any personality, and any fun. The Little Mermaid's supporting cast suffered greatly from this, but arguably none more so than Flounder. Originally a smiley, bouncy, happy addition to the movie, Flounder all of a sudden became nothing more than a generic fish.
Yes, the technology to bring to life such a realistic-looking creature is impressive, in a way, but that's completely beside the point. Flounder's new design lacked any heart and was incapable of emoting the way his animated counterpart could. It was actually hilarious how badly the movie missed the mark on its character designs, which was just one of the factors that led to it being yet another disappointing remake.