The Little Mermaid Review: 5 Ups & 5 Downs

2. Flounder Gets Done Dirty

Oh, Flounder, how they massacred you so.

There's been much pre-release hand-wringing about how this movie has redesigned the animal characters to look more "realistic," and while Sebastian and Scuttle at least still have plenty of personality to compensate for the changes, there's no excusing what they've done to Flounder (Jacob Tremblay).

The chubby-cheeked tropical fish of the animated film has been given a more grounded "makeover," his more expressive features planed away to the extent that he basically just looks like a real fish who happens to speak.

It's offputting to say the least, but beyond that, Flounder's role is heavily minimised in this remake to the extent that he largely ends up fading into the periphery. As a result, Jacob Tremblay isn't given much of an opportunity to bring life or personality to the part, sadly.