What’s “The Little Mermaid” About?
Ariel, A young mermaid (Halle Bailey) makes a deal with a Sea Witch (Melissa McCarthy) to trade her beautiful voice for human legs so she can discover the world above and impress a Prince (Jonah Hauer-King).
Life Underwater With Ariel: The Little Mermaid
Living life underwater with Ariel, the Little Mermaid would seem to be pure heaven. Living and constantly being underwater enjoying the pleasures of the open seas swimming across oceans, rivers, and lakes, and finding unknown and hidden treasures. But, for our Ariel, she wanted the one thing that was forbidden – LOVE. The Little Mermaid always wanted to see what life was like above the sea instead of below it all. I had the opportunity to see the film two days early and in the DOLBLY 3D formatting and I will tell you that the imagery in the film seeing it in that specific formatting was a dream! It was a dream come true for me.
Halle Bailey as The Little Mermaid
Halle deserves a standing ovation for her role in the film! She was outstanding! That’s the one thing that perplexes me with musicals though – I cannot decipher whether or not it’s the actor/actress using their unique voice to sing if it’s a voiceover or if they are lip-syncing. When audiences applaud for them in movies that are musicals such as this one, that is the immediate thought that comes directly to my mind. Having a production made like this iconic fairy tale which had been re-done and made a varied amount of times is one thing, but to have an African American actress portray the leading role of Ariel. That is a blessing and recognition!
Finding Love Above or Below the Water
Both Eric and Ariel were in search of finding love. For Ariel, finding love was forbidden because her Father forbade it due to his hurting over his wife’s untimely death and never really getting over it so he projected his hurt feelings onto Ariel and the rest of his sea daughters never fully understanding how Ariel felt, or how she wanted to explore “above the sea.” Ultimately, her father was the reason she wanted to visit above ground to see if it was as bad as he was telling her it was for as long as she could remember.
Free Reign To Make Your Own Decisions
As for Eric, when you are wealthy – your parents choose your life, your Bride, you choose nothing. Therefore, Ariel and Eric both struggle with trying to find their own identities.
They each tried profusely to reach their parents to no avail and when they saw that their attempts, hard work, and efforts were getting them nowhere, that is when they chose the only other options that they saw available and of course, they were the wrong options.
The Sea Witch
Eric chose the option to go and find the mysterious girl who saved his life on his own and got himself injured never knowing all the while she was with him in his home Ariel made a deal with her Aunt, the Sea Witch and she struck a deal with the Little Mermaid to allow her to take her voice if she could not find true love and have him kiss her in 7 days and the Sea Witch tried her best to sabotage her. Never allow evil to prevail no matter what is at stake – including love. REMEMBER that! The Little Mermaid forgot …but she remembered…The Little Mermaid.
Trav’s Conclusions …on Land…
Parents always say to their children that they do know best – which is not always true or necessarily the case; I will not agree with that, because if they were right, they never would make mistakes and be perfect – would they not? Sometimes kids have to do what? Fly. Children are resilient little creatures and they bounce back just as easily as they get upset at their parents. ADVICE: You find it on YOUR OWN …on YOUR terms …YOUR way …and let NO ONE dictate a single thing to you! YOU control your heart, and your voice, and most importantly – when the music stops …you just KEEP ON DANCING and soaring and living life!
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Great way to summarize your perspective. Excited to see the movie this weekend .
Thank you! Hope you really do go see it!!
Absolutely beautifully said on your review. I will say that I was beyond impressed with this movie and did not expect to come out of this saying that it’s one of the best remakes/ live action of their classics. It was extremely brilliant very well done and kept you captivated to the very end and I’m telling you her voice the way she sings absolutely gives you Goosebumps
Yes! I agree 1,000% – not 100, but 1,000% Brandon! Truthfully, her voice was like that of a Siren’s Song luring or attracting a certain type of man or person towards her – as if her voice had some sort of magical power or something. I totally agree with you on that, but that is the thing with musicals and ever since Mariah Carey was accused of lip syncing back in 2013, that is all I think about when I watch any type of musical …me wondering to myself if that is really the actor or actress singing and if that is THEIR OWN UNIQUE VOCALS!