11. Ariel has selective amnesia regarding a certain kiss. Because simply losing her voice would have been too easy. Ursula's spell now makes Ariel forget she must get Eric to kiss her.
Scuttle is not only changed from male to female but is also now a diving bird instead of a seagull. "This was done specifically so that Ariel would only meet Scuttle underwater, because, at the start of our story, Ariel has never dared go above the surface," director Rob Marshall said in production notes.
Why do people not like the new Little mermaid movie?
One major criticism of the 2023 version of The Little Mermaid is that it is simply too long. The new film clocks in at 2 hours and 15 minutes, about 50 minutes longer than the original. While the live-action remake uses this time to flesh out certain characters, not all of its extended runtime is used wisely.
While Ursula was honest in the original film about the conditions of her transformation spell and simply assumed that the obstacles facing her niece Ariel, such as her lack of voice, would be insurmountable on their own, Ursula in the remake not only took away Ariel's voice, but even erased her niece's memory of what ...
The live-action adaptation has already drawn criticism for being “too woke.” Not only were lyrics changed from classic songs, but the casting of Halle Bailey has drawn ire and racist comments from across the internet, which Bailey was, unfortunately, prepared for.
On the significance of casting a Black actress as Ariel
Sherri Hope Culver: To have a Disney character who is not just a princess but a live-action, real flesh and blood person that children can be inspired by is important. This is because people of color are less likely to see themselves reflected in the media.
Ariel kills the Sea Witch at the end of the movie.
At the end of the 1989 animated film, Eric saves the day and kills Ursula. But in the new movie, Ariel is no longer the damsel in distress. She takes matters into her own hands and kills Ursula herself.
Ursula was played by Melissa McCarthy in the 2023 live action remake of The Little Mermaid, directed by Rob Marshall. In this version, like with the Broadway musical, Ursula is the estranged younger sister of King Triton (played by Javier Bardem), thus making her the paternal aunt to Ariel and her sisters in this film.
The VHS cover received backlash because the spires on King Triton's castle contained phallic imagery. With the castle being the center of the image, it did not take long for audiences to call Disney out for the phallus and the VHS cover was recalled and replaced.
The reported box office result of The Little Mermaid 2023 remake is about $560 million. On paper, these numbers look good. The film grossed over $298 million domestically and more than $263 million internationally.
The names of Ariel's sisters in the live-action version of The Little Mermaid were changed, along with their role in the underwater world's royalty, thus expanding their roles even if slightly. Princess Mala (Karolina Conchet) represents Princess Attina from the animated movie, Triton's firstborn daughter.
The Little Mermaid director Rob Marshall explained why Disney's live-action remake chose not to include Chef Louis. "That's when you realize we're not an animated movie," Marshall told SFX Magazine. "The animated movie stays forever, and people can go and watch that. This needs to work in a realistic way.
While some of Sebastian's features resemble a lobster, Sebastian is definitely a crab, as is stated in The Little Mermaid itself a few times. This includes the scene where the obsessed Chef Louis refers to Sebastian as a crab, and since he's a professional, he really should know.
While it is known that her mother perished, there is no story attached to the event. However, much later, in 2008, an animated The Little Mermaid prequel revealed that Ariel's mother was crushed by a pirate ship during an altercation between humans and merpeople.
Ariel was offered by Ursula to become a human for three days and would become human permanently if she shares a kiss of true love with Eric, but will turn back into a mermaid and be bound to Ursula for eternity if she fails to kiss Eric.
Director Rob Marshall reveals what it was like seeing Halle Bailey's initial audition for Ariel. “The first actor we saw for this role was Halle. The first thing she did is she came in and sang for us.
Ariel makes this deal because she falls in love with Prince Eric and desires to be with him. Ursula specifically targets Ariel because she sees an opportunity to exploit her curiosity about the human world and her fascination with Prince Eric.
In the animated film, Ursula was a villain who enjoyed messing with people and getting what she wanted. In The Little Mermaid live-action, however, Ursula's backstory gets an adjustment — she is upgraded to Triton's sister and Ariel's aunt, making her revenge and motivations all the more sinister.
A squid has six arms, which is probably why Pat Carroll, the late voice actress who portrayed Ursula in the original film, claimed she was a squid. But Carroll didn't mention that most squid also have two tentacles and two legs—used for moving and swimming—while their arms are for grabbing and feeding.
And while creators of The Little Mermaid originally wanted Ariel to have blonde hair to stay in keeping with the fairy tale written by Hans Christian Andersen, Splash's massive popularity was still too hot to ignore. So, in a bid to stand out from the crowd, an iconic change was given to the underwater princess.
There are several instances when Eric's mother Queen Salina (Noma Dumezweni), who is Black and adopted him as a child when he washed up from the ocean, chastises him for his obvious love for beings that are considered other.
The reason studios make beloved characters black in the live action adaptations is so they don't have to go to the trouble of actually giving special, brand new unique characters made from scratch to black people.
