The quarrel and spit about Disney's animated adaptation of the live-action movie "The Little Mermaid" can be called a typical spectacle of online war of words in recent years, out of a strong curiosity and the basic principle of "no watch and no right to speak", I not only watched the 1989 version of the "Little Mermaid" animation some time ago, but also contributed a ticket to the theater on the premiere day of the dismal schedule and box office.
Not............ All in all, you're right.
In fact, this "The Little Mermaid" has a lot of good things, such as pictures, colors, songs and dances, etc., but these are only the minimum foundation, the film's story, performance, character relationships and other core elements are not tenable, which can not be explained by mermaids without feet, right?
Hailey Bailey's Ariel did fail, which has nothing to do with her appearance and skin color - many people spray endless "political correctness", I wrote three months ago "[Film and Television Miscellaneous] How do you think about "political correctness" in American film and television? has already been talked about, and this article will not repeat it - but her image in the film is really inappropriate, and the performance is not good, and it is difficult to get the audience into the play.
But the bad pot shouldn't be left to her alone.
[Friendly reminder: The following is a slight spoiler, if you mind.] 】
Before we start complaining, let's briefly say a few words about the advantages of the film.
I personally prefer song and dance films, so the bright and colorful "The Little Mermaid" can perform a few good songs up and down the sea, which is still very pleasing to me, in addition to the old classic "Part of Your World" and "Under the Sea" and other famous songs, LMM (Lin-Manuel Miranda) has also created several new songs, such as Prince Alec's "Wild Uncharted Waters", especially Awkwafina and Davide Diggs' duet of " The Scuttlebutt" is even more heartwarming, it's a whole rap! It's so funny and brainwashed, whoever listens knows.
In addition, it may be to take care of the appearance of the characters in the film, the song and dance scenes and styles of the film are also intended to move closer to Latin America, Ariel and Sebastin under the tide of fish to celebrate, and Ariel and Alec dancing together on the beach, can taste carnival and samba flavor, is indeed an innovation.
But in the end, these strengths can only be regarded as Disney's work, and they have not reached the point where they are worth writing about, so all that remains is slots...
The most controversial is the casting of Hayley Bailey, she is a good singer, her singing in the film is also remarkable, I have no problem with her appearance (and attacking other people's appearance and skin color is very low), and after finding the right style of dressing, she doesn't look ugly - except for her dirty braids, bare half, and her face is slapped on the face, not like a mermaid in a fairy tale.
I've been trying to rule out preconceived prejudices, but the reality is that Ariel in the film is really not good-looking, which has a very fatal consequence: it is easy to play.
Take the scene where Ariel sings "Part of Your World" on the reef, that is, after she fell in love, she expressed her strong yearning for changing her fate and Prince Alec, her face was slightly persistent, especially when she slowly climbed up, her eyebrows were slightly hideous, and she looked more like she was planning how to kill the prince...
To put it bluntly, "The Little Mermaid" tells a very old fairy tale, and if the audience wants to accept it now, they must at least convince themselves that this is a story that takes place in a "vacuum world", or believe that Ariel is a "silly white sweet".
The original animation has natural advantages in this regard, and even Ariel's image of some "baby teeth" is a plus, even if you don't agree with its old story, at least admit that it is logical... And Hailey's Ariel, even if there is no lack of "silly" and "white", "sweet" is definitely not.
This live-action version does not have much achievement in the "fairy tale sense", the plot is almost copied from the original animation, the character image is not outstanding, the convincing foundation is gone, and the play is not right.
For example, Sebastin and a group of anthropomorphic animals singing "Kiss the Girl", assisting Alec and Ariel to kiss, should be a very romantic atmosphere, but if the audience does not enter the play, the whole taste changes, like a group of monsters who have not cultivated to the human form, are seducing and instigating the prince to step into a trap, the whole harmful crime scene, but also a little scary...
Of course, compared with the lack of image, the greater disaster of "The Little Mermaid" is that the performance is not in tune, the male and female protagonists do not call, and they have to arrange Ursula as a terrier to make Ariel forget the "kissing in three days" task, increasing the difficulty similar to "First Love 50 Times", purely to make the embarrassing performance go to a higher level.
Ariel and Alec's rivalry is almost entirely out of shape, and Ariel often looks like "Who am I?" Where am I? What am I going to do", but he was not at a loss, as if the spirit and flesh were separated, and Alec's closeness seemed to be out of a minimum of politeness, and he didn't have any thoughts of his own, as if he had been taught a lesson when he returned to the backstage, and then pinched his nose again and continued to come out and play with Ariel.
Watching two people who can't wipe the spark hard concave emotional drama is really torture, and the blessing from the heart and the unintentional blessing of fear of bad face are completely different things.
No wonder everyone is so supportive of Jessica Alexander's Vanessa, at the very least, she can make some audiences agree with the logic of "taking people by looks".
Since the road of fairy tales does not work, Disney can choose to take another "road of rebellion", change the tone of the entire story of "The Little Mermaid", and play darker and more realistic... However, they did not do so, but chose the most traditional and conservative clichés, narcissism and arrogance from an anthropocentric perspective, stupidity or viciousness of female characters, and so on.
Although the film compared with the original animation, adding Alec's same yearning for freedom, Ariel introducing marine objects and other good scenes that can enrich the characters, and deleting the thriller scene of Sebastien's life and death fight with the chef, these framer-style seams and repairs cannot save "The Little Mermaid".
One of the happiest moments when I watched the movie last night came from a child sitting in the back row behind me, the image of Ariel at that time, just washed off dirty braids and long hair, hooped in a large pink headband common at home, wearing an ill-fitting light blue long dress, and was about to enter the storage room, the child milkily came to the "Little mermaid, like an alien." I couldn't help but laugh.
Fairy tales are the most deadly.
Before children learn the rules of society, there will be no taboos, they all want to say anything, and they will not have any goodwill or malice, such comments are for explosive killing.