news culture Despite the pre-release controversy, The Little Mermaid managed to surprise everyone!
After “Aladdin”, “The Jungle Book” or “The Lion King”, “Mulan” or “Beauty and the Beast” Disney has just brought a new remake to the cinema in which real actors play. This time it’s The Little Mermaid, whose announcement and release provoked many reactions.
The Little Mermaid, Disney’s new live-action remake is here!
for a few years Disney brings its classics to life with modern animation techniques and live actors. Halfway between live action and 3D animation, these feature films feature a more realistic aesthetic and generally work very well in cinemas. The Lion Kingdirected by John Favreau in 2019, is the ninth-highest-grossing film of all time with $1.6 billion at the box office Beauty and the Beast by Bill Condom with Emma Watson generated 1.2 billion. But despite this overall success Movies are often heavily criticized.
For many realistic aesthetics completely destroys the magic of the classics Animation that evokes a lot of uncanny valley (the principle: the more realistic a fictional element is, the more the viewer realizes that it isn’t). Therefore, critics have received the announcement with great concern The little mermaidwho is hits theaters on May 24th. This time, it’s not just about the technical considerations raised during the airing of the various trailers, but also about the criticism of Disney’s policies Reactions to the choice of actress were fierce and numerous embody Ariel.
For this film, Disney chose Halle Bailey, who became known for her covers, including that of The best I’ve ever had by Beyonce Knowles. The African-American actress has a simple skin color triggered whole waves of racist comments, which accompanied the film’s entire communication and even overshadowed its release. A hashtag #NotMyAriel, which quickly brings us horrific comments, is even trending under the guise of defending Hans Christian Andersen’s original vision. Rob Marshall, director of the 2h15 film, regularly spoke out to defend the choice of the production:
“I didn’t think picking a woman of color would be such a big deal,” director Rob Marshall said of Deadline. “I think it’s just an archaic way of looking at the world.” When this controversy erupted from narrow-minded people, I immediately thought these were reactions from another century. Are we really still at this stage? he said at Deadline.
A lukewarm critical reception, a clearly conquered audience
Shortly before and immediately after publication, the specialist reviews were published and Overall the film is disappointing. We are talking in particular about a lukewarm production which happens to be longer than the original, having removed sequences deemed important, from a feature film that performs extremely poorly it is lightand a Disney that takes little risk.
However, the qualities mentioned are numerous. Most River reviews talk about actors bringing their characters to life, and particularly so a Halle Bailey who manages to cause a stir through her playing and her songs, while remaining silent for much of the film. In short, there are nice things to remember and the magic works pretty well, but theThe film would be just a “drop of water” in the Disney ocean. At Rotten Tomatoes, the top 60 reviewers give a meager 47%, while the Tomato meter is at 67%. On the public side, however, it seems to be working very well! With over 5000 verified reviews, Viewer rating is 95% :
Beautiful camera work and effects. Great new songs. (Alan) Menken and (Lin-Manuel) Miranda are an incredible songwriting team.
Great movie! I liked the updated surprises mixed in with the classic film.
The underwater pictures were fantastic. I loved the songs! The casting was amazing and precise. My daughter really enjoyed it. She laughed and cried.
It was wonderful. we loved it The acting was so good. I took my teenage sons who have never seen the cartoon and they loved it too. Really moving too. So good.
Very positive reviews from the public, which logically should be felt when the figures for the first weekend are published. We already know that The little mermaid A generated $38 million on US soil on release day, and that we could reach almost 100 million all weekend. Therefore, despite the controversy and a slew of negative reviews, the thread could become another box-office hit for Disney.
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