Joining the list of live-action remakes over at Disney is The Little Mermaid, a musical fantasy movie directed by Rob Marshall and loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen’s tale of the same name. Although it’s an adaptation of the 1989 animated Disney classic, it’s already improving on some key elements, among them Ariel and Prince Eric’s story. The premise of the Little Mermaid live-action remake is the same as the one of the animated version, but it’s already very different from it, from its casting to the characters themselves, as some are going through a couple of much-needed changes.
The Little Mermaid, then, will see the title mermaid, Ariel (Halle Bailey), as she transforms into a human after falling in love with human Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King) and making a deal with the sea witch Ursula (Melissa McCarthy) so she would turn her into a human – however, this comes with a big prize and Ariel loses her voice. With just a couple more months to go before its release, more details about The Little Mermaid are being revealed, including some changes to Prince Eric’s story, which will in turn make his story with Ariel a lot better than in the animated movie.
How The Little Mermaid Remake Is Changing Prince Eric
In an interview with EW in December 2022, Little Mermaid director Rob Marshall revealed that he and fellow writers David Magee and John DeLuca took the chance to flesh out Eric’s role, describing the Prince’s part in the animated movie as “wooden, classic prince character with not a lot going on”. What they did this time, then, was actually give him a proper story and backstory as well, introducing his mother (who is an entirely new character as he doesn’t have a family in the animated version), and giving him a “very similar trajectory in a way to Ariel”, as he also feels like he doesn’t fit in the world he has been raised in.
Prince Eric, like most princes in Disney’s animated movies, isn’t anything more than a handsome prince who’s being pressured into finding a woman to marry as soon as possible. In typical Disney fashion, Ariel falls in love at first sight with Eric, but not even during their time together once she becomes a human is there a moment where they can be seen forming a connection, and they simply fall in love quickly and, ultimately, superficially. By exploring Eric’s story a bit more and the struggles he goes through, it’s a lot more believable that he and Ariel will have a connection beyond physical attraction, as they will be two people who don’t feel like they fit in their respective worlds and can find their own home together.
How The Little Mermaid Remake Is Different From The Animated Version
The Little Mermaid is already very different from its animated version even though not much of it has been shown. The Little Mermaid live-action version chose to go for a diverse casting, with Bailey playing a princess who has been previously portrayed as exclusively white, though sadly, Bailey’s casting received a lot of negative backlash. The Little Mermaid’s voice cast is also embracing diversity, with Daveed Diggs voicing Sebastian and Awkwafina as Scuttle, while another big difference from the animated classic is the music. Although the live-action remake will feature some of the animated version’s classic songs, it’s also adding new music thanks to Alan Menken and Lin-Manuel Miranda. The Little Mermaid looks to be on its way to fixing some of the animated movie’s problems, but it’s to be seen if it will fix the mistakes of Disney’s live-action remakes.
