Disney's The Little Mermaid (Live-Action)

[James]

Are Flotsam and Jetson even confirmed for this version!? I know they’re "around" on some posters, but I don’t think they’re going to play any significant role this time around.

No idea if they're in it. I was just pointing out that nothing happened at that moment in the scene that should have made her turn away from the kiss, including Ursula having her onions step in.

This really is getting to be B&TB all over again…innit!

[James]

Hollywood Reporter has early reactions now. Sorry, having trouble pasting the link from my tablet. But while some call it the best of the LA remakes (low bar!), many call out its lack of magic and its pointlessness. However, many do cite the cast as doing a great job.

Here ya go!

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movie ... 235482583/

[Daniel]

There is a reason why she pulls away. If you really, really want to know...

Amnesia spell

Right now I think it's asinine but it could be interesting.

[Ben]

…including Ursula having her onions step in.

Wouldn’t that just make her cry…?

[Ben]

This just keeps sounding better and better, don’t it? No Les Poissons, as expected, but looks like I’ve sadly called it on the opening — no Daughters Of Triton, either, in favor of…well…

According to Menken, it was a bigger priority to create more of a buildup to Ariel’s performance of “Part of Your World,” which is widely regarded as one of the initial film’s signature songs. “I think the thought process was a) we didn’t need it in this particular version,” Menken said about “Daughters of Triton” getting nixed. “And we definitely wanted the film to start with a much more of a live-action feel of the ocean and meeting Ariel, and then we wait a little bit, make you wait until we get to ‘Part of Your World.'”

He continued, “And I think that was, you know, it was an amazing choice because it just builds the power and anticipation. And part of that is also knowing you’re adapting something that’s already beloved. So you want to say, ‘Wait for it, wait for it, wait for it — and here it is.’ And when it comes, God.”

So, yeah…a bit of a wait for the first song. In a musical.

Looks like they cut off the end of his remark: I think he actually meant to go on and say, "And when it comes, God [it's bad]"

THR link: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movie ... 1235487466

[Bill1978]

One day I hope Menken writes a memoir where he really tells us what he thinks of the live action remakes of the animated films he provided songs for. Because often when I read interviews about his views on the live action films, I get the feeling he is just towing the company line because they are providing him with money. I get the feeling he is just barely holding back what he really thinks about the changes.

I know Daughters of Tritons isn't an amazing song and can be viewed as a throwaway song, but it does set up so much about the world we are entering without having to explain things. It tells as Sebastian is the court's musician so when he breaks into song for Under The Sea and Kiss The Girl it actually feels natural, It shows us Ariel's family, it shows us Triton's court and most of all it introduces us to Ariel's rebelliousness and desire to focus on other stuff than being a princess because she isn't in the song. It also gives as a reasoin to why Sebastian is annoyed at being made Ariel's chauffeur and why Triton is easily annoyed with Ariel's rebelliousness.

But hey, let's cut it and Fathoms Below (which sets up beautifully the upper world view on mermaids) just so we can irritate the audience into waiting for the first song to appear in a musical. The argument Menken gives, is basically the equivalent of cutting Arabian Nights and One Jump Ahead because the audience is only keen on hearing Friend Like Me first in Aladdin.

[Ben]

Exactly — Fathoms and Daughters are important as they signal, immediately, that this is a musical world, so it’s not going to be a "surprise" when people break out into song in due course. At least we still get Fathoms in the score, but my guess is that this will be sung in the place where Ariel spots Eric on the ship, which will come too late to do the setting up that the lyrics do *as an opening*.

Honestly, it's all a bit odd. I do know that during B&TB Menken privately expressed that he was slightly disappointed at returning to old projects rather than doing something new, but I love his description of this change as "amazing", which he knows one can take either way.

[Daniel]

Yeah, it was a given "Daughters of Triton" didn't make the cut after the album tracks were released. The real reason why it was omitted was probably because they couldn't make it work since they changed the sisters names too! No more first initial A...

[ShyViolet]

But hey, let's cut it and Fathoms Below (which sets up beautifully the upper world view on mermaids) just so we can irritate the audience into waiting for the first song to appear in a musical. The argument Menken gives, is basically the equivalent of cutting Arabian Nights and One Jump Ahead because the audience is only keen on hearing Friend Like Me first in Aladdin.

Yes, agree. Great way of putting it!

[Evergreen]

I know Daughters of Tritons isn't an amazing song and can be viewed as a throwaway song, but it does set up so much about the world we are entering without having to explain things. It tells as Sebastian is the court's musician so when he breaks into song for Under The Sea and Kiss The Girl it actually feels natural, It shows us Ariel's family, it shows us Triton's court and most of all it introduces us to Ariel's rebelliousness and desire to focus on other stuff than being a princess because she isn't in the song. It also gives as a reasoin to why Sebastian is annoyed at being made Ariel's chauffeur and why Triton is easily annoyed with Ariel's rebelliousness.

The thing I like about Daughters of Triton is that it's largely comic relief. You have the sisters all sounding awful (I get a kick out of a couple of them being voiced by Musker and Clements, lol) and then the ending with Triton inchoate with rage. But they've also cut the other comic relief song--the chef scene, which is hilarious. Apparently this film is going to be one, long dirge aside from Awkwafina.

So glad Aladdin, TLK, and B&tB's remakes remembered that these films were great because they're a hodgepodge of everything--music, drama, action, and COMEDY.

[Daniel]

New trailer with a snippet of "Poor Unfortunate Souls":



Sounds ok so far.

[Bill1978]

It also confirms that Flotsam and Jetsam and in the movie.

I will give the trailer team credit for always making these movies look amazing and worth going to. But then there are always tiny little scenes included that remind me to lower my expectations. For this trailer, it's the Ursula bubble, the premium package line and the big dance number looking scene.

[Ben]

Yeah, they’re *in* the film, but as to any significance remains to be seen.

[Bill1978]

Probably just there so Ursula can say 'Flotsam, Jetsam now I've got her boys' during her song.

And after looking up the lyrics to confirm I had the right wording, it will be interesting to see if they remove the reference to the Caspian Sea in Ursula's spell. Since it would drive a hole in the argument that the original has to be set in the Caribbean because of Sebastian's accent. Those winds are going to have to travel further now that the movie isn't set in generic Europe. I know, I know it's just a spell and means nothing but hey if people can throw out any random piece of evidence to support their crazy Caribbean argument, then I can use one line in a spell to justify why the original movie is more likely to be set in Europe than the Caribbean.

[Farerb]

Musker and Clements confirmed that the original takes place at the Mediterranean Sea:

The Disney artists moved the story from the frigid Baltic of Andersen's native Denmark to a warmer, sunnier that suggested the Mediterranean, probably off the coast of southern Italy. Elements in the costumes and building suggest an equally vague time in the late seventeenth or eighteenth century. Musker says, "Rowland Wilson- he's a great draftsman-designed the Prince's palace. He did a drawing that we loved that combined these Mediterranean elements, making it a palace unlike any other Disney fairy tale palace, with the whitewashed stucco. He was really going for a warm southern Mediterranean feel that he thought would be attractive to a mermaid who'd been stuck all her in life in the cold ocean."