Disney's The Little Mermaid (Live-Action)

[Ben]

According to lyrics out on t'web, the Caspian line is still in there, so…

Yeah, the original was always set in Europe, as most European fairytales were. Funny, that.

[Bill1978]

A bit of the song Poor Unfortunate Souls

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDROLq73Bfc

Melissa sounds alright, my main issue is the tempo of the song. Just like many of the other faster paced songs featured in their LA adaptations, the delivery of the lines are slower which is quite jarring and annoying to be honest

[ShyViolet]

“They weren’t kidding when they called me, well…a witch.” Not crazy about how this was put together. The pause is just too long, and even though the original film did the same unsaid-play-on-words thing, it didn’t ADVERTISE what that actual “word” WAS.

Just like many of the other faster paced songs featured in their LA adaptations, the delivery of the lines are slower which is quite jarring and annoying to be honest

Yes, definitely.

[Daniel]

Yeah, not liking. Weird camera angles, and we mainly see Ariel from behind and she's just floating there not really reacting.

[Ben]

You can’t keep an old ham down…

Really, I didn’t think things could get much worse than B&TB, but then Lion King came along. I don’t think this looks as bad as that, but…

[Randall]

I just expect another weird, uneven mishmash of a film. It is already better that BATB in my estimation for casting a singer (sorry for repeating myself there). I expect it to be like Aladdin - not good so much, but oddly engaging thanks to some strong performances.

[Ben]

But not the right kind of singer. Or with the good performances…

[Daniel]

Soundtrack is now available. (Spotify and all that) Here's a few from Disney, sans reprises and scores:









"Fathoms Bellow" - feels shorter and leaves out the mentioning of King Triton.

"Under the Sea" - feels so flat and lacks the flavor of the original. Before we hear other fish sing-along, this is really just Sebastian and Ariel.

"Wild Uncharted Waters" - Meh, another "Evermore".

"Poor Unfortunate Souls" - They removed probably my favorite part; body language! Ugh! And more word emphasis where it's not really needed: "but on the whole I've been a saint". Song feels more talky and when there is singing more shouty.

"For the First Time" - it's alright, nothing special. Reminds me of "For a Moment" from Return to The Sea.

"The Scuttlebutt" - lyrics were awful and now that I've heard it it's easily my least favorite of the crop. Just terrible! Really sounds out of place. Reminds me of "Morning Report", taking something brief that was spoken and stretching it out to a pointless song only done so much worse here.

I'm sure I'll probably warm up to a few when I see them, but yeah...

[Ben]

That ABC live special is better and better remembered all the time, eh?

[Bill1978]

I had a detailed analysis of the songs, but it won't let me post something so long, so the very short summary is a lot of the emotion and fun has been removed with these recordings.

The masterclass on manipulation has basically been removed from Poor Unfortunate Souls and even worse Ariel no longer ponders never seeing her family again if human, instead its basically the reason she chooses to be human to escape her father.

Whoever made the decision to let Awkwafina sing should be fired.

The new songs ranked from best to worst is Wild Uncharted Waters (presentation may make it more memorable), For The First Time is a snoozefest and The Scuttlebutt is the mandatory Miranda rap that shows of his 'incredible' rapid word play.

The biggest crime though is removing the Disney Chorus from the end of the finale.

[Ben]

Funny, just going by the new songs' titles, I would have given them the same ranking!

Yes, as I said a little way back, all the *acting* has evaporated from these versions.

[ShyViolet]

—“But on the whole I’ve been a Saiiiiiiiiiiint!” As Dan said, way too much emphasis on “Saint”. That makes it seem like the song is all about Ursula thinking she’s a Saint and no one appreciating this. It’s not: it’s supposed to fool Ariel, nothing more.

—I don’t mind Eric seeing Ariel as a means of getting away from his old life (since this was never dealt with in the original film) but as it’s already been said, Ariel has simply fallen in love with a human and is NOT trying to get away from her “bad” or at least tiresome/boring home. (Like Aladdin was.)

—The original 2023 songs are terrible. Period.

—Under the Sea is lacking ALL of the grandeur and passion of the 1989 version and is basically just a “cute little song.” And it’s Sebastian who’s trying to convince Ariel, why the heck is she singing along with him?

—Totally agree on Disney chorus.

[Ben]

It’s that sad situation where people try to make it different enough so it doesn’t sound just like a copy, but then go too far so as to make it all *about* those changes and lose the original intent. And you just know that Howard Ashman had notes on how every single syllable should have landed.

[ShyViolet]

Yes, Pat Carroll said in an interview that she based so much of Poor Unfortunate Souls on Ashman’s original performance.

[Bill1978]

I'm not sure why I missed the changed lyrics when I first listened to Poor Unfortunate Souls (I blame end of work week tiredness), but this morning watching the 'flilmclip' of the song I heard the change.

The original lines:

Take a gulp and take a breath
And go ahead and sign the scroll

The new lines:

Pluck a scale from off your tail
A drop of blood inside the bowl!

So, it looks like Ariel no longer signs a contract, which means the bit where Triton trades places with Ariel because the contract says Ursula needs a 'body' will be changed. Does this mean Triton no longer gets to make a selfless sacrifice for his daughter?