Look at this stuff, isn’t neat… Oh yeah, that song, we all know that. And this is one of the most famous Disney fairytales which has now been remade into a live action movie, meaning, there’s a real life girl playing as a Little Mermaid, Ariel. If you’re a 80s-90s baby, you’ll appreciate the fact that technology has its ways to make your favorite cartoons come to life, and as impossible as it was when you were a kid, now, you can just imagine yourself being that girl, but this time, seeing it as a real human not a cartoon character. We’ve watched, Mulan, Cinderella, Belle, Jasmine, and Aurora in live action films and this time, we’ve got ourselves the opportunity to witness Ariel coming into life.

For this who don’t know, Little Mermaid was written by Hans Christian Anderson in 1870 which became a cartoon story made by Disney in the late 80s. From then and there we got all the dish about Little Mermaid and being the only mermaid as a Disney princess, she is definitely became one of the favorites.

The book and the cartoon, however constructs a different story. The cartoon, was made for kids but the book was made for Fantasy seekers and not for fainted hearts. I believe I not need Andy versions on where I compare the two but, I’d be happy to include this before I even review the live action movie of the Little Mermaid. So let’s start.

For those who never read nor watch any of the Little Mermaid versions, please do so, at least one of those available so you will understand where I’m actually coming from. Before you click/scroll more, this will be my official disclaimer.

So, to all the viewers and readers I know this may sound disappointing, but yes, the cartoon and the book didn’t actually end on the same note. The cartoon, as I said, was made for the kids and so they made it like it was a fairytale, having Ariel lose the kiss but still was able to save herself and Eric against Ursula and even getting married with Prince Eric, while in the book, The Little Mermaid is unable to do such task and turned into a sea foam. Yes it’s tragic.

In the book, Little Mermaid and The Prince are the main characters, while in the cartoon, Ariel and Prince Eric. Book also tells a story about The Little Mermaid wanting to be an immortal soul, while in the book, Ariel wanted to be Eric’s love and aiming to be part of the human world to discover things she have been curious about since she’s was young.

In the book, The Sea Witch, actually existed but never to be an evil creature, unlike in the cartoon, Ursula is an evil sea creature who wanted to gain power. In the cartoon, Ursula was the one who tried to feed Ariel’s curiosity about the human world in exchange for her voice, while in the book, there was her grandmother whole told all the stories about being an immortal.

Speaking of immortality, in the book, that’s basically what the Little Mermaid was seeking, while in the movie it was Eric’s love, she was trying to aim. The Little Mermaid’s learned more things about the surface and one thing about them is that they are mortal, but their souls are immortal while mermaids may live as long as 300 years, but they will turn into sea foam after that, with no such existence or whatsoever after life. To do this, she has to kill the Prince with dagger and she will gain an immortal soul. In the cartoon, Ariel wanted to be part of the human world, and to do this, she has to kiss the Prince before sunset, or else she will go back to being mermaid and then she will be in Ursula’s possession.

The ending is also fairly different as the story is. Ariel did get her story turn around and she was able to marry Prince Eric while in the book, the Little Mermaid, failed to kill the prince as she cannot, because she loved the Prince and with that selfless decision, she threw herself to the sea and turned into sea foam.

The ending is very dark in the book which I think is the reason why Disney made it more kid-friendly, rather than making a childhood be ruined. In the cartoon, we saw a fairytale happy ending which is very Disney like.

Now, let’s talk about the film that was released this May 26. The film was actually followed and adapted from the cartoon, all the details, and the plot are as same. Remarkably, including most of the scenes, they actually made it more similar from the cartoon, just difference, they are played by humans, Flounder, Scuttle and Sebastian are actually in a real form of their counterpart animals which is fun coz I love seeing Sebastian swim his way to King Triton.

Before even the film was released, there were some debate of who’s playing the main characters, Ariel was played by Halle Bailey, who is also a woman of color, so yes, there were some arguments that Ariel should’ve been while and maybe a red hair, however, Halle I guess was the most perfect person person to play the part, considering that she did it very well. No judgment in color should even exist as a criticism in this movie because anyone can play Ariel. As per her musical skills, she’s part of a musical duo Chloe X Halle, and some other musical films and shows, which means, she has a background when it comes to musical, so there’s no argument when it comes to her skills.

As for Eric, who is played by Jonah Andre Hauer-King, he is definitely the human version of Prince Eric, and I don’t think I’ll be ever be naming anyone else. if you must not know, he is an English Actor who has a fair experience when it comes to musical and acting. And yes, I don’t have enough words to say, but he is just perfect for the role.

And as for Ursula, played by Melissa McCarthy, she definitely played the part. I can’t imagine any other Ursula. and yes, the whole evil sea creature was one of the main event in the film as well.

All in all, being a fan of the Little Mermaid and an avid reader, I think it was fair that they actually mimic the whole cartoon version because it actually gave us a better perspective of the whole story as a live action. I cannot imagine having the original story, being adapted as a movie, because it’s just too dark and even if they do make it, it will be interesting but not too kid-friendly. Fantasy seeker might like it, but not kids, because they will not like Little Mermaid turning into sea foam.

All the effects they used, the whole seemed real, well, technology has grown a lot more and it was definitely what we are aiming for. Aside from the news that they will be making a live action of Moana, I hope Elsa and Ana’s story be next, coz, I’d definitely love to watch them in real action.

The movie is definitely a recommended one, I’d give it 90% wonderroanne rating.