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The Little Mermaid Comparison
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The Little Mermaid is making a splash in theaters so we were joined by Sarah-Daye from the Peeves' Gabfest podcast to compare this film to the 1989 animated classic.
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Transcript
Live-action vs. Animated 'The Little Mermaid'
00:00:01
Speaker
On another exciting episode of the Animation Deliberation podcast, we're sewing back up from under the sea to take a breath of fresh air that is The Little Mermaid and compare it to 1989's animated classic. Right up to these ads, we have no control over. Sing along if you know the words. Poor unfortunate souls. Oh, not that one. Oh, right.
00:00:22
Speaker
It's animation, deliberation, a conversation and a celebration of our favorite action animated series, yeah.
00:00:31
Speaker
Yeah, welcome back to another episode of Animation Deliberation, the podcast where we take action animation and cartoons seriously, but not too seriously. I'm your host Zuhara Lee, and joining us to talk about Little Mermaid today, she got quite the repertoire. She is the owner of the Night and Day Studio, which you can find on Instagram. She is the co-creator of the Fantasy Heroes game, which has over 600 players around the world.
00:00:53
Speaker
and newly is now the host of Peeves Gap Fest, which is a Harry Potter podcast that is a wonderful time to listen to. Introducing Sarah Day McDougall. Thanks for joining us. Hello. So happy to be here. I'm glad because you made it very clear that you were going to be the guest for this show. So we're glad that we made that work out.
00:01:12
Speaker
It may or may not have been my favorite Disney movie growing up. And I may or may not have been a mermaid in a past life. Definitely. Top 10 for animated Disney movies. I don't know if I have a particular order, but what are some of your like iconic like I could watch this a million times over. Disney specific.
00:01:34
Speaker
Yeah, like back in the day, like growing up Disney. Man, really all of them. But Mulan, Little Mermaid, Tarzan come to mind off the top of my head. I'm going to add Hercules to that list because that's arguably my favorite. OK, that is a good one. I love them all. I mean, you can't go wrong with a classic Disney film. Yeah. And that's not even getting into all the options that is Pixar.
00:02:02
Speaker
Yes. But we are here to talk specifically about Little Mermaid.
Disney's Live-action Remake Trend
00:02:08
Speaker
As everyone knows, there's this phase of Disney that's been going on for the last five to 10 years where they're taking these animated classics and making live action versions of them. Some of them have been bangers, some of them have been like one time watches and some I still haven't gotten around to watching. Those are those are my three tiers for these live action remakes.
00:02:27
Speaker
I really enjoyed it, only watched it once, or still haven't gotten to it, which that last one can obviously change. But currently we're talking about Little Mermaid, which has been in theaters for two or three weeks at the time of this recording. Some of us have seen it multiple times, some of us have only seen it once. Actually watching this movie was the first time going to a movie theater by myself.
00:02:49
Speaker
Oh wow. Yeah. Cause we were on a timeline. Did you enjoy it? Yeah, it was actually fun. I didn't have to worry about meeting up with anybody. I got to eat at my own pace. I didn't only have to buy one ticket cause I'm the guy that buys like everyone's tickets and they pay me back. But it's the best way to get AMC points and that gives me free tickets. Free movies. Yeah. So not having to worry about anybody else and just kind of chill and come back to my podcast to talk to was, was a nice experience. I might be doing that more often. Good.
00:03:18
Speaker
I like doing stuff on my own when my husband traveled for work earlier in our relationship for months at a time. So I got used to going to dinner and going to a movie on my own. And I was really proud of myself for that. And I really enjoy just having that me time.
00:03:34
Speaker
I get carried away with dinner dates by myself because I'll always go to a nice restaurant and be like, oh, I want to go here for dessert. And then I'll end up walking around Virginia Beach and go for hours on end and then go sit down somewhere and watch whatever game is going on late at night. So whenever I have a solo dinner date, it's like a five hour debacle.
00:03:55
Speaker
Wow, you really treat yourself. Yeah, might as well. It's fun. All my personalities have a great time together. All right, so coming back to the movie, what did you think of this as an individual film before we get into the animated stuff? I loved it. Absolutely loved it. And I loved that as an adaptation.
00:04:22
Speaker
I did have my, I think I had like tempered expectations when I went in. Like I wanted it to be good, but because not all of these remakes have been the best, I was just kind of like, you know, we'll see what we see. And there was a lot of controversy and stuff going on with this one specifically. So I was trying to keep that cloud at the door when I walked in, but I really did enjoy it.
00:04:46
Speaker
I thought they did a fantastic job with the music. I was singing along and tapping my toes throughout the whole thing. The actors did a pretty good job. I don't think that there was any mind blowing performances, but I just, I enjoyed it. Like it was above average if that makes sense.
00:05:03
Speaker
Yes, okay, I can agree with that. I was blown away in my first viewing and I went in, I knew I was gonna do the podcast with you, so I wanted to make sure I saw it at least twice before we chatted about it. The first time I went in, not even worrying about the podcast, I just wanted to enjoy it as a movie and I loved it. The second time I viewed it, knowing I needed to take mental notes. And I do have some critiques, but they're not.
00:05:31
Speaker
a lot. They're a few and far between. They're not very critical. I still enjoyed it as a movie. The changes didn't really bother me and I thought it added a lot to the film.
00:05:44
Speaker
And there's a few, actually, there is one performance, and we will get to it later on in our discussion, that blew me out of the water. And I'm excited to get your opinion on that, since you said nothing really stood out to you, because this one performance did. I think we're thinking the same thing. Okay, I'm excited to get into it. I'm actually, whose is it? Because I'm, I think we're thinking the same thing. It's Jessica Alexander as Vanessa.
00:06:08
Speaker
Oh, no, we are not thinking the same thing. Okay, what were you thinking of? I was thinking Awkwafina. I had no idea that he was in this movie. So when Scuttle started talking, I was like, Oh my God. Yes, I thought she was great at Scuttle. I thought Daveed Diggs was amazing as Sebastian. I thought Melissa was great as Ursula. I just had a lot of fun. I thought the cast was
00:06:31
Speaker
very well casted. And I'm really excited to dive into this conversation with you, no pun intended. Yeah, a lot of those names that you mentioned, they really did do a great job. It was a really fun movie that I look forward to watching again.
Cultural Representation in Casting
00:06:50
Speaker
one of the one of the big things I kind of would just get on the way is that one of the big controversies of this movie was the person that was casted like yeah hey the original Ariel looked this way why does she look this way now yeah they didn't really address this in the presser which they didn't have to either at the end of the day like if somebody has a role that you know fits that doesn't take away from the story and they're doing a fantastic job like good on them but the fact that
00:07:19
Speaker
they had all of Neptune's daughters from a different sea and had that daughter appropriate to the area that they're from was really cool. And we didn't get to see that until Ariel got her feet and she was interacting with like the other islanders. So the fact that this was like the Caribbean vibe
00:07:46
Speaker
like when she was on her feet and mingling with everybody like it was it fit it was like oh she looks like everybody there it made sense that this is why they casted this person because they were going for this particular culture that everything worked well within and like all of that made me so happy first off i just like drums so when they were just playing those island drums and stuff like i got super excited
00:08:10
Speaker
but seeing why they made the choices that they did. I'm just like, good on you, Disney. That was very well done. And I don't think enough people appreciate that that's why that choice was made. Again, I don't think Disney like promoted it well enough to emphasize that because I had to tell people like, oh, yeah, I really like this movie and I really appreciate it. Oh, I didn't think about that. Oh, I didn't notice that. Oh, I didn't know that they were going to do that. So it was
00:08:34
Speaker
It's something that I wish that Disney from a promotional standpoint did more and I really appreciate it as I was watching the movie. You know, and I didn't really make that connection either until you just told me that I did obviously notice that the Seven Daughters of King Triton represented the different Seven Seas. And I thought that was really great way to get some representation in there. And I hope that we I mean, I would love a spin off of the Seven Sisters and cleaning up the sea and everything. Yeah.
00:09:03
Speaker
But I didn't make the connection that Ariel C, like her home C was the Caribbean setting. That was a really great point.
00:09:10
Speaker
Yeah. And then when I was doing my homework to confirm this, somebody made the joke of like, Oh, does that mean her mom is the Dead Sea? It's like, Oh, that's bad. And then if you know, like, just enough about Greek mythology, it's like, you know, they don't all have the same mom. Right, right, right. By looking at them, you can tell that. Well, and I mean, they do all refer to one singular mom, but
00:09:36
Speaker
Disney did release a photo of the Seven Sisters in which sea they govern. And they're actually made up seas. They're not our real seas. Or they could just be what Atlantis names their seas. But I thought that was interesting.
00:09:52
Speaker
Yeah, I couldn't tell if it was that or if it was like, if you see like the older maps of the world from like when it used to be like one giant chunk of land and like how it looked when it split up. So I didn't I didn't do too much of a deep dive into that. But for the sake of why they casted people the way that they did, it fit like I only have like this one tiny image of like what the world looks like and where they are on that and
00:10:19
Speaker
Yes, that's what it was. It was just really cool. Everything like made sense at that point. And I wish it just got more recognition. I yeah, I really liked seeing. I also really like that they had more to do in this story in this film than they did in the original cartoon, The Sisters, seeing them clean up the shipwreck instead of all just getting pretty in their room when they're talking about oh, Ariel's in love.
00:10:48
Speaker
I really love that they had more agency in this remake. Yeah, because royalty goes one of two ways. Everyone is pampered and isolated and, you know, stick to the circle, which is what Eric's family was trying to get him to do. Or it's people who are actually giving to their community and wanting to take care of their kingdom and have a sense of like duty and justice, which is what we got to see out of the sisters because they're all princesses that care about
00:11:17
Speaker
the land that they govern and the home that they live in. So I do agree that it was really nice for them to have this care and appreciation. It's not like, oh, King Daddy's going to do all the work for us. They were just like, we have responsibilities to our home and we have to take care of this. And darn those, you know, feet people.
00:11:38
Speaker
And I really like that the introduction to them is this coming together of the coral moon to kind of catch up and have this like staff meeting of sorts. Yeah. And, you know, Ariel's missing from this meeting and that's what sets us off into the film. Yeah. On that point of, what are they called? The coral moon? The coral moon. Yeah. On that point of the coral moon, it's interesting.
00:12:08
Speaker
So I haven't had a chance to watch the animated movie again because it's just been a rough week, but as thinking back of watching this movie as a kid, I thought mermaids were just
Mermaids' Mythical Singing Powers
00:12:22
Speaker
girls with fins that lived underwater, right? So growing up and understanding like what mermaids and sirens are and how they sit in mythology and knowing, you know, we've seen it in Black Panther, we've seen it in Pirates of the Caribbean of the mermaids like using the song to draw the people in the water. So the fact that they talked about that
00:12:45
Speaker
at the beginning of the movie and how they're actually hunting mermaids because they don't want to get drawn in and they're scared of the coral moon, like Neptune's out to get us. So hearing all that dialogue, I didn't even think about the fact I was like, oh, when Ariel was singing to Eric in the animated film, it wasn't just like a Bollywood moment of, you know, I'm going to sing to this person at this point in time. It's like she has actual powers.
00:13:08
Speaker
She has this enticing advice. I didn't think about that as a kid and I'm watching this now like, oh, this makes so much more sense now. And something that I didn't catch on the first viewing, like I was just so immersed in the first viewing, but on the second viewing, she actually heals him by singing to him after the shipwreck. And that's what brings him back from being unconscious. And then that's why she has to give up the voice to Ursula and
00:13:32
Speaker
I mean, it's a thread that's carried on throughout the whole film is the siren song. So beautiful. That is one thing that I have to give this Ashra credit for. She had an incredible voice. When she spoke and sang, it was very, very beautiful. And comparing a little bit to the film, just focusing on her a little bit,
00:13:55
Speaker
not watching the animated film beforehand. It was there was a lot of moments where I was like, thinking back on the movie and comparing because I've watched it enough times as a kid that it was like I spotted these moments. And one of the littlest things is when
00:14:12
Speaker
was it Scuttle? Yeah. When Scuttle was like, something's different about you. And the way that she was sitting and like her facial expressions of like pressing in her lips and nodding her head, like all of that was just on cue and so adorable. And I'm just like thinking back on the anime, we were just like, wow, like these, these little moments, these little instances was just so, so well done. Like there's just
00:14:35
Speaker
There's a lot of lines too that are very similar, especially with Sebastian. I thought Daveed Diggs just brought him to life in this film. It was so great to see some of those callbacks and he just nailed the lines like the OG Sebastian did. The comedic relief was just on point. God, his snarkiness is just so wonderful. It's like, I went to school. I'm not meant to be a babysitter. I'm not going to pretend to do an accent right now.
00:15:04
Speaker
All right, so you watched the animated movie more recently. I do I do little girls so it's a popular one around here.
00:15:14
Speaker
So forgive my ignorance on this. Did Sebastian have like a Caribbean, Jamaican Islander accent? Okay. My child self thought that it was a French accent all this time. I don't know if it's because he had the little whiskers or because I just wasn't like knowledgeable in it or not. So there's a character that's cut from this film and it's the French chef. That's right.
00:15:38
Speaker
And maybe I just kept hearing similarities. There's a whole scene where he has Sebastian is trying to cook him and Sebastian's trying to escape. And it's like the can can or something like that, you know, a classic French tune that he's singing to. Yeah, they took that out. They kept it as simple as Sebastian just being like in the crab cage. I mean, that dinner scene was where the whole
00:16:02
Speaker
using the fork as a comb happened too. So they switched that up. That was a big change up. So it was one of those things where it's like, I noticed those changes, but it didn't like take away from the experience at all.
00:16:15
Speaker
Right, and that's why I said none of the changes bothered me and I thought that they added so much more to the story. Eric having a backstory, characters that were cut or characters that were added, none of this bothered me because I thought it gave so much more to the background and they were just much more well-rounded characters. Was Eric's first song at the beginning a new song? It was. Okay, I really liked that.
00:16:44
Speaker
Yes, I love his song. And they changed fathoms below, which is the opening of the cartoon. They moved it around. And then so Scuttle obviously gets her new song, Eric gets a new song, and then Ariel has a second song. Those were all added. And I thought that they were really well written. Of course, Lin-Emmanuel Miranda wrote them in conjunction with Alan Menken, I believe.
00:17:12
Speaker
They fit so well with the film, with the rest of the songs, which is something that really stuck out to me because speechless in Aladdin was added for Jasmine. And I love the song. I love what it stands for and the meaning behind it. But the way it sounds does not fit with the rest of the film, if that makes sense. So I really appreciated that these new songs did fit the vibe of the rest of the songs.
00:17:39
Speaker
You mean you weren't focused on the fact that they got Thanos snapped in the middle of the music video? It's not even that. It's just the sound of the song just didn't fit the other songs to me. It just stands out so much more, but these songs really blended a lot better. Okay. I don't agree with that, but I can see where you're coming from. I love the song. I do. I love the song. It just really sticks out to me. Yeah. That's fair.
00:18:09
Speaker
Yeah, all the songs that they added were wonderful. And that big change up where we got to see her in the market instead of having dinner at the table, I think was really well done. Because as you've been saying on Pete's Gap Fest a lot, montage. We got to see a lot of this stuff just happen in the liveliness of the moment instead of like a stale scene on the table where Sebastian like has to be the highlight. Like we got to focus on
00:18:35
Speaker
her and the experience and the culture and that little dance bit at the end where yes, we got to see a little more of just like the liveliness of the area. And also see how much Eric interacts with his community and with his people. He's as much as they're trying to keep him locked up in the kingdom, like the fact that he can comfortably be there and everyone be like, Oh, my prince welcome. Like he goes there every day was such a cool thing for both of those characters.
00:19:00
Speaker
And this is something else that I appreciated with this one is that this gave Eric and Ariel something to bond over their love for adventure and uncharted waters. If you will, it gave them something to connect with, not just we're going to fall in love with each other's looks in three days.
Live-action vs. Animated Details
00:19:19
Speaker
Yeah. They really bonded. Especially her not being able to talk and everything too. Like you really needed those experiences.
00:19:27
Speaker
Yeah. And the whole Eric has his own grotto in a sense. And she was showing him some of the things that he had and didn't even know. And I just, yes, yes. And then he's showing her the maps and I just, I just loved it so much.
00:19:47
Speaker
Yeah, because she's so discouraged at this point, too, because he comes in and is like, oh, that's not her, when it actually is. And I guess we can spare one carriage tomorrow. But then just that whole little scene that like... And Griggs be helping set it up the whole time. That's what I'm saying. Everybody was just such a more well-rounded character in this one, and I just loved it. So that being said, do you feel like that this was an upgrade to the animated film?
00:20:16
Speaker
I might get a lot of hate for this, but I do like it better than the original animated film. I do love it. I mean, if you have 30 years to work on something, you would hope that it's better, right? The classics are always going to hit that nostalgia in you, but as a story, this is just so good. For sure.
00:20:41
Speaker
I don't want to get into the other ones too much, although ever since my first podcast, I've been wanting to do an episode that's just comparing all the animated stuff to all the live action stuff. But one of the biggest problems with Lion King and the remake for that was that everything was too lifelike.
00:21:02
Speaker
there wasn't too much reaction going on in the eyes, in the facial expressions. Like you rely on the actor's tones, which I, in my opinion, didn't really land as high as I expected to, especially with the cast that they had. And I feel like they used that and corrected it for this film because Sebastian Flounder and Scott all had like lots of animation and detail in their eyes. Like,
00:21:30
Speaker
It wasn't natural to those animals, but it worked for what we needed from them with how lifelike they were trying to make it. Right. Well, and they actually changed the species of crab that Sebastian is. Because people were giving it heat for being like a land crab or something. Yes.
00:21:51
Speaker
because that type of crab that he is in the film is able to show more emotion with just the way that type of crab is built. So that's why they changed it to be that species of crab, even though he's definitely not an underwater crab. Yeah.
00:22:09
Speaker
Yeah, I didn't never even knew like how crab swam either. So those little paddles that he has on his butt that he kept like popping. Yeah, that's actually really cool. And I really appreciated like when he would walk, he would walk sideways because
00:22:23
Speaker
in real life. When crabs walk like that, it creeps me out. And so I was like, Yep, there it is. There's the walk. I hate it. The best part about is that every time he was being summoned, like he was trying to avoid eye contact with Neptune, so he got to have like his inner dialogue and everything and just kind of like look over me like nope, nope, he's he's gonna get something out of me right now. I know that you're in Virginia Beach and Neptune is the big statue, but it's Triton.
00:22:47
Speaker
Yes. Sorry. I'm going to continue to make that sense. I'm here to correct you. Don't worry. I feel like Trident to this film. I always think like Trident holding a Trident. I know. Triton holding a Trident. So can't imagine what he was named after. So King Trident to this movie was Jafar to Aladdin, where
00:23:15
Speaker
Those animated characters were so well animated and had such dynamic facial expressions and were so expressive. We didn't get that from that. I think that was probably the biggest disappointment. Mm hmm.
00:23:30
Speaker
again, not detracting. I just had like, I just I wish it's not that the actor did a bad job. It's just, it was a really high bar. But it well, and it's not even that he is supposed to instill such fear in Ariel that she runs away. And you just didn't get that from him. And that's, it's wild to think that Harvey R. Bartheem couldn't do that, because he's a brilliant actor. But it was like, he's not
00:23:57
Speaker
He's not very scary right now. And he's very like one tone and he's supposed to be furious with her, you know, and he's like slowly swimming up and shooting the cliffs. And it's kind of like, it's like, wait, it's like, okay, you kind of like to match that scene, but it's like when I went and you matched it. Yeah. When Trident goes off, like you think that's just going to be like tsunamis hitting, right? It's like, where did this freak storm come from? Like he should be causing a hurricane. Like, and we're just,
00:24:26
Speaker
Yes, I agree with you 100%. So, yeah, I think that his performance was probably like the weakest. A little lackluster. Yeah. Unfortunately, yeah. Yeah. Because even in Aladdin, like Jafar's, like, like you saw what the potential was towards the end of the film, but leading up to that is just kind of like, this is what I was expecting. It was the same for the for the Sultan in Aladdin as well, where it's just like he's this short stubby, like super animated dude, like probably when it goes over the place. I'm just kind of like,
00:24:55
Speaker
Okay, you didn't have to do that verbatim, but give us a little more. Especially like you said, we know that these actors are capable of it, so it's like... Yeah. Yeah, so you wonder if it's because it's... I mean, they were filming in water and maybe it's a directorial thing, who knows, but it was a little shocking, but it is what it is. It's out and I still loved it. Yeah. You guys, if you haven't heard, I loved it. Did you love it?
00:25:27
Speaker
You were talking about it being underwater and stuff. I like how much detail actually went to their swimming motions and stuff too. It's not like they had these hard stops or anything. They actually had to bring their arms out and wave back and stuff. And when they were backpedaling, they actually incorporated the arms. So that detail and attention to how they were moving was really impressive on that part. Yes. And if you have Instagram listeners, you should go follow Hailey Bailey on Instagram because she's posted a few behind the scenes.
00:25:47
Speaker
I loved it.
00:25:55
Speaker
And the rigging and stuff that they were in is really fascinating to see. And she did a lot of training for that hair flip, too. The iconic hair flip. Yeah, she was like with weights on her forehead. It was amazing. Yeah, that was one of those scenes where it's like I felt like they just nailed it. Nailed it.
00:26:19
Speaker
There were certain times where she was singing when I was just kind of like, alright, dial it back, we get it. She was just kind of adding her whole flair to it. I didn't hate her at the same time. She was kind of like, okay, I see that you're trying to add your spin, but calm down a little. Yeah, her singing didn't bother me too much.
00:26:34
Speaker
And I think the first time that what you said just now hit me was in the very first time I saw the trailer because of course they use part of your world and it was stiffer and you were like, whoa, okay. All right. This is how it's going to be. Okay. I'm going into the film knowing that she's going to have her own flair to these songs, which is fine. I mean, it's Jodi Benson has passed the dinglehopper to Haley Bailey.
00:26:58
Speaker
Can we talk about how cute Max is? Yes, we can. I want to do a Doctor right away. He was so pretty cute. Like I knew how this movie plays out and I was still so terrified when he was on the ship. I was like, get that precious being off that ship now.
00:27:13
Speaker
Right and he Eric does save him in the film too and Ariel witnesses it but I love that she brings it back that she has the compassion that Eric has the compassion and she even helps save max help him swim to the boat which was not in the animated film and I love that she's She's there waiting to make sure all of the humans are safely in the lifeboat And then of course Eric is not and that's when she goes to save him and again just adds so much depth to these characters
00:27:43
Speaker
Yeah, that was really beautiful scene, especially when she was like in the lifeboat and she's like smells and she's like petting him and stuff just hoping that nobody notices but then like he Recognizes her after on later. It's just like yeah Yes, good boy. Did you good boy? The goodest dog that he is We haven't heard about Ursula much what did you think about that I
Melissa McCarthy as Ursula
00:28:11
Speaker
So I want to preface this with I was spoiled because I did see The Little Mermaid on Broadway and it was Sherry and I forget her last name so forgive me Broadway fans, but she was phenomenal and it's my favorite version of Poor Unfortunate Souls, which is my favorite villain song. That said, I thought Melissa knocked it out of the park. Yeah.
00:28:36
Speaker
Yeah, I was trying not to think too much on it. But when she came up, I totally forgot that it was her. And it took a while to be like, Oh, yeah, it's Melissa McCarthy. And she did a really good job. I will admit I do like Melissa McCarthy as an actress. I will admit when she was cast first as Ursula, I had my hesitations. Yeah. And then of course, they started teasing
00:28:57
Speaker
in the trailers and everything. And I was like, okay, I'm feeling a little better about it. And then of course I saw the film and she just did such a good job personifying Ursula and the intense craze that Ursula has. I thought she really nailed it. I absolutely love Scott on Sebastian, but I think she had the best performance out of everybody. I think I will have to agree with that. Yeah.
00:29:27
Speaker
Yeah, in terms of like, because she had the most that she had to express where it's like, Sebastian's kind of just themselves the whole time, but she had to do the flattery and the agony and the hatred and she and I think she nailed all of those. And she killed one of the best songs from Disney classic days. So yes, yes.
00:29:53
Speaker
Which, funnily enough, the first time that I actually heard Jonas Brothers was when they did a cover of that during a Disney break. Yes! I remember that too. When I say, Poor Unfortunate Souls is my favorite villain song, I have every version imaginable. And yes, the Jonas Brothers did a really great job as well. That was so good. Just the hype and rock that they put into it. I was like, who are these guys? Yes, it's so fun! Yes!
00:30:17
Speaker
But going back to Melissa as the best performance, not only does she have more range to have to fill, but it's also her. You know, you mentioned Sebastian Scuttle, but they're completely CGI, just voice acting, but she had to act with a completely CGI bottom, you know, and then human
00:30:37
Speaker
upper torso, and she had to interact. Her tentacles almost had a mind of their own, so she had to be interacting with 10 others. She was yelling at them. Yes. In addition to flotsam and jetsam. I don't have enough words of praise for her. Yeah. I totally forgot about the eels until they came up. It was one of those things when I saw the movie, like the original movie just popped into my head right away.
00:31:06
Speaker
So very minor change, but I liked it was that when they're in the original film, their eyes like combine and she is seeing in her crystal ball, but not communicating with Ariel.
00:31:19
Speaker
And I really liked that in the grotto scene after King Triton demolishes everything and she's crying, it is Ursula convincing Ariel to come see her instead of Flotsam and Jetsam. In the movies, they talk. In the original, I'm sorry, they talk. And in this one, it's her talking through their magic portal. She was having them spin to make the orb. Yes.
00:31:47
Speaker
And again, I thought she nailed that scene too. She was a greeter. It's a delivery where it's like, no, I'm not interested. Go away. Okay. Wait a minute. Yes. Yes. You hang up first. No, you hang up first. No, she did a really good job. I was actually wondering if like the tentacles had a mind of the own when she was yelling like, no, not that one.
00:32:10
Speaker
I couldn't tell if it was just kind of like, you know, like me talking to myself or if they actually had their own personality. Just trying to get all this... They definitely had their own personality. It was so much fun to watch. Poor Unfortunate Souls does have some changes to it. Of course, they got rid of one verse, which was Ursula saying, you know, men up there don't like a lot of blabber.
00:32:36
Speaker
Basically like use your body language and all that that whole verse is cut for obvious reasons that I approve However, I do wish they had just rewritten it because not using her voice You know, they could have written a whole new verse about her siren song and not being able to use that Because this is my favorite song and it's a whole verse shorter but they did add a
00:33:01
Speaker
When she's, you know, come wins of the Caspian Sea, she adds amnesia to the spell, which was not in the original one, which is a change to the movie because Ariel knows in the cartoon that she has to get Prince Eric to kiss her. So Ursula adds this amnesia part to the song, which is part of her spell. So Ariel forgets that she has to have Prince Eric kiss her.
00:33:28
Speaker
Okay, I'm glad you said that because that was bothering me throughout the whole movie. I was like, that was not part of the original. I do not. I don't think I have amnesia right now, but I don't remember there being amnesia in this. So when she said that line of like, oh, there's something about like, she just blanked out. I was like, you know what, this was not in the years. Okay, so I feel very validated. Right. And it's another two points that
00:33:53
Speaker
It gives Ariel and Eric more of that connection because she's not trying to get him to kiss her. She just wants to bond with the human world and he's kind of her key to that, you know, and they just end up falling for each other.
00:34:09
Speaker
throughout their shared interests. This also gives Sebastian and Flounder and Scuttle more agency because it's now their mission because they know she has to get Prince Eric to kiss her, and they have to do it without her knowing. And with them being... with their incredible performance that they had, like, we definitely wanted more of them. A more dialogue out of them. And they were pretty prominent in the animated version as well.
00:34:39
Speaker
But again, like I said, everybody just has more depth in this one. Yeah. Somebody was actually sharing with me because I was telling somebody today, I was like, Yeah, I got to go home tonight to record on Little Mermaid. And they were like, Are you going to talk about how Kiss the Girl had different lyrics? And I was like, I don't think I noticed that. And I hadn't gotten a chance because this was like an hour ago.
00:35:00
Speaker
to do.
00:35:16
Speaker
Like, it really is about it being a true love kiss, right? They're not, like, trying to be, like, over-sexual and, like, persuading the other person or being aggressive with the other person or anything, like, non-consensual. It's just a matter of, like, we're matching vibes for having a good time. This is a connection that's being built up.
Changes in 'Kiss the Girl' Lyrics
00:35:34
Speaker
And it's hats off to them that they're managing to make it happen in a day where it's like, I've been swiping for a couple of years now when I've just come out of it. Oh, what a time.
00:35:46
Speaker
And unlike poor and fortunate souls, Kiss the Girl just changed the lines. So I kind of have to do that with poor and fortunate souls. But in the original, Sebastian's like, you don't have to say a word, just go for it basically. And then in the new one, he's like, just ask her. Yeah. So it's just a change instead of eliminating a whole verse. Yeah.
00:36:11
Speaker
Sha-la-la-la-la-la, my oh, my oh. It's so good. That song never gets old. The whole movie is, and that's why I'm saying the new songs are just as good, and I love them, and they fit so well.
00:36:25
Speaker
Even at the beginning, when he's trying to get like, oh my God, when Scuttle was singing, that was hilarious. He's like, let me put on some mood music. I'm just like, oh, stop. Then they cut to the power of her, just like, caw, caw, caw. It's like, I had me dying. Oh my God, that was so funny. Which is fun. Then later on, in the middle of the song, you see
00:36:50
Speaker
I think she's on the paddle at this point, and she takes over the song, and Sebastian's like, shh. It's just this fun. Yeah, but just the way that they incorporated the nature and the environment that they were in to make the natural sounds. I remember that scene, I know it's the beginning of the song, but it was just, it was beautiful how they interpreted it into live action. Yes, I know. I loved it.
00:37:12
Speaker
But when he was rowing the boat and all three of them were just on that paddle. Yes. It's so cute. It was so good. I just think they did such a good job adapting this one. And it's definitely my favorite live action adaptation of the Disney ones. I'd say it's up there with Aladdin.
00:37:36
Speaker
Well, that one was good. So does your, does your tier system match mine where it's like loved it, only saw it once and still haven't seen it yet? I've seen them all. So I can eliminate that tier. So it's either top or bottom for you, like top shelf or bottom shelf. It's the little mermaid and all the rest of them.
00:37:55
Speaker
Oh, OK. I really, really love this one. I honestly had had to go back because if I'm going to choose what to watch and it might be different when my girls are older, but I'm going to watch the OG original one, except for The Little Mermaid, I would probably choose the live action one. OK, that's her. Yeah, because I remember I've only seen Jungle Book once and I was mad about it. I saw Lion King and I was. Except for Timon and Pumbaa,
00:38:25
Speaker
I love their version of Lion Sleeps Tonight, the way that he shrieks at the end will always get me. That was a disappointment, but I really enjoyed Aladdin. I really enjoyed this. Maleficent was one I only saw once. You know, and I don't count that one. I mean, I do, but I forget too, because it's the villain side instead, but I do love Maleficent, and that might be one that I would choose over the cartoon as well. Okay.
00:38:55
Speaker
Beauty and the Beast is one I haven't seen yet. Not for a lot of interest, I just haven't gotten around to it. I've been told that it's one I'm missing out on. It is very good. But again, I don't know. Now I'm conflicted because... Oh, I didn't like the new Mulan. Yeah, I would choose the cartoon over that. Only, I mean, the songs and Mushu, just primarily. It wasn't even the same movie. Yeah.
00:39:21
Speaker
I get it, making it more realistic. I get it, but no, I really, you know, some of those songs and I know I think I've talked to you about this before, but I know we're talking about The Lunar Mermaid, but that moment in Milan, the cartoon where she's making her decision and she's sitting on this statue chair and it's like this slow sad music and then you see her making the decision and the music gets
00:39:45
Speaker
faster and heavier and then it cuts into like this like hardcore music and she's cutting her hair and she's pulling the sword. I cry every time. It's so good and like that. I was so looking forward to seeing that put on to the live action and of course because the, you know, the music's not there. So yeah, that was a bummer. Yeah. Hercules is definitely one that I want to see. I'm looking forward to that. But again, it has a really high bar. It does. Yeah.
00:40:12
Speaker
I mean, they have to be musicals from now on. No more non-musical ones. Yeah. I forget the actor of Phil's name. Danny DeVito. Danny DeVito? Yeah. He's totally kind of reprised his role. Absolutely. How can he not?
00:40:28
Speaker
That would be amazing. There's the other one where it's like from Mulan. It's like it has to be Eddie Murphy, but he's just like wearing a dragon costume. He's not like, Tarzan's another one that would be cool to see live action. But again, just high bar. And that has to be a minute because they've made so many, you know, live action Tarzan. So obviously not the Disney version, but it's, you know, that one would be a really, that George showed the jungle.
00:40:53
Speaker
They've got to wait a minute, I think, for Tarzan. But yes, I would love to see Tarzan. Beautiful music in that one, too. It's the music that gets me, really. I'm drawing a blank on other 90s movies that we could want to see. Quest for Camelot would be a fun one. Quest for Camelot would be a fun one. Black Cauldron would be a cool one. Yep. Cinderella was made. We didn't mention that one.
00:41:19
Speaker
Honestly, that's not really a story. I like I wouldn't watch either one of those. Oh, because that was like a Maleficent sequel, right? No, Cinderella is not Maleficent. That's Sleeping Beauty. Right. I don't remember. I just don't think I ever want. Okay, Cinderella is on the did not watch list. Sorry. Hello. Helena Barnum Carter is the fairy godmother. I think I don't know who plays Galadriel and the Lord of the Rings.
00:41:50
Speaker
Anyway, she's... All the listeners know that I am not the person that ever looks into anybody's names. I just stay immersed in the stories and enjoy that. I'm usually really good with names, but I'm drawing a blank on this one. Anyway, she's the evil stepmother. But yeah, I mean, going back to the Little Mermaid, it's definitely my favorite of the live actions and I'm excited for it to come on to Disney Plus so I can watch it every day.
00:42:16
Speaker
Cause I call you or talk to you about every day too. So it'll just be like, Hey, what are you doing? Watching mermaids while doing just insert the blank, insert the blank film, the blank. Any other notes you got? Yeah. So we're kind of, we talked about most of the film and we're kind of, I said all of my notes and now we can go to the later, you know, climax of the film.
00:42:42
Speaker
And Eric's decision, I wrote my notes, listeners, I wrote my notes by song, by the order of the soundtrack. So Eric's decision is a beautiful number. And this is when he's deciding that he's going to give up finding the girl. Oh, and another note, the reason why he's so gung-ho on finding this girl is because of the siren song that she sang in the beginning.
00:43:07
Speaker
which I didn't really connect that until the second viewing. So this is when he's on the beach and he's running back up and then he hears Vanessa start to sing. And like I said in the beginning at the top of the episode, Jessica Alexander
00:43:26
Speaker
fucking killed this role. She's in the movie for five minutes maybe and I left the theater the first time going, I need to know who played Vanessa because first of all, most of her lines are either ad-libbing or not ad-libbing, but lip-syncing to Hailey Bailey's voice or Melissa McCarthy's voice. And she only uses her own voice minimal.
00:43:50
Speaker
And she was great at that. Her facial expressions, especially when she's losing and right before, like when Ariel's turning back into a mermaid, this girl just emitted hate. Yeah. And I can't wait to follow her career. I already followed her on Instagram because I said I needed I need more of this girl. Her acting is phenomenal.
00:44:18
Speaker
Yeah, I couldn't even tell you like which lines were hers like trying to recollect it. But like it like you said her facial expressions and her matching up the her her lip syncing lip syncing. Thank you. Her lipstick. It was just so incredible. Like right off the bat. I was like, I only imagine how many takes this took because it's really, really well done.
00:44:41
Speaker
So she really knocked it out of the park and you know just for the little bit that she, little bit of the movie that she was in really sat with me for the rest of the day. And then of course she turns back into Ursula the sea witch and I thought that this whole battle scene was really well done. I know a lot of people were complaining about how the movie was really dark.
00:45:02
Speaker
Especially this scene. It's really hard to see Ursula, but I thought that that really added to the fear because now she's this giant sea witch and You can barely see what's going on. It's a huge storm. It's swirling around but she it looks like she has like gills on her face now and her it's really hard to tell because it's so dark, but I mean her face looks like it's a
00:45:29
Speaker
wrinkly, not like old lady wrinkly. But I don't know. I just thought it was a really scary scene. And I'm glad I didn't take my my toddler to go because I think she would have nightmares now. Yeah. And the transition of the smoke building up and everything under the water before she fully transformed because she lost her little buddies. That was a way to section off into like I said, when when try didn't have to stop saying Neptune.
00:45:58
Speaker
When Trident goes off, like the way that the weather reacted to Ursula is what we should have seen from Trident.
Ursula's Transformation Scene
00:46:06
Speaker
So seeing that buildup of it, like her anger actually emitted from the ocean and spread up to the above the sea was something that we needed to see out of that. Like, even if it was a cut to somebody on a boat and just seeing like thunder with the clear sky, like, oh, crap, like
00:46:23
Speaker
Sorry, Neptune. I won't do anything. A little bit of something like that would have been epic. So it was a good transition. It didn't bother me with it being dark at all because it really added to the intensity of what they were going for. And for the rest of it, with it being... I mean, they're underwater. This is a live action. It's supposed to be realistic. And when you're that deep underwater, it's going to be darker. And when Ariel was on land, it was fine. It was bright and fine.
00:46:49
Speaker
They did take, I can't remember if Flotsam and Jetsam get hit and destroyed and killed in the cartoon or not, but she does start to send that ink out and it covers her up. So they took that right out. And there's so many parts just like that. They took directly out of the animated film and it was perfect and not cheesy or anything, you know? Like some of them have been a little cheesy, but they really did a good job. I mean, the CGI on trying to get fried was pretty intense. I was like, good Lord.
00:47:21
Speaker
Yeah, I thought it actually like founder I had no problem with them. I thought everything looked really good. Yeah. You mentioned that the detail that changed on Ursula space. One of the things throughout the film that really impressed me was that they had
00:47:38
Speaker
like the mermaids had color to their skin that kind of like reflected and refracted so it's like they had they had like just a small touch to make it look like they had some type of scale material that was like suitable for them being underwater that wasn't there when she got out and it was just saw those little glimmers and shines and I was like
00:47:58
Speaker
That's a very subtle touch that I very much appreciate. I loved that their tops were scales. I loved it. You're right. That is such a brilliant design decision to make. And they all had different designs and designs that probably fit the sea that they belong to. And like the little kids had more scales and I just thought that was such a great design choice. Yeah.
00:48:26
Speaker
Yeah, they they really nailed it with this one. See what happens when you like your time and think about it. Yeah. And granted, I feel like they've learned a lot from the movies that they've done leading up to now, but. Well, I'm glad The Little Mermaid wasn't on the right track. Yeah. Yeah. So I hope that the rest of the live action adaptations do as well as The Little Mermaid was. Yeah. Another big change to this final scene or not big, but
00:48:54
Speaker
great change is that Ariel is actually the one to impale Ursula and save Eric instead of Eric impaling Ursula to save Ariel, who's actually stuck at the bottom of the tornado thing. So it was really nice to see that the hero is Ariel.
Ariel as the Hero in Final Scenes
00:49:12
Speaker
It's really nice to see that the hero of this film is Ariel. And it was a good balance of first Eric saving her and then her in favor. Yeah, yeah. Well, she saved him twice. So
00:49:24
Speaker
Ariel wins. We like balance. I thought the wedding scene was really well done. We didn't talk about the queen as much and I thought her performance was really good.
00:49:39
Speaker
Yeah. And again, just giving Eric a backstory and more agency. Um, but going back real quick to the wedding, it's not clear that they did get married in this one. Um, in the original, of course they get married, but in this one, it's more so they're setting out together to explore and set up the ring though. Well, it could be just engaged, but they, the point is whether they're married or not is they're setting out on an adventure together and to, you know, fulfill both of their dreams.
00:50:09
Speaker
Yeah, because now they have a good guide. Yes, I loved it. I loved it so much. Triton's going to throw in a storm every now and then just to like fuck with the sun in law. Right.
00:50:24
Speaker
Oh, and then the the little figure that he gave her and actually said, oh, that's my little mermaid. I was like, oh, that was so it took me a second. It took me a second to register that because I saw her turn around and I was so focused on her reaction that the words didn't click to me. I was like, that's cute. And then she gave it to her friends that don't have hands or opposable thumbs and are probably going to drop it and lose it somewhere in the ocean. He's got claws. He can he can clip onto it.
00:50:54
Speaker
I'm proud of Disney for making this movie. They did a fantastic job. Yeah, I really think they nailed this one. I don't think I have a huge desire to watch it in theaters again, but not many movies do, but I will be very excited to watch it again with my changing lights and lights. I have plans to see it in theaters two more times. So nice. This will be this will be the first movie in a very long time. I've seen multiple times in the theater. Nice.
00:51:22
Speaker
Yes. Every time I think I'm going to do it, I just never get around to it. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, not even the Marvel movies. I don't think I've gone to see multiple times. Not even Harry Potter. We have to for points. Not even Harry Potter? You know, I might have, but I mean, that, I mean, like I said, not in a long time, probably in college, I might've seen movies multiple times in theaters, but
00:51:50
Speaker
something like avatar family now. These little tiny humans keep me busy. So we need you guys to leave us all the five star reviews and follow all the coupon codes and make sure all those ads run so that we can finally make enough money to hire all the babysitters and do all the podcasting and not have to go to our actual jobs. Yes. If we're if we're hiring the babysitters, go subscribe to Pete's got this thing that will help me out over there.
00:52:18
Speaker
Yeah, if we have, uh, if we have nothing left to talk about for a little more, but do you want to tell everybody about your awesome show?
00:52:27
Speaker
is a chapter by chapter, page to screen analysis of the Harry Potter series in preparation for the new Max show. We have six episodes, AKA six chapters out already, as well as an introduction to our three hosts, which is me, James and Meeks. We are three Harry Potter fans, loving talking about Harry Potter and excited to see what the show can do.
00:52:55
Speaker
kind of not necessarily redeem because the movies were amazing, but expand upon.
00:53:01
Speaker
Yeah, I am not one that reads books. I have not willingly done so since middle school. And aside from the Avatar books, they actually got me to read to the point where I finished the first book in a couple of weeks. And now I'm just sitting waiting for these episodes to come out every week. So that is a testament to how phenomenal these hosts are and how wonderful the show has been so far. So please go give them a look. Whether you're a fan or not, you will become one.
00:53:29
Speaker
Yeah. Anything else you want to plug? Go Hufflepuffs. Well, yeah. Well, let's plug fantasy since we're together on a podcast.
00:53:40
Speaker
Not that it's like anytime soon for registration, but if you're into Marvel, Zuhair and I co-created Marvel. Well, we shouldn't say Marvel. We co-created Fantasy Heroes, which is based in the MCU. And it's basically a cross between the MCU and fantasy football. So you draft your team of heroes. And then Zuhair and I argue about which heroes get which points.
00:54:04
Speaker
Yep. Sadly, this isn't automated yet. It does involve lots of deliberation. Believe it or not, I do it outside of the show as well. But it's a good time. This is year three. We have over 600 players around the world. We have a Patreon that gives you access to a Discord. And it's actually where Sarah Day met a couple of her co-hosts now.
00:54:25
Speaker
So it really has been a great community. It's been fun. We talk about stuff all outside of Marvel. We have nights where we just get on our Nintendo Switches and play games and just chill in the voice chat. It's so much more than we ever could have asked for for this.
Promoting Fantasy Heroes Game
00:54:40
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, the Discord is really worth signing up for the Patreon because it's just a lot of fun in there. And I mean, it's a really small group right now, which is really great. And we just have such a great time and such great conversations. And we have conversations about Harry Potter. We have conversations about Star Wars.
00:54:55
Speaker
about Avatar. Spider-Verse. Spider-Verse, yeah. All of the nerdy things that you love. So come on over, play fantasy heroes, and listen to Peabes' Gapfest. You already listened to animation deliberation.
00:55:13
Speaker
Alright, so if that's it, I'm just going to plug my co-hosts. We have Andrew on source pages to talk about the Flash. We have Jay Scottie doing Binger's Assemble and Multiverse News. If I forgot something, please forgive me. I will be at Awesome Con this weekend with 323 with Reed Murphy. It's going to be Friday night.
00:55:33
Speaker
June 16th at 6 o'clock, it's going to be a nerdy family feud, so it's going to be us up on stage versus the people. So if you want to give me a miserable time, then, you know, buy me some dinner after, then come on by, check us out, say, hey, we'd love to see some people. That sounds like such a fun time. Yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to it. And we're going to check out a baseball game while we're up there, too.
00:56:00
Speaker
So that is it for us. Thank you for joining us there today. Thank you all for listening. Be sure to tune in next time. That's T-W-O-N-I-N. And as always, stay whelmed. Thanks for having me, Suher.
00:56:15
Speaker
Thank you for listening to the Animation Deliberation Podcast, a proud member of the Strandepanda Network. If you would like to contact us, you can email AnimationDeliberationPodcast at gmail.com or follow us on Twitter at AnimationDelib1. For this and other great shows, you can visit Strandepanda.com or join the great community that is the Strandepanda Chat Facebook group at facebook.com slash groups slash svchat. Tune in next time and remember, stay well.