I was looking through some old movie posters and came across an advert for a film called Escape From The Dark. This was a Disney production about pit ponies in Northern England. Very dark and very moving. I remember vividly seeing this original tale and being blown away by it. A British-produced Disney live-action that was indeed live-action. Long have those days when the House of Mouse were making original stories. Instead, they plump for reimagining past triumphs from their animated features and calling them “live-action”, even though at least 75% of the film is CGI visuals. The latest is The Little Mermaid, a remake of the film that reinvented Disney in 1989, and while I crave the old days of new stories, this version isn’t as bad as other reimaged films. In fact, I would go as far as to say this is the best since The Jungle Book.

Ariel is a Mermaid who dreams of going to the surface to see what humans are like, although her father frowns upon any thoughts of that happening. A shipwreck causes Ariel to save Prince Eric, and she is fascinated by the young man. When offered the opportunity to become human for three days by the sea witch, Ursula, she accepts, although she has to give up her mermaid ways and her voice, the relationship starts to blossom between the two young people, although a kiss will break the spell and a promise to Ursula. The sea witch has other ideas.

Directed by Rob Marshall, the man behind Chicago and Mary Poppins Returns, the film should be in safe hands. It is, as he has a great understanding of how to stage huge musical numbers, and while there are only two here, Under The Sea and Kiss The Girl, Marshall has more than a responsibility to capture the magic of the ocean world as well as keeping loyal to the tale. He succeeds. This film doesn’t try to be anything but a variation of the original. All the beats and moments are there, only this time with real people alongside the impressive effects.

Disney, of late, has been accused of producing lazy CGI, but here, they haven’t held back like the dense forestlands in The Jungle Book. The ocean world looks spectacular, shown off by a Busby Berkeley-inspired Under The Sea routine, where the creatures of the deep come to be a hot crustacean band. The storm ripping through the ship that first brings Ariel and Eric together is exciting, and as for the finale, a wild battle between good and evil, they score big, to the point that you become so invested in the characters that it is genuinely nail-biting.

While the effects are well executed, it helps that the story and the performances are strong for all of this to work. The animated Little Mermaid was a huge success when Disney was struggling. During the 80s, Disney’s output was on adventure films without songs (unless you don’t count Oliver and Company and The Fox and The Hound). They aimed for a more mature audience with The Black Cauldron and Basil, The Great Mouse Detective. The animation was still terrific, but the films failed to get bums on seats. They returned to the drawing board and looked at what made Disney so successful in the first place. Thus, The Little Mermaid was the start of a new era. Could the same be said about this new version? Unlike the last revamp, Pinocchio, a disaster in every sense of the word, why reboot something close to perfection? The story is the same; all your favourite characters are here, and even the songs are back (with a few new ones courtesy of Lin Manuel Miranda). The one big difference is Ariel herself.

Before the film even hit the cameras, the less, shall we say, open-minded public members complained about having an Ariel of colour. Halle Bailey has tried to ignore the trolls of the world and has triumphed. She is fantastic, with a wide-eyed innocence who captures the character’s heart as she engages with creatures we know are not really there, yet each scene is magical. She has the voice of a siren, and as she delivers a fresh approach to Part Of Your World, you instantly realise that the casting is perfect, and you forget about colour or race but are wowed by a new star being born. Melissa McCarthy loves every inch of being a diva as Ursula, conjuring up a wonderful Divine-like villain, and kudos goes to Daveed Diggs and Awkwafina as the voices of Sebastian and Scuttle (with a new rap song for the pair being a winner).

There will be those who will find all these reboots sacrilegious and question the real reason for Disney to remake their back catalogue, which is money. The Little Mermaid may have its attackers, but to be honest, I was sold. It’s solid entertainment that is beautiful on the eye, captures the wonder of the story and will make Bailey a star. It’s not as good as the original, but that was perfect. Long gone are the days of the original dramas of the 70s, like Escape from The Dark, so maybe we should embrace these new variations of classic tales, remembering that they are for a new generation. If they are as good as this, I will not complain.

4 out of 5

Director: Rob Marshall

Starring: Halle Bailey, Melissa McCarthy, Javier Bardem, Johan Hauer-King, Daveed Diggs, Jacob Tremblay, Awakfina, Noma Dumezweni, Art Malik

Written by: David Magee

Running Time: 135 mins

Cert: PG

Release date: 26th May 2023