THE LITTLE MERMAID (2023)

Ariel, a beautiful mermaid, desperately wants to see what humans are like and is willing to do whatever it takes to find out, in THE LITTLE MERMAID. THE LITTLE MERMAID has a moral worldview showing an evil witch who is seen as bad, though this is the case, the movie does have some scary elements for younger children.

Ariel, a beautiful teenage mermaid, has always wanted to see what humans are like, but her father has outlawed her going to the surface of the water. Even though Ariel understands that her father’s concern is that her mother was killed by humans, she believes that some humans could be good. Whenever there is a shipwreck, Ariel collects some of the things that are in the ships.

One day, after a fight with her father, Ariel sees lights coming from above the water and swims up. She ends up seeing a celebration, with fireworks, for Prince Eric’s birthday. Eric has been traveling the waters trying to make trade deals with other lands. But within minutes, a storm comes underway, and the celebration must end. Everyone on the ship ends up having to jump overboard, but Prince Eric tries to save his dog. Ariel is watching the whole thing, and sees that Eric is thrown overboard. Ariel saves Eric and takes him to land. While trying to get him breathing again, Ariel sings over Eric. Eric wakes up, and he hears her voice and sees a blurry image of her face. Ariel swims off, and some men come and get Eric and take him to the Castle.

Ariel goes back home so happy to have seen Eric, but her father finds out she has been on the surface, and he gets angry with her. He explains it is not safe for her to do so, but she doesn’t believe him. Her father destroys all of her collections from the shipwrecks. Devastated, Ariel doesn’t know what to do, but the evil eels appear and lead Ariel to the Witch Ursula. Ursula tells Ariel she will give her human legs, if she just gives her voice to Ursula. Basically, making a deal with the devil for her soul, which Ariel does not fully understand but does because she is tempted by the idea of getting to know Eric and finding out about humans. Ursula says Ariel and Eric must kiss by the third day for her to get her voice back.

When her voice is taken, Ariel swims quickly up to the surface and to the land. Some kind people find her and take her to the castle to get dressed and rest. Soon, she sees Eric, but he does not remember her without her voice. Even so, Eric and Ariel start to spend time together. Will Eric fall in love with Ariel? Will Ariel get her voice back?

THE LITTLE MERMAID (2023) is very much like the 1989 Disney animated version in terms of plot. The movie just has four new songs that have been added, but other than that the premise is extremely similar. Halle Bailey plays Ariel and has an incredible voice in each song, and a doe eyed innocence in her looks. This version has decided to have all the daughters of triton, played by Javier Bardem, be from the different seven seas, Asian, African, Caucasian, etc. The CGI in the film is very well done, though sometimes the scenes are a bit jarring with quick roller coaster cuts in the CGI world.

THE LITTLE MERMAID (2023) has a moral worldview about the repercussions of not listening to your parents and being tempted by the devil. Essentially, Ariel sells her soul to the devil character, the sea witch Ursula. She must learn her father had her best interest, and not to be tempted by evil. There are some scary elements to the movie as Ursula can be a bit scary for younger audiences and the scenes of the ship going under is also scary, so caution is advised.