The Little Mermaid (live action reimagining)

[Dback Jon]

Then he could portray a mermaid without the cocoanut bra!

Plot twist - Mermaids are like some amphibians, that can switch their gender depending on environmental and other conditions

 

[Brian in Mesa]

Plot twist - Mermaids are like some amphibians, that can switch their gender depending on environmental and other conditions

As Dr. Ian Malcolm once said, "Life finds a way."

 

[Dback Jon]

As Dr. Ian Malcolm once said, "Life finds a way."

Speaking of which - as I was typing that I realized that Jurassic Park featured transgendered dinosaurs!

 

[Brian in Mesa]

Speaking of which - as I was typing that I realized that Jurassic Park featured transgendered dinosaurs!

It was that darned frog DNA !!

 

[Stout]

I think you assume the worst of me here.

I will tell you that the movie 9 to 5 grossed over 100mm in 1980 and was the #2 movie at the box office that year beating out Private Benjamin (#6) and Coal miners daughter (#7). Empire Strikes back was #1 that year and if I remember correctly...... all featured very powerful females. Many in the lead role. And don't get me started about what Star trek has done in the area of female empowerment for decades now only to have it crushed by the bumbling idiocy of what Picard became on that streaming service.

I think if you challenged yourself to look deeper into this, you would find that strong female leads can exist in any time period but it takes good writers and good directors making good products.

What we seem to have today is the shoehorning of bad writing, sketchy ideology and solid source material. She-Hulk was an unmitigated disaster, so was the Rings of Power. Both took the source material and warped (rewrote it or reframed it) it to fit the preferred world view of the company making it. I mean..... write the source material? Is that so hard? that stuff works!

How do I know this? Disney told us they were doing it a few years back. And their agenda is not subtle, and so far, not what the paying customers want to see.

lol No.

 

[Ronin]

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[MigratingOsprey]

For the "balanced" reviews that I've read, the pushback on this isn't about any of the social aspects

It's the cynicysm around a formulaic cash grab

That more effort was put in than the streaming releases and more is expected

However, the pure replication of some aspects and hit or miss nature of the new elements isn't going to universally connect - some will get caught up in nostalgia and some will roll their eyes at a corny new song

The feeling is that this is in line with Beauty and the Beast with an expected return in that area - which would be a success when you consider the real goal is to simply make money

I'm in a camp where the live action remake has lost its spark a bit and probably won't see this unless my family really wants to - i didn't watch BATB either and am struggling to recall the last one of these remakes i did go see

 

[Cheesebeef]

For the "balanced" reviews that I've read, the pushback on this isn't about any of the social aspects

It's the cynicysm around a formulaic cash grab

That more effort was put in than the streaming releases and more is expected

However, the pure replication of some aspects and hit or miss nature of the new elements isn't going to universally connect - some will get caught up in nostalgia and some will roll their eyes at a corny new song

The feeling is that this is in line with Beauty and the Beast with an expected return in that area - which would be a success when you consider the real goal is to simply make money

I'm in a camp where the live action remake has lost its spark a bit and probably won't see this unless my family really wants to - i didn't watch BATB either and am struggling to recall the last one of these remakes i did go see

All of these have really been cynical cash grabs, retelling incredible stories… only worse and usually with added songs that stink.

The only one of these that I really enjoyed was Cruella and that’s probably because it wasn’t a straight remake of Dalmatians but an origin story that had its own spark and great sense of style. They’re gonna keep remaking the big brands… they all make bukoo dinero, but for my money and entertainment, I’d much rather they went the Cruella route than the straight remake.

 

[Brian in Mesa]

The Little Mermaid (2023)

Release date: May 26, 2023
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures
Director: Rob Marshall
MPAA Rating: PG for action/peril and some scary images
Screenwriter: David Magee
Genre: Action | Family |Fantasy

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

Plot Summary: A young mermaid makes a deal with a sea witch to trade her beautiful voice for human legs so she can discover the world above water and impress a prince.

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[Dr. Jones]

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[Dr. Jones]

lol No.

I'm sorry Stout. I didn't understand your post. Could you please elaborate?

 

[Chaplin]

I'm sorry Stout. I didn't understand your post. Could you please elaborate?

Pretty straightforward. He was responding to what he bolded in your post.

 

[Dr. Jones]

Pretty straightforward. He was responding to what he bolded in your post.

Missed that. So he is saying that the Rings of Power and She-Hulk weren't unmitigated disasters?

Wow..... That's an odd take IMO. Both were and are atrocious to anyone who knows the lore of both universes.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

It was fantastic. My daughter loved it.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

In the future you all need to stick to the actual movie and leave your never ending grievances to P&R

 

[Ronin]

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[Ronin]

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[Dr. Jones]

WTH? NYT wants the kink?

‘The Little Mermaid’ Review: The Renovations Are Only Skin Deep (Published 2023)

Disney’s live-action remake, with Halle Bailey starring as Ariel and a diverse cast, is a dutiful corrective with noble intentions and little fun.

www.nytimes.com

The new, live-action “The Little Mermaid” is everything nobody should want in a movie: dutiful and defensive, yet desperate for approval. It reeks of obligation and noble intentions. Joy, fun, mystery, risk, flavor, kink — they’re missing. The movie is saying, “We tried!” Tried not to offend, appall, challenge, imagine. A crab croons, a gull raps, a sea witch swells to Stay Puft proportions: This is not supposed to be a serious event. But it feels made in anticipation of being taken too seriously. Now, you can’t even laugh at it.

Well..... it's an option I guess. That's not my concern really, but making all men hapless idiots or numskulls is quite a reversal. Let's see what the money says. Box office matters in most cases.

No..... But I would say that the pendulum has swung wildly in the opposite direction. See Velma, and She-Hulk to see what I'm talking about. Then travel in to the other universes I mention below.

Looks like the movie has had a great opening weekend. It's halfway to breaking even at this point even with a poor opening outside of North America.

Disney release is on track to debut to a massive $118 million over the four-day holiday, with $96 million of that coming over the three-day frame. It ranks as the fifth highest Memorial Day opening in history.

Only 22% kids is a problem as they usually make the mothers go see it again. Time will tell.....

All that watery magic didn’t come cheap. “The Little Mermaid” has a $250 million production budget, so it will need to keep attracting crowds around the globe in order to break even. Internationally, the film grossed $68.3 million from 51 material markets.

In the U.S. 68% of the audience was female, while 25% of ticket buyers ranged in age between 25 to 34. Kids accounted for 22% of the opening weekend crowds.

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With all of that being said..... the men are hapless idiots again.

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[Dback Jon]

WTH? NYT wants the kink?

‘The Little Mermaid’ Review: The Renovations Are Only Skin Deep (Published 2023)

Disney’s live-action remake, with Halle Bailey starring as Ariel and a diverse cast, is a dutiful corrective with noble intentions and little fun.

www.nytimes.com

Looks like the movie has had a great opening weekend. It's halfway to breaking even at this point even with a poor opening outside of North America.


Only 22% kids is a problem as they usually make the mothers go see it again. Time will tell.....






.
With all of that being said..... the men are hapless idiots again.

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So you like the damsel in distress that needs a man to save the day?

100 years of Cinema, hundreds of years of literature wasn’t enough of that?

 

[Cheesebeef]

So you like the damsel in distress that needs a man to save the day?

100 years of Cinema, hundreds of years of literature wasn’t enough of that?

Heaven forbid the title character of the movie actually being the hero when everyone knows that women need to be rescued at all times in a crisis/dangerous situation!

 

[Russ Smith]

It was fantastic. My daughter loved it.

We were at the park near our place yesterday and there was a big group having a party with a big shade tent and stuff. The theme of the party was Little Mermaid and they had apparently all seen it on Saturday and loved it.

 

[Cheesebeef]

We were at the park near our place yesterday and there was a big group having a party with a big shade tent and stuff. The theme of the party was Little Mermaid and they had apparently all seen it on Saturday and loved it.

But I’m sure they were all playing and making fun of the boys at the party for being such hapless idiots after the remakes dastardly indoctrination! Think of the boys for once, Russ!

 

[Town Drunk]

My boys are going to see it this afternoon with mom. My wife is pretty excited.

 

[Zalixar]

So you like the damsel in distress that needs a man to save the day?

100 years of Cinema, hundreds of years of literature wasn’t enough of that?

They want the standard gender tropes 99% of the time.

Applies to real life too, except that's 100%.

 

[WaywardFan]

It's domestic haul was decent, but it's international haul was abysmal. Given the cost of the movie, marketing, and the theater cut it has to make somewhere around $800M to make a profit. If international doesn't hold up it's end (which happened very much so with all the other ***** live action remakes) it's not likely to make it.

Good.