“The Little Mermaid”, the latest case of the ongoing intellectual property regurgitation by Disney, is redundant at worst but watchable at best. I am not still sure whether this live-action version of the 1989 Disney animation film is really necessary from the beginning, but it is at least entertaining enough to compensate for its inherent redundancy mainly thanks to the good efforts from its several talented main cast members, and I decide to be a little more generous to it instead of being cranky about the apparent cynical intention of its production company. 

The biggest main reason why the movie works is the indelible presence of its charming lead actress, who may impress us more in the future. Although I am not that familiar with her musician career, but, as far as I can see from the film, Halle Bailey did a splendid job in both singing and acting here in this film, and the movie soars whenever she sings or exudes her natural charm across the screen. Believe me, she will instantly make you throw away any reservation right from when she sings “Part of Your World” with considerable sincerity and intensity, and those loathsome racist guys who said a lot of mean things about her colorblind casting should go to hell for that.

The other parts of the film are relatively less engaging in comparison, but they are often buoyed by those wonderful original songs by Alan Menken and late Howard Ashman from the 1989 Disney animation film at least. While Oscar-winning song “Under the Sea” is surely a showstopper as usual, “Kiss the Girl”, which was also Oscar-nominated at that time, is lovely to listen even though its lyric is altered a bit here for a little more gender sensitivity, and my personal guilty pleasure “Poor Unfortunate Souls” still tickles me with its deliciously malevolent touches to be appreciated.

In addition, David Magee’s screenplay did some modernization on several elements in the story including Prince Eric (Johah Hauer-King). In this version, Prince Eric is depicted more human depth, and his longing for exploring the world outside his island kingdom certainly resonates with our mermaid heroine’s irrepressible curiosity toward the human world. As a matter of fact, he even gets his own musical moment at one point, and that makes us care a bit about this inherently colorless character who is still no more than the object of our mermaid heroine’s affection.  

As she pines for her charming prince under the sea, our mermaid heroine is surrounded by several colorful marine animal characters. Under the command from her mighty father Triton (Javier Bardem, who looks soulfully regal as required), a crab named Sebastian (voiced by Daveed Diggs) tries his best to get things under control, but that does not stop our mermaid heroine at all, and she keeps exploring here and there along with a little fish named Flounder (voiced by Jacob Tremblay) and an eccentric bird named Scuttle (voiced by Awkwafina). I must point out that these supporting characters look less charming compared to their animation counterparts, but Diggs, Tremblay, and Awkwafina did a mostly competent job of bringing extra humor to the film, and Diggs and Awkwafina try their best with “The Scuttlebuck”, one of the new songs provided by Menken and Lin-Manuel Miranda. This rap song itself is rather terrible in my trivial opinion, but Diggs and Awkwafina perform it with some gusto at least.

Not so surprisingly, the most fun in the film comes from Melissa McCarthy, who is clearly enjoying every moment of her villainous character. Although she looks and sounds less enjoyably campy than her animation counterpart, McCarthy delightfully chews every line as demanded, and you will have some naughty smile as listening to her insidiously entertaining rendition of “Poor Unfortunate Souls”.

Although the movie feels a bit dragged in the middle part, Bailey’s talent and presence keep things rolling, and the movie does not forget that at all. Once she makes a questionable deal with McCarthy’s villain character, our mermaid heroine is transformed into a human girl who incidentally cannot speak at all, but that does not stop her from singing inside her mind at times, and Bailey has another lovely moment of hers in the film via her heartfelt performance of “For the First Time”.

During the expected climactic part of the movie, Director Rob Marshall and his crew members including cinematographer Dion Beebe try really hard for generating some thrill and excitement, but the result only reminds me again of why live action film usually cannot surpass animation film. Instead of being just fun and exciting, it is a little too grim and intense for young audiences without much style or personality, though you may appreciate how our mermaid heroine becomes more active in this version.

To be frank with you, I really think Disney really should focus more on creating new and refreshing stuffs instead of trying to make more money from old and familiar things, but “The Little Mermaid” is fairly engaging for its several entertaining elements including its lead actress’ terrific performance, so I recommend it despite my strong preference on the 1989 Disney animation film. When I watched it along a friend of mine at a local movie theater, I often observed how young audiences around us responded well to the movie, and I can only hope that their parents will later show them the 1989 Disney animation film.