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5/26/2023 0 Comments The Little Mermaid: Review Halle Bailey works the mermaid magic in a film that otherwise lets her down Don’t get me wrong, I have openly criticised the insistent corporate greed from these live action remakes. That being said, the little mermaid has this particular thing about it that really resonated with me as a child, perhaps more so than any of Disney’s animated classics. Knowing that this would inevitably be churned out of the grinder, I was admittedly slightly more intrigued to see how they tackle this given the obvious technical challenges.
My biggest takeaway is just how low energy this feels. halle bailey is very clearly doing the heavy lifting, but is completely let down by her supporting cast. Melissa McCarthy just doesn’t work here - after frequently stating how she was inspired by drag queens for her take on ursula, you’re sort of left feeling perhaps a famous queen would’ve been a better choice for the role. Though her line delivery is sometimes fun, she never musters up the courage to really go for it and make the performance her own. That being said, the hair and makeup team shares equal blame here as they hardly do anything to transform her into the role. It really takes you out of the film just seeing McCarthy float aimlessly around posing no real threat or presence. speaking of which, Javier Bardem and Jonah Hauer-King are both insanely wooden and expressionless in their respective roles, leaving a cast that, as a whole, feels really low effort. At its best, The Little Mermaid is visually stunning, in the first act at least. The film surprisingly really worked right up until Ariel reaches the surface but then it falls apart into your typically bland, run-of-the-mill fare. A few new additions to the story are welcome, most aren’t (i’m looking at you scuttlebutt). As a whole this just felt incredibly routine and every beat feels like it’s ticking a box. There’s hardly much to salvage once we get to the surface and by the end I just felt absolutely nothing. A distinct lack of extras also make this feel bizarrely baron and small in scope. Rob Marshall may have found great new talent in Halle Bailey, but as the little mermaids concerned, Disney have once again waved their magic wand and needlessly tainted our fondness of the classics.
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 Judy Blume's seminal coming-of-age novel receives an earnest reimagining This isn't director Kelly Fremon Craig's first rodeo, making waves with her candid though seemingly underrated The Edge of Seventeen, Craig winds the clock back to 1970 a time of no-fail pot roast and Norman Greenbaum.
It works that certain kind of magic that only the coming-of-age genre has to offer. Craig's approach gives the film this distinctly timeless feel, despite the retro landscape, there's a real sense of universality in themes. Visually it's admittedly bland and safe in its presentation but for the most part it’s a solid script that gifts its supporting characters with some wonderfully compelling moments. Rachel McAdams is just such a beauty to behold, a real guardian angel who not only steals every scene but completely runs away with the entire film. Meanwhile, newcomer Abby Ryder Fortson makes the performance her own with a decided awkwardness in every tiny moment. The scripts calls for a lot more levity that just unfortunately isn’t there but if one things for certain is that Fremon Craig has such an affectionate and empathetic understanding of her target audience. an often whimsical and at times moving tale of pre-teen awkwardness and the tumultuous transition into womanhood, Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret is exactly the comfort that young girls deserve.  The cosmic misfits go out with a whimper Despite previously establishing himself as the sole standout director amongst the usually indistinguishable marvel sludge, James Gunn's highly anticipated vol 3 absolutely reeks of Kevin Feige’s sticky corporate fingers.
There's a promising story here - on paper at least - but this felt like an incredibly rushed job. it’s absolutely all over the place and any of Gunn's usual creativity is lost to the endless abyss of the Disney void. Structurally, it’s frustrating. Rocket’s backstory and the present day guardians adventure never meld together into one concise narrative. by and large, the story feels like a few rough post-it note ideas strung together in a thinly plotted, slap dash finale that desperately lacks the key ingredients that makes the guardians so profound. In truth, it's not very well realised at all and Gunn fails to find the right emotional balance between each of the team (despite this usually being one of his strengths as a filmmaker). Here it genuinely feels like he’s at a loose end with most of these characters - the entire roster feel under-utilised and none of them particularly service the story at all. Perhaps the biggest problem with vol 3 is that the emotional beats that are there feel extremely contrived and manipulative. it spends all of its time aggressively convincing you that it’s an emotional film, when in actuality it’s just very half-baked and disingenuous. Gunn plays the heartfelt moments like a cosmic xylophone, but in his attempt to deliver a grande finale, he often confuses sentimentality for melodrama. Vol 3 mostly relies on the work of its predecessors to earn its emotional payoff, which it honestly doesn’t. As someone who has formed a deep relationship with these films from a young age, it saddens me to admit that guardians vol 3 isn’t exempt from mavel’s rapid state of creative decline. It completely lacks that same spark we know and love, often feeling very tired and worn out. |