Photo: Disney
A live-action version of Disney’s 1989 animated classicThe Little Mermaiddemands a perfect Ariel. If not, it sinks like a stone.
Halle Bailey(Grown-ish) happens to be perfect: She has a clear, powerful voice — able to unleash a tsunami of emotions whenshe sings the anthemic “Part of Your World”— and her performance is appealingly playful and sweet, even relatable.
AndAwkwafina, the voice of seagull Scuttle, honks and squawks with lively brashness.
Courtesy of Disney
On the other hand,Javier Bardem, as Ariel’s gloomily august papa, King Triton, never has a chance to breathe life into the role. In the end, standing in shallow water near the shore, his hair and long gray beard matted, he looks like the statue of a holy martyr dumped in the kiddie pool.
The story, though, plays on emotional and psychological keys that don’t wash with the times. The film opens with a quote from Andersen — “But a mermaid has no tears, and therefore she suffers so much more” — that suggests a damp romantic masochism you find only in old TCM movies and select Nicole Kidman vehicles.
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Disney
But Bailey is everything here. When she sings, when she smiles, you feel you could live, quite happily, ever after.
The Little Mermaidis in theaters Friday.
source: people.com
