Watched the 4K of the original (aka "real") Little Mermaid this morning, and mourned the Disney of the late-80s/early 90s "Renaissance Period" that used to push forward with bold, original ideas, instead of wanly rehashing their past triumphs using "inclusionary" casting gimmicks as a smokescreen to disguise how creatively and morally bankrupt they've become over the last decade.
The animated film remains one of the crown jewels in their animated filmography, a joyous and delightful fairy tale brimming with shimmering, colorful animation (which you can actually SEE, instead of the desaturated murk of the new version), enthusiastic vocal performances and an Alan Menken/Howard Ashman score that contains some of the greatest songs in any Disney production. From the aching wistfulness of "Part Of Your World" to the infectious Caribbean groove of "Under The Sea" to the amorous bounce of "Kiss The Girl" (one of the sweetest, most romantic scenes in the Disney canon, and it's baffling why it's now considering "Rapey" by today's hysterical social media outrage standards), it's all effortlessly entertaining for young and old. The fact that the horrible-looking new version will likely gross over a billion worldwide this summer out of misplaced "nostalgia" when fans who grew up on the original can just, I dunno WATCH THE ORIGINAL AGAIN is actively depressing. And it's even sadder to know that a new generation of kids are getting force-fed the moldy leftovers from what their parents grew up on, instead of being allowed to have their own original films they can hold dear to their hearts and grow up with as formative classics. but why have that, when we can have a joyless, ugly retread that exists to punch diversity buttons and appease a tiny subset of Twitter users who are appeased that the new version "fixes all of the problems" of the previous version instead of the millions of families worldwide who used to hold Disney to the highest standards of quality imaginable? Just stay home, watch the original on D+ (or, preferably, on the sparkling 4K disc), and consign this new version to the trash heap of the dreariest, most brand-damaging era in Disney's history since the days of those direct-to-video "Cheapquels".
). And you can really tell when a critic is dancing around what they really want to say about the latest Disney pile o' crap, but have to self-censor, because they know they're be branded an "ist" or a "phobe" for telling it like it is.
I'm sure this will settle into the usual "high" RT score in the lower 80s, but if you actually READ the reviews, it'll be obvious how much the critics are biting their tongues trying to avoid what they really want to say out of fear of being branded "racist". 