Film: The Little Mermaid  
Cast: Halle Bailey, Jonah Hauer-King, Daveed Diggs, Awkwafina, Jacob Tremblay, Noma Dumezweni, Javier Bardem, Melissa McCarthy
Director: Rob Marshall
Rating: 3/5
Runtime: 135 min

This live-action version of the Disney classic may not be the best yet from the Disney stable but it does the job of entertaining with winsome craftiness. Disney’s live-action remakes of their animated classics have almost always fallen short of endearment except for a couple of films like Pete’s Dragon (by David Lowery) and Cinderella (by Kenneth Branagh). So expectations were not very high, going in.

Ariel’s(Halle Bailey) story of restlessness and defiance, straining at the ties that bind her to the water, as the youngest of King Triton’s (Javier Bardem) seven daughters, is one that most teens will identify with. She is eager to learn about the world above and though forbidden to interact with humans, inquisitive and defiant, she makes a deal with her wicked aunt Ursula (Melissa McCarthy) to give her a chance to fall in love with Prince charming, Eric (Jonah Hauer-King). But that magic puts her life as a mermaid and her father’s crown in jeopardy.