The issue with Ariel's costumes/styling 

The budget was 250 mil and they still couldn't give her all the outfits she deserved

What's really funny is how Halle seemed to have recreated some of the iconic looks during her promotion appearances.

yeah because I was expecting her to get the 2019 Jasmine (Naomi Scott) treatment bc this is like an iconic movie, so I was expecting them to go full out with the costumes especially how tea pages hyped our heads up. They missed a bunch of opportunities for ball gowns such as Ariel’s Pink Dress and her sparkly sea foam dress…. Those ones were iconic as hell. It would’ve been so cool to see Halle in those.

Hell, I'm still waiting for Jonah and Halle couple photo shoot. Honestly, I'm disappointed with Disney on that and the dresses.

Colleen Atwood is also known for her exquisite and ethereal designs. Something is telling me that a higher power (be it be the director or maybe Disney) is enforcing the lack of gowns. When Sandy Powell did Cinderella, she said she was surprised her design process was never interfered and she was given full power

I love Halle as Ariel, but I feel the costumes were lacking.

Seriously Halle's personal stylists put more effort into getting the right look than the film costume designers.

It bothered me even more when Vanessa looked so glamorous.

It feels like they took time on EVERYONE except the star of the movie ( I mean look at her sisters). I never once thought she looked bad or that good throughout the movie and that's definitely a problem when I thought other characters brought more visuals to the table.

seriously, imagine ariel getting dressed up by the maids in the most beautiful gown after knowing eric was marrying a different girl while singing the second reprise, like how tf could you miss that disney? and fucking up vanessa's face in a beautiful dress? hellloo???

I blame the director and the custume design team. They didnt let halle shine more in this. She deserved better. They know shes gettimg hate, why not make her shine and stand out more? People were callling her a slave . Do better disney

Colleen (the costume director) confirmed that Ariel in the movie was originally going to have a lot more outfit changes but was forced to narrow down the amount by the executive producers (possibly because of budget cuts due to Covid and/or some of the designs not translating well to the toys and white audience). It was also mentioned that they originally went for vibrant red hair but it didn't look the way they wanted (especially underwater since the color kept leaking). Apparently, the sad reason Halle wore a headband was because some of the hair extensions were falling off while filming (which is why the headband looks like something Halle pulled from her home) - basically High School musical all over again. Basically, I think the director should have hired some consultants about Afro-Caribbean culture and let Halle done her own hair. [There's a picture of Halle Bailey on the beach with red locs and an Ariel-inspired outfit. Her hair in that picture was dark red.] My guess is they wanted to do more with the movie but couldn't due to time and budget constraints, along with Covid - which is why disney greenlit The Disney Junior show Ariel (which will cover Afro-Caribbean culture and the mermaid world and actually brought along a Caribbean consultant to work on the show).

It really felt like really dropped the ball when it came to her wardrobe. Ariel has been my favorite princess since I was little, and her looks were one of the main reasons behind that, so when I saw the lack of effort put behind her wardrobe, I was hurt and disappointed. Especially when it came to the sea shell bra. It wasn't horrible, but when I saw the trailer, it felt like they barely tried with that. Even watching it for the first time, I was so looking forward to seeing their spin on the sparkly dress and even her signature pink dress because Halle would look amazing in both styles, but one again, I was disappointed... I will say even though I feel as if the hair could have been a bit of a deeper ginger, I appreciate that that put forth some kind of effort and thought into that. Halle did amazing with what she was given, so I don't want to be negative, but like you said, with all the hate behind her casting, why not do EVERYTHING you can to make her look and be her best. Also I love you videos. You literally saying everything I'm thinking!!

I just cant understand why they didnt give her the iconic pink Dress. that was the biggest missed opportunity. I personally didnt even like the pink gown in the original because the shade doesnt match with her hair- and skincolor. But this shade of pink works really well with halle bailey's. I just dont get it...

Yeah she deserved to have all the dresses from the original and more outfits I know she was there for three days on land but she could’ve been given more costumes

Thank you for your unabashed support of Halle. Rob and the producers definitely missed a massive opportunity to blow costumes out of the water (no pun) especially with Halle’s beauty. It’s too bad.

They would've known that she was going to receive backlash and I feel like they didn't protect her.

After watching it a second time. It seems like Ariel loved her one dress. And being a mermaid she didn’t know you can switch it up. That’s why they showed the scene of her dress ripped off and her looking sad. And probably why she went back for it and put it on in the end. They should’ve played with that more, so it could be clear. Like have one of the maids try to give her a new dress and she won’t let them take her blue one. But I would’ve liked more costume changes. Hopefully in the sequel they do queen Ariel better. Also hire Halle’s hair/clothing stylist. Her red carpet looks could’ve been in the movie !!!!! Halle made the movie ! ❤

I really like the idea of Eric's birthday dinner for the pink dress to be present! It'd be a natural idea, she'd actually meet The Queen, and the queen will see how much Eric likes her because he seems more of himself around her. Also, I guess the blue dress that is in the film is technically a stand in for the newly designed turquoise dress as well as the actual blue dress for Ariel. I'd also say what she needed was maybe more accessories in her hair. I do know that they try to give the princesses more natural looks, but I'd say when she comes back onto land, the dress should've have had some sort of shimmer or colorful gradient to combine her mermaid look and human look to show that she is both symbolically, ala her having the shells in her hair like in the parks too. I do know that she has some in her hair but I think they're mostly at the ends and rarely in her hair Leading onto the parks look, I love how she is presented at the Disney Parks so they should've have used that wig's look be translated into the film

I think that Bohemian Goddess Locs would have allowed for her hair to have more volume and given her a more "mystical" or fantasy look. As for the seafoam dress, a few months before the release of the movie I saw a fanart of Halle's Ariel wearing a completely reimagined version of it where it was purple, sparkling and looked more like an ancient greek garment, which made her look like a sea goddess and it was simply majestic, I wish I could find it again! I think this would have fit more for a live action version rather than the very modern-looking sparkling dress she had in the animated movie! Side-note : I think this was also a missed opportunity to incorporate ancient greek mythology and religious imagery into the live action's world building. Merfolk can be found in all cultures but it's pretty much accepted that Ariel and her family are based on the Greek version, since Triton is the son of Poseidon and has a trident. It's pretty easy to suppose that the merfolk and even the humans (Queen Selina mentions the sea gods multiple times) that they probably worship Greek deities and I wish this was shown in the scenery. It could have been greek god statues in both Triton and Selina's castles. Alson like you said in your previous videos, they didn't really dare to be imaginative with their design of Atlantica. I wish we could have seen more Atlantican merfolk than Ariel and her family and their lives, customs, cultures and languages(s). I don't care that the movie was already 2-hours-long I believe there was room for this! 😭 There are a few at the beginning of the movie but really have to look twice and you can miss them in a blink of eye. It could have been just a few seconds longer, we could have seen mermaids swimming, playing music, playing and just going on with their lives like we did in Ariel's Beginning!

I’m not gonna say it but she was the first black woman to play a live Disney princess but hey they gave all the white girls nice dress so…..

Oh they 100% did her dirty. 1. The Color of her red hair is horrendous and muted her completely 2. Her bra was very disappointing and lacklustre and where were the seashells? 3. She has one dress in the film and it wasn’t even that flattering. Where was her final sparkly dress? Where was her pink dress? Where was her wedding dress? Where was anything? I don’t get it. What idiots were behind this film? She sang the shit out of that movie and did such a good job. All the actors did. I do have some problems with the story and some things they chose to do and things they didn’t do. Her mermaid tail I will say was very pretty but the rest of her mermaid look was disappointing and her lack of costume design on land. So disgusted with all that and whoever let that happen needs to be fired. I’m a huge Disney fan and the costume design on Cinderella (which is probably the best live action) was fantastic. I even like Aladdin costume design. They need that person for every film. This was their chance to go big with design and they failed and I hope they realize that. I also don’t believe her excuse for the seashells and I also hate the headband.

I made these exact statements before and was called anti-black. The thing is, how can Marshall look at what Halle looks like in his film vs IRL and not realise how much better she looks when she is styling herself/deciding on her own make-up!? To me, the most hateful thing is her make-up- she looks so washed out against her colourful tail, and you can see just how AMAZING Tamika looks because everything is in balance- like you wouldn't have needed to go full garage-door colourblock eyeshadow for Halle, especially since it might look odd in human form, but at least a nice duochrome, and a bit more twinkle, like a green or pink shift to her golden shadow (think I like 2 watch Dazzleshadow by Mac, or Astral Orchid by Pat McGrath or a Duochrome by an Indie Brand, or some Lemonhead LA, or maybe just something as small as a gold-pink/plum shifty Highlighter like Benefit Tickle)? Also why were they able to make the freshly announced Junior Ariel animation look so fun but not Halle? (Also I'd like to add: The mua responsible for Halle was white. Why not get Pat McGrath on board!?)

I definitely agree the design team did her dirty. It really did not have to go down this way. Some simple changes could have elevated her to shine. However, I do not agree that there needs to be a sequel just so she can be dressed up in some fancy frocks. One, the movie needs to make some more money to break even and two, there needs to be a legitimate story line to warrant a new movie and fashion is not going to carry any storyline.

Just like Beauty and the Beast Remakes case , Its a shame that they do the Belle yellow gown dirty , and giving her a cheap prom gown look

I followed the little mermaid since she was announced and omg the beautiful artwork that came out before the film was so beautiful. Some people came up with some beautiful designs for all of the outfits so I was a little disappointed we didn’t get the wow dress moment. We need a 2nd film to make up for this 😂

Disney sucked all the magic out of this movie. They even disrespected halle by not giving her proper princess dresses to wear in the movie. With all the money and resources they had they couldn't replicate the dresses from the original and have her wear those i mean WTF 😤. I could've done better if i was directing this movie and had control over the wardrobe. Disney really didn't bother doing their job and half-assed the whole movie. Now we will never be able to change anything because the movie's already out. Also, they should of made her hair little more red be then again Disney can't get anything right.

I disagree with your seashell design. I think it would look like a piece of heavy armor on her. Somehow the scales work better; it's her skin, just scaly. That's light and free and works better for the moveability under water.

I think the costume budget was severely reduced because the wire-work/special effects/live-action capture tech was way more expensive than they anticipated. Plus, I think they fixated on her ethnicity without any real understanding of ethnic lighting/fashion/hair-styling--thus the color grading, costuming and fashion suffered. Given the time-period, she should have worn the simple day dresses but then changed into more formal ball gowns for the evening/dinner. Her locs could have easily been styled with the classic side-part and swoop bang. Being in the Caribbean, her head band could have easily been a twisted style head-wrap.

Yeah…loved Halle as Ariel she was magical. I didn’t mind missing the pink dress or the wedding dress. It was a more grounded serious Ariel and it wasnt about all the dresses and the looks. But I always loved that moment when she walks out the water at the end and wanted to see the live action interpretation of that sparkly ocean water dress. I could not believe it when she shows back up in that waterlogged dress.

Sounds like the production crew was also bias and half ass everything.

I was shocked when Ariel was wearing the same blue dress the morning after they fell in the lagoon 🤢

NOT ME BEING CRUSHED YOU DIDN’T SHOW ANY OF MY VERSIONS OF HER DRESSES 😭😭😭😭💔💔💔💔

Also @Tommy Ross isn't it weird that in ALL the underwater scenes, the makers gave her free flowing hair incorporated with the locks, yet on land, it's just locks?

It is really disappointing that we didn't get many looks from live action Ariel I do since it seems like they're doing an extension of Halle's rendition of Ariel with the new cartoon series coming out soon hopefully we get more looks from Ariel funnily enough the pink dress made an appearance in one of the books.

Not only the costumes, but the look of the movie overall. It's just so dim, and her hair could've been redder. The remake did the classic dirty in every way.

Could it also be possible that maybe, just maybe, Colleen didn't put all her best effort purposefully? I mean out of budget shortage or that short schedule given because of the sanitary situation that happened, yk, not necesarilly her disliking Halle being cast for the lead?

Sandy Powell is doing costume design for the upcoming Snow White remake, perhaps that's the reason she didn't work on The Little Mermaid. Also, I think the late Eiko Ishioka (Bram Stoker's Dracula, The Cell, Mirror Mirror) would have done a beautiful, if more avant-garde job with the costumes. Ursula would have been pure nightmare fuel on Eiko's hands though, not that that's a bad thing.

The fact the Vanessa (who is in the film for like 2 minutes) has like 5 different dresses... Like yeah they all look almost identical but they are not.. Like she is literally wearing a different iteration of that purple dress in every single scene she is in, some are not even shot in full in the scene... but it is 5 freaking different dresses... and Ariel has 2? like WHAT THE F???

If they Disney does do a sequel to the movie I bet they would give Ariel her pink dress and princess moment. They did that for Aurora in maleficent 2 and we got her pink dress in galore! Disney has to do that with Ariel!!!

In my opinion I didn’t like the blue dress and the headband. The headband looked liked the brown medical tape. I didn’t like the color of her hair it looked liked it was dyed and then faded. I was really disappointed that they didn’t give her any of iconic dresses. They really did Halle dirty, she’s so beautiful and did a wonderful job as Ariel.

Great disclaimer, I was nervous until I realized it was YOUR channel. I was like "ok cool watch him roast the haters" 😂😂😂

I honestly liked Ariel’s blue dress since it highlights her oceanic origins and is somewhat accurate to the time period. That said, I was disappointed that was her costume for most of the movie. I was definitely expecting more royal dresses like the other live action Disney princesses but she only has one other dress that looks the same as the blue dress but pink like Ariel’s cartoon dress. It feels like such a missed opportunity cause Halle would have slayed in those outfits. She looks amazing in her premiere dresses. That said, what a fun movie! Halle and the rest of the cast were great and I’ll definitely be watching the film again.

I'll be honest with something, I was one of the many that didn't like the ethnic change because Ariel has been a character that had been well known for her original appearance but I decided to give her a chance, but after seeing how they dressed up and how dull the movie looked I started to believe that this was done on purpose, they could have made her look great and maybe change the mind of many who were against it but they really messed up

All of this! She is so beautiful and consistently rocking glamorous starlet looks on every red carpet. They should have planned things out more strategically in order to cultivate her official looks before filming even began. I also love the plot suggestions...the actual screenplay is limited and super rushed.

They didn't want people to love this movie.

I think they might not have known how to cater to Halle. There have been many instances in Hollywood where costume directors don’t know how to handle or manage people with body/skin types that aren’t “white model”. I can’t really give specific instances at the top of my head, but I do know that for instance, plus size girl often get put into simpler clothes because some people just generally don’t know how to design clothes for those body types. Might be that or just that the directors didn’t choose the right people in charge for this film.

As a general fan of mermaids and in hopes to one day own my own personalized mermaid tale, I personally cannot STAND mermaid tops that are basically just fish scales. It just looks so weird to me and makes me ask more questions and it low key kind of took me out of the movie a few times (like why only female mermaids have fish scales on their chest but not the mermen? other than the obvious "it's a kids movie" excuse. how and when do the fish scales show on them? are they born with it? there is a brief look at a little mermaid girl at the end that was wearing basically a fish scale tank top so do all female mermaids have that? if so, does it change over time as they get older since most of the adult mermaids have fish scale bras? how and why do you go from having more scales and then loose them to the point where you're basically wearing a bra??? what if a mermaid wants to have more coverage? can you prevent the scales from changing?? do they just fall off or do they pick at them to get the look rainbow fish style??????)I know they're "just mermaids" and I might be taking things a bit too seriously on this one, but I always loved the creativity of mermaids creating tops out of things they find in the ocean like seashells, sand dollars, pearls, kelp, star fish, fishing nets, etc. It just makes things more aesthetically pleasing to the eyes and can even add a bit of personality and even culture to the mermaids. Also the "seashell bras are difficult" excuse is bs. I've seen professional mermaids that get all their materials from Michaels and goodwill pull off elaborate seashell bras without breaking a sweat. Seriously just look them up on Etsy they're everywhere!

Anyone remember the dress she wore while singing Part of Your World at Disneyland? I would've LOVED to see an outfit like THAT show up in the movie, she looked simply divine! 😍

Thank you so much for this video! It perfectly encapsulates my frustration with what could have been an absolutely AMAZING film. I just, I really cant believe that the fans literally came up with 10000 times bettter, creative and beautiful propositions than Disney. I really really cannot. How does this happen? Even your added scene idea with the pink ball gown makes so much sense. Honestly it really feels like there was some kind of internal struggle or not a full backing of this film. It drives me crazy how Halle was serving such amazing looks throughout the premieres but we barely got any of that in the film, which further goes to prove how completely inadequate the creative department was. Where the hell did that budget go? I understand covid had a hit in it but would it have been up to 100m?

When the fan art looks more like Ariel then the Film...They did her so Dirty! Halle should had gotten way more love and MORE DRESSES! Disney didnt care!

i disagree with how hard people have tried to justify the lack of fantasy & variety by saying it’s supposed to be realistic or that’s not ariel’s personality or whatever when… it’s a fantasy movie featuring mermaids who have pink & blue hair and the clothes aren’t even that period accurate anyway. and like sure, ariel isn’t someone who always needs to be dressed up, but she’s excited by human everything and living in a palace that has access to fancy clothes, i think getting to experiment with different outfits is part of that! plus it helps visually realize her character arc as well as transformation is such a huge theme of the movie. really makes no sense that they dropped the ball like this especially when vanessa has multiple gowns that are nearly identical??

Yes thank you, I wanted her to have so many costume changes. like halle is beautiful and I want to see her as glamorous as other princesses.

Halle at the premier looked more like Ariel, with beautiful red hair and an amazing sparkly dress.

I thought the use of a pink dress would've been nice on the third day as well. Like, the maids leave a pink dress by the privacy screen while she's asleep before Scuttle comes by and raps. Ariel thinking she's about to be proposed to makes her want to look a little nicer even prompting her to tie a ribbon in her hair.

Disney forgot how to be Disney!!! ✨

And Vanessa, I wish they had her hair up in a ridiculous HA 1830s hairdo, making her look vain, silly, and dramatic, compared to sweet, DTE Ariel, with her more natural/sweet pastel tones. Vanessa's dress was perfect!

Thank you for this. It needed to be addressed and I appreciate you for going the extra mile to create some looks for reference. This was a thorough analysis that will hopefully be taken into consideration for the sequel and future LAR.

My biggest frustration with Ariel's mermaid look, is how they went all out on her sisters and she just gives background character put next to them 💀

I think Halle should have worn a red wig, the same shade she wore at the meet gala, it looks good on her and would be cheaper. Also wear some type of bra made of shells because those scales look strange, talking about scales; I never understood why Ariel doesn't have more decorating her skin. The jacket was fine but when she arrived at the castle, Halle deserved to wear a pink dress, makeup and jewelry, like a true princess. The skirt could be cut to look like fins and the fabric would be a very light silk. The blue dress is fine for the village, but instead of that weird piece of pink fabric, they could have used a pink satin ribbon in a hairstyle similar to that of the animated Ariel. Then cream-colored pajamas with her hair tied up like many African women wore to sleep. When she wakes up the next morning, and since the blue dress got wet when it fell into the lake, she should wear another green dress, as she fixed on her own without the help of maids, Ariel's hair is unadorned and her feet are bare ( That's how he looks more vulnerable in the engagement scene) At the wedding, after discovering that Ursula hypnotized Eric and putting together a rescue plan with her friends, Ariel would look as beautiful as possible in a luxurious turquoise dress, embroidered with pearls and transparencies. A delicate tiara similar to the queen's would decorate her red hair, she would wear earrings and a necklace too. I like to imagine that the queen does not like Vanessa and believes that her son truly loves Ariel but he chose to marry Vanessa out of gratitude for saving his life. She only allowed that wedding because she believes that Eric, seeing Ariel so pretty, will win back. his trial and cancels the marriage, it's a shame it's haunted. I think Ariel's scene with her water and foam dress is too iconic, damn this was such a wasted opportunity, unlike the other dresses that should have looked consistent with the era from which the movie was chosen to be inspired, this one could be As magical as the designers could dream, it's literally a dress of water and foam, but we only got the same blue dress. I am a firm believer that it doesn't matter if they killed an evil sea octopus kaiju witch together, you can't marry someone just by knowing them for 3 days, so Ariel can keep the white and pink dress and start a trip with her boyfriend, but then they could show a scene set several years later, where Eric and Ariel get married, and Halle comes out in a seafoam-white wedding dress.

I thibk your absolutely right! The problem isnt with the casting of Halle Bailey at all and really comes to the costume designe. As someone who has been critical with the live action version of the little mermaid, my isues were that to me, my favorite disney princes (from my favorite movie growing up) didn't look like my favorite disney princess and its not because of skin colour. The concept that you show at 7:15 is literally perfect and how i wish the designers had outfited her for the role. From the red hair with the front swoop, to the iconic dress from the boat ride, this is what ariel should have looked like in the movie. Its still Halle, and you keep the textur of her hair and even though shes not white, she still looks like Ariel! So what her hair isnt a typicaly natural colour (news flash white people dont typicly have bright, firetruck red hair either) it looks great and makes me so sad for how dirty they did her. Dont get me wrong Halle still looks stunning, sounds amazing and plays the role beautifuly but the costume designers really didnt help her at all Focusing in on the gaur my biggest issue is that, like you mentioned they could have used a wig, but also most of the underwater scenes use completely cgi hair anyways so why wouldn't they adjust the colour and give her the swoopy front hair? Side note i also didnt like that king triton had armor, i know its not a big deal to most people but imo king tritons original designe was iconic and its sad to see it changed. And side side note, but i also think vanessa should have looked different. It was always my impression that Vanessa was supposed to look like ariel with black hair and more evil. The reason i thought she had black hair was because when eric saw ariel for the first time, the sun was blaring behind her and made her hair look black in that moment.

Ughh absolutely agree! I loved her simple blue dress as it gave her a simplistic and practical but still pretty and fun loving woman in a fishing town look which fit some of the small story changes of the location. But in addition to that dress, I would have loved to see her have more opulent, luxurious looks. Personally the magical and bright CGI of the ocean and her tail really made it for me as it made the movie feel magical and whimsical as Halle interacted with it perfectly; but it defines would’ve gone even further if they added some more iconic looks and something more princess like. I don’t know about others, but a lot of appeal of princess movies is a good person who’s kind, caring, curious, etc. getting a beautiful fancy ending that they deserve for their good traits. And Halle Bailey is absolutely gorgeous and talented. I did however love the hair. In my opinion, it made locs and natural and traditional black hairstyles look magical, flowing, and gorgeous on a princess. I thought the color was actually nice as a mix of red and natural, but they could have made it have more volume.

Disney should hired you. Agreed with every comment that you've said. Such a miss.

Honestly I get the impression that because Hallie was hated from the beginning, the studio just didn't try

Poor halle rob not giving her pink dress,sparkling dress,sleep pink dress i think halle wear that outfit is gonna be pretty ❤❤❤ but disney and rob did her dirty

So… I’ve become obsessed with this film, and also with your channel. I wish I knew how to make videos and had time to do so, because I’d love to be in conversation with you through videos. I’ll have to settle for the comments and hope you keep making videos. One point you didn’t quite make and I see no one making is that it’s especially odd not to have costume changes for HALLE BAILEY. This woman is serving LOOKS literally every single day, like it’s nothing. It’s as crazy to not let her serve looks as it is that the exit music for the film is not an original song, written by Halle, with Alan Menken music. I cannot believe this didn’t happen. I agree with everything you said. Especially your point about Disney not giving her the best support possible to win over as many people as possible, and instead Halle doing all of the heavy lifting herself. She is given the opportunity, but she does all of the work to bring the magic to the character. Compare this, as you did in your incredible video, to Emma Watson, who literally grew up on film sets and was already an iconic multimillionaire when she took on the role of Belle. Though, if I’m honest, I suspect that part of what went wrong with Belle is that Bill Condon was either unwilling or unsure how to direct Emma Watson as critically and clearly as she needed, singing aside. I love Emma Watson; she should’ve been a home run. I digress. I don’t think it was the goal, but honestly, on another level, it just shows how incredible Halle Bailey truly is. In her FIRST major film role, she was on rigs and wires, acting in MANY scenes with literally no one else there… all the while hated and experiencing a level of cruelty I’ve never seen hurled at any actor. And at the same time, embracing random children everywhere around the world, and when they ask where her tail is? “It grows back whenever I get in the water.” I mean… This woman IS THE Disney Princess. I have never seen anyone else like her. I learned from one of your videos that the dress in “Cinderella” was digitally changed to that vibrant blue. I honestly wish they’d done this to make Halle’s hair both vibrant and consistent. I’d even be happy if they changed it after the theatrical run, for digital. It’s a huge missed opportunity. Before I get into the costumes, I also want you to do a video about 1) How crazy it is that Eric has literally ONE costume for the ENTIRE film. He adds or removes elements, but it’s ONE costume. Eric’s only saving grace for me is that “The Hat” is so unbelievably wonderful that it makes peace for me. But I missed Eric’s grey Henley sweater and black cloak from when he first encounters Vanessa. Ok, now to get into it. Yeah, I like your sketch for the shell top, only I’d keep the design smaller and more form-fitting, just so it doesn’t look like armor. But yeah, especially since Triton’s armor looks so good and is unique to this film, it would’ve been cool to see that mermaid clothing is made of this shell material. So her sisters would all need it, too. Maybe that’s why they didn’t do it? (Weak excuse, but…?) I already mentioned the hair. 100% Halle Bailey not only expresses and emotes and just IS Ariel, but her face structure is structurally so similar to the animated character, it’s almost hard to believe. How lucky was Disney to find a girl who looks SO MUCH like Ariel, naturally embodies Ariel in her ingenue performance, sings like Ariel, and is an experienced graceful and powerful swimmer? It’s astonishing to me that anyone who’s seen the movie isn’t overwhelmed by how phenomenal this casting is. The texture of the locs mixed with loose hair and variegated shades is GORGEOUS - when the color is right. They should’ve made it fiery throughout. As for the makeup, the only place I thought she could’ve perhaps benefitted was in the close-ups in “Part of Your World”. But I LOVED seeing a Black woman’s natural beauty as an idealized standard for two hours. That was a big deal for me, and I loved it. (I wish that wasn’t a “political” statement). If we added a dinner, a ball, and a grand look for the engagement party, I think she could’ve had makeup for those three looks. And frankly, I’d have LOVED makeup in those contexts. Each could’ve been great callbacks to “For the First Time” as well. And we could increasingly see that Ariel disprefers corsets and makeup, and she actively chooses her blue dress, sans corset, every day. Though even that, yeah, she adds accessories to it every day. Like a black ribbon around the waist and black sandals as a callback to the animated film. It was only in this video that I really have started to suspect that maybe Rob Marshall or someone really wanted that blue dress to be like shedding her human skin and then getting it back in the end. I think that’s my most charitable reading of what they were going for. I have to say first that I love Rob Marshall for what he did on this film to create an atmosphere of intimacy and teamwork on this project. I felt it in every single performance, even background characters and village market sellers; everyone mattered. Except Triton’s guard: “Your majesty, the crab” should’ve been cut completely and we should’ve just entered the scene with Sebastian worrying to himself. That dude screams “much more of this guy was left on the cutting room floor”. I want to see EVERYTHING that was shot for this movie. EVERYTHING. Ahem, again I digress. I appreciate that there are a lot of interesting worldbuilding breadcrumbs on multiple viewings. There’s actually a lot hinted at that inspires me. I both want a sequel and very much fear that a sequel would not go in the direction I envision. It’s a tough call. For me, the ideal, and what I expected, was to see Ariel’s trusty blue dress transformed and enhanced to look more like her mermaid tail, an iridescent take on her iconic sparkly sea foam dress. This would make ALL of the sense. The base dress has that flowy, layered construction, and now it’s been ripped and torn. Triton is “repairing” it with jellyfish tentacles and iridescent fins. And it would make sense that in the end, the dress he would project onto her would look like her mermaid tail, like his “little one”. The lack of the Princess ballgown feels insulting, almost like taking away her Disney Princess-branding status. Kinda like making Tiana a frog for most of her film, or using “Pocahontas” to creepily rewrite and whitewash very real history. But the one that really hurts me is the sea foam dress, because it is literally Triton doing his best to offer a blessing to his daughter as she walks independently away from him to make her own life, arguably the story’s core conflict. I am not a doll collector, but I intend to buy the Ariel/Eric doll set just to be able to see them in more costumes. There’s much more I could say, but I’m already afraid this is so long no one, especially Tommy, will read it. But I hope you do. I need to talk about this movie. It has touched something in me I didn’t even know I needed. It’s like a deep tissue massage or something. I’m still processing it, honestly. I was a bit late to the party because I live in Japan, so I’m really grateful you’re still talking about it. I wish we could organize a day for every single fan of the movie to go see it one more time, to make its box office spike one more weekend. I don’t know how to do that, but I’d love to see it. I’ll keep seeing it until it’s gone from theaters, I think. Thank you for your videos. It has really meant a lot to me to hear someone value this movie as much as I do, especially without just throwing out critical thinking. By the way, check out these amazing wedding dresses: kuraudia-dws.com/the-little-mermaid-special-dress/

I‘m not gonna lie i was mad to see Colleen Atwood will get a Disney Legends Award for Costuming but like we got 2 dresses for Ariel and no Evening Gown. It’s enfuriating And YES THE HAIR! Like one of her sisters has pink another pastell lilac hair another blue infused with black like the could‘ve definitely make her hair actually red or at least a deeper shade! 🙈

They dropped the ball for sure. My granddaughter wants to be the Halle version for her birthday, and the dresses are so meh.

The Movie lacks magic

I loved her blue dress, it went so well with her skintone, didn't restrict her, and was perfect for Caribbean climate. Ariel doesn't need a showy dress like Cinderella, and the animated pink gown was very 80s. Live action Ariel wants freedom and adventure, hence no wedding scene, which I think worked great for Halle's Ariel. She was so beautiful and charismatic, I didn't really notice the lack of big wardrobe.

I was fine with the blue dress and pink headband. It was cute. But I was REALLY disappointed that they didn't adapt the sparkly dress.

i LOVE all the drawings of potential costumes - where did they come from?!

I totally agree about the hair! I wanted a more copper look, but yet, vibrant!

Finally the video I've been waiting for 😌 The worst part is when Triton transform her back into a human AND ITS THE SAME BLUE DRESS IN RAGS 😭😭😭😭💔💔

I like the amount of time and research you put into your videos as well as your points that you made. I honestly feel like they could have gone all out with this film in terms of coloring and costuming. But the film was still great.

Definitely agree. They did my girl DIRTY as fuck. They robbed her of her princess looks. Disappointed af.

It blows my mind seeing Colleen Atwood’s résumé and see what we ended up with in the movie. She designed costumes for both live-action Alice In Wonderland movies, Memoirs Of A Geisha, Chicago, Snow White & The Huntsman (and its sequel), Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children…the list goes on. There’s literally no reason for the lackluster, boring costumes we got in this film. Disney’s become so impeccably lazy

I definitely agree with the costumes in the movie, they definitely should have given Halle’s Ariel more dresses but they slayed her mermaid tail and her hair and voice.

Honestly, even though I haven't seen the live-action version yet (even though I still think the original is better), I will say that Halle Bailey is the perfect Ariel, and if you people on the internet yell at me by telling me she isn't good because she's black, you're wrong. Anyone can play an iconic character, no matter who they are. They just have to embody the same aspects of the character, and Halle does exactly that with Ariel. The moment I saw Halle singing a bit of "Part of Your World" in the teaser trailer, I knew I was in for a treat, and you have no idea how hyped I was to hear her sing more of the songs, and I couldn't be happier. I don't want to be mean, but to the haters, please back off. You are preventing yourselves from seeing Halle's true portrayal of Ariel by saying she will never be Ariel because of her skin color, and you're increasing your hate by saying that Halle was lipsyncing the lyrics to "Part of Your World" during a live performance in Disneyland, but that's not true. At all. She's an incredible singer, she's a great actress, and see for yourselves WITHOUT causing too much hate and drama. Do it after the movie if you still don't like it. *BLASPHEMY.* I HATE THIS KIND OF HATE.

We NEED a sequel😂😂😂

This critique is so absolutely on point! You laid it all out precisely. They gave her the bare minimum and she was still able to shine. Every time I saw Halle at a premiere or press event, she looked STUNNING! Basically, she brought her own gown to the party, as if to say "THIS is how it should've been done." They should have let her use her own stylist because she always looks amazing. Current example, her Angel video -- so beautiful!

You had me at live action KH movie

I did not like the shade of red they chose for Halle, because the movie is so dark and gloomy, itcauses her copper hair to look likt it blends into her skin. Halle has such a nice skintone, why not pick a shade of red that complements her skintone? Like a rich dark blood rose red or a burgendy color.

I liked her dresses but I wanted to the victory dress my friend and I were so excited to the dress and got so disappointed

Maybe all the budget went to the CGI I reckon. They definitely did Ariel dirty with the outfits in the live action movie. They look quite basic. I'm shocked though that they gave Vanessa a very nice gown. A smell a rat....

They must have overbudgeted her hair

I'm assuming Disney was on a budgets. Because her hair alone already when over budget. Her hair alone was $150k. More than what most movie and FX hairstylist an Make up artist makes in a year. Even more expensive than Game of Thrones wig budgets which was $6000 a wig. A fancy ball grown would had been in $10k and she would get 10 beautiful dresses. People complaining about how they didn't get her hair right and yet they didn't even use her natural hair for the movie. Even though the movie made $500 millions Disney still haven't actually made their money because of how much money they spend on marketing and on international cuts for the movie. They been over spend their money and Ariel still doesn't get her dresses.

I truly wish they hired the lady who does Halle and Chloe's hair because she is magic the why she can make their locks disappear under wigs, wrapping hair and more the red hair that Halle wore to the Met Gala was crochet not a wig, so they could of also done that as well. Her hairstyles gives them the opportunity to do so much and not be limited by their locks

i'm not thrilled of the black washing of ariel, but thats minor, she has a great voice and energy of ariel. but i have more reasons to dislike the movie that are not related to halle bailey, besides those my main issue with halle bailey is the lack of outfits as well the designs of the outfits and her hair didn't look good. sorry the hair stylist should have been fired for two reasons. one her hair was not red enough, i have seen girls in her skin tone that can rock the vibrant red hair that ariel had, the color they did in the movie it looks bad on some shots when she at shore as a mermaid and two the hair styles for ariel in the live action aren't cute, adorable and pretty like what you would expect for ariel. i saw a better version for the blue village dress at the disney parks meet and greet for the live action. so yeah this movie did halle bailey and the character ariel dirty. i feel sorry for the actress for not having a lot of dresses or outfits as ariel to wear.

I like your video. I also respect your point of view. I think you are correct in a lot of things. As far as the dresses go, I understand the meaning the director wanted to give to this Live Action Ariel playing Beautifully by Halle. I think he did this intentionally, it wasn't a lack of money. This light blue dress Ariel wears all those three days has a way more deeper meaning in the Live Action, probably this dress is one of the main elements in Eric and Ariel's LOVE. And let me just tell you, I felt that on the screen. When Eric longs and cries for her after Ursula's battle, and he is on the shore and he sees this dress. For him, this dress is ARIEL, this dress is literally the love of his live GONE. And when he let go the dress it literally broke my heart. I shear a tear on that scene. I agree with you on the last dress that it could have been maybe a bit fancy, but it didn't bother me. But please guys, understand that in this version of The Little Mermaid Ariel is more grounded, the blue dress is her signature on land just as her beautiful tail is her signature in the sea. I would not change a thing. I'm sure on the remake they will make her more fancy. Also on this remake they get engage, they don't get married like in the animated version. And I liked that because let's be honest, is it realistic to marry someone you meet 3 days ago? I don't think so. I LOVE every single aspect of the 2023 movie and I personally would not change ANYTHING.

They got rid of the bow from the blue outfit And i did not notice until now

I loved Halle's performance as Ariel, and I think the blue dress she wears is beautiful. The only problem is that she was the only one she used. And by not having more changing rooms, he lost the opportunity to shine more in that aspect. I would have wanted to see her in the pink dress 💖

You literally just shaded Halley's hair big time . Saying that it looks flat and not up to par. Saying she should have just worn a wig. The point of Halley having her natural hair wasn't just to keep and protect her hair but was also meant to show representation of natural black hair styles like locs in the media. Do you know anything about locs and natural black hair styles ? Locs become heavy when they are in water. You suggesting putting a wig over her locs would have just add to the weight. Which would then make it more heavy and harder for her to have move her head when she did the water scenes . Especially the iconic hair flip scene. Halley said, "Doing that scene strained her neck . Imagine having to do it whilst also wearing a wig. I agree with you on everything when it comes to the costuming, but you're dead wrong about her hair. I can't believe you also had the audacity to say her hair wasn't handled with the utmost care and effort . When Camille Friend was her hairstylist for the movie. She was also the hair stylist for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Us, and The Help. I'm pretty sure she knows how to look after and take care of natural black hair. She's also a black woman herself.

I noticed the costumes of Ariel and Eric being very simple and kind of boring. But somehow this felt believable for the characters. Ariel didn't seem to understand much about human culture during most of the film. And when she lived under the sea she did not use fashion at all. So it makes sense that she doesn't understand fashion. Humans didn't know Ariel is a princess and Eric fell in love for her even when she is using poor class clothes. Eric is focused in adventure and knowledge so it makes sense for the character that he's not much into fashion. To be honest I didn't like Ariel's makeup but at the same time it feels empowering for young audiences to watch a movie protagonist without makeup. Overall I loved this movie. Even though the costumes of Ariel and Eric are clearly simple and the costumes don't feel magical. The movie has its own strengths and the music is so magical and the characters are very emotional even Ariel who cannot talk or write or use sign language acts very emotional and she's relatable protagonist. I feel like the boring costumes serve a purpose of giving realism and leave more space for other characteristics of the movie to shine brighter as a very emotional film with magical orchestra music and songs. I still think your opinion is valid. Movies are art and art is subjective.

The scene you suggest at 27:00 would have been worderful and made a lot of sense in the story, not only as an opportunity to add an amazing dress

I was a bit worried at first where this video would go but I definitely appreciate and respect your opinion. While I think her looks definitely catered to the Caribbean vibe of the setting they were in, I definitely agree she should’ve been given at least ONE showstopper moment with a look. Even if it was a new look entirely, it would’ve been nice to see her get like you said her full Disney princess moment. As you said Halle had to do a lot of the heavy lifting when it came to serving princess energy which she nailed. I just wonder why this decision to not give her a showstopper look was made.

This is what I tried to tell some people. I suspect 50% to 80% of the "racists" are just people who found the visuals jarring, but who aren't experts at costume design or make-up so end up blaming the actress herself. The way you make people look past a major change is to make the final product so Fabulous that nobody has time to whine about 'what could have been.' I happen to like African fashion a lot: dark-skinned people look fabulous in vibrant colors and bold patterns. As such, a black Ariel could and should have looked fabulous, like how Halle Bailey can look in real life herself. But they stuffed her into that cheap ugly dress and made her hair so plain! (I think you were too kind on that dress, it just didn't bring out any of the charm of the actress)

I HATED that she didn’t have the sparkling lavender dress from the end, it definitely was a bummer!!! And that they didn’t take the wedding/engagement party on a ship.

Spoiler Alert for Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken (it's relevant, I promise) But even at the end, the main character got herself a sparkly sea-inspired dress seemingly made of magic! When I saw it, I immediately thought about how robbed we were that Live Action Ariel didn't have one 🥲

I’d like to believe that Ariel just doesn’t understand the concept of changing clothes! If not, then what was the reason!! 😭