The Little Mermaid Eliminates Colonial Racism 

New channel, new review! What did you think of Disney's live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid? Let me know in the comments below and wishing you all a beautiful week

Great work! Maybe the real Little Mermaid is the video essays we watched along the way.

I do have a special problem with Ariel being black because in its essence, is modern blackface. They don't trust black people having folklore or heritage to make "good enough stories" for Disney so they blackwash white characters to give them "representation" I am Cuban, I grew up wrapped in African culture, devouring African folklore, and watching movies like Kiriku or the Ouijes. I want a black mermaid but I don't want a blackwashed Ariel, I want Yemaya, one of the Orishas of the Yoruba religion, goddess of the ocean, with her ebony skin contrasting her pearly tail and her gentleness or her wrath helping the sailors.

With this film Disney has butchered the legacy of Howard Ashman's most iconic films. He believed that animation was a better medium for film musicals: and here is Disney, proving Ashman right with a remake of a move that had proved him right back in '89.

I have always said it that Vanessa (Ursulas human form) always looked like Ariel and that it was done on purpose. And everytime I say "lol the actresses of Ariel and Vanessa look nothing alike" I am called a racist. Like when Eric sees Ariel for the first time he basically sees, because of the sun, a "dark haired" Ariel. And I mean Ursula uses magic to hypnotise Eric so it wouldn´t really matter to have a disguise similar looking to Ariel. So Vanessa could either be Ursulas former form or Ursula purposely decided to look similar to Ariel (in the animated movie). The thing is in the animated version Eric is completely hypnotised and doesn´t know whats happening around him at all while in the LA he obviously is cursed but he still seems only confsued. Confused whats happening, confused who that Vanessa girl is, actually looking for Ariel. So it would have actually made more sense (in the LA) to cast two women that look very similair to each other

We can all agree that the monstrosity number “The Scuttlebutt” is the worst, most sadistic atrocity Disney could ever have concocted.

Not enough people are talking about how the entire film costuming industry commited suicide at some point in recent years. It genuinely feels like nobody gives a shit anymore

Great breakdown. Yeah, I'm glad I rewatched the original instead. It's amazing how that film within 90 minutes managed to do more than Disney's pitiful live action remake. It really goes to show how souless(a term I don't use lightly) Disney has become. What infuriates me is that the Little Mermaid was their neo Snow White. Disney was doing horribly prior to Little Mermaid. Yes, they had Oliver and Company, but the company really suffered when Walt died. The Little Mermaid was apart of Katzenberg, Menken, and everyone involved attempts to make something great. And it succeeded. But yeah; let's ignore that legacy and give a subpar, mediocre live action take. Sigh...

This is one of the most BRUTALLY honest, no punches held reviews I've had the pleasure of hearing. Subbed.

It is sort of weird how this movie seemed to imply that if you survived a shipwreck, you were brought immediately to the palace to be inspected by the royals. Like...is that normal? Would the orphanage or the streets be their next stop if the royal didn't want to adopt them or make them future in-laws?

Your comparison of Halle Bailey's wide-set eyes to Sid from Ice Age caught me off-guard. Hysterical.

3:00 exactly. There is no heart, no character that is Arial. I just see Hailey trying to empress the choir instructor so she can get the lead spot in the church. Not many are explaining this and here you are, laying it out perfectly. 👏

I don't know which is worse, raceswapping Ariel for clout or ignoring the original character from the franchise who is actually black. nice intro by the way

I have to ask - why was Ariel so fascinated with the human world in this new movie if she was raised to believe that humans were murderous nuisances and her first time to the surface was after she spied Eric's ship sailing overhead? At least in the animated film, it's explained that she had snuck off to the surface on numerous occasions and grew curious/fascinated by humans as a result. In this film, she's just collecting human bobbles in shipwrecks for no discernible reason. Making the whole 'Part of that world' make very little sense, in context. I would have accepted the diverse sisters if it was explained that they were all adopted from various seas (much like Eric was adopted by the Queen. It would have shown Triton was benevolant and that humans and merfolk were not entirely different from one another); but no - the audience is expected to accept they're all related by blood and the only explanation for that is either merfolk genetics work 100% differently from every other species on the planet or that they take on the ethnicity of the sea they rule over (which, if you give it some thought - Ariel abandoned her duties/responsibilities as ruler so she could become human). In the extended run time of this movie, it would have been nice to have Eric show Ariel how a ships work in order to explain how the Hell she even knew what a helm was in that final scene (not that it would have mattered because without legs to stand on and no upper body strength to fight against the helm in choppy waters, Ariel should still not have been able to steer that ship, even for how briefly she managed to).

I'm still weirded out by how Ariel and her sister are each a different race but Disney insists to still have one set of parents. At least, the hair can be explained in the animated movie but imagine a couple ended up having children of 7 different ethnicities. Like, harems exists and it would've been easier to say Triton has one wife who mothered all his daughters.

When it's Wednesday Halle Bailey can see both weekends.

Jodie Benson set the bar SO high for that vocal performance, I honestly can’t think of a young modern singer that could do it justice.

This movie is the classic example of WHY WOKE fails: It responds to "Hundreds of years of oppression" by doing the EXACT SAME LEVEL OF BIGOTRY to all those who are non-Black.... Like MOST of the intended audience.

....You're telling me that Ariel kills her own aunt!?! She's a murderer then... just wow

My fav part was always chef and Sébastien. Sigh. Also my oldest 21yo daughter caught the part of scuttles song and she said I could've gone my whole life not hearing that and I'd have died happy. My 16yo daughter who is developmentally delayed so mentally she's half her age said the movie looks gross and sounds stupid and while she doesnt really have issues w ariels color she was very concerned abt why she doesnt have red hair....so.....good job Disney.

This movie did nothing for Eric's character. And he was hardly a background character in the original film. He was a well fleshed out character. Prince Eric is first introduced by the movie narrative as adventurous young man who despite his royal heritage is not above the “dirty work”: the audience is initially exposed to him helping other sailors on the ship as well as showing consideration and concern towards Grimsby in addition to being a good listener and quite an experienced storyteller informed about the subject he takes it upon himself to talk about hence the sailors discussing Triton and the sea with Eric while Grimsby sceptically brushes their theories off. Thoroughness, open mind and a down to earth attitude are established among Eric’s primary characteristics from the get go and not for the sake of forcibly and obnoxiously presenting him as a multi-dimensional morally/intellectually superior protagonist - in fact, he can hardly even be deemed as one seeing as the movie essentially revolves around Ariel and her struggles with inability to obtain independence and fulfill herself outside of a place she feels like she belongs whereas every other character, no matter how significant, plays a part of a supporting cast - but in order to showcase his interests thus, in so much as the first few minutes of the movie we already learn up on not only the hobbies Eric is intensely invested in but the extent of his love for the sea, conflicted relationship with his guardian figure (Grimsby) and are provided with a raw sketch of his mindset and the lens through which he observes the world. All of it could have easily been left out seeing as Eric’s individual emotional investments are not particularly related to Ariel’s story, but those aspects are outlined regardless because Eric isn’t merely a love interest of a fiery red head: he has a personality, a character of his own. Next time Eric comes off as “the guy with a flute”, it being the immediate impression he gives off once Ariel first sees him, confronted with not so much his mesmerizing attractiveness as the way his eyes lit up when he produced music for his own pleasure (poignantly, the same exact way Ariel preferred to go about her musical skills: away from the crowds or pretentious grand celebrations, using a melody for self expression. It’s hardly a coincidence that Melody ended up being a name of her and Eric’s daughter) or when he played with his dog or when he was clearly not impressed with the the statue of himself. Speaking of which, that is a good character moment because it shows that Eric is burdened by expectations and is seen as a powerful future king when in reality, he is a shy introvert. This allows Ariel to relate to him. Eric, however, was thankful for the attention and love coming from Grimsby regardless of how inexplicably insufficient and misinterpreted the latter’s perception of Eric generally was, which is rather unfortunate given that Grimsby played some sort of a father figure role to him while being entirely unable to get the grasp of how the young man’s mind functioned. Which brings us to another point: according to all the evidence Eric’s parents are most likely dead, considering they didn’t show up on either of his weddings - the fake one with Vanessa and the real one with Ariel - nor did they attend Melody's christening. Admittedly, being left in charge of no one other than Grimsby who hardly understood what Eric essentially was about, and having to prepare himself to be a future effective ruler of Tirulia. Eric is the epitome of a person who built one self up independently, firmly standing his ground confronting the standards imposed on him that he was unwilling to conform to - such as being forced into getting married before determining whether there was a right woman (“the one” as Eric referred to a person he hadn’t yet been lucky enough to meet and want to spend the rest of his life with, not settling for any less) among his suitors for the sake of fitting into a certain ideal of a proper prince. His attitude of a dreamer was a part of his established characterization but he was also exceptionally analytical about his concepts of romance. Having survived a horrific incident Eric sincerely believed he had found true love and his ideology of a dreamer took a strong grab at his outlooks on relationship seeing as he was set out to find a girl with the gorgeous voice at any cost due to said voice being quite literally the only connection to his rescuer. As some people mistakenly imply, Eric did not fall in love with a voice, in fact, at that point his feelings were all over the place and not exactly what stands for actual love, a mature fully formed feeling. Being drawn to the idea of a girl who saved him Eric - genuinely and irreversibly - projects his certitude regarding her being “the one” onto the only representation of her he had been left with so far - her voice. And subsequently his idealistic but slightly immature romantic notions backfire with a cunning irony once he meets a girl who has everything a man can dream of but lacks what he seeks out the most. A beautiful stranger doesn’t talk therefore cannot be “the one” nor would she ever - as he firmly believes - pass for “the one” hence why Ariel’s beauty is essentially irrelevant to Eric. His one and only goal concerning relationship at that point revolves around finding that person he believes to be one in the whole world who is right for him. Not only doesn’t he fall for Ariel’s looks but is entirely indifferent to said looks due to thinking that woman is not the one he needs (frankly, the assumption about Eric being easily smitten with visual appeal is extensively incorrect considering the fact that, due to his royal status, chances quite a few attractive female suitors were eager to have his hand only to be rejected because Eric at one point explicitly stated he wasn’t interested in superficial relationship and was waiting for the right person). Which doesn’t mean Eric is immune to primordial instincts and cannot appreciate physical attractiveness - he does, in fact, acknowledge Ariel’s captivating outer exterior once she dresses up for a dinner but it isn’t until she makes him laugh for the first time in few days by being her overly excited, imaginative and adorably dorky self that he starts taking a more insightful look into her and is willing to take her on a Kingdom tour - while still not being ready to open up to her or let the endearing mysterious girl into his life due to being committed to his unrealistic ideal. Next day Eric spends actual time with Ariel who proceeds to behave excessive and enthusiastic, never failing to amaze him. She is more invested in exploring various layers of the city life rather than paying a consistent attention to him (but… but Ariel totally “left her family behind to be with a man” and had no other agenda, right? Right?!), however, Eric is perfectly content with dedicating time and effort into making her feel happy and content, not being put off by her overflowing craziness in the slightest, but getting more and more intrigued by the unusual, eccentric nature of his accomplice - to the point of becoming largely conflicted hence the boat scene where Eric wants to get to know Ariel while still being unsure of his own feelings and pulling away when she tries to initiate a kiss - because yes, he still takes relationship incredibly seriously and is unwilling to allow himself so much as an innocent romantic interaction without being fully confident that this person is truly the one for him. He challenges himself and his initially established concepts of idealistic romance, gradually deviating from a strong commitment to an image of a girl with a sing song-ish voice he had created in his mind in favor of opening the door into the possibility of forming a bond with a real person regardless of this blooming relationship being enormously confusing, awkward and opposing to everything he had led himself to believe in before. He was GROWING out of exaggerations and teenage angst and exposing himself to a new perspective of building a mature relationship. The segment with him throwing a flute into the ocean is the ultimate representation of his character development. Eric’s love for Ariel was powerful in both dimensions: back when he was an avid dreamer with a controversial concept of romance who invested considerable amounts of emotional energy into the idea of “the one” and when he was no longer a happy go lucky kid indulging in his dreams but a man willing to fight for a person he loves both in a figurative (choosing the real Ariel over the romanticized ideal) and literal sense (once slipping out of the hypnosis Ursula had inflicted him with all of his thoughts and actions were inevitably and directly related to Ariel, to making her feel loved, to instantly accepting the immensely shocking fact of her being a mermaid and to throwing himself into the waves where he couldn’t even breathe at risk of getting killed in order to make sure she doesn’t remain subjected to her captor) - and in neither of those cases was Eric drawn to Ariel’s looks. Prince Eric is the kind of character to represent self awareness, intelligence, ability to respond to emotional challenges rather than cowardly running away from them and giving all of himself to his nearest and dearest and his story contains more than enough of an evidence to back it up. Thank you for coming to my TedTalk.

I just really hate looking at all the political agendas in this movie. Totally ruined this movie for me. Triton's daughters being 7 different ethnicities....like really?? Am I supposed to believe one mermaid can accurately pop out different ethnicities per daughter? Was ariel mauled by sharks before? Her tail is in shreds, not at all like her sisters. And the hair...where is her beautiful red hair??!! And not them ruining the songs from the original animated film, adding nonsensical awful sounding new songs, wiping ariel's memory? Is there really no such thing as true love anymore? Having ariel save the day, everytime. Is the Prince supposed to be a limp noodle waiting to be saved? They saved each other back in the original and what was not fair about that?? Also really? A fish from sea knows how to steer ships in storms? The lies they try to feed us. And I just realised the reason why I don't like the new songs sung by Ariel: too darn flashy. Is she supposed to sing as if she's at coachella or trying to win American idol? And the overall lack of colour in this film. It's just dark, dark, dark! And whatever colour they do have looks so flat and washed out. I just cannot with this film.

they not only removed the bra, but also removed the actress boobs, look her up this is not her body. Haley is as enthusiastic about her prince as most women her age today after they have used Tinder for a year.

13:34 Also , i would like to say as a heterosexual oblivious man that this version of Eric who couldn't tell the difference between a black mermaid and a white girl makes me feel like a chad. Keep in mind I've only ever gotten to the flirting/ consensual touching phase with women.

Worst of all, they made Scuttle a f***ing gannet instead of a seagull

One of her sister mermaids looks exactly like Don Cheadle in a wig. Also, subbed. This is great stuff

Excellent review! Sooner or later they will figure out that wokifying these products is just not going to succeed economically

They talk about how Eric’s father was killed at sea. Couldn’t even care enough to pay attention.

Vex, as somebody young and beautiful you don’t yet realize as you get older you’re going to need a lot bigger seashell. You will be asking them to do far more work fighting gravity than seashells were ever intended to do. You really don’t want a seashell bra.

My favorite theory still is “Triton slept through the seven seas after his wifes death”

Welcome to the commentary community. Glad to have you and I'm looking forward to seeing what you do next

THANK GOD SOMEONE SAID IT. I really don't like Halle's version of the songs, she has a beautiful voice but the way she sang them just... Wasn't it

Damn. You showed no hesitation to compare her with Sid from Ice Age. Now that's truly critical damage 😂

Disney is known for mixing live actors with animated cartoon characters, and since all the sea creatures are CGI animated instead of real live ones, I'm confused at why it had to be so "realistic". As so many say: "It's a kid's fantasy movie!", so why not just go ahead and cartoon animate (or a good mix of) her friends and brighten up everything?

I think Grimsby is the butler. My favourite character in the movie, he is very chill and smooth, he is the highlight is the movie also Sebastian gets done dirty. He gets beaten up and thrown around a lot and without his performance to King triton he never is built as a composer/ conductor, which affects his role in “under the sea” and “kiss the girl” also the “coral moon” is built up as a important soley in dialogue also they should have kept the motif of the magic contract because Ursula blocking the trident attack was silly

In Mulan , The Little Mermaid , Pinnochio and Peter Pan in the Remakes version The protagonist is portrayed for being too OP Its like eliminating the element of struggle which crucial for the hero of the story development and makes the audience even more sympathetic with their development , You Can't make a good story with a Hero that have no flaw

Great job Vex! I love your use of the word bodacious! Keep up the good work! 👍

I thought I was the only one who didn't like her singing at all. She got a great voice but it's not fitting for Ariel at all!! I commented on some other video about this issue. Her singing "Part of your world" was not good in my opinion. It lacks emotion and I dislike how she sang the last few words "Wish I could be part of your world". That "be" in the original just always made me feel so emotional because it was not sung. But Halle decided to sing it and I was so dissapointed, especially the way she sang it... It felt like she was trying to show off her skills more than her trying to play as Ariel.

Awesome review!! Except that (12:20) Eric just gets through telling her and showing her Aries in the sky before she resorts to using Aries as a hint to her name. That actually made perfect sense in the film, she was alluding directly to what he just got through teaching her. I think you forgot that moment in the sequence occurred or missed it altogether because you dissociated from boredom lol. which is obviously fair.

Yay! I’m so excited for this! ❤

Wait wait wait…..it OPENS with a quote from the original story? You know, the one where the little mermaid is mentioned multiple times to have “pale arms?” *looks at all the people who say the original doesn’t matter and shakes her head* ….. Also, I’m glad someone else will call out the singing of part of your world. It starts out good enough but when she tries too hard and gets nowhere with it, I just can’t anymore 😅 she would do better to emote what she’s trying to do with all the trilling. It slows down the pace of the song and the singing almost gets outpaced by the music, probably one of the reasons she had to speed through some parts. Under the sea is like if I was to sing it and be half tired before the first line. Also I liked that you had various clips of Ariel and her expression stayed almost the same in every one 🤣🤣

Excellent review. Great work I subscribed ❤

Platoon sent me over here and it was a solid recommendation. Watched all 3 vids, loved them all and am jumping over to yer gaming channel as we speak to peruse yer previous entries. Thanks Vex

Eric did not need parents. I’m the orginal I love how he was taking care of kingdom himself. He was independent, strong and hardworking awesome male values for young men, but now men can never be portrayed as hero’s or strong because that would make female characters look weak oh no

I'm weak, SID THE SLOTH AHAHAHAHAHAHA

Nice one Vex. Great review. Subbed. 👍

The Little Platoon mentioned this channel, and I'm very glad for that. This review was excellent, funny, and well edited. Subbed!

LMAOO all your jokes hit “once thick boy, to a grilling fish” PLEASE 😂😂😂😂

Just discovered this channel this week. Every video is a banger. Keep em coming!

Great video! Hilarious. I hope you get the shell swimsuit you have always wanted!

Came here from Platoon's channel 😊.

Vex, this is great! Well done. Stay Frosty

I loved the part when Ariel took her first steps on the beach and stepped all over that broken glass. The amputations due to infection was a iconic moment in film history. Brilliant and bold! Just riveting writing. Enthralling really! I remember when Ariel asked the doctor if they were going to have to take both….it was so gut-wrenching…it still gives me chills

Great review Vex!

Little Platoon sent me and that intro kept me! Love the video.

Great work, thank you to call things their own names!!!

2:31 all I’m gonna say is someone isn’t being faithful in their marriage

Yo, I just found your channel and I'm binge watching laughing my ass off, you're f*ckin brilliant! This is the masterclass of movie reviewing💯💪🏾😂😂😂

I haven’t heard many people talk about Triton. Not saying the guy (sorry I forget his name atm) is a bad actor but his version of Triton came off as watered down and bored to me. I wished he was as charismatic as the animated version.

Why did you censor the griffy bit at the start though?

Great review! Sums it up perfectly

They took away the best part of Eric him defeating Ursula why why. You know young boys need representation too

2:29 The only logical explanation. The queen adopted the other girls and Triton simply couldn't keep his thing a mombob from enjecting into multiple who's its and what's its galore. 😅😅😅😅😅😅

Great review!

I wish more ppl were this honest lol 😂

The film was so bland and lame. Like okay, I get it you swap all the races and it would've been fine if the story was better. But for the love of god please stop with the ugly animal cgi and horrendous voices. Please, please I'm black but stop embarrassing us Disney. The Mary-sue once again saves Eric, the dog, and her father Triton. She also kills Ursula with a ship and also destroys her two shark minions. smh

Why is no one talking about Triton being a cuckerspaniel

I adored this. Thank you.

Well, maybe they shouldve made Ariel white......

I am all for representation in films and would gladly love to see more of it. (Like Encanto!!) But when they do it like this it feels so forced and over the top. It's official... Disney has no more ideas. All the good books are banned so all they can do is remake everything to ruin any enjoyment.

What an absolute stormer of a first video. And I'm fascinated by where the "bloody hell" and "shite" came from, linguistically.

Great video 👍🏽👍🏽

"color of a country picket fence" hahahahaha

It's a good technique to start with a meh or an open mind and then Shut That Shit Down. Maybe not this time, but it's a good technique. 😄 Happy to see Ploots gave you a thumbs up.

HAHAHA what a damn good review Vex! The Little Mermaid is my favorite Disney animated film (yes, I even love the direct to video sequels) & seeing how bad the trailers were, no way in hell am I watching this horrendeous film...which is why I'm happy to be watching your review instead ;)

The queen sounds too regal? That's just what Noma Dumezweni sounds like...

I actually found the live-action remake better than the....noooooo, I can't say that with a straight face 😂😂😂. I don't believe anyone whenever they say that. They also say they're making the film for a new generation. As if the new generation cannot enjoy the original. 😂😂😂

And I thought I found all the great critics. Your reviews are so great.

What really makes no sense is that The Little Mermaid takes place in Denmark back then where everyone was white. And in this movie a lot of the royalty are black which is like putting a white person as a leader of a African tribe in a movie randomly

great review!! love how you are not shy to share your strong opinion! If i may make one comment, maybe don't play the trailer in a loop? seeing the same sequence 5 or 6 times made your video less enjoyable for me. Also would have love to see Vanessa when you talked about her. Keep it up!

I feel like awkwafina only got as big as she is because nobody had the balls to tell her shes not funny they just felt bad and always laughed at her “jokes”

They clearly used the leftover Rings of Power costumes here.

What happened to your other channel?

17:49 is so horrifying, good lord

Great review! You have a real talent for reviews, and they are based AF too.

Finishing with "That's all I've got for today" ? I think of a critical drinking RU-vidr who sometimes says this. Anyway - good spot on analysis !

Holy crap your are fire cracker ! So happy that I clicked on your video .

Wow great way to have subscribers.

Kinda weird that they racebent almost everyone but the prince has to be still white but adopted. Did they hit the diversity quota so they didnt race bend him aswell?

This review was OUTSTANDING!!!! I really enjoyed all of your takes and completely agree with everything you said! You’re a natural kid!!!

To be fair, some of the changes in the live action remake were also in the 2008 Broadway show like Ariel’s multiracial sisters and Ariel killing Ursula.

Love the Sid reference. Haha. Love your work.

"What's the most you've ever lost on a Disney money?"

Diversity and inclusion the beacon of modern day filmmaking. Triton got busy Eh . My god what a mess.

Anyone see the bird talking underwater? They didn’t even do that in the literal cartoon version smh

Great work. This movie was utter garbage 🗑

To add to this btw. This version of the story isn't set on earth. It's a fantasy world with a lazily drawn map that's just a crude version of Earth's world map with only 6 continants instead of 7.

Regrettably, Skuttle's song is NOT forgettable. Good Lord...

Wait, Disney sold sunscreen to Black people? That's Genius, next, they'll be selling the Eskimos Elsa Icemakers.

Disney has to cut it out with the live-action remakes, but they won't because they easily make $1 Billion+ per shot.