The 100 years of Disney celebartion continues with the release of the latest The Little Mermaid trailer. During the 95th Acadamy Awards, Halle Bailey (Ariel) and Melissa McCarthy (Ursula) presented this trailer.

The trailer showcases Bailey’s rendition of Part of Your World. The song plays throughout the entire trailer with cut-ins from the cast sprinkled in. 

Visually, the shots are not anything impressive. The trailer’s shots of Ariel saving a drowning Eric, Ariel coming out of the water after getting her legs from Urusula right, Ariel singing Under the Sea, and the boat scene during Kiss the Girl are all copies of the original film. However, there are differences due to the reliance on CGI and other special effects. Overall, this trailer does not show anything new to people who have watched the original film. 

The trailer does not offer much in terms of creativity, but as the May release date comes closer hopefully we’ll see something that isn’t a cut-and-paste rendition. For the most part, the snippets of Bailey and McCarthy’s performances give me hope that the film won’t just be pretty, but also give viewers something to take away from this rendition.

Films like Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin added details and different arcs. However the story stayed the same at its core. The Little Mermaid will hopefully follow this pattern. An original character, Queen Selina, will be in the film, and existing characters had their names changed. Simone Ashley plays one of Ariel’s sisters renamed Indira. It is unknown if the sisters will play a bigger role compared to the 1990 version. These additions and changes signal that this rendition will also follow similar patterns.

Verdict

As of right now, I wouldn’t necessarily say the film is a must-watch. However, I am excited about the new changes and will be keeping my eye out for new trailers. 

The Little Mermaid will be released on May 26, 2023. Watch the trailer below!