IT IS RARE FOR ME TO SEE A MOVIE WHEN IT’S STILL IN THEATERS BUT THANKS TO DISNEY STUDIOS I WAS ABLE TO CATCH UP ON A FEW THAT I MISSED!
Recently the fine folks at Disney Studios (their home page is here) had sent me codes to several of the movies I missed so that I could share my thoughts on them with you. With Part 1 we were taking a look at the live action version of Mulan. Part 2 discussed Soul and Raya and the Last Dragon. Part 3 looked at the live action story of Cruella. Part 4 discussed Luca and Part 5 talked about Jungle Cruise. Part 6 discussed Encanto and Part 7 talked about Turning Red. Part 8 covered Lightyear and Part 9 with Strange World. Part 10 talked about Mickey & Minnie 10 Classic Shorts – Volume 1 and we are back for Part 11 with The Little Mermaid and Elemental!
The Little Mermaid
The live action version of The Little Mermaid had more publicity over the race of the Lead Actress than anything else I saw and was absolutely ridiculous. The only thing that race affected anything in the story was that each of King Triton’s daughters represented a different see and their individual appearances resembled that. This was also the same in the original animated film and each of the daughters looked perfect, even Ariel herself. Some of the songs were updated to better fit with more modern sensitivities accounted for and other songs were removed. This is where our only complaint comes in- the song where Chef Louie is trying to cook Sebastian was removed. That is one of both mine and my wife’s favorite scenes from the original film. My wife’s expectations for this film were quite high but based on previous live action version my expectations were somewhere between low and high- medium I guess would be the best word for it. Other than our favorite song being missing, neither of us were disappointed. Visually the film was stunning and as a whole was one of, if not, the best live action adaptation we’ve had yet.
Elemental
Following the story of a family of immigrants in a world where every person are made of elements and centering around the family’s daughter, Ember. Growing up her family talked about her talking over the business but due to damage caused by her rage she starts on a quest to protect the business and undo her mistakes. The film is full of examples of racism and bigotry, focusing on rising above in most cases. I thought the way they handled racism was done in a way that kids could understand easily and do it in a way that didn’t belittle the experiences of those that had gone through them. The film was quite brilliant and visually stunning.
