Grab your shell bras and toothbrush combs, a new teaser for Disney’s live-action The Little Mermaid remake starring Halle Bailey has dropped and it gives us our first glimpse of both Eric and Ursula.
There’s no shortage of anticipation for Disney’s live-action The Little Mermaid, which has been mired by fucked racism by white supremacists whose suspension of disbelief ends with mermaids being Black, and lauded for its ground-breaking representation.
Here’s everything we know about the film, all in one place.
Is there a trailer for the live-action The Little Mermaid?
Yes, there’s two in fact.
The latest trailer dropped on February 16 to commemorate just 100 days left until the film releases and OMG, is it really that soon??? Crying, screaming, throwing up in anticipation.
Peep the new trailer below:
The trailer starts off with footage we’ve already seen in the initial glimpse Disney gave us in its first teaser, but then as the music swells it expands into a rapid montage of shots from the film and hooley dooley this is a visual FEAST. Absolutely stunning.
We see Halle Bailey’s Ariel bouncing on jellyfish, her mermaid sisters swimming around (is the theory that they all represent the ethnic nations closest to their sea true?) and Ariel playing with a puffer fish.
me zooming in so i can see lorena andrea in shot of the little mermaid (2023) pic.twitter.com/aLpXrUzRQO
— addie (@maybegrayson) February 15, 2023
The teaser then, right at the end, gives us a look at Ariel’s iconic evening canoe date/kiss scene with Prince Eric (played by newcomer Jonah Hauer-King). And oh boy does he look the part!
Honestly the casting was spot on, he looks like the Golden Retriever himbo of our dreams.
A noticeable difference from the 1998 animated film though is that it appeared to be quite bright when the kiss happened. In the new The Little Mermaid, it’s dark and the two are surrounded by fireflies. So cute and like I said, visually stunning.
First look at Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric in Disney’s live action ‘The Little Mermaid’ in theaters May 26th. pic.twitter.com/ReTniM1Syb
— Pop Hive (@thepophive) February 15, 2023
I know what you’re thinking: “where TF is Ursula, I thought you said she was in this?”
Melissa McCartney‘s Ursula (another perfect casting) does indeed appear in the trailer, but it’s for such a short time that I wouldn’t blame you if you missed the sneaky glimpse.
Here’s a screenshot for your viewing pleasure:
Side note, but I am so keen to see how dark this version of The Little Mermaid looks, colour-wise. It’ll give it a much creepier look for what I think is probably the most morbid Disney movie. I mean, the premise is actually quite dark when you think about it?
Last year Disney released the initial teaser, which gave us our first proper look at Halle Bailey as Ariel and honestly, I have never seen such a gorgeous Disney princess.
The teaser went viral at the time because mums started posting their young Black daughters’ reactions to it and warning, these videos WILL get you misty-eyed. Representation does indeed matter, y’all.
Who has been cast in The Little Mermaid?
As you may have already read, Halle Bailey stars as lead Ariel (to much backlash because she is Black and apparently that’s not “realistic” for mermaids, which are literally made-up creatures. But let’s not waste time acknowledging dog shit claims).
Jonah Hauer-King co-stars as Prince Eric, Melissa McCartney is the villainous Ursula, Javier Bardem is King Triton, Jacob Tremblay is the voice of Flounder and Daveed Diggs is the voice of Sebastian. Yes, as in Daveed Diggs from Hamilton. That French accent is going to slay.
When is The Little Mermaid‘s release date?
The Little Mermaid hits cinemas on May 26 across the globe, but guess what: it actually is coming to Australia slightly earlier on May 25.
Brb, polishing my shell bra in preparation.
