Why has ‘The Little Mermaid’ removed one of the most iconic songs from the animated classic?
While the collection figures of the live action of The little Mermaid continue to increase, the controversies raised around the film have not stopped increasing as well. Some of them involved the adaptation of some songs from the 1989 animated classic, with the aim of eradicating the possible machismo of its lyrics, to which has also been added the surprise of many at the absence of one of the best-known songs, The Poissons.
This melody was played at the moment when Ariel arrived at Eric’s palace and saw how Sebastian was taken to the kitchens, where he had to save himself from the musical clutches of the maniacal Chef Louis. The new film goes to the ellipsis to directly show the reunion between the two, leaving us without one of the funniest moments. A fact that the director himself, Rob Marshall, wanted to explain.
The reasoning behind the disappearance of The Poissons is related to his comic characterwhich serves as an outlet for what we see on the screen, but which would have turned the film into a “Saturday morning cartoon section,” according to Marshall.
Marshall explains the song’s absence
“That’s really an animation concept. It would look like Saturday morning cartoons. That kind of thing, you can really do it in animation, but it doesn’t work in a different genre. It would be so silly.”pointed out the filmmaker.
The director decided that the focus should be on the drama that Disney’s live-actions have opted for, as well as on the true villain of the title, Úrsula (Melissa McCarthy). So, Marshall eliminated the character of the chef and his darkest moments from the classicwhere we saw him gutting fish and trying to kill Sebastián.
“I think if we had filmed it, it would have been impossible for it to work. It would have been cut, because it has nothing to do with the story. It’s a lovely song, but it just doesn’t belong in a live-action movie. That was the real reason,” he adds, the director.
It is not the only controversy with the melodies. Beyond the inclusion of songs as iconic as kiss her, Under the sea either part of your worldthe new film included a series of new songs, among which we find what news either For the first time. A forced inclusion and very far from the quality of the originals that did not finish convincing many.
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