The Little Mermaid (2023)

What earned the score

• DEI Recasting of Ariel

  Halle Bailey, a Black actress, plays Ariel, a legacy character traditionally depicted as white in the animated original. The remake makes racial recasting a conspicuous identity-driven revision of a familiar character.

• Interracial Adoptive Family

  Queen Selina, a Black woman, adopts and raises Eric, her white son. The film adds an interracial adoptive family as a visible diversity element.

• Interracial Royal Romance

  The white Prince Eric falls in love with Ariel, a Black woman. Their romance presents an interracial pairing as part of the remake’s representation-focused casting.

• Multiracial Mermaid Sisters

  The remake gives King Triton daughters of different races, a deliberate departure from a uniform royal family. This turns the mermaid sisterhood into another vehicle for diverse casting.

• Progressivism as Forward Motion

  The film repeats a message about progress and not being left behind, presenting forward movement as an unquestioned virtue. That is broad progressive messaging rather than a story-specific argument.

• Interracial Romance Framed Positively

  Halle Bailey and Jonah Hauer-King portray the mermaid and the young man who kiss and marry; the Black-white pairing is presented as a positive romance.

• Ariel Recast as Empowered Hero

  The film deliberately moves Ariel out of damsel-in-distress territory and presents her as a hero in her own right. That empowerment makeover is an overt feminist adjustment to the familiar character, though it can feel false in the story’s context.

• Diversity as a Selling Point

  The film’s diverse cast is explicitly presented as a strength, making inclusive casting part of the remake’s appeal even though the review describes no plot function for it.

Details

The youngest of King Triton’s daughters, and the most defiant, Ariel longs to find out more about the world beyond the sea, and while visiting the surface, falls for the dashing Prince Eric. With mermaids forbidden to interact with humans, Ariel makes a deal with the evil sea witch, Ursula, which gives her a chance to experience life on land, but ultimately places her life – and her father’s crown – in jeopardy.

Starring

Halle BaileyJonah Hauer-KingMelissa McCarthyJavier BardemNoma Dumezweni

Director

Rob Marshall

Writer

Hans Christian AndersenRon ClementsJohn MuskerLin-Manuel MirandaHoward AshmanDavid Magee

Genre

AdventureFamilyFantasyRomance

Release Date

May 18, 2023

Parents Guide

• Sex None

  Eric is seen with an open shirt twice.

  Ariel is seen naked when picked up from the ocean (she covers herself with her hair and her legs so nothing graphic is seen), we see her later in the tub (again everything is covered).

  Vanessa, wears some revealing clothing in her room (very brief).

  The mermaids' midsection is revealed and the mermens' chest and shoulders are bare.

  Some kissing.

  No sexual content. "Mild" refers to Ariel's costume (bikini-like top/scales) and Prince Eric being bare-chested in some scenes. When Ariel turns into a human, she appears implicitly naked, but her body is covered by water/light/other objects so no nudity is visible. There are romantic kisses.

• Violence Mild

  Ursula is impaled briefly at the end by a ship.

  Scuttle and Sebastian attack Vanessa aggressively right before her and Ariel physically fight.

  The violence is fantastical. There are scenes of ships exploding and sinking. The villain's (Ursula's) death involves being impaled by a ship's prow, which is quite graphic visually (though without blood), similar to the cartoon but looking more realistic due to CGI.

• Profanity None

  At least one or two uses of "god."

• Drugs None

  Brief alcohol use.

  There is no focus on the use of alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs. There may be glasses visible in the background of the market/ship scenes, but they are insignificant.

• Frightening Scenes Mild

  Ariel and Triton fight a lot and have a bad relationship

  A shark attacks Ariel in the beginning while she explores a shipwreck. She gets away, but it's scary.

  Triton destroys Ariel's treasures.

  Special attention for toddlers. Due to the use of realistic CGI, the shark attack scene at the beginning of the film is very intense and startling (jumpscare). The figure of Ursula with her tentacles, the dark deep sea atmosphere, and the final battle with the giant Ursula in the middle of a storm can be very frightening for sensitive children under 7 years old.

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