It doesn’t take a genius to figure out why certain sections of the discourse have been so hateful towards Disney’s impending live-action remake of The Little Mermaid, even if anyone who’s been taking to social media to trash the substandard CGI is admittedly entirely justified in roasting the dead-eyed Flounder and the rest of his aquatic cohorts.
Anyone with half a brain could have predicted the backlash coming from a mile off, but after the fate to have recently befallen David Lowery’s Peter Pan & Wendy, it would be reasonable to expect that director Rob Marshall’s two and a half hour retread of the inimitable animated classic is going to follow its immediate predecessor in being review-bombed into utter oblivion.
While there’s no harm in taking issue with the way The Green Knight and Pete’s Dragon filmmaker tackled the iconic story of Peter, Wendy, Hook, and the Lost Boys, the negativity has been so overwhelming that it’s become downright suspicious. On Rotten Tomatoes, the Disney Plus original has a critical approval rating of 67 percent, but only a 20 percent average user rating.
Over on IMDb, Peter Pan & Wendy has plummeted to a 4.2./10 score, with 37 percent of all votes cast deeming it worthy of a solitary point. Nobody’s obliged to fall head over heels for the sweeping fantasy fable, but it doesn’t exactly feel like a coincidence that the response has been so unrelentingly and overwhelmingly negative from virtually all corners.
The notable additional obstacle The Little Mermaid faces, which is a huge one in fairness, is that it also needs to earn those sweet, sweet, box office dollars.
