Anyone who claims they aren’t growing tired of the never-ending stream of live-action Disney remakes is either delusional or a liar, but that won’t stop The Little Mermaid from swimming straight to the top of the box office when it comes to theaters tomorrow.
On the plus side, the responses have largely been positive across the board, even if the looming shadow of review-bombing continues to linger in the background, which is completely understandable given what happened to Peter Pan & Wendy. At the time of writing, Rob Marshall’s underwater adventure is sitting on a 71 percent approval rating, but that’s seen it drop down below a supremely controversial Mouse House blockbuster.
Niki Caro’s Mulan is one percentage point ahead on the aggregation site, which is bizarre when you consider it almost caused an international incident. Fans were already furious at many elements of the iconic animation being cast aside, but that was a drop in the ocean compared to producer Jason T. Reed admitting Li Shang was removed on account of the #MeToo movement, never mind star Yifei Liu criticizing the Chinese government on social media.
Then there were the credits thanking the Xinjiang province right when it was all over the news for widespread allegations of human rights violations, which all conspired to ensure that Mulan ended up losing $150 million when it limped into theaters, even if the pandemic can take at least a portion of the blame.
The Little Mermaid isn’t set to ignite sociopolitical fury or make a nine-digit loss at the multiplex, which is definitely a good thing, but it can’t be overlooked that it’s faring worse among critics than the big budget do-over that did.
