Disney fans are feeling young and magical at heart with the premiere of the highly-anticipated trailer for Disney’s live-action underwater musical, The Little Mermaid. With gadgets and gizmos a-plenty, and whozits and whatzits galore, Halle Bailey shines as Ariel, navigating her life under the sea when she so desperately wishes to join the world on land.
The immersive trailer sent fans down to the world of mermaids and talking sea creatures as if we were meant to live among them. Ariel might be dreaming of a life on land, but The Little Mermaid has undoubtedly left us with the dream of an undersea adventure. From the pufferfish Ariel laughs with to swimming among a sea of jellyfish, there’s something beautiful about the untapped magic of life under the sea, especially as we swim alongside Ariel. Fans also got their first look at the ever-charming Prince Eric and one of the most iconic scenes in any Disney movie to date, you know the one — the will they or won’t they almost kiss!
Fans have been looking forward to Bailey’s debut as Ariel for quite some time, as the film was initially set to debut in 2021 after being confirmed in 2016. Disney lovers have all felt like Ariel herself, perched upon a rock looking out at the great beyond with a sense of longing. With just a few months until its great debut, the trailer was the perfect placeholder until we all swim into theaters in May.
Bailey shared a post with her sincere gratitude for portraying the “mermaid of her dreams” last fall, and the image was as dreamy and magical as fans could have hoped for.
So what should fans expect from The Little Mermaid when the fairytale hits theaters? It’s going to be an adventure of epic proportions. The Wrap shares a statement from filmmaker Rob Marshall on the first-of-its-kind musical.
“I’m very proud of the film. It’s the most challenging film I’ve ever done, for sure. No question. Using complicated, cutting-edge techniques to make this work. I don’t think anybody’s ever done an underwater musical before. I have to say every single moment of the film had to be choreographed in advance so that we could have a flow to the whole piece. It’s crazy the apparatuses we worked with from wires to things called tuning forks to teeter-totters. Thank God we had the rehearsal time. You always need it on a musical anyway.”
By all accounts, audiences should prepare to be wowed when The Little Mermaid hits theaters on May 26 — and don’t forget to bring your dinglehoppers!
