Fan response to Disney’s upcoming live action adaptation of The Little Mermaid has remained, to put it lightly, disjointed. Although willing to try, plenty of folks aren’t quite sure why the house of mouse is making so many live action remakes to begin with — and we can’t blame them.
Still, that hasn’t stopped Disney from trying, and along the way a few films have been produced that are straight-up nightmare fuel. We’re looking at you The Lion King. Seriously. Who thought that was a good idea? Now, as The Little Mermaid swims swiftly toward it’s May 26 release date, it seems a whole new crop of beloved animated characters are looking a little worse for ware. Enter Sebastian the singing crab. Oh, and Flounder is here too.
Since the house of mouse decided to release these official character posters yesterday on Twitter, the internet has been buzzing.
On one hand, you’ve got to commend the studio for at least trying to make these iconic characters work. On the other, there’s certainly something eerie about these two. Photorealistic animals in a live action, CGI remake can cause problems mainly because they lack any ability to emote. They can’t express themselves, and in turn, audiences aren’t able to engage.
Bringing up The Lion King again sends shivers down our spine, but take Simba for example: He sings a song? Frowny face. His dad dies? Frowny face. He reclaims his rightful place as king? You get the picture.
It’s true that condemning a movie before it hits theaters is poor form, but when it comes to our boy Sebastian, he just doesn’t look right. Amidst all the chaos one questions has floated to the surface our collective subconscious: What kind of crab is he?
What kind of crab is Sebastian in The Little Mermaid?
As far as Sebastian is concerned, the little guy is in fact a tropical ghost crab — which makes things a bit complicated because ghost crabs, you know, drown. That’s right, these critters can’t survive underwater.
This worst part about this whole ordeal is that they could have chosen so many types of crab that do just find out at sea. The only saving grace is that The Little Mermaid is, well, about mermaids.
With all the magic, secret kingdoms, and octopus/human hybrids we’re bound to see before the credits roll— the last thing anyone should be worrying about is whether or not Sebastian is the right kind of crab. The silver lining in all of this is that an actor like Daveed Diggs is lending his golden pipes to the role. That in mind, and with any luck, The Little Mermaid could still surprise.
