When asked where the light was coming from in the Lord of the Rings, cinematographer Andrew Lesnie replied "the same place as the music". Someone needs to pass that zinger along to current filmmakers, because modern movies are far too dark, and I don't mean subject matter. They're poorly lit, full of muddy textures, and look dirty and unappealing. This can be used to great effect (The X-Files famously shot in low, grungy light to reflect the series' tone), but mostly it's to cut corners. A lot of mainstream movies are made with the help of overworked VFX teams today, and so studios have everything in darkness to keep costs down. There's also a fetishisation for realism - Game of Thrones notoriously had one of its battle scenes in pitch black, prompting comparisons to the well-lit Battle of Helm's Deep in the Lord of the Rings, which brings us full circle. All this has come to a head in The Little Mermaid.
When early footage of The Little Mermaid appeared, it was pretty typical for the Disney remakes. It was murky, barely lit at all, and clouded with a fog of grey. Contrary to what a lot of the live-action critics have said, I don't think animated Little Mermaid was all that colourful originally, not compared to the likes of The Lion King, Pocahontas, Beauty & the Beast, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which all released around the same time. However, it was a damn sight more colourful than the initial screens, which needed to be viewed under a microscope to make out any details at all.
More trailers and screens came out, and it was the same old story. Everything in shadows, everything dim, no vibrant colours popping. Recently, this has changed. As the release draws closer, we've been seeing a lot more colour. We see Ariel's iconic backswim technique under the ocean, with shimmering corals and technicolour fishes darting around her. We're seeing shots in daylight with vivid detail, although admittedly the scenes on dry land where Ariel has her legs will have limited VFX work. The same shot of Ariel backswimming in the original is cast against an empty, dark blue ocean, not the rainbow seabed we see in live-action.
First it was too dim and had no colour. Now these new shots seem almost too bright, nauseating in their overuse of oversaturation. But the thing is, this doesn't really matter. Yes, generally people prefer movies to be well lit and full of colour, but the Disney remakes are a very specific type of movie. You will like it or you won't, and you'll probably know before going in.
I've been loudly critical of the anti-art approach Disney has taken recently, constantly remaking its greats and flattening them, taking away their charm in the name of bankable profits. I would much prefer to see original ideas being pushed forward and it's a shame to think about all of the Disney projects that may have been shelved to make room for all of these remakes. But goddamn it, I'm excited for The Little Mermaid.
I'm not sure why that is. I liked the original movie, sure, and I believe it has the best soundtrack of any Disney movie (tied with Frozen). I'm also a big fan of Halle Bailey, specifically her group Chloe x Halle with her sister, and frequently listen to Ungodly Hour from start to finish. If she blows up because of this movie, I'll be the one there saying 'I liked her before she was famous'. I enjoy her music and she's charming, so it's hard not to root for her. There's also the fact she has been the frequent subject of racist abuse for playing Ariel, and yet more evidence that 'go woke, go broke' is bullshit would be welcome.
But away from my own personal connection to the movie, I understand that it's Disney trying to cash in on nostalgia. If you want that nostalgia catered to, then you will like the movie. If you want it to do something different, whatever that is, then you won't. It could be good or bad at milking the nostalgia, but that's all it will try to do. Arguing over its use of colour doesn't mean much when it exists only to remind you that The Little Mermaid has great songs.
The Little Mermaid might have its claws in me more than some of the other attempts, but it's still just Disney regurgitating its back catalogue to feed the squealing baby birds in the audience. People who want to enjoy it will, and people who detest this whole endeavour will find nothing redeemable about it. How much the film uses colour barely matters because it's not really a piece of art, but a product. You can buy it or not. But arguing about the packaging seems like a waste of time that misses the point.