Live action The Little Mermaid (non disney) movie in the works

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 7/9/10 at 12:59am

what do you all think?

but nothing beats the Little Mermaid from Faerie Tale Theatre! haha
http://www.darkhorizons.com/news/17688/-little-mermaid-goes-live-action

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 7/9/10 at 2:49am

Oh this will be great! I bet the underwater scenes will be breathtaking.

[BroadwayBenny]

Posted: 7/9/10 at 3:18am

Sweet! As much as I adore the Disney film, the original fairy tale is one of the most beautiful stories ever written and deserves another big screen adaptation.

[zepka102]

Posted: 7/9/10 at 2:23pm

Definitely time we got a great live-action version of this movie!

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Posted: 7/9/10 at 8:01pm

I wish it were the Disney one, without/with the songs, like Alice. But better, of course.

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Posted: 7/9/10 at 8:01pm

I wish it were the Disney one, without/with the songs, like Alice. But better, of course.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 7/9/10 at 9:32pm

but nothing beats the Little Mermaid from Faerie Tale Theatre! haha

Pam Dawber and Treat Williams!

[StageManager2]

Posted: 7/9/10 at 9:44pm

Don't forget Helen MIrren.

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/10/10 at 7:24am

I doubt today's movie audiences would like seeing the original ending on the big screen. Next to The LIttle Match Girl (also by Hans Christian Andersen), it's probably the saddest story he ever wrote.

[Q]

Posted: 7/10/10 at 11:10am

I wondered about the ending, as well. While not exactly matching the stereotypical "happily ever after" paradigm, it is one of the most haunting. I'd actually like to see the H.C.A. ending - we have the Disney movie to provide the other (which I love, by the way.)

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 7/10/10 at 12:11pm

Love the Disney version for the good time it is, but without the melancholy ending--or at least a variation thereon--the story is rather pointless.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 7/10/10 at 12:21pm

From Wikipedia:

Some scholars consider the last episode with its happy ending to be an unnatural addition. Jacob Bøggild and Pernille Heegaard point out that:

“ One of the crucial aspects which any interpretation must confront is the final sequence of the tale, in which the little mermaid, against all odds, is redeemed from immediate damnation and accepted into the spiritual sphere, where the "daughters of the air" reside. In this, she is apparently promised the "immortal soul", which it has been her main motivation to obtain — along with the prince, of course. This ending has baffled critics because the narrative that precedes it points rather to a tragic conclusion than to a happy one.[2] ”

Andersen originally ended the tale with the mermaid dissolving, but then later added the "daughters of air" coda and retconned it, stating that it was his original intention and, in fact, the working title of the story.[3] The daughters of air say they can earn souls simply by doing three hundred years' worth of good deeds; but Andersen later revised it to state that all this depends upon whether children are good or bad. Good behavior takes a year off the maidens' time of service; bad behavior makes them weep, and a day is added for every tear they shed. This has come under much criticism from scholars and reviewers, stating that "this final message is more frightening than any other presented in the tale. The story descends into the Victorian moral tales written for children to scare them into good behavior. P. L. Travers, author of Mary Poppins and noted folklore commentator, says:'But — a year taken off when a child behaves; a tear shed and a day added whenever a child is naughty? Andersen, this is blackmail. And the children know it, and say nothing. There's magnanimity for you' (Travers 1979, 93)."[3][4]

The tale itself is considered by some feminists to contain a message about love and self-sacrifice, and the dangers of accepting abuse or inconsiderate treatment in the name of love.[5][6]

[BroadwayBenny]

Posted: 7/10/10 at 12:41pm

Thank you Borstal for pointing out that the story does not end with her desolving into sea foam. I am constantly correcting people who say that's not how the fairy tale ends. I think it's because most of them have never read it and have just heard it from someone else and so on.

The story is more bittersweet than tragic. Yes, the romantic part of the story, which is what our superficial society is the most fixated on, does not end well, but her quest for an immortal soul was just as much, if not more, a passionate drive for her, and I think one of the reasons she loved the prince so much, it was through his love that she could only obtain one. It was only through selflessness and her own self sacrifice that she was accepted to join the daughters of the air. Who are not to be confused with angels, but their own species of mythical creatures that can earn their soul without the romantic love of a human.

Yes, the tag about guilting kids into being good is a little "meh" but I understand why he had to simplify it here and there, because it is otherwise one of the longest and most sophisticated fairy tales ever written and at times doesn't feel like "kids stuff" by modern standards.

[tazber]

Posted: 7/10/10 at 12:48pm

I love the Disney version and I also loved the more recent Ponyo.
It's just a classic story that never seems to get old.

As someone mentioned above the visuals have the potential to be amazing.

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 7/11/10 at 12:41am

Ponyo was such a wonderful movie!

[bethnor]

Posted: 7/11/10 at 3:17am

out of curiosity, how many here have seen the japanese animated version?

the animation has not aged well--but it kept true to the story's roots. some of the japanese didn't translate correctly (the prince turns to the mermaid and says, "i can't find the one i really love, so how about i marry you?" to which she nods eagerly. every woman's dream proposal, to be sure). i much preferred their rendition of the sea witch--rather than a octupus like comic relief creature, she is portrayed as a towering vampiric woman draped in the cloak of a manta ray. very malevolent looking.

here's a clip from the movie, with the mermaid's song, which i also preferred to anything disney put out. it actually sounds like sea music, haunting, like something a mermaid might sing to lure a sailor. you can catch a glimpse of the sea witch at ~ 2:20:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nMGbOR0XsQ&feature=related

if you can find a dvd, i highly recommend it. there won't be a dry eye in the house at the end (if you can get past some of the awkward translations). looking back, it was pretty grahic for a cartoon from the 70s, what with how the mermaid's sisters suggests how she is to save herself. i found some clips of the end:

part 7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lFDCWpVZ2I&feature=related

part 8: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJyobMimYHg&feature=related

Updated On: 7/11/10 at 03:17 AM