discussion The Little Mermaid bombing disastrously in China - Update: set for worst opening ever

[bliaz]

When the movie was announced I remember it was trending topic and there were many racist comments and criticizing the appearance of the main actress (google La Sirenita Meme). Even one of my cousins tweeted #NoMiSirenita or something like that and I was surprised ,

Edited May 22, 2023 by bliaz

[Donquizote]

11 minutes ago, Zox said:

Not THE worst  pop emergency 🚨 

Not pop emergency.

 

[Dula Peep]

China is racist? Color me surprised

[popmusicisdead]

i mean this was kinda expected. 

i more shocked that Disney didn't see this coming because they are the biggest China shill out there. 

guess you can't please everyone. 

[Magdalene]

it’s just so wild to me that halle is looking to blow the other live action princesses out of the water in terms of talent and exuding the aura of their respective princess, but because of the color of her skin some countries won’t even give her a chance to prove them wrong

 

like I’m sorry, halle IS ariel. 

 

 

[Bimbo]

Some of y'all salivating at the thought of this bombing is so ******* weird

[Genius1111]

I guess the only countries that TLM will do well in are the countries where black people have spent decades fighting for their rights. 

[Phonography]

It's not about the actress though, it's about the role. No one can deny Halle's talent, but when going to a live action movie people just want it to resemble the most to the original, so it just feels kind of forced. Especially when og ariel's image is so iconic and integrated in the gp's mind. Like If they had made a movie about a random mermaid with Halle in it there wouldn't have been any controversy at all.

[Johnny Jacobs]

wait i don't understand.. you wanna tell me that in all of China only less than 2000 people bought tickets????

[Rigalo]

Ppl trying to use a country being racist as a blow to Halle is mind boggling to me  

 

 

Edited May 22, 2023 by Rigalo

[vale9001]

tenet has a black lead and made great during thhe pandemic. This was the poster

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 22, 2023 by vale9001

[Desire]

Is anyone surprised?? China racist af

 

The fact that some of y'all are using it to try and take a jab at Halle is the real problem here

[BNF91]

Love seeing some of you try so hard to twist what is simply a racist act into something "understandable". It's all just straight up racism no matter how you want to dress it up for yourself to make yourself not feel like a racist. No ifs ands or buts. Sorry. 

 

 

[vale9001]

When you educate your audience at not being educated and only asking for copy carbon things this happens...people wants copy carbon movies.

 

Cinderella was a disappointment too at the box office for what were the expectations. In my opinion is too cause Lily James is really different from the Cinderella in the animated movie and also not so beauty in a disney princess stereotype (like could be Zendaya for example).

Edited May 22, 2023 by vale9001

[Vermillion]

Racism and China not turning out for American movies post-pandemic. 

 

Both are factors, objectively, and are neither can be ignored to fit anyone's pre-conceived narratives here.

[feelslikeadream]

People blaming Halle but we all know the real issue is Melissa 

[V$.]

3 minutes ago, vale9001 said:

When you educate your audience at not being educated and only asking for copy carbon things this happens...people wants copy carbon movies.

 

Cinderella was disappointing too at box office for what were the expectations. In my opinion is too cause Lily James is really different from the Cinderella in the animated movie and also not so beauty in a disney princess stereotype (like could be Zendaya for example).

[Lovett]

3 minutes ago, feelslikeadream said:

People blaming Halle but we all know the real issue is Melissa 

Both Halle and Melissa are getting absolute rave reviews from critics. Enough with this weird vitriol towards Melissa you've been spouting for months. 

[shyboi]

is too f**** early to tell

 

GP probably are unaware, give it a week out and it will catch up, and yes maybe even in China.

[feelslikeadream]

3 minutes ago, MrLovett said:

Both Halle and Melissa are getting absolute rave reviews from critics. Enough with this weird vitriol towards Melissa you've been spouting for months. 

No need to lie now. As we could tell from the trailers, she's just doing a Pat Carroll impersonation and not doing it well enough.

 

"But the two greatest failures come in the form of Ursula and Prince Eric. Melissa McCarthy’s Ursula should be a fragrant delight. In the original, she’s a full-bodied spectacle, the most free and confident of the undersea world’s inhabitants. McCarthy lacks the silken pleasures that voice actor Pat Carroll provided the role. She’s not bawdy or alluring. She leaves little impression right down to her final moments." — Vulture

 

"the Diet Coke rendition of Pat Carroll’s famously drag-ish performance" — AV Club

 

"Elsewhere on the performance level, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. Melissa McCarthy is clearly having fun as Ursula and does a pretty decent Pat Carroll impression for the most part, but is hampered by some weird makeup decisions and – again – a heavy CG approach that hides much of her face, particularly in the final act." — The Hollywood News

 

"McCarthy, as Ursula, offers her best tribute to the character’s original inspiration, the drag queen Divine. It’s a commendable performance that will make you wonder what might have been if Disney had the guts to feature an actual drag queen in the role. But it speaks to a wider issue here: Bailey aside, this Little Mermaid is yesterday’s fish served up dry and inedible." — Independent

 

 

[Lovett]

Just now, feelslikeadream said:

No need to lie now. As we could tell from the trailers, she's just doing a Pat Carroll impersonation and not doing it well enough.

 

"But the two greatest failures come in the form of Ursula and Prince Eric. Melissa McCarthy’s Ursula should be a fragrant delight. In the original, she’s a full-bodied spectacle, the most free and confident of the undersea world’s inhabitants. McCarthy lacks the silken pleasures that voice actor Pat Carroll provided the role. She’s not bawdy or alluring. She leaves little impression right down to her final moments." — Vulture

 

"the Diet Coke rendition of Pat Carroll’s famously drag-ish performance" — AV Club

 

"Elsewhere on the performance level, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. Melissa McCarthy is clearly having fun as Ursula and does a pretty decent Pat Carroll impression for the most part, but is hampered by some weird makeup decisions and – again – a heavy CG approach that hides much of her face, particularly in the final act." — The Hollywood News

 

"McCarthy, as Ursula, offers her best tribute to the character’s original inspiration, the drag queen Divine. It’s a commendable performance that will make you wonder what might have been if Disney had the guts to feature an actual drag queen in the role. But it speaks to a wider issue here: Bailey aside, this Little Mermaid is yesterday’s fish served up dry and inedible." — Independent

 

 

"The film, though, belongs to Melissa McCarthy’s Ursula. She plays the cephalopod sea witch as Cruella de Vil meets New York mobster – Tony Soprano with tentacles. Her scheming showpiece, Poor Unfortunate Souls, is a joy." — The Telegraph

 

"Undoubtedly, the clear standout within the supporting cast is McCarthy as Ursula, almost instantly making a case for her to play more villain roles." — Screen Rant

 

"If Bailey is the film’s big discovery, then McCarthy is its no-brainer. Dolled up to look like Divine’s evil-stepsister in her glowing green lair, the comic star’s just delicious as the movie’s deep-sea villain. Her timing is impeccable." — Variety

 

"As sea witch Ursula, Melissa McCarthy is as enrapturing as her tentacles. She reels back some of her signature gross-out schtick and instead goes full drag-queen fabulous in a performance that feels like Drag Race by way of Norma Desmond."  — Entertainment Weekly

 

"The supporting cast, for the most part, is also stellar. Melissa McCarthy takes on her role as the evil sea witch Ursula with wicked glee" — Slash Film

 

"Melissa McCarthy is another standout as baddie Ursula: giving a campy, deliciously evil performance, she owns every sly look and extravagant swish of her bioluminescent tentacles." — Total Film

 

The only person lying has been you, for MONTHS. Get over it. Melissa is unsurprisingly getting heavy praise for her performance in the film. Stfu already. 

[V$.]

11 minutes ago, feelslikeadream said:

No need to lie now. As we could tell from the trailers, she's just doing a Pat Carroll impersonation and not doing it well enough.

 

"But the two greatest failures come in the form of Ursula and Prince Eric. Melissa McCarthy’s Ursula should be a fragrant delight. In the original, she’s a full-bodied spectacle, the most free and confident of the undersea world’s inhabitants. McCarthy lacks the silken pleasures that voice actor Pat Carroll provided the role. She’s not bawdy or alluring. She leaves little impression right down to her final moments." — Vulture

 

"the Diet Coke rendition of Pat Carroll’s famously drag-ish performance" — AV Club

 

"Elsewhere on the performance level, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. Melissa McCarthy is clearly having fun as Ursula and does a pretty decent Pat Carroll impression for the most part, but is hampered by some weird makeup decisions and – again – a heavy CG approach that hides much of her face, particularly in the final act." — The Hollywood News

 

"McCarthy, as Ursula, offers her best tribute to the character’s original inspiration, the drag queen Divine. It’s a commendable performance that will make you wonder what might have been if Disney had the guts to feature an actual drag queen in the role. But it speaks to a wider issue here: Bailey aside, this Little Mermaid is yesterday’s fish served up dry and inedible." — Independent

 

 

Do better next time! 

 

Stream the soundtrack:

 

 

[Popboi.]

5 hours ago, Bimbo said:

Some of y'all salivating at the thought of this bombing is so ******* weird

This, especially when the main factor of this happening is evident racism.

[EmailMySwift]

2 hours ago, Phonography said:

It's not about the actress though, it's about the role. No one can deny Halle's talent, but when going to a live action movie people just want it to resemble the most to the original, so it just feels kind of forced. Especially when og ariel's image is so iconic and integrated in the gp's mind. Like If they had made a movie about a random mermaid with Halle in it there wouldn't have been any controversy at all.

But if she captures the spirit of Ariel that's more important than capturing her exact look. We already have a white Ariel and she is iconic and timeless. This is taking nothing away from her. I mean they cast Emma Watson as Belle, arguably the greatest Disney "princess," and she looked just like her. But her performance and singing were flat and she couldn't capture the spirit of the character. I would rather have an actress who can give us the essence of Ariel rather than just give us white skin and red hair. 

That being said the movie does look like an overlong, bloated CG mess. 

[harwee]

Sadly, yeah this was expected. I'm still watching it.