Being the Disney fanatic I am, seeing a movie named The Little Mermaid made me quickly reminisce about a young red-headed princess I had grown up adoring. Although, within the first few minutes of the hour-and-a-half film, I was greatly disappointed. Apart from a few basic points, the only thing the 1989 Disney The Little Mermaid and the 2018 The Little Mermaid had in common was their title.  

The storyline roughly followed the lines of the original The Little Mermaid about a mermaid who traded her tail for legs in hopes of true love, but apart from that, the two films were drastically different.  

The film started out with a grandmother telling the story of a mermaid, and as it progressed, the story became its own film. The movie stars an uncle, Cameron (William Moseley), and his young niece, Elle (Loreto Peralta). Elle is battling an unknown condition where she is unable to breathe during certain time periods, which bring the two to Missouri in hopes of writing a paper about water that claims to be magic. While in mysterious Missouri, both characters unintentionally meet a mermaid and learn much more about magic water than they had expected.

Both Cam and Elle were played by below average actors, and many times, I found myself disconnected from the movie due to poor acting. Elle’s character displayed younger characteristics than she obtained, making the acting seem forced and unreal. Although the two did work extremely well together, making it seem as if the bond they shared was real, it couldn’t make up for the lack of acting from questionable actors.  

The director, Blake Harries, and producers, Armando Gutierrez and Robert Molloy, seemed to want the movie to be extremely confusing. Many times throughout the film, I became incredibly lost within the plot and scenes, making the film seem like a puzzle that was impossible to solve, when in reality, it should have been an easy watch.

Between the lousy acting and confusing plot, the special effects made the quality of the movie drop significantly. The special effects were disappointing. It was hard to imagine that the movie was created not even a full year ago because the special effects featured could have been created in the 1800s.  

Even when the movie came to its closing scene, I was still utterly confused about what I had just watched. The dusty plot vaguely made an imprint, and it wasn’t until the message on the story was bluntly said that I understood what the movie attempted to portray to the viewers.  

The movie I had hoped to be similar to the iconic Disney film was a complete failure.