Disney has done an impressive job of turning its animated films into live-action blockbusters. From The Jungle Book to Aladdin, it’s taken some stuff that could not have worked when morphed into real people and made it, for the most part, look really good. That may have ended now that the full, official trailer for The Little Mermaid has landed with one aspect being clearly something that just shouldn’t be made realistic: a talking Jamaican crab.
Sebastian is only on the screen for a few seconds, like they knew the abomination they’d created, but it’s long enough to tell that something is off there. While the rest of the film looks absolutely stunning, especially Halle Bailey as the titular mermaid that is little, Sebastian looks like he just rolled out of someone allergic to shellfish’s nightmares. Seriously, this is Sonic levels of unfortunate, but hopefully, the brief clip does not indicate the entire film. It’s impressive that the actors feel pretty natural floating around in their fishtails, though there do seem to be a few moments where it just looks like someone pretending to be swimming instead of actually swimming.
Aside from Sebastian, The Little Mermaid really does look great in its new trailer. Javier Bardem as angry papa King Triton is fantastic, though the accent difference is a little weird. You’ve also got just a peek at Melissa McCarthy’s Ursula, who looks even better than she does animated. Jonah Hauer-King is decidedly a prince-looking person, which isn’t much, but given this is one of the few Disney films where the prince character is more than just a cameo, it works. The movie features the voices of Daveed Diggs as the aforementioned Sebastian the Crab, Jacob Tremblay as the striped Flounder, and Awkwafina as Scuttle, who is no longer a bumbling seagull but bumbling diving bird.
The Little Mermaid will release on May 26.
