We are now officially living in an age where every character that you all loved as a child is now getting turned into a horror villain. With there being a small handful of Winnie The Pooh based horror movies , a large handful of Popeye horror movies and countless Mickey Mouse horror movies well now we have another one to add to that list as while the original book has been in the public domain for some time now it's taken until now for there for there to be a horror film based off of The Little Mermaid and so then join me as I review the film that is more based off of Disney's take on the book then the actual Hans Christian Anderson novel itself with the film in question being called simply just "The Little Mermaid" enjoy.
The plot of this film is when on a dig in the Caribbean archaeologist Dr. Eric Prince uncovers something far more sinister then what he thought possible. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally tought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad but at the same time tho this films plot wasn't all that good either as it is a tad bit on the weak side of things with it being quite hard to tell what the actual plot of this film is even meant to be alot of the time but when the film does focus in on it's plot that's when the film no only show promise but actually gets good as one of the things that these types of horror movies don't do is do something new and interesting with either there plot or there characters and that's something that this film doe do from a plot point of view as they don't go with the stereotypical setting that you'd expect to find in a film like this but at the same time tho the films plot isn't as good as it really good have been either with the plot of the film not getting alot of focus this is despite it being one of the things that makes this film borderline good and yet the film doesn't give it the focus that it deserves and yet if the film did give this plot alot more focus and more screen time then the plot of this film would also be a alot more better then it already really is with the plot of this film also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this film is Mike Markoff as Dr. Eric Prince , Lydia Helen as Aurora Bey and Jeff Denton as Ferdinand Ashley. Also starring in this film is Sean-Michael Argo as Sebastian , Samuel Selman as Archie and Thomas Downey as Old Gregg. While it might look like that this film has a really short cast list it really doesn't it's just that the only actors listed are the only ones that re playing named characters with the rest of this films actors including the one played by this film co-writer , director and editor Leigh Scott also isn't named as well.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad as it is this kind of acting that you'd expect to see in a film like this one. However at the same time tho this films acting isn't all that good as it's the exact same kind of acting that you'd expect to see in a film like this one and really nothing more then that which is something that does make alot of sense as all of this films actors are a bunch of unknowns and as a result of that is the fact that it really would be foolish to expect a good or even great performance from them in this film with all of this films actors being nothing more then passable at best which for these kinds of horror movies where the main attraction is seeing a beloved childrens characters turned into a horror villain having passable acting in one of these films is a nothing short of a good thing with it being cleat as day that whist Leigh Scott might be a decent writer director and editor then one thing that he is not good at is being a good writer as he does manage to get some really passable performances out of all of his actors with the acting that's in this film not really being helped by the fact that this films script is just so bad as it gives none of this films actors absolutely nothing to work with interms of what it is that there respective characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does harm the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.
One of the many things that this film does gave in common with other horror films like this one is the fact that it's very poorly done characters. With none of this films characters having anything about them that makes them memorable or even stand out for that matter as there all just very bland characters that feel more like a first pass at writing a good character then something that you'd actually expect to find in the final draft of the films script as all pf this films characters really could have done so much more better then they were in the final cut of the film as all of this films whilst they are likable characters they don't have anything there that informs us the audience of just who they are as characters as how they act and how they written in this film could belong to any of the films other characters and isn't something that's exclusive to any one character which is something that really does make it harder for us the audience to form a connection with any of this films characters be it in or good or bad way which does make it hard for us the audience to route for the good guys and boo the villains as when the film gets to final act there's nothing to distinguish friend from foe out of the fact that we are meant to cheer for one character because there the goo guy and are meant to boo Aurora because of the fact that she's this films main villain and that's really it and that's nothing that creates good characters but with this films putting more of a focus on the fact that it's a horror version of Disney The Little mermaid then it in creating good characters this is something that we should be expecting at this point in time.
As was mentioned at the start of this review this film is basically a horror version of Disney's The Little Mermaid. Even down to having two of the character names from that film be the names of characters in this film heck all they had to was make this film a musical and that's what it basically would have been and it's something that would have gone down just as well as the 2023 version of Disney's The Little Mermaid as well if the makers of this film wanted to create an original tale for these characters then what they should have done is gone back the original source material and adapt that book as you very easily could have made a more twisted version of that story in this film instead of just playing it safe and copying alot of what Disney did as all that does is make the makers of this film look lazy but given that the most famous version of this story is the one created by the house of mouse of course that's the version that's going to he getting alot of love when it comes to people who are making there versions cheap and quick as it means that half the work is already done for them when it would have helped there film quite alot of they told a more dark and twisted version of the original book as that would have been similar enough for it to pass of as a horror film that's based off of a Disney character but also different and unique enough because of the fact that it's based off of the original source material and not any of the Disney films and heck if they did make a more dark and twisted version of the book then they could even have a version of the books more sadder ending instead of the more upbeat and happy ending present in either Disney film.
To this films credit it doesn't go the typical route that these films do tend to go in and make the villain a slasher villain. As here the main villain of this film is more of a supernatural thriller type of villain which is something that does fit in with her character but at the same time tho it does mean that the makers of this film couldn't go all in with how fun a film like this one really could have been as while you couldn't outright make this film a horror comedy like you could have done with literally any of the Mickey Mouse based horror movies that doesn't mean that this film couldn't be fun as that's the one thing that this film is lacking as it's not that fun of a film to watch when just by going off of the idea of having a Little Mermaid themed horror film does open itself up to being a pretty fun filled film as there are so many ways that you could take the story even the Disney one and just have fun with it and yet because of the fact that the makers of this film chose not to make this film rally all that fun to watch in the first place then it can make what should have been fun film to watch instead feel boring and lifeless as there's no reason to go and watch this film outside of the novelty of seeing The Little Mermaid told through the eyes of a horror film and given just how many different horror films that there that are doing the same thing with different characters that's not something that's going to get the audience back in for a repeat viewing of the movie as the audience for these movies is starting to get smart and starting to see them for exactly what they are and that's cheap and soulless cash grabs of a free to use IP and that's really all there is to it.
To this films credit it does try to do something unpredictable and that's try to switch up the lead male character of the movie. Which is a solid thing to try to attempt to do but the issue stems from the fact that neither male character in this movie has much in the way of personality outside of the fact that one of them is in love with Aurora and the other isn't in love with with Aurora and that's really it which makes the idea of trying to switch out who is the main make character pointless as there's really nothing to to make either character stand apart from one another which is something that you really need to do if your intention is to something like that otherwise all your left doing is replacing one one dimensional characters with one dimensional character and that's really it and all that ends up ding is making your audience confused as to why you tried to do something like that in the first place if you wanted to do something like that then what the makers of this film should have is make both Eric and Ferdinand actually likable characters with distinct personalities that are complete and polar opposites of each other as then it would make alot of sense when Eric falls for Aurora and Ferdinand doesn't and yet by not doing that all this film is doing is making it self look lazy and stupid for trying to do something cool and interesting but failing in putting in the actual effort needed to make such an idea work in the first place when an idea like this one really does need alot of work put into it in order to make it work and that's something that these films just don't do nor should they ever do when they can get by just by having a beloved children's character being the main villain of the movie.
Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and twenty eight minuets and forty six seconds. Which to be fair to this films credit it really doesn't need any longer then that in order to tell it's story as the film has more then enough plot there to really cover that amount of running time but at the same time tho this film really doesn't use it's running tm all that wisely at all as the plot of the film is barely focused on and thought out all that well with it coming across as random things just happening for the sake of them happening and that's really it with this films characters not even being thought out and fully developed either with all of them even the titular villain being forgettable at best with all of them having the personality of a piece of paper and heck even the romance between Eric and Aurora isn't that well done either as the two of them share no romantic chemistry together and while that might be be the point as she's only using him to help her destroy the world for some reason there still needed to be some effort into creating a believable romance as that's something that Aurora would need to do in order to make her plan work and yet because of the fact that the actors don't have any kind of romantic chemistry with each other the whole film just falls in on it's self with alot of these issues being things that could have been fixed if the film not only had a much more better script to it but also had a slightly longer running time as well as that would mean that the makers of this film could devote some screen to developing both the plot of the characters as well but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is a horror film that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual scares that are actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual scares that are actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad but at the same time they weren't that good either. As the film does rely more on tension to give us the scares which is a good thing as it means that things can get creepier and scarier more naturally instead of having the music telling us when to be scared but at the same time tho all of this films scares come from very poorly done jump scares and while having a jump scare in a horror film is great every once in a while you still do need to have verity of scares in there just to keep your audience guessing and awake and when you the only type of scare that you have in your film is the same one but done over and over again then your audience will not only see the scares coming a mile away but that they'll also get bored of them pretty quickly and while the film does have some really impressive gore effects even for what would have been a really small budget those aren't enough to make the film scary and while they are enough to get your audience back and interested in your film it's not enough to make your scares actually scary as for that you need to have some actually really good scares in your film and that's something that this film is very sorely missing out on in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall while this film is quite easily better then Mouse Of Horrors and The Mouse Trap as this film does at lest try to do something with new with the IP and characters that there adapting to this format it's still a pretty film in it's own right albeit one that actually has alot of potential to improve should the makers of this film choose to make a follow up film that is in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all o the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 4.5 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official Disney fandom wiki page , Tenor and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images from this film being Google Images simply because Google Images actually has images from this film really are up and on Google Images and plus pretty much much all of the images that I personally found on Google Images were all really very fairly high quality and as well as being as really very fairly high definition as well and so then horror fans we end this review as we always do with really our one and true goddess Elvira wishing us all some really very unpleasant dreams.
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