Why?
For starters, Andrea's a big Disney nut since childhood. She's readily entertained by almost anything Disney.
And The Little Mermaid has a personal connection for us; it was the first animated movie we saw together when we first began dating.
And we're both old so yeah, we'll watch stuff on commercial network television. Who needs you and all your streaming shenanigans, you young whippersnappers, you.
But perhaps we should call shenanigans on The Little Mermaid Live! It was not exactly always live.
The deal was that as the original animated movie unspooled, whenever a musical number came up, the song would be performed as a live production number.
Basically, The Little Mermaid Live! was an extended version of one of those live shows you can find at the Disney theme parks where live actors perform highlights from a movie while bits and pieces of the movie itself play on a screen in the background.
Auli’i Cravalho (the voice of Moana) is in fine voice as Ariel sings a few big numbers, once even while floating (swimming) on wires. But these big moments were few and far between during the stretch of this show where everyone kept being outdone by a 30 year old cartoon that still holds up pretty damn well.
Kudos to Queen Latifah as Ursula the Sea Witch who does her damnedest to sell "Poor Unfortunate Souls" but for the most part, Queen Latifah seems inhibited, looking constrained by her elaborate costume.
John Stamos is there for some reason as the French Chef in a performance of "La Poisson". Stamos? Really? Oh have mercy.
As this event neared its end, the movie is doing more and more of the heavy lifting. I imagine the live cast backstage eating popcorn, engrossed in watching the movie. Well, nothing else for them to do.
Well except for the big LIVE FINALE which is a glorified curtain call.
If viewers were expecting a more epic live show like a Broadway productions, those expectations would very much be disappointed.
If you take the perspective that The Little Mermaid Live! was like a theme park production, then it benefits slightly from having some names you've heard of instead of theater majors desperate for any work.
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| Auli’i Cravalho as Ariel and Queen Latifah as Ursala |
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