''The Little Mermaid'' is a 2018 American

live-action Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video ga ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

adventure film An adventure film is a form of adventure fiction, and is a genre of film. Subgenres of adventure films include swashbuckler films, pirate films, and survival films. Adventure films may also be combined with other film genres such as action, an ...

inspired by the 1837

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fairy tales, consisti ...

story of the same name. It is directed and written by Blake Harris, co-directed by

Chris Bouchard Chris Bouchard is a British film producer and director of ''The Hunt for Gollum'', an independent Lord of the Rings fan film. The budget was kept to £3,000 using crowd-sourced visual effects. The film was released on streaming platforms in May 2 ...

, and produced by Armando Gutierrez and Robert Molloy. The film was released on August 17, 2018, by

AMC Theatres AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (d/b/a AMC Theatres, originally an abbreviation for American Multi-Cinema; often referred to simply as AMC and known in some countries as AMC Cinemas or AMC Multi-Cinemas) is an American movie theater chain fou ...

and it grossed US$2.61 million on a budget of $5 million.

Plot

Eloise tells her two granddaughters a version of ''

The Little Mermaid "The Little Mermaid" ( da, Den lille havfrue) is a literary fairy tale written by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. The story follows the journey of a young mermaid who is willing to give up her life in the sea as a mermaid to gain a h ...

'' in which a

mermaid In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are sometimes asso ...

princess is tricked by a wizard who steals her soul, and forced to live a life away from her ocean home enslaved to the wizard for eternity. When the girls say they do not believe the story is real, their grandmother begins a tale of a girl she knew who met a mermaid. Cam, a young reporter, writes a letter while his niece, Elle, plays outside. Elle has an undiagnosed condition with no cure. She starts coughing and Cam carries her inside before going to work. His boss assigns him to investigate a man in a circus, Locke, who claims to have mermaid healing water. Cam hopes this water can cure Elle. Cam and Elle visit the circus in Mississippi, where they meet a mermaid trapped in a glass tank. The next day, Cam questions several people who have taken Locke's mermaid water; none of them have actually been cured of their ailments. After determining conclusively that the healing water is a fraud meant to dupe the gullible, Cam assumes the mermaid is likewise a hoax. Cam and Elle take a walk in the woods, where they meet the mermaid again. She introduces herself as Elizabeth and explains that she has legs when it is low tide. Back at the circus, Locke holds the vial which contains Elizabeth's soul and Elizabeth abruptly leaves Cam and Elle. Cam sneaks back into the circus and overhears a conversation between Locke and his henchman, Sid. He follows the sound of Elizabeth's singing to her tent before he's found by Locke and Sid and forced to leave. Thora, a fortune teller, and Ulysses, a circus performer, help Cam and Elle take Elizabeth's soul and release her from her tank. They escape to the ocean, defeating Locke in the process. Elizabeth regains her soul and heals Elle, telling her that all she needs is a swim when she is feeling sick. Cam and Elizabeth share a farewell kiss before Elizabeth swims away. Cam files the story, revealing that the mermaid is real, as well as details of Locke's scams and cruelty, skeptical that anyone will believe him, despite this, he is determined to tell the truth. Eloise finishes this story and begins coughing. She announces it is time for a swim and goes outside, her surprised granddaughters following behind.

Cast

* William Moseley as Cam Harrison, a reporter and Elle's uncle * Poppy Drayton as Elizabeth, the mermaid * Loreto Peralta as Elle, Cam's niece * Armando Gutierrez as Locke, a wizard who has enslaved Elizabeth *

Shirley MacLaine Shirley MacLaine (born Shirley MacLean Beaty, April 24, 1934) is an American actress, author, and former dancer. Known for her portrayals of quirky, strong-willed and eccentric women, MacLaine has received numerous accolades over her seven-dec ...

as Eloise, Rose and Lily's grandmother *

Gina Gershon Gina L. Gershon (born June 10, 1962) is an American actress. She has had roles in the films ''Cocktail (1988 film), Cocktail'' (1988), ''Red Heat (1988 film), Red Heat'' (1988), ''Showgirls'' (1995), ''Bound (1996 film), Bound'' (1996), ''Face/ ...

as Peggy Gene, a woman who claims to be cured of madness *

Shanna Collins Shanna Dophalene Collins is an American actress. She played Amber on the first season of the ABC Family original series, ''Wildfire''. Collins graduated from Highland Park High School in University Park, Texas. Collins played Laurie Miller ...

as Thora, a fortune teller who possesses paranormal powers, including telekinesis and the ability to stop time * Chris Yong as Ulysses *

Jo Marie Payton Jo Marie Payton (born August 3, 1950) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her roles as Harriette Baines Winslow on the ABC/ CBS sitcom ''Family Matters'' (1989–1998), a role she originated on its forerunner series '' Perf ...

as Lorene * Tom Nowicki as Sid, Locke's main henchman * Lexy Kolker as Lily, Eloise's granddaughter * Claire Crosby as Rose, Eloise's granddaughter * Jared Sandler as Billy Bob *

Hunter Gomez Hunter Gomez (born December 20, 1991) is an American former actor. He is most widely recognized for his work in films and guest appearances in American television. Career Gomez was born in Mesa, Arizona. He began his entertainment career in 200 ...

as Johnny Boy

Production

The film was originally titled ''A Little Mermaid''. Filming took place in

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Br ...

, in 2016.

Marketing and release

A trailer for the film debuted in March 2017 and generated over 30 million views over two weeks. In May 2017, it was reported that the film had been picked up for distribution by

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

. On December 1, 2018, the film was released on Netflix.

Reception

On review aggregator website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . Gary Goldstein of

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

wrote:

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Little Mermaid, The (2018 film) Films shot in Savannah, Georgia English-language Netflix original films 2018 films 2010s fantasy adventure films American fantasy adventure films Films set in Mississippi Films based on The Little Mermaid Circus films 2018 directorial debut films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films