The Little Mermaid (4 Stars)

I'm glad I could persuade my grandson Oliver to see "The Little Mermaid". I thought it might be too girly for him, but he greatly enjoyed it. After the film he kept singing the song "Under the sea". When we went to McDonald's afterwards I played it a few times on YouTube, until he said he'd heard it enough. It didn't stop him singing it again later.

In Germany the film is called "Arielle die Meerjungfrau", i.e. "Arielle the Mermaid". I'm happy that Germans know how to spell Arielle. Everyone should know that Ariel is a man's name, like all Hebrew names that end with -el, such as Michael, Nathanael and Raphael. In the original fairy tale written by Hans Christian Andersen in 1837 the mermaid wasn't named. When Walt Disney filmed the fairy tale in 1989 he blundered by calling her Ariel, which has led to it being given as a girl's name in America. It's been claimed that the screenwriters didn't make a mistake, they called her Arielle, but the subtitle writers misspelt her name. I don't know what's true. All I can say is that I'm glad Germany has put it right.

I vaguely remember seeing the 1989 animated version years ago, but I can't remember it well enough to know if the new live action film follows the same story.

Arielle is the youngest daughter of King Triton. She's fascinated by humans, even though her father has ordered her to stay away from them. She rescues Eric, the prince of a small island in the Caribbean, when his ship sinks. He sees her as he regains consciousness and falls in love with her, but she has to flee when the palace guards arrive. Arielle makes a deal with her Aunt Ursula. She can become a human for three days, in return for losing her ability to speak. If she kisses the prince within three days she will remain human forever. If she doesn't kiss him, she will become a mermaid again and has to become Ursula's slave forever. Easy enough, but Ursula tricks her. Arielle forgets that she has to kiss the prince.

I enjoyed the story and the comedic interludes. At first I thought the story was trite, but I liked it more as it continued. Unlike "Asterix", which was sold out three days ago, the cinema was almost empty today. It shows where people's interests lie.