It’s time for The Little Mermaid to become a part of our world yet again thanks to director Rob Marshall’s live-action Disney remake. With Halle Bailey taking her place as the latest flesh and blood Disney princess, a lot of questions about how this 1989 classic will be updated are about to be answered. So what’s one more question to be thrown onto the pile, as it’s time to ask one of our favorite queries around these parts: To 3D or Not To 3D?
If you want to see what our own Corey Chichizola thought of the film, you can head to CinemaBlend’s The Little Mermaid review, but that’s not what we’re here to talk about. No, we’re here to determine whether Ariel’s adventure is worth the extra 3D ticket money, or if you’d be a poor unfortunate soul to have spent it. So with that in mind, let’s go under the sea and see if this third dimensional premium makes things better down where it’s wetter.
Fit Score - 5/5
Disney’s live-action films in 3D are much like the Marvel Cinematic Universe or any other major blockbuster genre that came up in the post-Avatar world. There’s a strong tradition of movies like this being transported into the third dimension, stretching as far back as 2010’s Alice in Wonderland remake; which happens to be one of CinemaBlend’s earliest 3D reviews.
Though a legacy such as that doesn’t always make for a natural 3D fit, in the case of The Little Mermaid, the movie does make for a wonderful pairing with this premium format. On a practical level, everything from shipwrecks to outlandish musical numbers feels like an opportunity to really sell the audience on the universe they’re entering into with this latest live-action remake.
Planning & Effort - 3/5
Planning & Effort is most important on a live-action movie that’s not filmed in 3D, as there’s a lot of manipulation to consider to make it worth the time to watch. Not everyone’s filming in native 3D like James Cameron did, so it’s harder to make a film look as inspiringly beautiful as Avatar: The Way of Water's 3D presentation, as it’s not always shot with the consideration for this future tinkering.
There are two factors that knock the Planning & Effort down a little bit, and I apologize in advance to the folks at DNeg for their diligent conversion work on The Little Mermaid. The obvious drawback is the brightness levels, which we can discuss in more detail later. But perhaps the greatest problem is the fact that my screening of the film saw the last 25 minutes play out in 2D.
Thanks to a glitch that kicked in just as Eric and Ursula were at the altar, the left projector was running the film’s credits and the right projector was still on course with the plot. Apparently the theater I visited had this same problem in early screenings the night before, and it hadn’t been fixed or highlighted before attending this showing.
So for that reason, and with sincerest apologies to the 3D conversion house, I’ve deducted another point from this movie’s score. While I didn’t get to see Kaiju Ursula raise hell in 3D, the rest of this review will be based on the bulk of the movie, which I saw in the Dolby 3D format.
Before The Window - 4/5
When it wants to employ the Before the Window factor, The Little Mermaid can be quite breathtaking. It didn’t even take long to prove that the strong potential for eye-popping thrills was present, as the first harpoon going into the water in the opening moments of the picture actually made me flinch.
The best usages of this effect carried on throughout the film, as things like Halle Bailey’s Ariel using a spyglass and Sebastian (Daveed Diggs) floating towards the camera in a panic really made a splash in the visual canvas of the film. Do I feel like it could have been used more often? I absolutely do, especially with Melissa McCarthy’s rendition of “Poor Unfortunate Souls” making for another 3D delight on both sides of the window.
That said, the way this effect was used, based on what I got to see of it, was pretty spectacular, while also subtle. There's always room for effects that project off the screen in 3D, so long as they're used to enhance the storytelling. While I admire the restraint, The Little Mermaid could have let loose just a little more in this respect.
Beyond The Window - 5/5
Admittedly, if there was a specific factor I was looking forward to in watching The Little Mermaid in 3D, it’s this one. Beyond the Window pertains to the depth of picture in any given premium presentation. So a story about a princess from under the sea traversing between the worlds of the water and the land is something that needs to pop when it gets a third-dimensional enhancement.
In this corner of the 3D evaluation, Ariel and her underwater domain are the true star of the show. You can feel the depth of the water in sequences like “Part of Your World,” as well as the added texture of effects like a massive rainstorm during a shipwreck. Even in the land-based portion of the story, the hallways of the castle where Ariel and Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King), and that enchanted lagoon where he almost kisses the girl, sparkle with proper depth and clarity.
As for the standards, characters and their environments are well delineated. Also, for some added Beyond the Window panache, moments where Scuttle (Awkwafina) flies through the air also showcase a feeling of being up in the air. This could possibly be the crowning glory of The Little Mermaid’s 3D presentation.
Brightness Score - 3/5
There’s something I’ve been dreading since I’ve started seeing the trailers for The Little Mermaid, and it’s not the fact that this is a live-action remake of one of my least favorite Disney movies. No, it’s the fact that every trailer I’ve seen for this movie in 3D has been obscenely dark and washed out. Maybe it’s because, as always, your mileage may vary depending on which theater you observe a 3D screening in.
I’m not the only person who went into this movie with such concerns though, as even commenters on the internet have noted that same concern. So does The Little Mermaid’s finished 3D product rise above that complaint? Kind of.
Oddly enough, the underwater kingdom feels like the clearer portion of the overall picture. Sea creatures great and small have some colorful flair to them, as does the setting of Atlantea. “Under The Sea” shows this off pretty well, which kind of balances a 3D problem that sequence has in its grand finale that shows off a bunch of those denizens of the sea.
The human world, it’s a messier proposition when it comes to the Brightness of The Little Mermaid’s visuals. The grey effect you get when you slip on your glasses feels like it’s built into the picture itself; though it’s not nearly as bad as one of the most recent blunders in this field, the 3D conversion of Thor: Love and Thunder.
While this proves that Dolby 3D has some pretty decent brightness built into its presentation, it still can’t change the fact that a dusky sort of layer dulls out the color that could be present through most of the movie. “Kiss The Girl” is another good example of where this can be seen, and it truly is a shame that Disney's branching into Dolby 3D saw this traditional foe rear its head again.
Glasses Off - 5/5
Whether you have a valid reason to take your glasses off or not, people tend to get curious about how blurry the image of a 3D presentation looks without the aid of glasses. That’s the best time to slip your facial furniture off and take a look at the manipulated image before you, which more than likely suggests just how much work has been put into the finished produce of something like The Little Mermaid’s total 3D-enhanced package.
The blur present throughout the film is constant and respectable, hitting all the hallmarks one would expect. 2D anchor points are surrounded by the fuzz that clears up once you put your glasses on. Also, the wide shots present are just as hazy as you’d expect, whether above or below the waves.
Audience Health - 3/5
Two major eye wonks presented themselves in my 3D screening of The Little Mermaid, and both of them took a toll on the Audience Health score. The greyness of the picture, while definitely annoying, didn’t seem to totally kill the vibe of the movie. However, “Under The Sea” has a finale that needs to be talked about when it comes to your Audience Health.
There are so many quick cuts to various sea creatures that even in 2D, I’d suffer a visual whiplash. But in 3D, this is even more confusing to behold, and it’s a moment where the effect kind of disappears because there’s not enough time to visually register it. That was nothing compared to the malfunction that plagued this screening’s final act, which introduced a slightly painful aspect to watching a 3D movie.
If a standard 3D movie were to have a glitch, you’d either run into one of two problems: the image is blurry even when your glasses are on, or the picture defaults to 2D. With this dual projector mishap in Dolby 3D, one eye was showing the credits and the other was showing the movie. Removing the glasses fixed this no problem, but in the initial moments of noticing the malfunction, the visual confusion actually hurt a bit.
Final Score - 28/35
Honestly, the only way I’d see The Little Mermaid is in 3D, as that’s probably the freshest angle this movie has to offer. It’s basically another version of the 1989 classic that follows the same beats, with little additions to the party here and there. I might even say that, provided it’s working correctly, Dolby 3D is a great way to spring for some extra thrills, as the clarity sold in that format does work wonders.
With that in mind, if the experience I sat through persists, I can only half heartedly recommend the Dolby 3D experience, and would recommend looking into either the extremely limited IMAX 3D option, or the standard 3D option instead. This is even more disheartening to say after Disney saw an almost perfect 3D experience in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
The work that went into The Little Mermaid is commendable, but now more than ever theaters need to make sure that they’re keeping their 3D equipment calibrated properly; especially if these issues are already known ahead of time. At the same time, customers who are partial to the format should keep in mind the locations they truly trust to do 3D exhibition justice, and vote with their buying power.
That’s enough of the 3D soapbox for this outing, as our time in the bubbles has come to an end. Next time on To 3D or Not To 3D, barring any scheduling snafus, we’ll be rolling out with Transformers: Rise of the Beasts and learning whether we should answer the primal call in 3D, or stick to those 2D lakes that we’re used to. Until then, dear 3D-ers!
