Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney World. Today, we return to Hollywood Studios to take a look at Voyage of The Little Mermaid. Before we start some set up, most of you know that I consider Dumbo and Tangled to be my two favorite Disney films, Well after Tangled, The Little Mermaid would be # 3. For the longest time before Rapunzel came along, Ariel was my favorite princess. That's part of the reason, I was so excited at the prospect of a Little Mermaid ride in Magic Kingdom. Last time I went, it was close to being open but not just yet. So, when I went to Hollywood Studios on the last trip I saw this and thought okay, maybe this will give me my Mermaid fix. And my reaction, I was furious after I saw this. This is bad, not the acting because that was good but it was so condensed. There were parts cut out and many other issues. Being a big fan of the film, I was more then disappointed by this so called Little Mermaid attraction. This is easily one of the worst and most insulting attractions, I've ever bore witness to as a Disney fan. Join me today, as I go over what I consider to be the Top 6 Biggest Issues with Voyage of The Little Mermaid. If you are someone that loves Ariel and this film, stay away! I actually went back and rewatched this on YouTube hoping that maybe my memory was playing tricks on with me how bad it was, nope it still sucked. Let's get this out of the way.
6. Eric Only Appears Onstage Once
This was the final blow to this Mermaid fan. Prince Eric did not appear on stage until the finale of the show. WHY? Is the stuff on land with Eric, so dull that you felt the need to cut it out. Oh, Eric does appear other times in clips from the film! We'll get that to later. Seriously, you couldn't even figure out how to block the reprise of Part of Your World at the end with Ariel and Eric on shore and instead relied on the scene from the movie. That shouldn't be a hard scene to stage. I know this is a short show & that's another issue, I have but seriously, since you were insistent on using clips from the movie, I don't know, you could've opened with that and then gone to Ariel being over Eric. Oh, that would mean Ariel would have to leave her perch while she's a mermaid. That's another issue and my next one.
5. How Come We Never See Ariel As A Human Until The Finale
You guys do know that Ariel was a human for longer then just the finale. Of course, you do because you included those clips of that from the film in the show. Would it have been too much trouble for one or two scenes involving Ariel as a human on land... that were done by the actors. No, instead you kept Ariel on this perch or whatever you wanna call it throughout the entire show. I realize it is hard to portray swimming motions on stage but you could've tried and put some effort in this thing. Honestly, I'd rather watch The Little Mermaid II: Return To The Sea before this again.
4. Using Clips From The Film
I've gone on about this one and to be fair, this isn't the only Disney parks show to do this as the much better Finding Nemo: The Musical does this as well but there they are mostly relying on scenes that involve Darla. Which would be difficult to pull off. I understand using Ursula's transformation as I can't think of a way to convincingly pull that off onstage but there is no excuse for the amount of scenes, they use from the film to tell the story as I already pointed out, they do that for Part of Your World and this is the only way, Triton appears. Which leads into # 3.
3. King Triton Only Appears Via Voice Over and Clips From The Film
Really, really, you couldn't find an actor to play King Triton. Really, let me get this straight, you cast Prince Eric even though, he only appears once in the entire show, and yet King Triton who appears more times, the first two being voice over and the second one being the climax of the film, you couldn't find actor to play King Triton onstage. Yeah, that's lazy!
2. It's Condensed
Look, I get shows like these will be shortened and I'm fine with that but this show is so condensed and paced so fast, that you forget key elements of the story. I mean, let's take a look at this, opens with Under The Sea, then goes to Part of Your World (even though that's not correct order), Triton finding about Ariel's trinkets, then Poor Unfortunate Souls and Ursula's defeat. And then the climax of the film. That pretty much sums up the show. You cut out important stuff from the film. Now to be fair, Beauty and The Beast: Live on Stage, which I listed on my Top 6 Hollywood Studios attractions does this as well and while it does skip, it's not as bad as Voyage of The Little Mermaid. Also, any of you notice a song missing? Well, I did when I saw this.
1. Where's Kiss The Girl
Of all the things to cut out, you had the nerve to cut out Kiss The Girl. Well, I guess I should be happy that I didn't have to hear Scuttle but Kiss The Girl is one of the most iconic Disney romance songs. How could you NOT include this number? It doesn't make sense! Oh, you just wanted to get the show done, so that the next audience could come in and watch. Kiss The Girl is a crucial song as it is the moment, where we see as audience members how much Eric cares for Ariel and besides that, it's just a fun song. Seriously!
In the end, if you ever go to Hollywood Studios, stay away from this. I have no idea, how someone could so badly botch up The Little Mermaid especially when adapting it to stage. This should've been easy, there shouldn't be this many mistakes. This is infuriating, how does one mess up The Little Mermaid? That shouldn't be possible! But alas it is. So now, we've taken a look at how a classic Disney film was botched, what happens when a Pixar film with no music is adapted into a musical. You get one of my favorite stage shows at the parks. Join me tomorrow for a special Disney World edition of Screen To Stage as I take a look at...
Finding Nemo: The Musical
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