Filmtracks: The Little Mermaid (2023) (Alan Menken)

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Written 5/27/23

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Buy it... on the longer "Deluxe Edition" for the impressive improvement of Alan Menken's score for the concept, his immense and dramatic instrumentals stunning at times.

Avoid it... if you expect the magic of the original songs to persist intact, for outside of the compelling "Part of Your World," the live-action soundtrack lacks the same spirit, inflection, and humor of the original musical.

Menken

The Little Mermaid: (Alan Menken/Various) Adapting the merging of the original 1837 Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale and the 1989 animated Walt Disney movie, 2023's live-action The Little Mermaid was at a distinct disadvantage in adhering to 21st Century cultural norms. The story has always had a sexist component to it, and the titular character, Ariel, was always a dimwit willing to give up her family and life for a hunky sailor she met at a beach. The filmmakers have made a valiant effort to modernize the concept despite setting it long in the past, changing the story in several politically correct ways to empower Ariel, provide depth to her crush, Prince Eric, and bring a strikingly progressive, multi-cultural perspective to the entire merpeople versus human divide. Excised from the film is much of the sexist material, from song lyrics to even the pair of seashells that once served as Ariel's bra. Prince Eric is now a more worldly man in search of peace with the merpeople and matched with Ariel because of their shared interest in exploring new worlds. The fact that they are now an inter-racial couple (and Prince Eric has been supplied a black mother as Queen) was met with derision from traditionalists not amused by Disney's recent leftward lurch. Still, the new vision expressed for The Little Mermaid largely works, and the 2023 film is extremely loyal to the 1989 entry in the most important parts. Original Ariel voice Jodi Benson even enjoys a heartwarming cameo in a market scene. Aside from a final third that expends too much time dwelling on characters gazing off into the distance, a circumstance that makes the project seem like a travel advertisement for the island of Sardinia, it's an impressive film. Like its predecessors in the animation to live-action cash grab, 2023's The Little Mermaid is significantly longer than its inspiration, requiring substantial reconfiguration of its music. The 1989 movie launched composer Alan Menken and lyricist Howard Ashman to the stratosphere in popularity, winning countless awards and ushering in an era of phenomenal success. The 2023 project is dedicated to Ashman, who passed away partway into that era of Disney's animation renaissance.

Of particular interest in The Little Mermaid are the musical's songs, of course, the trio of "Part of Your World," "Under the Sea," and "Kiss the Girl" as popular as any in the history of Disney. Those three are expanded in their role for the live-action film, and Menken worked with the filmmakers to find a place for other songs and write four new ones. Not surprisingly, after Mary Poppins Returns, Lin-Manuel Miranda entered the equation, not only writing new lyrics for the film but also serving as a producer for the entire project. Miranda and Menken sought to expand the multi-cultural element already inherent in this music with the presence of the two popular reggae songs performed unforgettably by the late Samuel E. Wright. To that end, the reggae music is expanded further into the score as source music, a rap song was introduced to the musical, and lyrics to two retained songs were changed to eliminate anything potentially sexist in the narrative. For his part, Menken was assisted by four credited co-writers for this work: Julian Kershaw, Michael Higham, Jeff Morrow, and Aaron Kenny, names mostly familiar to his recent projects. The same applies to arranger Michael Kosarin. In approaching the set of songs, the team decided to jettison "Daughters of Triton," replacing it with a score cue for greater dramatic impact, and "Les Poissons," the chef scene which was deemed too divergent from the core story. Likely not coincidentally, neither song jibed with the forward-looking ethos of this version of the story anyway, the former too "girly" and the latter reinforcing the negative stereotypes of the human world. Of the four new songs concocted by Menken and Miranda, one was dropped in post-production; while a song for King Triton entitled "Impossible Child" was cut, the filmmakers suggested that it would be released later on home video. (After all, who's not lining up to hear Javier Bardem sing!) The three new songs that made the cut are highly disparate in style, each pulling the tone of the film in a different direction. With the plot's significantly greater exploration of the Prince Eric character, Menken not only needed to supply him with a longing song of his own, but the melody of that song was destined to play an outsized role in the score of the movie as well. In some ways, that melody for "Wild Uncharted Waters" becomes the de facto primary identity of this movie.

Of the three new songs featured in The Little Mermaid, "Wild Uncharted Waters" is a clear winner because it espouses all the characteristics of a classic Menken song of the Disney renaissance era. It's an aspirational Menken entry through and through, orchestrated dramatically and integrated with Ariel's siren motif frequently. Where the siren motif is built upon ascending three-note figures, the interlude sequence of Eric's "Wild Uncharted Waters" sets those phrases against descending three-note alternatives, the two clearly meant to intertwine in a call and answer formation. The vocals by Jonah Hauer-King for this song may come under some auto-tuning criticism, but the technique is not blatant, and Hauer-King actually sounds, ironically, like Menken's own singing voice from his countless demos of the early 1990's. The second new song is one Ariel performs during her first day while human, and you can be forgiven for thinking that "For the First Time" sounds like a new Andrew Lloyd Webber song for Evita. Its rhythms and rather awkward melodic spans may seem inspired by Webber, though fans of the stage musical for The Little Mermaid will also notice that "For the First Time" owes much to "Beyond My Wildest Dreams" in that production. (The melody of that song actually dates back to a motif Menken applied to the start of his "Wedding Announcement" cue in the 1989 film score.) In adding a Webber-like component of pizzazz to "Beyond My Wildest Dreams," the combination in "For the First Time" ultimately makes it stand apart from the other songs as a somewhat too contemporary entry for this film even though it's really not offensive in any specific way. Halle Bailey's performance is as strong as it is in her other songs. The offense is saved for the third new song, "The Scuttlebutt," a truly terrible recording awaiting a special place in Hell. The application of Miranda's rap into this context isn't alone a deal-breaker, but the rap in this case is just insufferable. A good rap song that bled out of the reggae style of the other non-symphonic songs would have been fine, but this piece of music is simply awful, compounded by a performance by Awkwafina (as Scuttle the seagull) that is guaranteed to annoy the shit out of parents and children alike. One has to wonder if the production was trying to go with the "it's so awful it's actually endearing and funny" tactic. If so, it didn't work on any level. Nobody can blame Ariel for not wanting to wake up to that abomination.

As for the returning songs in 2023's The Little Mermaid, none is more impactful than "Part of Your World." While this gorgeous ballad enjoyed one reprise in the 1989 film, its role is expanded to a second one here. Bailey was reportedly the first of dozens of performers to audition for the role, and she set the bar so high that none other could compete. Her renditions in this film are fantastic, though some listeners may not appreciate the greater octave range in which she operates; she essentially provides more of a pop-oriented vocal flair to "Part of Your World" that may rub some listeners the wrong way. But as Bailey has performed the song live and hit all the same high notes, you can't level auto-tune complaints against these songs. The fact that the filmmakers cast an accomplished young singer as Ariel, regardless of any controversy about her ethnicity, places this live-action remake above its siblings in vocal quality. Interestingly, the key of the song is lowered here compared to Benson's original performances, allowing Bailey's high note expressions to seem more dynamic and obvious. The new reprise, "Part of Your World (Reprise II)," offers sadness to a late scene in the film, and Bailey's performance here definitely has pop-like tendencies that likely would have driven Ashman nuts (Ashman advised Benson not to belt out her sung lines but rather infuse them with some trepidation at most times), but that reprise nicely showcases the solo cello that highlights the moments of lamentation in the score. The symphonic backing of the three renditions of "Part of Your World" are as expected, but the same isn't necessarily the case with the two reggae songs. Both "Under the Sea" and "Kiss the Girls" offer the steel band ambience classic to the songs, of course, but they lose some of the brass and choral accompaniment that were distinct parts of those songs in 1989. Daveed Diggs' singing as Sebastian the crab is decent, but it is not as precise as Wright's classic vocals. Diggs talks his way through too many of his lines in the song, so while the inflection is generally proper, the actual singing isn't as compelling. In the case of "Under the Sea," Menken decided to make the song a bit of a duet with Ariel, so she supplies counterpoint lines in the latter half. It's not particularly bad, but it's unnecessary. More disturbing is that the distinctive bass "yeah" in the song's interlude is now a mixture of a walrus-inspired trombone blast and Diggs' own voice in an awkward pairing, stripping some of the humor out of the song.

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Among the more baffling aspects of the album releases for The Little Mermaid is the truncation of "Under the Sea." In the film, there is an extensive instrumental portion in the second half of the song that accompanies all the dancing and performing creatures. That's where much of the otherwise lost brass and other accents in the song ended up congregating, and the entire section was cut from the three-minute album version of the song. Did Disney, Menken, or someone else decide that listeners don't want to hear the instrumental section in the middle of one of the most famous songs in cinematic history? That's ridiculous. The shorter album version does open the end credits, just as it did in the 1989 movie. Meanwhile, "Kiss the Girl" suffers from some of the same loss of brass and chorus until the trumpet counterpoint lines return finally at the very end of the song, the ambience of the song a little sparser by design. Instead, you have Diggs joined more prominently by Awkwafina as Scuttle and Jacob Tremblay as Flounder, the former a little less obnoxious here but still intrusive. The lyric alterations to "Kiss the Girl" change "There is one way to ask her. It don't take a word. Not a single word." to "Use your words, boy, and ask her. If the time is right, and the time is tonight..." Such lyrics wouldn't make any sense in the context of the 1989's film visuals, because Ariel is expressing much more body language suggesting that she really wants Eric to kiss her. In 2023, Ariel is more reserved in her nonverbals, so the new lyrics make some story sense as means of addressing the #MeToo generation. Still, sometimes, when the moment is right, words are the last thing a lover wants to hear, so the new lyrics still merit debate. Along those lines are the lyric adjustments to the villain's song, "Poor Unfortunate Souls," in which the whole middle section of the song was excised. Everything between "Don't underestimate the importance of body language" and "It's she who holds her tongue who gets a man" is removed because it advises Ariel to use her body to get what she wants. Remember that Ursula herself in the 1989 film has a really sensual component, even down to the closeup of her jiggling boobs. (Melissa McCarthy's version does retain some of that boob-jiggling, but from further away.) All the sensuality is removed from the 2023 version of the song, and it remains questionable if the seduction element could have been retained without the overt sexism. Aside from this curiosity, McCarthy's performances are surprisingly effective in the otherwise intact but shorter "Poor Unfortunate Souls."

In the 1989 musical, "Poor Unfortunate Souls" was afforded a brief but memorable reprise while Ursula was masquerading as Vanessa to distract Eric. That reprise is dropped here and replaced with the score cue "Vanessa's Trick," which transitions brilliantly from Ariel's siren motif at 0:18 to the melody of "Poor Unfortunate Souls," all of it handled by Bailey wordlessly. This quasi-reprise yields to McCarthy dialogue and cackling, and it's easy to wish that this cue had been provided on the album without the McCarthy overlay if the intent was to avoid an official reprise. The other returning song is "Fathoms Below," but you'll hardly recognize it. Rather than featuring the sea-worthy male chorus, it becomes more of a drunken party song on deck, diminishing its appeal. While the 1989 Menken score for the concept explored a few thematic ideas separate from the songs' melodies, he builds his score for the 2023 film almost exclusive around those song identities. The "Part of Your World" melody represents Ariel (the siren motif used separately), that of "Wild Uncharted Waters" is for both Eric and eventually Ariel and Eric's future journey together, "Poor Unfortunate Souls" is faithfully explored during Ursula's scenes, and the other songs figure into the score periodically as well. There's nothing particularly outlandish or even intellectually provocative about Menken's handling of the score, but there's no doubt that it's a significant improvement over its 1989 equivalent. Over the course of Menken's career, and especially in the 2000's, his capabilities at writing these underscores has matured, culminating in a monumental score for 2017's Beauty and the Beast. While 2019's Aladdin didn't maintain that same level of quality, 2023's The Little Mermaid certainly does. The work is solely orchestral, no synthetics or cheap manipulation tricks employed in any circumstances. The prominent trumpets from the 1989 score and its songs are diminished everywhere here, losing some of the nobility element. Instead, to counter the generally melancholy nature of this film, Menken opts for notable cello solos for lamentation, both in the score and songs. Clarinets also feature regularly as well. Of particular note in the score's highlights is Menken's infusion of a choir, which in the legacy films had been rather slim in tone. The great choral presence in "Triton's Kingdom" and "Ariel's Grotto" is a remarkable improvement and, intriguingly, Menken chose not to end his score with the same fairy-tale choral finale as before, taking a more serious dramatic tact. The end result is undoubtedly powerful.

The application of Ariel's theme from "Part of Your World" is typically represented by the siren portion of the melody, and its rising three-note phrases are all over the score for the live-action The Little Mermaid. The siren motif debuts at 0:39 into "Opening Title" with full ensemble whimsy and plenty of percussive coloration, but it really shines in "Triton's Kingdom," dancing early on clarinet, shifting to dominant strings, and forming the background of the wonderous cue thereafter. The full theme from "Part of Your World" ensues at 1:02 for the ensemble. The siren figures drive urgency early in "Eric's Ship," but Menken decides to apply the opening, ascending four-note riff from the song to serve as another tool for the character in following scenes, bubbling affably late in "Shipwreck Graveyard" and engrained in action at 0:40 in "Shark Attack" before the siren motif slightly informs the end of the cue. The theme generates optimism early in "Dinglehopper," with the siren figures on strings. That siren motif shifts to minor key and urgency in "Ursula's Reveal," moving to brass action mode at 2:46 and later into "Shipwreck," and becoming elongated on lightly dramatic strings at 0:26 into "The Rescue." The song's opening riff returns for tension at 1:23 into "Triton's Fury." From there, the siren motif dominates Ariel's presence, used throughout "Wild Uncharted Waters" as inverted counterpoint, on quivering strings early in "Journey to Ursula," in accelerated, intoxicated form from Vanessa's vocals at 1:05 into "Eric's Decision," and opening "Vanessa's Trick" romantically with impressive vocal resonance. The siren motif supplies panic to the start of "Ariel Regains Her Voice" (the sung version leading the cue's climax), contributes to suspenseful layers opening "The Sun Sets," and supplants the Eric material in the middle of "Ursula Battle." The fuller melody is reprised on flute over chimes late in "The Kiss" and resolves softly and prettily on piano at 0:27 into "Ariel's Goodbye," after which both the melody and siren motif serve as counterpoint to Eric's theme at the end. Menken's decision to incorporate the siren motif directly into the structure of Eric's "Wild Uncharted Waters" melody is really smart, the song's interlude reflecting that inversion of the siren motif and those descending phrases is applied prominently throughout the score. By the end of the work, this theme is equal to Ariel's in every way, forcing Menken to reconfigure the "happily ever after" material at the conclusion of the film to accommodate both. Their momentous counterpoint placement in "Ariel's Goodbye" is a highlight of Menken's career.

In the remainder of the score for The Little Mermaid, Eric's new theme is heard almost everywhere, including the opening notes of "Opening Title" on piano and brief allusions at 0:21 into "Triton's Kingdom." The idea experiences more breadth of applications than Ariel's material, heard under frantic chopping at 0:43 into "Eric's Ship," a fragment on flutes at 0:21 into "Shipwreck Graveyard," and the interlude sequence opening "Ariel's Grotto" on noble strings. Eric's theme stakes a brief moment in the action at 2:21 into "Shipwreck," is reduced to quiet mystery of a solo horn at 0:12 into "The Rescue," and ominously builds on low strings at 0:51 into "Triton's Fury," shifting to melancholy tones at 1:51 as Ariel laments Triton's destruction of her statue. The opening riff of the "Wild Uncharted Waters" song is highlighted early in "Eric's Library," the theme proper following with warmth and hope. A single phrase is referenced at 0:24 into the spritely "Carriage Ride" while Eric's theme opens "Eric's Decision" in slightly urgent despair, transitioning to upbeat trumpet hopefulness in the middle of the cue. Poignantly, "Part of Your World (Reprise II)" opens with the theme in solo sadness while the interlude does lengthy battle with Ursula's material at 2:46 into "Ursula Battle" and barely informs the string figures in the first half of "Metamorphosis." The fuller melody explodes in victory at 0:13 into "The Kiss," the solo cello finally resolving with it, and the idea opens "Ariel's Goodbye" tenderly on clarinet before erupting to full majesty at 0:58 and intertwining with Ariel's material. Not to be discounted is Menken's application of Ursula's theme from "Poor Unfortunate Souls," which is extremely faithful to her scenes. The score uses a detuned piano preceding ominous fragments of the theme in "Ursula's Reveal," and it's announced with confidence on brass at 0:28 into "Journey to Ursula," the song's phrasing deconstructed in the remainder of the cue. It slithers about early in "Ursula's Lair," pieces congealing as cue progresses, and low woodwinds are set early in "Ursula's Potion" against Ariel's vocal tones; the song's interlude passages offer a good climax at the end of the cue. As mentioned before, the theme transitions wonderfully from Ariel's siren motif at 0:18 into "Vanessa's Trick." The interlude sequence provides fantastic conclusion to "The Sun Sets" and blasts from low brass in the middle of "Ursula Battle." This usage comes under the "Poor Unfortunate Souls" theme above, from which fragments dominate early and culminate at 4:00 with choir and brass before a cymbal-crashing defeat. (Who knew skeleton shipwrecks could float?)

Outside of these main themes, the "Fathoms Below" melody turns militaristic impressively in "Shipwreck" with brass, snares, and cymbals. "For the First Time" dominates "Carriage Ride," rejuvenated on strings at 0:52, shifting to brass for several upbeat performances in the middle of the cue, and helping shape the action later. "Kiss the Girl" informs much of the source reggae in the film, emerging in the latter half of "Marketplace" on easy steel drums and trumpet and occupying all of "Kiss the Girl (Island Band Reprise)." No instrumental rendition of "Under the Sea" features prominently outside of the song. Menken toys with a Triton theme that may have been based on his abandoned song. It's a barely cohesive, missed opportunity in the score, reverent at 2:00 into "Triton's Kingdom" and stewing in barely recognizable form early in "Triton's Fury" before exploding at 1:01 in a divergent pathway. Elsewhere in the score, the "Fireworks" cue is among the few to return wholesale, but the likable "Jig" is replaced with the weaker "Fathoms Below" hybrid song. "Shark Attack" contains decent action, "Dinglehopper" has some bleed-over from Beauty and the Beast's exuberant, upbeat tones, and "Carriage Ride," despite featuring the "For the First Time" theme extensively, does retain some characteristics of the old cue; the trumpet returns at 1:15 but is not as trite. The score's only grating, dissonant action comes in "The Sun Sets," and "Ursula Battle" has some suspicious temp-track similarities to the first half of "The Shadow Chase" from Michael Giacchino's Jupiter Ascending. (It would be interesting to learn if these cues were guided by Menken's assistant writers.) Despite these quibbles with late action cues, the score for The Little Mermaid is a stunning improvement over the original, "Triton's Kingdom," "Shipwreck," and "Finale" standing among the best of the Menken's career. The orchestrations are deep, the mix is fantastic, and the choral layering is perfect. Whereas the 1989 soundtrack's score was its weaker half, the score for the 2023 version is its definite strength. Some of the songs are handled well, but the reggae entries don't retain the spirit of the originals, and two of the new songs are either questionable or atrocious. Expect this listening experience to be less funny, too, the loss of "Les Poissons" and some of the reggae background instrumentation and vocals yielding a more serious, dramatic soundtrack. ("The Scuttlebutt" is too awful to be funny.) The album situation is regrettable, the regular product offering too little score and a concurrent "Deluxe Edition" not presenting the soundtrack in chronological order. The lack of the full "Under the Sea" remains a major omission as well. Still, expect to be impressed by this hefty modernization of an old favorite. @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Songs as Written for the Film: ****
Score as Written for the Film: *****
Music as Heard on the Regular Album: ***
Music as Heard on the Deluxe Album: ****
Overall: ****

Bias Check:

For Alan Menken reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.71 (in 17 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.47 (in 60,228 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.

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