dumbmartian

My tween daughter and I watched season one ages ago and loved it, she's rewatched it several times. Was it flawless? No. But it had good story lines, interesting characters who had some emotional depth and grew throughout the series. It was funny and quirky, and very friendship focused. It had romance, but it also really showed complex platonic relationships, and family ones.

After waiting months for season two we were so excited, only to find a lot of the charm and depth removed in favour of (very) lingering shots on bikini-clad bodies, and very cliched love triangle / mean-girl storylines. Almost all emotional insight has been removed from more grown-up subjects leaving a much crasser result. Not merely less suitable for a tween, but rather boring for me as an adult too (this is no heartbreak high or s*x education in its handling). My daughter decided for herself not to continue and I probably won't bother either, a real shame as I really will miss the anchor cove originals and Summer.

I watched this film with my eleven year old (at her request), and read some reviews before starting to have an idea what I was in for. By the end of the film I was actually wondering if the other reviewers had seen something else instead? This was an incredible story!

Firstly the characters. Yes, they are flawed, but flawed in the way people really are. I didn't find Earwig un likeable at all, and definitely not a psychopath as another reviewer suggested. She cared for others, just in her own way, and without a lot of outward affection which is usually demanded from girls. This was a cast full of complex characters that simply weren't tropes or stereotypes.

The ending also didn't seem abrupt or unfinished to me. If you pay attention to the personal development Earwig and her companions are going through, it has an ending which is very satisfying, but naturally doesn't tie up everything because, well, that's just not how life works. Our lives don't just reach stopping points where every question and problem we have suddenly resolves.

This was a gorgeous, nuanced film that both me and my daughter adored and I'm sure will come back to. Real Ghibli magic and unique storytelling which is so rare these days.

This was just stunning in so many ways. Great cast, especially Halle Bailey. I was blown away by how this film took nothing away from the original (which was my favourite as a child) yet added such depth and detail, gave Ariel more autonomy, made the love story sweet and believable, just...it was everything I loved as a child but better. It's genuinely so clever, because it's all been achieved without feeling different from the original, only immeasurably improved. I can't imagine a better live action adaptation of any Disney film. It's my favourite thing I've watched in ages.

The one exception is Scuttle's song. Wow that was bad. Genuinely unsure how that made it through the entire editing process.