My First Impressions Of The Worzel Gummidge 2019 Miniseries

Ladies and gents there are alot of shows on over the Christmas period some have proven to be decent some not so much. There is however one show which i've been looking forward to seeing ever since it was first rumoured to be happening and well the first episode of it aired last night and episode two is due to air tonight and so I thought I thought that i'd bring you my first impressions of the new Worzel Gummidge miniseries enjoy.

The plot of this episode is that orphan John and Sue arrive at Scatterbrook Farm and quickly befriend scarecrow Worzel Gummidghe and as it turns out the seasons are locked and so it's up to the trio to get the seasons moving again. In terms of story it's not that bad but I do wish that they had taken more time introducing the characters and letting us get to know them more but I did honestly find the plot to be rather enjoyable.

Starring in this episode is writer / director / producer Mackenzie Crook as Worzel Gummidge as well as India Brown as Susan , Rosie Cavaliero as Mrs. Braithwaite , Tom Meeten as HMS Odney , Steve Pemberton as Mr. Braithwaite , Vicki Pepperdine as Aunt Sally , Tim Plester as Clarty , Stephen Samson as Builder and Thierry Wickens as John. I have to honest when this miniseries was just a rumour and they said that Mackenzie Crook was rumoured for Worzel I was so pleased because he just looks like a scarecrow even with makeup.

In terms of what I thought of the acting in this episode it was at best passable which for a first episode is to be expected. However at the same time for something that's going out when alot of people are going to be watching I wanted the acting to be better especially from the child actors that being said however Mackenzie Crook is honestly really funny as Worzel and Steve Pemberton is always a joy to watch.

Now both when the first image of Worzel and when the trailer was released the look of the character got alot of backlash from fans of the Jon Pertwee series. To that I have to say that the character in this episode looks alot closer to how he's described in the original books and that this is series is pulling more inspiration from the books then it is from that version of the character and I honestly like the way he looks yes it does take some getting used to but once you get used to his new look it's not that bad.

Like I just said this show is pulling more from the books then it is the Jon Pertwee series and as such the character relationships are going to be more in line with the books as well. Nowhere is that more evident then in the character of Aunt Sally since in the books she was Worzel's Aunt and was only made his love interest in the Jon Pertwee show sadly tho the character only gets basically a cameo appearance in this episode which is a shame because it seems like she has quite an interesting story to her.

Sadly one of the things that I wanted this miniseries to be is so far missing because I wanted it to be scary which was something that the Jon Pertwee version was at times and I know that I shouldn't compare adaptations but when something works so well in one version but then fails in the other it should be talked about. The only kind of scare they do have is just a lazy ripoff of a more effective scare in the original series which made it feel like a let down in my opinion.

There is a very strong environmental message in this episode and when I say strong I mean they hammer it down your throat. Saying that people need to recycle more is a good message and one that should be present in some kids shows but it doesn't need to shoved down our throats so much that you can't wait for it to be over you could have told that message in a more subtle way something which honestly would have worked better then shoving it down peoples throats.

I couldn't help but notice that there are alot of parallels between this episode and the first episode of the Jon Pertwee version. There are alot of scenes which are very similar which was something that I both liked and didn't like at the same time because it didn't really give this version a chance to forge it's own identity because it's reminding you of another version but at the same time it was pretty cool to see those scenes play out with new twists thrown in.

Since this is a comedy that does mean that we have to talk about the comedy that's in the actual episode itself. I honestly found the humour in this show to be cute that's the best word I could use to describe the humour in this episode I honestly don't think I laughed out loud but there was alot of times where I just smiled and for this show that's not a bad thing and even better is the lack of fart jokes just because there not funny and never will be.

A little bit of me was saddened by the fact that they didn't try and do the classic opening sequence from the Jon Pertwee show just because I feel that that opening is as iconic as the character himself. However the titles that they do have are pretty nice to look at and they do a good job of setting up the mood for the episode but nothing is going to top the original opening credits and they don't do the classic end gag either which is a shame in my opinion.

Overall I honestly found this episode to be rather enjoyable and I do think that those who were hating on the show before it even aired should at least give it a chance. That said the episode did have a lot of issues which i've mentioned but you could also say that about alot of debuting episodes so yeah I do think that people should give this show a chance and since this is the debut episode there's not going to be rating and tomorrow will be my review of the miniseries as whole.

  

  

Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor Holiday Special SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 Review

Doctor Who fans you might recall the last time we spoke I said something along the lines of "i'll review the second issue of the holiday special as soon as I get the chance. Well i've just read both the first and second issues back to back and I have to say there is at least one thing that was kind of underwhelming and one thing that was honestly really cool and so here is my full review of Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor Holiday Special and yes there will be spoilers.

The plot of this two issue miniseries is that The Doctor , Graham , Yaz and Ryan go to investigate someone called Mr. Henderson after their memories have been altered and what they find there will threaten Christmas forever. Plot wise there's not really alot here to fill up two issues of a comic book if anything this story could have been told in one issue but for some reason it was stretched out to two issues but it was still a fairly decent story and given the timing of this release it's an oddly fitting story.

As stated in the my first impressions post the art for this miniseries is being done by Roberta Ingranata whom is also going to be drawing the Thirteenth and Tenth Doctor crossover out at the start of next year. I have to say based of this miniseries i'm actually excited to see what Robeta does with certain character designs and overall I really did like the artwork in this miniseries the best word I can use to describe the art here is it's very simplistic I honestly feel that I could draw these scenes and match the quality shown on the page.

SPOILERS SWEETIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now then boys and girls from this point onwards there will be spoilers so consider yourself warned but yeah the reveal of who The Doctor is talking to at the end of the first issue to me was very underwhelming. It's built up really well you think it's going to be someone from The Doctors past who's been on the show but it turns out it's this character that we haven't seen before and are only just meeting.

The character of Baxter honestly isn't that bad of a character having someone working undercover for Santa spying on in this case freaking Krampus is a cool idea. However the comic doesn't really take full advantage of it how cool would it have been to see that Baxter has a bunch of tiny gadgets if your going to do the whole spy angel then really go all out and because this is Doctor Who you really can go all out and not have it effect the world that the franchise lives in instead all we get is Baxter mentioning he's spying on Krampus a few times and that's it.

The reveal that Mr. Henderson is actually Krampus was such a cool thing and they do say that it's Krampus it's not just an alien creature who happens to look like Krampus. Which I feel is a brave mover because the character of Krampus isn't really kid friendly but at the same time it honestly feels right that this demon would be the villain for a Christmas special of The Thirteenth Doctor comic and they make her look so cool.

Sadly tho like with Baxter they don't go all the way with having Krampus as the main villain like how cool and possibly disturbing would have been to see the creature in the opening panels of the first issue kidnapping and then possibly killing kids. That right there sets up this villain as someone that you don't want to mess with but they do nothing with the character she only shows up for a few pages and then is quickly defeated it's a waste of the character of you ask me.

Shockingly there's quite alot of humour at least in the second issue there is plenty to be found in the first issue but one never expects it to be in the final issue of a miniseries while the story is still playing out. Perhaps tho the funniest exchange comes between The Doctor and lovable Graham as he asks The Doctor if this character called Jeff is really Santa to which the Doctor simply says "What Kind Of Name Is Jeff For Someone Like Santa".

That is honestly a funny little exchange between the two characters and it's not a joke that feels like something the characters wouldn't say that is something that Graham would ask and that's how The Doctor or at least this version would reply. I honestly that this is writer Jody Houser's biggest strength in making sure the character remain true to themselves when delivering humour because it would have been very easy to have both of them act out of character for that joke but nope they remain in character and it really does work.

The Fez comes back in this issue that's really all I need to say it comes back for a few panels and then it's gone. So if you thought that only the eleventh doctor was fond of the hat well now you know that The Thirteenth Doctor also wears and just based of this one image it looks like it would suit Jodie really well so I really do hope that she gets to wear it in the next series even if it's just for one quick scene.

SPOILERS END HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There is a really lovely scene near the end of the comic with all of our heroes sitting down to have Christmas diner with a bunch of elves. Which I honestly found to be sweet and adding to that is the fact that The Doctor gives us a nice speech talking about how good things can come out of bad situations which is a message that I don't really see that often in any kind of media or in Doctor Who so it was nice that it was in here.

Overall this was a really nice read it's not a perfect miniseries by any means heck i'm willing to guess that you got that just from my first impressions of the first issue. That doesn't mean that it's not an enjoyable read tho and it does make the wait until the New Years Day episode a little easier since there is a new story with those characters and so this miniseries gets a 7 out of 10 from me. It only seems right for me to say this here but no matter what you do on Christmas Day I hope that you have a good one and that you have nice day surrounded by family or friends.

A Christmas Carol 2019 Miniseries Review

British TV fans we are just a few days until December 25th and that means that every TV channel is either full of repeats or full of special episodes from our favourite TV shows. Well in order to kind of buck that trend the BBC together with American Network FX are releasing a new version of A Christmas Carol and while here in the UK the special will be broadcast from December 22nd to the 24th in America it was aired I believe as one full film one full nearly THREE HOUR film and so here is my review of "A Christmas Carol 2019" enjoy.

Now I don't really feel that I need to well you what the plot of this series since the book is so well known and so is the story. I will say tho that I don't really like how they handled this story yes it is dark as hell and more closer in tone to the original book but they add so much un-needed subplots and expand roles that don't need expanding. I honestly feel that the story should have been kept simple and not complicate things with un-needed subplots.

Starring in this miniseries is Guy Pearce as Ebenezer Scrooge , Andy Serkis as Ghost of Christmas Past , Stephen Graham as Jacob Marley , Charlotte Riley as Lottie/Ghost of Christmas Present , Joe Alwyn as Bob Cratchit , Vinette Robinson as Mary Cratchit , Jason Flemyng as Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come , Kayvan Novak as Ali Baba , Lenny Rush as Tiny Tim and Johnny Harris as Franklin Scrooge.

One of the things that this miniseries got praise for was the performance of Guy Pearce as Ebenezer Scrooge and it's not hard to see why since he is so good in this. The rest of cast also really do deliver a solid performance and given who's involved with the miniseries is that really something that is shocking because there are alot of great actors in this miniseries and all of them are truly great solid actors.

For some reason in America this is I believe being aired as one film which to me makes no sense at all since FX could have got more viewers by airing it daily. It also would have made it more watchable since no one likes watching a three hour programme in one sitting and so by doing so they are not only getting rid of any viewers they could have had they are also making whoever watches it struggle because it's three freaking hours long.

This is a co-production between the BBC and American network FX which I believe is now owned by Disney. For some reason tho even the BBC  are co-producing and possibly co-funding it it's the Americans who got to air the miniseries first which to me isn't a good thing because this is an English classic so we should get to air the special first or even at the same time as them not days later it's just baffling to me if i'm being honest and yes this does count as a British thing since it was produced here in the UK and was filmed here and has an English cast.

As anyone will tell you a big part of A Christmas Carol are the three spirits and they are rightfully treated with alot of respect and given alot of screen time in this miniseries. Altho for some reason Christmas Past is given the most screen time appearing in most of the first , all of the second and alot of the third parts I get that Andy Serkis is a big name but the other two are just as important to the story and they should have been given more screen time.

Now I said before that someone get's an expanded role in this miniseries and while I won't spoil who that someone is I do feel that it overall wasn't something that was needed. Giving that someone an expanded role overall adds nothing to the story and they honestly would have been better of keeping the small role for that someone that they've always had increasing their role just pretty much feels like filler which is something I can also say about the first episode which just felt like filler to me it was their for padding and very little else.

Whichever way you look at it this would have been a difficult book to adapt into three hour long episodes since the book it self is I believe very short. Even so it's not impossible but this miniseries while it does stick more to the tone of the book it isn't a faithful adaptation of the book with many scenes and whole characters cut out for no reason and this is really evident in the first episode which like I said feels like filler with very little of what's going on actually playing a part in the overall story.

If they wanted to add things then great do that but have them play a part in the story don't just have them be there because you have time to fill. Heck maybe even during the Christmas Past segment they could have seen what Scrooge's home life was like and see how that effected him as an adult we could have spent time delving into the psychology of the character thus helping understand more why he is the way he is and that would then make it more satisfying when he does change for the better at the end of the story.

Another change that this miniseries made was the fact that they made Scrooge really evil and I know that sounds weird to say but in all the other versions of the story he was always a nasty person but never full on evil. Here tho he's evil fully he mentally abuses a married woman just for kicks and reduces the quality of timber used in a mine that he owns knowing full well it could and in this case does cost the lives of several employees. This is something that just isn't needed because now it's harder to cheer for him when he does start to become good and I have to wonder why did they choose to make him so evil when how he's been presented in the past worked best.

Overall while this miniseries isn't bad it's also not that good either I don't claim to have read the book indeed those statements i've made before are educated cases based of what people have said and what comments i've seen. I do feel tho that even the most die hard fans of this book will either really like this version for being closer to the tone of the book or will really hate for all the things it takes out and so for me this miniseries this VERY long miniseries gets a 7 out of 10 from me.

  

A Breakdown Of Some Of The Effects In Superman 1978 AKA Superman: The Movie

Comic book fans you all know me my all time favourite comic book has always been and will always be the 1978 film Superman. Since i've talked about this film alot I thought that i'd come up with a new idea well it's kind of new since I was inspired to do this post from the Youtube channel Corridor Crew who I highly recommend checking out but they did a version of what i'm doing on the original Star Wars trilogy and since that was to big for me undertake right now i'm looking at a movie with less effects.

Now the film does make use of pretty much effect available at the time of filming a key example of such a scene if the scene where Superman helps a train across some broken tracks. The train footage is from what I what I can tell sped up stock footage but what is interesting is the tracks behind Superman were actually a matte painting so they built some of the tracks and then while filming was going on they would leave a gap in the set so that the paining could take over at the same time the person doing the painting would have to leave a gap for the film set.

During the sequence where Superman has to save Lois from a falling helicopter at the end of the sequence there's at least three effects all going on at the same time. With one half of the building being done using optical effects (don't ask me what that is I don't know) , the top half of the building again being a mette painting and the helicopter itself being a miniature and all three are blended together to make it look they are all in the same shot.

Now let's travel back to Clark's youth because if you recall in the movie there's a scene where he runs faster then a train. Well while the train might have been real (I have no idea if the train was an effect or not) the crew had the challenge of making Clark run faster so what they did is hook the actor up to a moving crane and like you would for some car chases these days they pulled him along and filmed him running.

Now for the shot where Superman saves a crashing Air Force One the wing of the plane was a giant miniature so it was still small but compared to the other effects used in the film it was large and it had to fit Christopher Reeve. This honestly does look like a mette painting because that's the effect that was used alot when Superman was flying so it only makes sense that it was used here and so to here it was a miniature was quite shocking to me.

What is even more shocking is that the Air Force One seen in the film was built to look like the real one and they even had the plans for the real Air Force One as well. So if you really think about it Superman saved the presidents life which is just something for you all to chew on since his actions nearly get the president killed just one film later but it's not that film were talking about it's the first one.

Now this might seem obvious to some and it is in retrospect but it's still an impressive effect and i'm going to talk about it. During the final when a bus gets caught up in the earth quake on the Gold Gate Bridge that entire part bus included is a miniature in fact the only real actors in that whole sequence are the insert shots of the children on the bus and Superman himself even the cars on the bridge were miniatures but less detailed ones.

The other major miniature in the film is the construction of The Fortress Of Solitude which again does seem like an obvious choice but I feel that the effect is so seamless that you don't realise your watching an effect. Speaking of the fortress Marlon Brando was superimposed into any of the scenes he was needed for and was filmed in a black room wearing a black turtle neck since only his face was going to be seen.

The scene with perhaps the most effects in it is the helicopter sequence with pretty much every effect in the film being used in this one sequence. There are matte paintings , live actors optical effects , rare projection , optical effects and wire work all in one sequence. So you have Margot Kidder acting in a set it switches to rare projection when she falls out and then when Clark gets changed into Superman that's an optical effect and to complete the effect of that sequence when he saves her that's a mixture of blue screen and wire work.

So there we go guys that is a breakdown of some of the effects featured in the very first Superman film. Naturally I couldn't cover every single effects scene because there's a lot of effects in every single scene and that would mean i'd be here all day writing the effects and just to get the ones featured in this post I had to to spend about thirty to forty minuets looking at various articles and watching videos on Youtube and so if you want more please don't let me know it takes alot of work for just one of these posts to get down.

My Possible SPOILER Thoughts On Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor Holiday Comic Special Issue One

Doctor Who fans it's been a long time since i've made a post talking about the show and even longer since I last made a post about comics. Well now i;m scratching both of those itches by giving you my thoughts on the first issue of The Thirteenth Doctor Holiday Special and why they chose to make this a multi-part story is beyond me since they could have made a longer comic boom but any here we go with my thoughts on the first issue of this special.

The plot seems to be that The Doctor , Ryan , Graham and Yaz have lost their memories and even more odd is the fact that there's record of where they went stored in the TARDIS and so the whole crew have to figure out why there memories were wiped in the first place and for what reason. I'm not going to lie I thought that this was a one off special but nope it's going to last at least two issues and so I can't really get into to much detail about the plot but I do like where the story seems to be heading thus far.

The special is being drawn by Roberta Ingranata who hasn't really worked on anything having only drawn for two other comic books outside of this book. From what I can tell her art is pretty good all of the characters look like their live action counterparts which is always a good sign and there are times where the art work looks down right stunning heck all you have to do is look at the bottom half of the above picture for proof of that.

Out of this whole issue there was only one mistake that I noticed and honestly i'm not quite sure who's to blame since it's a pretty obvious mistake and that this for some reason The Doctor refers to Gramham as Ryan. Now for those that don't know there's no way you can confuse the two since Ryan looks to be in his twenties and Graham looks like he's in his sixties and Ryan is African American so there's really no excuse for this mistake what so ever and to make sure I was right in thinking that this was indeed a mistake I read the next part just to see if The Doctor confused the two on the purpose but nope there was no such scene.

The writer for this special is Thirteenth Doctor Comics writer Jody Houser and if you've read any of the previous Thirteenth Doctor comic books then you know what to expect from this issue. The writing is honestly really strong at least in this issue it is gut of course only time will tell if the writing remains this good for the rest of this I guess miniseries but I do wish that more effort was given into creating memorable side characters tho since so far that's the only weak point in terms of writing.

Now what is something I found to be interesting is that we find out that the TARDIS stores memories of everywhere the crew has been. That right there is such a cool idea and it's something that I don;t think has been talked about in the actual show yet and I can't see why because by adding in that idea it now also means that when something is taken from those memory banks it's a huge deal like it is here.

As is per the course tho at this point the character of Yaz so far isn't given that much time heck I think in the whole first issue she barely has a paragraph. As any Doctor Who fan will tell you this is something that is also an issue with the last series of the show since alot of the time went to Ryan and Graham it got to the point where the comic actually gave you more details about her character in one of the front pages then the show it's based on did and so i'm hoping that she gets more time in the next issue and in the next series altho given the track record i'm not counting on it.

POSSIBLE SPOILER STARTS HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So yeah Santa is in this or at least someone who's dressed up like him and I have to admit when I first saw him I was a little bit disappointed that he didn't look like Nick Frost. However tho as we soon find out he's not the real Santa so Nick Frost Santa is still out there being awesome in every way possible but I will admit having Santa in this issue would have been great since it would have tied in with the whole holiday theme that they have going on.

SPOILER ENDS HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Even tho Jodie didn't get an epic speech in her first series she actually gets one in her first comic book special. It's a speech about how believing in things even impossible things isn't a bad thing and it was something that I honestly really did like and in my opinion while this speech doesn't cement her as The Doctor it tells me that this version of The Doctor is willing to believe in anything and just like Alice from Alice's Adventures In Wonderland it's possible that this Doctor will try and believe in six impossible things before breakfast.

Overall this wasn't a bad first issue but I don't really get why this has to be split up into god knows how many issues when it doesn't really have that much story for it. If anything this should have been a single story and nothing more but hey it gives us something else to talk about while we wait for New Years Day to comes around and yes I will be reviewing the second issue which will also double as my review for this adventure as well and with that in mind and with the second issue due out soon i'm not going to give this issue a ranking since it's the start of the story.

Xena: Warrior Princess "Sins Of The Past" Review

Ladies and gents you've seen my review so many pilots to TV shows in the last but now i'm going back in time to ancient Greece. You might have guessed this by the poster and by the title i'm reviewing the first every episode of Xena: Warrior Princess and i'm doing it because honestly nobody is talking about this show and I want to remind people that it happened and so here is my review of the first every episode of Xena: Warrior Princess called Sins Of The Past.

The plot of the episode is Xena is travelling home to make up for things that she's done in her past and she's followed by a young person who wants to be trained by her called Gabrielle. I will admit there is more going on in this episode then my summery will lead you to believe but I had to find away to summarise the plot and that's what I came up with. The story it self is your basic pilot episode with the two leads meeting each other very early on in the episode and that's really all I have to say about the story.

Starring in the episode is Lucy Lawless as Xena , Renée O'Connor as Gabrielle , Jay Laga'aia as Draco , Darien Takle as Cyrene , Stephen Hall as Hector , Linda Jones as Hecuba , Willa O'Neill as Lila , Geoff Snell as Herodotus , Anton Bentley as Perdicas , David Perrett as Gar , Patrick Wilson as Cyclops , Wally Green as Old Man , Roydon Muir as Kastor , Huntly Eliott as First Citizen and Winston Harris as Boy.

The acting in this episode in all honesty isn't that bad which for a show this campy and at times this goofy is really something to truly to behold. I don't think I need to say who's the best performer in this because anyone who's a fan of the show knows that Lucy Lawless kills it as the character and the same thing is true for this episode altho coming in at a close second is Jay Laga'aia who is just so wonderfully over the top and so fun to watch.

Wow I forgot how bad the effects in this episode truly are I do have to give them some leeway as this show was made in the mid nineties. Even so they still look pretty bad I give them credit for not using any CGI in this episode instead there just sticking one actor against either a green or blue screen and then adding them into the scene later but they could have done a slightly better job of im proving the effects but tho they wouldn't have had much technology available at the time tho which is the key thing here.

Not that many people know this but Xena is actually a spin off of the then popular Hercules: The Legendary Journeys with the character of Xena appearing in some of the shows episodes. As you can no doubt gather she became so popular that she had to receive her own show and like with any good spin off there are plenty of crossover episodes and there's even a crossover movie Hercules and Xena – The Animated Movie: The Battle for Mount Olympus.

As with the previous show this episode and the show is pretty campy and that's something your either going to love or hate. I personally really love it since it adds to the entertainment value in my opinion but on the flip side of that if your looking for a serious action drama then your not going to find it here because due to how campy it is you will be laughing at it alot and that is something that I can see putting people off watching the show.

Now something which I guess makes sense but you have to have seen Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Since they don't go into detail about Xena's backstory in this episode which yeah I guess that makes sense given she's a character from another show but at the same time it is something that's needed to get newer viewers up to speed but the episode does provide a cliff notes version of her backstory in the show's opening but that doesn't tell us why we should care about her or want to see her succeed in her journey.

I'd say the thing that this show is most famous for is it's action which given that this is an action show does indeed make sense. The action in this episode is honestly really freaking fun and is perhaps the best part of the whole episode. In my opinion the action seen in this episode while not large in scale was rich with story as it serves as the end of the story for the episode and so it's basically any third act battle you'd see in a modern day superhero movie.

Overall this is a great first episode for the show but it doesn't set up Xena nor does it set up any plot lines for future episodes. That being said this is still a fun episode to see the chemistry between the cast really does shine through even in this first episode if only the effects could have been tho. Like I said there are some fun action scenes which for me make this episode worth watching and so this episode gets a 6 out of 10 from me and yes I do give rankings to classic episodes it's only newer ones that don't get it and Doctor Who episodes get rankings as well.

  

The Little Mermaid Live! AKA The Wonderful World of Disney Presents The Little Mermaid Live! Review

Disney fans this review has been long in the making and when I say long I mean i've waited since November 6th to watch this special as I don't live in America. Well i've finally seen it and I have alot of thoughts about it and please note this is also my first review of a play of any kind so this is new ground for me and so here is my review of The Little Mermaid Live! aka The Wonderful World of Disney Presents The Little Mermaid Live!.

Do I even need to describe what the plot of The Little Mermaid Live! is it's the exact same plot as the movie. I will give you my thoughts on the plot tho which are honestly it's not a bad story and it is one that does lend it self well enough to a live show and trust me i'll get more into that live element soon enough the issue is where as the film took the time to develop the relationship between the Ariel and Eric this special just feels like it's on fast forward and so there relationship doesn't feel believable and because of the special being on fast forward alot of key plot points just don't have the same effect as they did in the film.

Doing the singing for this special (this will make sense later in the review) is Auliʻi Cravalho as Ariel , Graham Phillips as Prince Eric , Queen Latifah as Ursula , Shaggy as Sebastian , John Stamos as Chef Louis , Amber Riley as Emcee , Dominique Kelley as Grimsby and Bagel as Max. The special does include a special introduction by the original and to date only voice of Ariel Jodi Benson which was honestly really cool to see.

Now the reason why I said singing instead of acting is because the special features footage from the animated film with all of the acting being done by the stars of the animated film and they only went live to do the musical numbers which is something I will be touching on again. As for what I thought of the I guess singing cast they were alright almost everyone in this live cast can hold a tune with perhaps the most surprising singer for me being Auliʻi Cravalho who if she wanted to could have a singing career she's that good.

Now going into this special I thought that either John Stamos or Shaggy would be the actor having the most fun. Boy was I wrong because the actor having the most fun is clearly Queen Latifah who is so clearly having a blast in this special she's honestly so much fun playing this character it honestly made me excited to see her next performance because I knew that she was going to be entertaining as all hell.

This special got a lot of mixed reviews ranging from negative to just OK and to be honest I can see where those people because the the freaking poster and the title is a lie. Since they have pre-recorded segments in this special which means it's not live at all so the title and the poster is a freaking lie and trust me i'm going to be getting more into this thing as the review goes on because I have a lot to say about it.

For some really strange reason they chose to have the vast majority of this live special be the animated movie. That there for means that the whole thing is a freaking lie because when you here the name The Little Mermaid Live you expect the whole of The Little Mermaid to be performed live not just the songs and it's a shame as well because the actors they did get are honestly really good actors.

It would be like if it was announced that there doing a live special based on James Cameron's Avatar and then all of it is just the movie except for a few scenes. You'd feel cheated right well that's how and apparently many others felt as well even more so when they have pre-recorded segments for a few songs and what's worse is they actually could have done the whole thing live if they wanted to because they actually have done a Little Mermaid musical so people know that they can do it.

Now to the specials credit it does get alot more things right then it does wrong but that makes it hurt all the more when it does something wrong. I will admit that I did like the live sets they looked just like the animated movie it was uncanny and the same thing goes for the costumes yes they weren't as detailed or as high a quality as they would in a feature film but for a live special the costumes looked really good.

Also being really good was the choreography which was done by Nick Florez and RJ Durell and i;m guessing that they didn't have alot of time since alot of the songs aren't that long. However given the time that they do have they craft something that is truly magical like in the "Part of Your World" segment they have Auliʻi Cravalho sore through the air effortlessly I honestly hope that these two are given more work in the future and more time to actually show of what they can really do.

Is there any point in my saying who wrote the songs because there just using the songs from the movie and the musical. Yeah i'm not kidding "Her Voice" and "If Only" were songs added to the musical so we know that the producers of this have at least payed attention to the musical and so again I have to wonder why didn't they make this thing fully live. As for the songs themselves these versions aren't sung that bad altho John Stamos can't sing and that's all I can really say about the songs because of the fact they are the same songs from the movie.

Overall this is a special that is a mixed bag for me since while there are some talented singers and the sets are indeed impressive. There's also some pretty bad singers and the whole idea of doing this thing half animated as well as what they did to Flounder in the live segments are more then enough to put anyone of re-watching this special myself included and so the special gets a 5 out of 10 from me and yeah you can find this now on Disney+ for some reason.