Movie Review

quote from Hans Christian Anderson that begins the movie (“But a mermaid has no tears, and therefore she suffers much more”). You can’t help but be hopeful.

But the first mermaid that comes into focus doesn’t so much evoke wonder as it does a flashback of Ben Stiller’s merman in “Zoolander.” The technology is better, sure, but the result is about the same. Worse, as we spend more time with them, following Ariel’s multicultural sisters as they gather around their father King Triton (Javier Bardem), it’s hard to shake a distinctly uncanny valley feeling. It’s like gazing in on a roundtable of AI supermodels with fins.

For all its pizazz, everything about this “Little Mermaid” is just more muted. Miranda’s new songs are odd, too, and don’t seem to fit. Prince Eric’s (Jonah Hauer-King) makes sense, maybe even Ariel’s in-her-head anthem after she gives her voice to Melissa McCarthy’s Ursula, but did Scuttle really need a song, too?

Speaking of Scuttle, the cute

Fair: HH

cartoons that stood in for Ariel’s seagull, crab and fish friends have been replaced with horrifyingly accurate depictions of said animals.

Awkwafina’s comedy charms can only go so far while looking like an actual seagull who might be after your chips at the beach. Close-ups of its beady blue eyes are unsettling, though it was probably a good call to go blue over gold, which looks a bit demonic even in the cartoon. Sometimes it seems

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William, Elvis in ‘All Shook Up’

The greatest poet and playwright – William Shakespeare – of all time meets up with greatest rock and roller – Elvis Presley – at the Gem Theatre’s production of “All Shook Up,” opening Thursday, June 1 and continuing to July 9 at the historic venue on Main Street in downtown Garden Grove.

Inspired by the Bard’s “Twelfth Night,” this is the story of a small Midwestern town visited by Chad, who breezes in on a motorcycle, with a guitar on his back and a song in his heart. For details about times and tickets, go to thegemoc.com.