“The Little Mermaid” is big on entertainment in the movie theater.

The movie musical romantic comedy is paced by stellar performances, wonderful songs and spectacular cinematography.

“The Little Mermaid” is big fun for nearly the entire family, from elementary school children to their parents-guardians and grandparents.

The movie has an emotional story that will have you cheering for the protagonists, booing and fearing the villain, and departing the movie theater having seen a superbly-made movie, enjoying an exciting journey and with a happy feeling in your heart and mind.

Look for several Oscar nominations for “The Little Mermaid,” including the categories of best movie, best animation movie, best actress (Halle Bailey), director, score and song.

The movie brings back the Disney magic of classic feature movies from “The House of Mouse,” such as “Swiss Family Robinson” (1960), “The Parent Trap” (1961), the original “Mary Poppins” (1964) and the pop culture phenomena of “Toy Story” (1995) and “Frozen” (2013).

“The Little Mermaid,” as with “Frozen,” draws on a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, in this instance, “The Little Mermaid,” a Danish fairy tale written in 1837.

“The Little Mermaid” is a live-action remake of the 1989 Disney animation feature movie musical with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman. The new version has additional lyrics and songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda (“Hamilton,” 2015; “In The Heights,” 2005).

At its heart, “The Little Mermaid” is a tale right out of “Cinderella” (1950), one of Disney’s animation masterpieces. There’s a princess, Ariel, and a Prince, Eric.

“The Little Mermaid” is a variant of another Disney classic in feature animation, “Beauty and the Beast” (1992), only in this case “the creature” is not the male character, but rather a mermaid.

Underwater scenes in “The Little Mermaid” recall the animation film artistry of “Fantasia” (1940), especially the choreographed “Under The Sea” catchy calypso number sung by Sebastian the Crab (voiced wonderfully by Daveed Diggs).

“The Little Mermaid” is a “fish out of water” story with Princess Ariel (played with total charm by Halle Bailey), the mermaid who longs for the “above the sea” world of humans. Ariel’s pals, in addition to Sebastian, are Flounder (voiced cutely by Jacob Tremblay), a damselfish, and Scuttle (voiced by Awkwafina), a seabird. They are akin to Dorothy and the trio of Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion in “The Wizard of Oz” (1939).

Ariel’s aspirations are opposed by her father King Triton (an impressive Javier Bardem, playing it straight), ruler of the Merpeople in Atlantica.

When Ariel encounters Prince Eric (the irresistible Jonah Hauer-King), it’s infatuation at first sight.

Ursula, the evil sea witch, is played with gleeful malevolence by Melissa McCarthy, channeling Cruella de Vil from the original “101 Dalmatians” (1961).

Notable in supporting roles are Noma Dumezweni (Queen Selina, Prince Eric’s stepmother), Art Malik (Sir Grimsby, Prime Minister of Selina’s kingdom) and Jessica Alexandra (Vanessa, Ursula’s human alter ego).

Overall, though, it’s on the back of “The Little Mermaid,” Halle Bailey, that the film is carried. Bailey brings a wide-eyed innocence to the role, a lovely acting style and a big voice that wraps around you with joy. This is a breakthrough movie role for Bailey and well-deserved.

“The Little Mermaid” is directed intelligently and creatively by Rob Marshall (director: “Mary Poppins Returns,” 2019; “Into The Woods,” 2014; ”Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” 2011; Oscar nomination: director, “Chicago,” 2002) from a terrific screenplay by David Magee (“A Man Called Otto,” 2022; “Mary Poppins Returns”; “Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day,” 2008; Oscar nominations: adapted screenplay: “Life of Pi,” 2012, and “Finding Neverland,” 2005).

In addition to “Under the Sea,” memorable songs include “Part of Your World” (sung by Bailey), “Kiss the Girl,” “Poor Unfortunate Souls” and four new songs by Menken and Miranda not in the original animation feature film, including a rap-style song, “The Scuttlebutt,” by Diggs and Awkwafina, who are great in the number.

“The Little Mermaid” is billed a a live-action film. And there is a lot of action in the film, including a shipwreck. There’s also a lot of Computer Generated Imagery, especially for the characters of Sebastian, Flounder and Scuttle, who blend naturally in scenes with themselves and with the actors. Kudos to costume designer Colleen Atwood for the resplendent mermaid costume tails.

Be prepared to laugh, cry and be hooked by “The Little Mermaid.” It’s a deep dive into a beloved story that’s well worth the trip to the movie theater. This is what going to the movies is all about. Don’t miss it.

“The Little Mermaid,”

MPAA Rated PG (Parental Guidance Suggested: Some material may not be suitable for children.) for action, peril and some scary images; Genre: Animation, Musical, Comedy, Romance, Adventure, Fantasy, Family; Run time: 2 hours, 15 minutes. Distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

Credit Readers Anonymous:

“The Little Mermaid” was filmed in Pinewood Studios, England, and on the island of Sardinia, Italy. The end credits state that the movie is dedicated to Howard Ashman (May 17, 1950 - March 14, 1991).

At The Movies:

“The Little Mermaid” was seen in the digital format at Frank Banko Alehouse Cinemas, ArtsQuest Center, SteelStacks, Bethlehem.

Theatrical Movie Domestic Box Office,

June 16 - 18: “The Flash,” the DC Comics superhero, sped to No. 1 with $55.1 million in 4,234 theaters, as “Elemental,” the Disney-Pixar animation film, opened at No. 2 with $29.5 million in 4,035 theaters.

3. “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” dropped one place, $27.8 million in 3,873 theaters, $280.3 million, three weeks. 4. “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” dropped three places from No. 1 with $20 million in 3,680 theaters, $100. 6 million, two weeks. 5. “The Little Mermaid” dropped two places, $11.6 million in 3,480 theaters, $253.5 million, four weeks. 6. “The Blackening,” opening, $6 million in 1,775 theaters. 7. “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” dropped three places, $5 million in 2,260 theaters, $344.3 million, seven weeks. 8. “The Boogeyman” dropped three places, $3.8 million in 2,140 theaters, $32.7 million, three weeks. 9. “Fast X” dropped three places, $2 million in 1,550 theaters, $142.4 million, five weeks. 10. “Asteroid City,” opening (limited release), $790,000 in six theaters.

Movie box office information from Box Office Mojo as of June 18 is subject to change.

Theatrical Movie Domestic Box Office,

June 9 - 11: “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” opened at No. 1 with $61 million in 3,678 theaters, swatting “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” from its one-week No. 1 perch to No. 2 with $55.5 million in 4,332 theaters, $225.5 million, two weeks, as “The Little Mermaid” dropped from No. 2 to No. 3 with $23.1 million in 4,320 theaters, $229.1 million, three weeks.

4. “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” stayed in place, $7 million in 3,175 theaters, $335.6 million, six weeks. 5. “The Boogeyman” dropped two places, $7.1 million in 3,205 theaters, $24.9 million, two weeks. 6. “Fast X” dropped one place, $5.2 million in 2,822 theaters, $138.2 million, four weeks. 7. “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” dropped one place, $2.2 million in 1,789 theaters, $570.2 million, 10 weeks. 8. “About My Father” dropped one place, $837,482 in 960 theaters, $10.7 million, three weeks. 9. “The Machine” dropped one place, $576,575 in 1,008 theaters, $10 million, three weeks. 10. “Past Lives” moved up two places, $521,714 in 26 theaters, $868,038, two weeks.

Movie box office information from Box Office Mojo as of June 11 is subject to change.

Theatrical Movie Domestic Box Office,

June 2-4: “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” opened at No. 1 with $120.6 million in 4,313 theaters, dropping “The Little Mermaid” from No. 1 to No. 2 with $41.3 million in 4,320 theaters, $186.9 million, two weeks.

3. “The Boogeyman,” opening, $12.3 million in 3,205 theaters. 4. “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” dropped one place, $10.6 million in 3,580 theaters, $323.1 million, five weeks. 5. “Fast X” dropped three places, $9.5 million in 3,467 theaters, $128.8 million, three weeks. 6. “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” dropped two places, $3.3 million in 2,344 theaters, $566.2 million, nine weeks. 7. “About My Father” dropped one place, $2 million in 2,464 theaters, $8.7 million, two weeks. 8. “The Machine” dropped three places, $1.7 million in 2,409 theaters, $8.6 million, two weeks. 9. “You Hurt My Feelings” dropped one place, $769,814 in 912 theaters, $3 million, two weeks. 10. “Kandahar” dropped three places, $750,133 in 1,737 theaters, $4.2 million, two weeks.

Movie box office information from Box Office Mojo as of June 4 is subject to change.

Unreel,

June 23 (wide release)

“Asteroid City,”

PG-13: Wes Anderson directs Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Adrian Brody, Liev Schreiber, Hope Davis, Maya Hawke, Steve Carell, Matt Dillon, Hong Chau, Willem Dafoe, Margot Robbie and Jeff Goldblum in the Comedy Romance Drama. A youth group stargazer convention has a close encounter of the alien kind.

Movie opening information from Internet Movie Database as of June 13 is subject to change

Five Popcorn Boxes Out of Five Popcorn Boxes