Disney’s live-action remake of The Little Mermaid has already faced plenty of backlash. This includes having made the decision to cast Halle Bailey in the lead role or changing certain lyrics to be more politically correct. Now The Little Mermaid is facing backlash for its presentation of Flounder.
A series of new character posters from the film was recently released. This gave fans their first look at the tropical fish that’s become such a beloved part of the original film. However, Flounder looks drastically different in live-action form, and now Little Mermaid fans are using Twitter to complain.
As you can see below, fans have criticized just about every aspect of this new take on Flounder. These complaints range from everything to the character’s eyes and how much weight it seems to have lost when compared to its animated counterpart. In fact, some fans even say that it was given “the Steve Buscemi treatment.” Here are the tweets which claimed Disney “did Flounder so dirty” in the upcoming film:
NOT MY FLOUNDER GETTING THE STEVE BUSCEMI TREATMENT. Y’ALL IM CRYIN. 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/GW5TUqtNwt
— Ivan (tanpa Lanin). (@ivanjoshua) April 26, 2023
#Ozempic #Flounder #SteveBuscemi He’s so skinny because he’s always swimming around! 🐟😂
— Arlinda (@bluiflsh3532) April 26, 2023
He also looks baked as hell
— Barnes & Chernobyl (@CeeFright) April 26, 2023
flounders edible hiiiit pic.twitter.com/3n7BIWdWFt
— notthis (@KaysarStar) April 26, 2023
Flounder got the Buccal fat removal surgery omg https://t.co/BIiZ5ZhLaU
— the kat czar of new york city (@mankattan) April 26, 2023
broke my tv watching the new little mermaid. saw that dumbass flounder and blacked out immediately. woke up in the hospital one of my kidneys is gone
— cory (@coolmathgame_) April 29, 2023
I’m likely to generate a lot of hate from saying this again, but it needs to be said. I wish that shitty AI generated image of live-action Flounder was the official design. For as hideous as it may be, at least I can say it’s able to be “Expressive.” pic.twitter.com/S4814kvBH7
— Dante_The_Inferno (@TheDeadmanDante) April 30, 2023
I don’t like either of the designs!
I dunno why EVERYTHING in the film looks fine to me, except for Flounder.
Even Sebastian with his CRAB LIPS kinda grew on me, but I STILL can’t get used to Flounder, I DUNNO WHY.
— Omega Synth (MODEL COMMISSIONS OPEN, SLOTS 3/4) (@OmegaSynthRet) April 30, 2023
Can we go back to this design, please? pic.twitter.com/uJEPEszoBy
— mossbag (@mossbag69) April 26, 2023
Of course, as mentioned, the film has already faced its fair share of backlash. It seems unlikely that the current round of complaints will make any difference. But it’s certainly interesting to see just how different some of Disney’s live-action adaptations are compared to their source materials. And, of course, how fans have chosen to react to such changes.
The upcoming film was directed by Rob Marshall with a screenplay written by David Magee with a story penned by Magee alongside Rob Marshall and John DeLuca.
The film’s cast, in addition to Halle Bailey as Ariel, also includes Daveed Diggs as the voice of Sebastian, Jacob Tremblay as the voice of Flounder, Awkwafina as the voice of Scuttle, Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric, Art Malik as Sir Grimsby, Noma Dumezweni as Queen Selina, with Javier Bardem as King Triton, and Melissa McCarthy as Ursula.
Fans will be able to see Disney’s new live-action adaptation of the iconic story The Little Mermaid when it hits theaters on May 26, 2023. Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for additional updates regarding The Little Mermaid as we have them.