I JUST HAPPENED TO BE IN the room, when I heard the mother talking about her soon to be daughter-in-law. The way she talked about her; you would have thought her son was marrying the scourge of the earth. I could not tell if the mother did not realize there were a few people within earshot of her or she simply did not care. Sadly, her son knew how his mother felt about his future bride. The mother took a dislike to the woman right from the start, all because she came from a different religion. I had heard about the dislike but did not know the extent of the mother’s negativity towards this person until I was standing in this room. Oh, I forgot to mention the room we were standing in was an anteroom to the hotel’s ballroom where the son and his fiancé had just been married. Despite the mother’s disapproval of this woman, the son was determined to marry the woman he loved. The difference in religion did not concern him or her; they were just two people who fell in love and wanted to spend the rest of their lives together. If the mother did not want to be part of their lives, the son was willing to give up and maintain very little contact with her. He felt it was her choice. Through the early part of their marriage the mother was a distant bystander; however, it all changed for the mother when her daughter-in-law became pregnant.      I ADMIRED THE SON FOR NOT being manipulated by his mother. Matters of the heart are so complex and powerful. He chose to focus on his happiness instead of pleasing his mother, who by the way, I thought was being awful to both her son and his bride. I have seen instances from both sides, where one could not give up something to follow one’s heart and where the sacrifice was large but worth it. A friend of a friend came out from an ugly divorce and to make ends meet had to hold down two jobs, besides raising her children. She missed many school and milestone events in her children’s lives; however, she was earning enough money to pay for her schooling on top of everything else. The outcome was she earned her degree and found a high paying job that provided her with the means to make up for those times she was not around her children. She never missed an event or opportunity to be front and center for her kids. I know this is a cliché, but I believe there are some things that are worth sacrificing for, as the main character shows you in this fantasy film.      DESPITE BEING FORBIDDEN TO INTERACT WITH humans, a young mermaid helps a survivor to shore, from his shipwrecked boat. With Halle Bailey (Last Holiday, House of Payne-TV) as Ariel, Jonah Hauer-King (A Dog’s Way Home, Postcards from London) as Eric, Melissa McCarthy (The Starling, The Kitchen) as Ursula, Javier Bardem (Skyfall; Lyle, Lyle Crocodile) as King Triton and Noma Dumezweni (Mary Poppins Returns, Dirty Pretty Things) as the Queen; this live action family adventure remake of the classic animated film was truly beautiful. I thought the special effects of the underwater scenes were almost mesmerizing. The cast did a terrific job of acting out their characters, especially Halle and Melissa. The movie, I thought, was too long and some of the additional music was not memorable. Of course, there was not as big of a wow factor for me since I had seen the original animated picture; but I still had an enjoyable time feasting on the visuals and antics, such as Awkwafina’s character, for example. Overall, the impact may not have been as great as Disney expected, but at times I did feel like a little kid sitting in the theater in amazement. 

3 stars