Catch of the day

Pop star Halle Bailey makes a splash with a star-is-born performance in Disney’s new live-action remake. The 23-year-old brings charm and fearsome pipes to musical teenage mermaid Ariel.

The plot is more or less as it was in the 1989 original. Ariel saves a drowning prince, falls in love, and strikes a dodgy deal with her aunt, evil witch Ursula (Melissa McCarthy), exchanging her voice for feet for three days.

Again, there’s a sizeable catch. If she doesn’t persuade the hunk to plant “true love’s kiss” on her mute mouth during her brief time with legs, she’ll forever lose her magical singing voice.

The set-up, from Hans

Christian Andersen’s story, felt old-fashioned in the original. In 2023, the idea of a girl winning a man by staying quiet and looking pretty sounds decidedly fishy.

But instead of changing a winning formula, director Rob Marshall surrounds it with modern padding.

The previously macho Prince Eric ( Jonah Hauer-King) is now a sensitive lad with a backstory. There’s also more to Ariel’s relationship with her strict dad King Triton ( Javier Bardem) who wants to keep his headstrong daughter safe.

At 135 minutes, this version is way too long for kids, but Bailey should keep grown-ups hooked. With her first showtune, Part Of Your World, she reels us in with her powerful but refreshingly unshowy voice.

New songs from Lin-Manuel Miranda, including a Hamiltonstyle rap, will be a matter of taste, as will the three comedy critters – Sebastian the crab (voiced by Daveed Diggs), Flounder the fish ( Jacob Tremblay) and Scuttle the bird (Awkwafina) – now rendered in photorealistic CGI.

I missed Sebastian’s big smiles and furrowed brows in the new version of Under The Sea. And is it just me or is there something unnerving about an expressionless, real-looking crab singing calypso?

‘‘ At 135 minutes it’s too long for kids but Bailey should keep grownups hooked

With Ariel LOVED UP Hauer-King as Eric and Bailey as UNSHOWY Halle Bailey impresses in the lead role