Thirty years later, The Little Mermaid is still endearing to audiences

“But a mermaid has no tears and therefore, she suffers so much more,” wrote Hans Christian Andersen in the original tale of The Little Mermaid more than a century ago.

In the recently released live-action version based on the original story, The Little Mermaid was given not just a retelling but a memorable reworking of its Academy Award-winning 1989 soundtrack, written by Alan Menken and the late lyricist Howard Ashman.

Menken actually returned to do the original score from the animated film soundtrack for The Little Mermaid. He worked with another award-winning composer, Lin-Manuel Miranda, who also served as a co-producer of the new film.

Disney cast 23-year-old pop singer Halle Bailey in the iconic character of Ariel, the youngest of King Triton’s seven daughters (including Attina, Alana, Adela, Aquata, Arista and Andrina) who was constantly fascinated by the human world.

She undeniably delivered a stellar and noteworthy performance revisiting the well-loved tale, boasting her pipes, especially when she first rendered the best-loved track, Part of Your World, Bailey’s powerful voice impressively soared to great heights. Her stirring version of the well-loved song was released by Disney as a digital download single for the live action version.

There were actually scenes where Ariel was heartbroken, like when her dad, King Triton, played by the Oscar-winning Javier Bardem, destroyed all the artifacts she gathered in her treasure trove including the “dinglehopper.” Still, ma, no tears.

Dinglehopper was actually christened to a fork by the seagull Scuttle, brilliantly played by Awkwafina, who constantly identified objects inaccurately.

Daveed Diggs provided comic relief as Sebastian, the trusted crab and King Triton’s loyal servant who watched over Ariel, while Jacob Tremblay was Flounder, Ariel’s best friend/sidekick.

Even when Ariel did not have speaking lines, she managed to dominate her scenes, especially when she was telling Eric what her name actually was, based on the stars. She pointed a constellation, which he guessed as “Aries,” then muted him on the S, so he immediately said her name, “Ariel.”

The colorful and super spectacular Oscar-winning Under the Sea, with all the sea creatures imagined in a splashy number, was undoubtedly a not-to-be-missed breathtaking highlight of the film. Ariel exuded her energy in this track from start to finish of the popular tune.

Two new tracks were added and rendered by Prince Eric, who could have been Harry Styles, the original choice, but turned down the part and eventually landed by British actor Jonah Hauer-King.

This time, Miranda contributed two new songs – Wild Unchartered Waters for Prince Eric (Hauer-King) and For the First Time for Ariel (Bailey).

Comedienne Melissa McCarthy played the evil sea witch Ursula, the perfect villainess for the musical fantasy flick. Ariel makes a deal with her in order to have feet and land in the world of humans. Only, she had to sacrifice her voice.

Director Rob Marshall, who earlier megged Chicago, managed to retain the heart and soul of the story we all came to love through the years for this live action version of The Little Mermaid.

The land scenes with a century-old castle were shot in Sardinia, Italy, so after the shipwreck, where Ariel saved Prince Eric, he constantly looked for her, not knowing she was a sea princess.

A very selfless King Triton who was after the happiness of his youngest and favorite daughter Ariel, united the underwater kingdom and the people from the fictional Caribbean island. And that brought real tears to our well-loved mermaid.