Disney's live-action remake of The Little Mermaid hits theaters May 26, 2023, and I couldn't be any more excited! Halle Bailey is simply perfect for Ariel.
Here's the teaser trailer so you can hear these vocals for yourself:
View this video on YouTube
Since we've (sadly) still got a while to wait, I thought I'd look back on some other live-action Disney movies in the meantime. It turns out, there are so many little details in these films that I never noticed! Here are some of the coolest:
🚨 Minor spoilers ahead!!! 🚨
1. First, in Aladdin (2019), the film's choreographer, Jamal Sims, makes a veryyy subtle cameo in the background as a prince.
Director Guy Richie explained in an interview with CinemaBlend, "We wanted to use Jamal because he was so integral to the movie. He actually had more dialogue [in the original cut]. I think if you saw the whole thing of Jamal Sims and the lost prince, it's quite entertaining."
2. In Hocus Pocus (1993), Max's tie dye shirt is made up of the same colors as the Sanderson sisters' outfits.
3. Also in Hocus Pocus, if you look closely at the walls in Max and Dani's house, you can see a painting of...uh, their house.
4. In The Parent Trap (1998), the twins attempt to get their parents back together by setting them up on a yacht. The yacht is named Halcyon, which means "denoting a period of time in the past that was idyllically happy and peaceful."
5. In D2: The Mighty Ducks (1994), most of the "crowd" is actually just cardboard cut outs.
Here's a closer look:
Aaand more:
Additionally, Kent appears as a waiter in the first Princess Diaries (2001) and says the same line in that movie, too.
7. Also, in The Princess Diaries (2001), Garry Marshall's twin granddaughters make a cameo asking Mia for her autograph.
8. In The Haunted Mansion (2003), if you look closely enough at Jim and Sara's car, you can see that the license plate reads "EVRSELL." This refers to the couple's real estate company, Evers and Evers, named after their last name.
Here's a closer look:
9. In Beauty and the Beast (2017), Cadenza is a composer who has been transformed into a harpsichord. At the end of the movie, when he becomes a human again, his teeth are missing. This is because he used his keys to get the villagers out of the castle during the battle sequence.
10. If you look reeeeally closely at this note in National Treasure (2004), you can see a very subtle reference to Sean Bean's (who plays Ian) favorite English football team, Sheffield United F.C.
11. Also in National Treasure, you can briefly see the Eye of Providence symbol as Ben's grandfather's eye fades out over the pyramid in the background.
12. In Enchanted (2007), Robert works for a law firm named Churchill, Harline, and Smith. The firm was named after composers Frank Churchill, Leigh Harline, and Paul J. Smith, who worked on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937).
13. In Mary Poppins Returns (2018), a woman stops Jane and asks her for directions, then says, "Many thanks, sincerely." The actor who plays the woman is Karen Dotrice, who portrayed Jane in Mary Poppins (1964). Dotrice said the exact same line in the original film.
14. In Cruella (2021), Cruella can be seen watching the Alfred Hitchcock film Lifeboat (1944) — which stars Tallulah Bankhead — in her hotel room. Bankhead's mannerisms were reportedly Disney's inspiration for the original Cruella de Vil in One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961).
15. In Tomorrowland (2015), you can see the Iron Giant on a shelf in the store. The director of Tomorrowland, Brad Bird, also directed The Iron Giant (1999).
16. And finally, in Mulan (2020), Ming-Na Wen makes a cameo at the end of the film as an esteemed guest who introduces Mulan to the emperor. Wen voiced the original Mulan in Mulan (1998).
