Regardless, I guess it's a thing where if you enter the lottery and have to wait around in the cold to see if you get a ticket, Miranda will make sure you're entertained. And last night, those hopeful audience members got to hear Princess Jasmine sing "A Whole New World" and it was shining, shimmering, splendid:
They start singing "A Whole New World" about 2:37 in.
One of the big news stories this weekend -- judging from the amount of times it popped up in my social media feeds -- that wasn't about a major coffee chain and their alleged war on Christmas, was the news that Chloe Grace Moretz was cast as The Little Mermaid.
Notice I didn't say "Ariel."
Because she is most emphatically not Ariel--whatever the media would like you to believe in order to get you to click their links.
Exhibit A:
Exhibit B:
(Although, I honestly don't know what's going on with Ariel in this photo. Seriously.)
Even CNN seems to have missed the point of the story it's reporting, given this headline:
The initial article I read made it very clear that this is an adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's original story by Working Title and Universal -- the latter of which is one of Disney's biggest rivals. Richard Curtis is allegedly working on the screenplay -- which, if he hadn't given me one of my favorite episodes of Doctor Who, I'd be a bit worried since he's more famous for his rom-com work; Notting Hill, Love Actually, Bridget Jones's Diary to name a few.
But the point remains, The Little Mermaid is somehow one of the only films that hasn't been rumored to have a live-action adaptation in the works. So it makes sense that Universal would be focusing on their adaptation -- fingers crossed it will be much more faithful to Andersen's original tale. Which would mean it would be a much darker, feminist story, but we'll see.
When Disney first announced, many moons ago, that they were doing a live-action adaptation of Alice in Wonderland directed by Tim Burton and featuring not only Johnny Depp but Alan Rickman and Stephen Fry, I was elated. Some of my favorite things all in one movie.
Then...they released the movie. And it was okay as far as movies go, but not what I had hoped for in an adaptation of one my favorite Victorian novels and directed by Tim Burton.
But, I suppose it did well -- or well enough; maybe this was the live-action adaptation that started Disney's whole live-action kick -- because they apparently did a sequel.
Of course I'll go see it. But maybe I'll think of it less as a version of Alice and more of it's own, weird, zany thing.
I mean, not only is Tink all over it -- how adorable is that packaging? -- it's almost like a free pass to listen to Disney music without judgment: "Um, yes, I am listening to Disney music, but it's NE-YO, so, you know, it's legit."
And I wanted to love the album--I really did. I just...some songs...I can't.
Take, for instance, Ariana Grande's cover of "Zero to Hero" from Hercules. I love that movie -- and I love the music even more. When Meg sings "I Won't Say I'm in Love" -- it's such a realistic song that's so applicable in real life. And the Muses? Basically rock every song they sing, no matter how anachronistic it is. (Yes, ancient Greece did not have soul singers. I know. Although--I did have a student once write a kick-ass paper on how incorporating the Muses, and specifically portraying them as African-American religious soul singers, was a way to impose a traditional Christian message on an otherwise "pagan" film. Great argument.)
But I digress. Point is -- all the songs The Muses sing are soulful and fun and full of attitude. And Ariana Grande's cover just...wasn't.
But this cover just pales in comparison to the original, IMHO. I haven't done extensive research on reviews of the album, but a quick Google search seems to indicate I'm in the minority here:
"We should mention that Hercules is our favorite Disney movie, so that fact might have pushed us to put this cover song so high on the list. However, this would have been ranked high regardless. Ariana Grande covering a Gospel-esque track? Forget about it. Those high notes give us life."
Even Entertainment Weekly calls it "soulful" and says Grande is "channeling her inner Greek goddess." Yes, she can sing. Yes, she can hit the notes. But that's not enough to make it a good cover.
I don't know--maybe my expectations are too high. Maybe the intent of the album wasn't to make "true" covers which capture the spirit and emotion of the original songs (e.g. internal conflict and realization in "Let It Go," yearning ad curiosity in "Part Of Your World," etc.). And maybe nothing will be as good as the originals in my mind....although, I say that, and I actually like Demi Lovato's version of "Let It Go" (from the original soundtrack) and Jason Derulo's "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" from this album.
Take a listen to the original and Ariana Grande's cover below and decide for yourself!
Leave it to Buzzed to have a completely random post about Disney princesses. Ah, the Internet.
This one is brought to you by the concept of "matching outfits with hair" -- which sounds really weird but, as the Buzzfeed headline points out, is oddly magical. (Mostly.)
