Film News: Woah..Wait...What? Sofia Coppola, The Little Mermaid, how did I not know about this!?

Well it's not official, in fact its so not official it doesn't have any information on the IMDB page as of yet, but apparently Sofia Coppola is going to be directing a true to the original fairy tale version of The Little Mermaid!

Photo by Annie Leibovitz for Disney Parks.
This totally hasn't been my phone and laptop paper for the past few years....honest.

I love Coppola as a director and cannot wait to see what she does with it. Fairy tale films, especially darker, more sinister versions which really get to the heart of the original cautionary tales, are my absolute passion.

I literally grew up on these kinds of films. I was born in 1988, the year before Disney's The Little Mermaid (1989) was released. This was back in the days when Disney wouldn't release anything on home video for fear of upsetting its theatrical re-release profits every seven years or so. By the time I was toddling about my dad found a version of The Little Mermaid in the bargain bin section of our local Blockbuster video rental store, (yeah kids I'm old!) for a bargain price and I was introduced to this beauty.



Andasen dôwa ningyo-hime (1975) was a Japanese anime version of Hans Christian Anderson's original fairytale. This was no Disney family knees up. Marina (the Little Mermaid to you and me, Anderson never actually gave his mermaid a name) has to get her tongue sliced out with a blade, walk as if she is walking on glass for all of eternity, only to have her prince marry someone else he mistakenly thinks is her and for Marina to spend all of eternity as sea foam and never be allowed to ascend to heaven.

The film was the fuzziest thing I have ever seen, even for a VHS. The sound quality was horrendous, the English language vocal talents were atrocious and the translation was just surreal. I would watch this on repeat throughout my childhood, sobbing hysterically and screaming the house down if anyone dared try to turn it off. Still one of my favourite films and I am one of the few lucky people who has managed to track down the correct, uncensored DVD version.

If this sounds familiar to you, check out this gem. If you remember this song, you've watched it.

As if that wasn't enough, I also find out that Guillermo de Toro is set to be making not only a Beauty and the Beast live action film, but Pinocchio as well! I am far too excited right now! If these two created adaptations of every single fairytale I would be so happy I might not have to watch any other films again.

Trying to contain myself though. This sounds a lot like five or so years ago when I got ridiculously excited by a load of fairytale films, only for most to kind of suck. Even the ones that were all right just weren't good enough.

In case you don't know what I am talking about, here are the worst offenders;

• Alice in Wonderland (2010) - absolute, biggest total disappointment. How could Tim Burton's version of Wonderland been so bland and normal? Don't think I have ever been so disappointed by a film. The only thing I liked was Anne Hathaway, who was hilariously Wonderland.
• Red Riding Hood (2011) - I had been waiting for a truly sexy, coming of age Red Riding Hood. This delivered perfectly in tone, but then got too distracted by creating a twist driven plot. Its a classic fairytale for Pete's sake! It's been told in pretty much the same way for over 400 years, how can you mess it up?!
• Snow White and the Huntsman (2012) - Surprisingly, my least hated of the bunch. I actually really quite liked it, but well, Kristen Stewart. That will be all.

I'll try not to get too excited, but, well, I already am so mission failed. Please don't let me down guys!