The Little Mermaid: Guide Merfolk by Eric Geron is an incredible work of world building past the tiny fraction that was in the animated movie. Geron is the writer of The Descendants: Junior Novel (2015) under the pen name, Rico Green. Of course, this book is supplemental to the upcoming The Little Mermaid live action movie which will be released next month on May 26th. It is of course based on the animated Little Mermaid (1989) which in turn based on the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale published in 1837. The illustrations are from Arianna Rea, Denise Shimabukuro, and Max Narciso, all of whom do not seem to have worked on the movie. The premise is that this is a book from the royal library read and annotated by Prince Eric. I wonder if Prince Eric in the movie has the same fascination. Spoilers (possible) ahead! These are pages of bits of culture and details of Merfolk that I wonder if they were developed by director, Rob Marshall, screenwriter David Magee, and co-story, John DeLuca. It offers a look that gives so much potential to the new movie!
One of the early pages is a Map of Mermaid Sightings across the Seven Seas so the continents (unnamed) are like another world not Earth. The specific sea that is the focus is the Carniae Sea that is the home of Ariel. It is located in the south western edge of a middle continent that does not seem to be Europe. We see brief stories of the sightings and the Depictions of Merfolk which seem to be based on classic artwork. There are some Relics and Artifacts, one was found off of Cropenhugen and another on the coast of Razil! A full page illustration show the home of a Mermaid, Ariel?, she is nestled in a bed of coral. We see a collection of Merfolk which looks like Ariel’s Grotto. An interesting part is the Mermaid Anatomy which details the fins on the Mermaid’s tail and the Mermen have pinnae, ridged ears. There are the different sea levels and the sea animals who live there. I wonder if the unusual animals will show up in the movie.
There are the Companions of Merfolk including a crab. I remember Crusty (Paul Frees) in The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964). I love the world building in the different phases of moon, sun, and stars. We have The Sea King with his daughters. Another elaborate piece of world building is the Rulers of the Seven Kingdoms, the daughters of Triton, except not with names all starting with “A”; no Aquata, Andrina, or Arista. Instead, there is Mala, Perla, and Tamika. I wonder if the "Daughters of Triton" song will be changed. All very different looks, kinda like they are the daughters of the wives (“Ex-Wives”?) of Henry VIII? Each one has the ruler, marine life, culture, and environment of each sea. It finishes with the Sea Witch and Legends. This is stunning that the Little Mermaid world is detailed so that if a little flotsam of it makes it into the movie, this will be a world that can be explored in other films or media!
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