The Little Mermaid Merchandise Reveals New Look at Ariel's Sisters
The Little Mermaid merchandise has surfaced, and with it comes a new look at the daughters of Triton. In Disney's live-action remake, mermaid princess Ariel (Halle Bailey) is the seventh and youngest daughter of King Triton (Javier Bardem), ruler of the undersea kingdom of Atlantica. Ariel's animated counterpart also had six older sisters — Attina, Alana, Adella, Aquata, Arista, and Andrina — who have been renamed and re-imagined for the retelling. Ariel's multicultural mermaid sisters are Caspia (Nathalie Sorrell), Indira (Simone Ashley), Karina (Kajsa Mohammar), Mala (Karolina Conchet), Perla (Lorena Andrea), and Tamika (Sienna King), who are all included in Mattel's "Ultimate Ariel Sisters 7-Pack" of dolls.
Along with the toy versions, which you can see below, Disney's collection of Little Mermaid merch shows Ariel's sisters as they appear in the new movie swimming into theaters May 26th.
In the animated version, the sisters featured in the "Daughters of Triton" song composed by Alan Menken with lyrics by Howard Ashman. With the lengthier live-action remake clocking in at 2 hours and 15 minutes — the expanded story features four new songs from Menken and Lin-Manuel Miranda, including a ballad for Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King) and Scuttle's (Awkwafina) rap — the daughters of Triton don't get their musical moment.
"I think the thought process was, we didn't it need in this particular version," Menken explained to ComicBook of cutting the "Daughters of Triton" song. "We definitely wanted the film to start with a much more of a live-action feel of the ocean and meeting Ariel, and then we wait a little bit, make you wait until we get to 'Part of Your World.' And I think that was an amazing choice, because it just builds the power and anticipation."
Menken continued: "And part of that is also knowing you're adapting something that's already beloved. So you want to say, 'Wait for it, wait for it, wait for it, and here it is!'"
Starring Halle Bailey, Daveed Diggs, Jacob Tremblay, Awkwafina, Jonah Hauer-King, Art Malik, Noma Dumezweni, Javier Bardem, Melissa McCarth, Disney's The Little Mermaid opens only in theaters May 26th.