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flounder little mermaid
flounder little mermaid
Disney
Culture > Entertainment

Um, We Need To Talk About The Way Flounder Looks In The Live Action ‘Little Mermaid’

Shay Nicolay

Disney has been loving their live-action remakes of classics over the last couple of years. But with the release of The Little Mermaid live-action remake character posters on April 26, fans are uneasy about the looks of one character in particular: Flounder. I will admit, Iā€™m a little disappointed in Flounder’s design, too. He just isnā€™t that cute. Some fans are going as far as saying he makes them uneasy, and that Disney did his character dirty.Ā 

The backlash from fans has been extensive. While many fans understand that Flounder is a fish, this version of Flounder seems to lack any sort of personality that the character still needs. With only a month left until the movieā€™s release this Memorial Day weekend, it will be interesting to see if Disney will cave and tweak Flounder’s design. (Considering the movie has been in production since 2016, though, this doesnā€™t seem likely.)

According to the following tweets, the Disney magic in the live-action Flounder seems to be lost.

Some Fans are convinced Flounder looks ā€œsoulless.ā€
Disney went too far in the other direction after changing their original Flounder design.Ā 
There are two sides to every story.
Not everyone hates the way Flounder looks! This fan loves him just the way he is.
This version of Flounder may need therapy.
Jump scare!
This fan ā€œremadeā€ the Flounder character poster.
The live-action Flounder doesnā€™t fulfill.Ā 
This fan has a good point.
Iā€™m praying this isnā€™t part of the extra hour runtime that was added to the movie.Ā 
At least Flounder is a distraction for any Halle haters out there.

You can see Flounder yourself when The Little Mermaid hits theaters on May 26, 2023.

Shayna Nicolay has been a Her Campus National Writer since January 2023. She writes bi-weekly articles as well as covering timely content. She graduated from Toronto Metropolitan University in 2022, where she majored in journalism with a minor in graphic communications. Shayna was a contributing writer for her University's Chapter of Her Campus, and was the Editor-in-Chief of her University magazine, Folio. She also was the editorial intern for fashion content creator, Audree Kate Lopez, where she hired and managed a group of writers, ran the WordPress website, wrote and edited articles, and helped with social media copy. Shayna loves walks in nature, bingeing the newest TV show, beading jewelry, and is a mental health advocate. She loves storytelling and media, so content creation comes naturally to her. For the best memes, mental health tips, and bisexual visibility, follow Shayna @shaynicolay on Instagram and @shaynanicolay on TikTok.