Halle Bailey and Jonah Hauer-King as Ariel and Prince Eric in “The Little Mermaid”.

One hopes that Disney’s collection of live-action remakes is complete (it’s not), The latest from the House of Mouse is yet another in their string of nearly word-for-word and shot-for-shot remakes of a beloved animated classic brings that red-headed, stubborn teenage fish-out-of-water story to the surface again in “The Little Mermaid.”

First off, it makes no difference what color of skin Ariel has in any adaptation; mermaids don’t exist anyway. But representation matters in media, and it’s delightful to see Halle Bailey take the plunge into the iconic role. So stop yelling.

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Because they’re so tied to the original, what should be something more ends up foundering before it has a chance to sail.

Bailey has a stunning voice and steady range for the part, easily bringing the emotions needed to every note. The downside to her role, however, comes down to this truly mixed bag of a movie.

Plastic under the sea

We learn in the opening moments that mermaids can’t cry. It’s a direct quote from Hans Christian Andersen and his original text indicating that because they can’t — I guess the ocean carries the tears away? — they suffer more. By making this point, the film presents the actors portraying mermaids with the difficult task of emoting sorrow without dipping into tears. This is harder for Bailey, as Ariel is essentially the angsty teenager trying to find where she belongs in this world, much to the chagrin of her father, King Triton (Javier Bardem).

She does pull through, though not as convincingly as an actor with more experience might, and luckily her go-to is a wide-eyed wonder for this whole new world (I know, that’s a different movie).

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I was led into false hope in the opening moments of the film when we’re met with steely seas in a Turner-esque view of a ship and its crew as they try and spear what they think is a mermaid (it was a dolphin) when the dreamy and pragmatic Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King) stops them.

The Romantic painting look is squandered in minutes. We quickly dip below the waves and see a plastic-looking world under the sea so harsh with poor CGI that it’s laughable. The film tries desperately to feel more realistic but can’t fully balance its overarching story of love and belonging coupled with animating a singing and talking crab.

Solid casting, bloated plot

In terms of the rest of the cast, everyone puts in the work, and their vocals are solid: Melissa McCarthy does essentially a Pat Carrol impression but does it well as Ursula. Bardem is a great brooding dad. Hauer-King is likable, and the script gives him a bit more to do than just be a pretty face. Daveed Diggs’ voice of Sebastian isn’t a total carbon copy of Samuel E. Wright and Awkwafina is perfectly annoying as Scuttle.

This iteration is bloated with more plot than the original, and it feels more tacked on than well-navigated. We have new storylines with Prince Eric and his mother the Queen (Noma Dumezweni) and their lives on the generic Caribbean island they rule. We have a few connections to Ursula being Ariel’s aunt (which was cut from the original film), and how the humans and the mermaids are, I guess, enemies.

The additions aren’t bad per se, but they’re not integrated very well into the original film’s script — which again, is re-created nearly word for word, with some exceptions.

We also get some new songs courtesy of Lin-Manuel Miranda which also don’t fit the film quite as much as they should. Eric gets an epic, lovelorn song that’s too much too soon after “Part of Your World.” Scuttle and Sebastian have a little rap toward the end (which I get, you can’t let Daveed Diggs not do a little rapping in a musical).

Director Rob Marshall and his team made every effort to bring this classic film into a new generation, and the casting of Bailey certainly helps that effort with modern vocal flourishes that work surprisingly well. But because they’re so tied to the original, what should be something more ends up foundering before it has a chance to sail.

“The Little Mermaid” is peppered with fun moments, but that’s all they are: moments. Even if you’re humming “Under the Sea” on your way out of the theater, you’ve forgotten the majority of them and are left with the boredom of having sat through a plasticine rehash of your favorite animated movie.

“The Little Mermaid”

134 minutes

Rated PG for action/peril and some scary images

2 stars