Our excitement for Disney’s The Little Mermaid live-action remake has been building ever since the early stages of production were first announced way back in 2017.

And now, with only days to go until the film is released in cinemas on 26 May, Disney has released a full-length trailer that gives us a proper look at Halle Bailey as the beloved Ariel, alongside some more of the film’s most iconic characters. 

The clip, which premiered during the 2023 Oscars ceremony, opens with Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King) fighting to stay alive as his ship sinks into the ocean. 

Before long, however, we see Ariel swoop in to save him from drowning, before bringing him to safety on the shore. It’s only when humans from Prince Eric’s kingdom come looking for him that Ariel is forced to return home, where she is reprimanded by her father, King Triton (Javier Bardem).

“You broke the rules, you went to the above world,” he says to Ariel, as she tries to defend herself. However, he continues: “This obsession with humans has to stop!”

In her frustration, Ariel takes matters into her own hands, and before long we see her come face-to-face with Ursula (played by none other than Melissa McCarthy). There, we get a glimpse of the process Ariel goes through to become human before she makes it to the shore and is reunited with Prince Eric.

As the trailer comes to a close, we hear Bailey taking on the movie’s iconic song Part Of Your World, as clips of Ariel navigating life both under the sea and on land flash across the screen.

It’s a whirlwind of bright colours, adorable sea creatures and gripping narrative – and it’s got us suitably excited for the film’s eventual release. 

Earlier this year, Disney released a shorter teaser trailer, which gave fans their first glimpse at the iconic villain Ursula the Sea Witch.

The short clip begins by taking viewers into Ariel’s dazzling underwater kingdom, as Bailey sings Part Of Your World, the moving track which sees the title character share her fascination with the human world, and her desire to “live out of these waters” and “spend a day warm on the sand”. 

As the teaser closes, we hear Melissa McCarthy’s Ursula cackling, as her eyes are briefly illuminated.

The trailer also features our first glimpse of Jonah Hauer-King as Ariel’s love interest, Prince Eric, in a scene that appears to take place after our heroine strikes a bargain with Ursula, allowing her to transform into a human and walk on two legs. 

The star-studded cast will also feature Javier Bardem as King Triton while Daveed Diggs will voice Sebastian the crab, Jacob Tremblay will be the voice of Ariel’s fish friend Flounder and Awkwafina will bring to life a gender-swapped Scuttle.

Additional cast members include Jude Akuwudike as Grimsby, Eric’s loyal majordomo, and The Undoing’s Noma Dumezweni as Carlotta, the Prince’s kind housekeeper.

Bailey shared a first look of her taking on the iconic character all the way back in the summer of 2021, posting a mesmerising Instagram photo of herself lounging in the water as the sun sets over the sea.

The picture seemed to hint that the remake had opted for a more pared-back Ariel than the animation. Instead, Bailey wore her natural hair and neutral tones in place of fiery red locks and vibrant green tail.

“I feel so grateful to have experienced this film in all of its glory… it has been the toughest experience being away from everything and everyone I’ve ever known, to feeling self doubt/ loneliness, but also feeling such freedom and perseverance as I’ve reached the end,” she wrote in her caption.

“This experience has made me so much stronger than I ever thought I could be.”

The news that Bailey would play Ariel in the live-action remake prompted some backlash when it was confirmed in 2019, with some commentators struggling to get their heads around the idea of a Black woman playing an imaginary character.

However, when an initial trailer was released last year, it proved the importance of on-screen representation, as parents started to share clips of young Black girls’ excited reactions to seeing a Disney princess who looked just like them. 

As for the all-important Disney songs, it’s great news for Hamilton fans. Creator Lin-Manuel Miranda is confirmed to have worked on the movie with the original composer Alan Menken, and previously revealed that he had written four new songs for the live-action remake.

The remake will also include some other key differences to the 1989 original animation, such as a storyline that shows King Triton and Ursula as siblings. Evil aunt Ursula and her poor unfortunate niece? That’s a dynamic we can’t wait to see play out on screen.

The Little Mermaid will be released in cinemas on 26 May 2023.

Images: Disney; Getty; Halle Bailey