Fans Sound Off on Flounder's Appearance in New ‘Little Mermaid’

Sammi Burke
·4 min read
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Flounder's had a makeover, but the results aren't what we were anticipating!

A month ahead of its theatrical release, Disney has finally unveiled the last of the first looks at all of the main characters of its live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid, and let's just say, fans are a bit confused by one key player's appearance.

When we first met Flounder in the 1989 film, he was an energetic, unmissable presence, decked out in bright, bold shades of yellow and blue and roughly the size of Ariel's head, if not slightly larger. But this new iteration leaves much to be desired, with the little mermaid's beloved sidekick significantly slimmed down—so much so that several users joked that nobody in Hollywood was safe from the Ozempic craze—and a pale yellow/white color with black or very dark blue stripes.

Despite his namesake, the fish is confirmed to be a guppy in the animated series, while the new version appears to be a hyperrealistic Sergeant major—something fans of the series are not on board with.

One user summed up the bulk of the internet's feelings in a brief sentence:

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While others got a little more specific—in some cases, aggressively so—with their complaints:

Even a Texas police department entered the chat, confirming that the new animation was a crime, though they hadn't determined exactly which one just yet:

But, amongst all of the discourse, a single Flounder fan rose above it all:

A few others also jumped in to remind us that it could be worse—they could have modeled him after the sequel, or even made him an actual flounder:

But, as another pointed out, it could have been better, too, if they'd taken a page out of the animators of Finding Nemo's book:

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