If Disney insists on regurgitating its classics, at least we can hope future retreads such as "Lilo and Stitch" do it as effectively as "The Little Mermaid" does.
Unlike many of these "live action" (there's still plenty of animation) remakes of animated masterpieces, there are reasons to revisit "The Little Mermaid" that don't have to do with Disney's bottom line.
For starters, that creepy "Les Poissons" song, in which a mad chef tries to cook winsome, singing creatures, has been excised. And the masochism of the 1989 adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's story — in which title character Ariel basically gives up everything to smooch with the dullest character on screen — has become a more satisfying resolution that honors the story but brings it into the 21st century.
