The Little Mermaid’s Flounder and Sebastian posters lampooned by film fans

‘Disney set the animators up for failure,’ one person claimed

The Little Mermaid is getting lampooned following the release of new character posters.

Disney’s latest live-action remake is set to be released in May, and to mark one month until its arrival, the studio unveiled one-sheet posters offering a first look at several characters.

This included the villainous Ursula, who will be played by Melissa McCarthy, the fish Flounder, who will be voiced by Jacob Tremblay, and the crab Sebastian, voiced by Daveed Diggs.

The posters of Flounder and Sebastian generated a significant amount of mockery on social media, with fans noting that Disney has essentially plastered a photo of a crustacean and a fish – that look nothing like the animated film’s versions of the characters – onto a lavish backdrop.

As a consequence, many have questioned their designs.

“The small yellow shade is all the soul left in Flounder after Disney tried to suck the soul out of him,” one person wrote, with another stating: “YOU ARE NOT FLOUNDER WHO ARE YOU.”

“Hey Disney… maybe there was a REASON all the fish were animated…” an additional tweet said, with one person writing: “I feel bad for the animators when they told them to humanise a f***in’ crab AND make him realistic, Disney set them up for failure.”

Find more reactions below:

Halle Bailey plays Ariel in the film, which is an update of the 1989 animated film.

Those singing along to the film’s famous songs, however, will find they’re getting the words wrong, as co-songwriter Alan Menken has altered the lyrics, with help from Lin-Manuel Miranda, to make them more appropriate for present-day audiences.

The Little Mermaid arrives in cinemas on 26 May.