Flounder: The Funky Flatfish That’s Anything But a Fluke

Little Mermaid’s live-action film comes out at the end of May, and with it, some mild disgust at the all too realistic “Flounder”. While he isn’t the big eyed, colorful Flounder of our childhood, he also isn’t a flounder at all. The character named Flounder was likely based on an angelfish, or similarly colorful reef fish. Understandably, having a flat, side-eyed brownish fish play an adorable side-kick wasn’t in the cards in 1989 or 2023.