This article is about the 1989 animated feature film. You may be looking for the live-action remake of the 1989 film, see The Little Mermaid (2023).
The Little Mermaid is a 1989 feature animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation . It was first released on November 17, 1989 by Walt Disney Pictures, but returned to theaters on November 14, 1997. The twenty-eighth animated feature in the list of Disney theatrical animated features and the first to be released during the Disney Renaissance, the film is based upon the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, of the same name. It also marked the Disneyland's 35th anniversary one year after it was released.
The story centers a young mermaid named Ariel, who is captivated by the world upon the surface. When she falls in love with a human prince, she makes a deal with a villainous sea witch to become human, herself, and must earn his love before the agreed time runs out.
The film grossed over $84 million upon its initial release but was later re-released on November 14, 1997, the re-release brought in an extra $27 million in additional gross, earning it a life-time gross of over $111 million and earned additional $99 million internationally, making it gross over $211 million worldwide in the box office.
The film is also given credit for breathing life back into the animated feature film genre after a string of critical and commercial failures beginning in the early 1980s. An musical stage adaptation of the film with some differences opened on Broadway in 2007 or more early 2008, and closed on August 30, 2009. The musical's book is by Doug Wright, music by Alan Menken and lyrics by the late Howard Ashman (written for the film) and new lyrics by Glenn Slater. The musical had a try-out in Denver in September, then in November moved to Broadway. The musical officially opened on January 10, 2008. The musical will have had 685 performances and 50 previews.
In 2022, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Plot[]
The film begins on a foggy morning out on the open sea. A ship then comes from the fog, filled with sailors singing stories of the legendary merfolk. ("Fathoms Below") Aboard that ship is a young prince, named Eric, his dog Max, and his advisor Grimsby, who denounces the merfolk as, "nautical nonsense," but one sailor insists them to be real. While distracted by Grimsby, a fish the sailor was holding slips from him and falls into the ocean.
The fish breathes a sigh of relief before swimming away from the ship. The opening credits play as the fish crosses the deep ocean until at last, we see merfolk. They then make their way through the ocean towards a shining underwater castle located in an aquatic kingdom called Atlantica. The castle is the domain of King Triton and is where he was holding a concert in his name, performed by his seven daughters and the crab court composer, Sebastian. ("Daughters of Triton")
The concert goes as planned until it is discovered that Triton's youngest daughter, Ariel, is not there, much to his chagrin. In truth, Ariel was out excavating a ship graveyard with her best friend, Flounder the Fish. Inside one wreck, she finds a pipe and a fork, which fascinates her curiosity, all the while unaware of a shark watching her and Flounder from outside.
The shark bursts into the room Ariel and Flounder are in and gives chase to them, all across the graveyard, until the two manage to get the shark ensnared in an anchor ring. They then make their way to the surface, where their friend, a seagull named Scuttle, lives. Ariel asks Scuttle to tell her what the items she collected are. He describes the fork as a dinglehopper, an item humans use to style hair; and the pipe as a snarfblat, an object for making music. Upon hearing the word "music", Ariel is quickly reminded of the concert she missed and makes haste back home.
However, Ariel fails to realize she is being watched by two suspicious eels by the names of Flotsam and Jetsam. The two are spies under the employ of Ursula the Sea Witch, a member of King Triton's court before being banished. Ursula hates Triton with a passion for his atrocities towards her, and constantly schemes of ways to exact revenge. The moment Ariel caught her eye, Ursula commanded her cronies to watch her, hoping to use her to get to the king.
The film then moves to the royal palace, where Triton and Sebastian are scorning Ariel for missing the concert. But Flounder moves in to defend her, accidentally letting slip the encounter with Scuttle, which quickly angers Triton. The law of his kingdom forbids going to the surface world for fears of merfolk being caught by humans. But Ariel believes humans not to be all that bad, which angers Triton to the point of telling her that as long as she is living under his ocean, she'll do what he says and what she does not want. And this sends Ariel away with Flounder following after.
When they've left, Triton asks Sebastian if he was too hard on Ariel, to which Sebastian replies, "definitely not." Sebastian suggests that Ariel needs constant supervision, which gives Triton the idea to send Sebastian to keep an eye on her. Sebastian complies with the King's demands but feels dissatisfied with the idea of, "tagging along some headstrong girl." However, Sebastian's thoughts are interrupted when he sees Ariel and Flounder swimming off elsewhere, prompting him to follow her. He is led to a hidden grotto where he discovers a variety of human objects gathered together.
Still hurt by her father's words and not trusting him, Ariel sings of her collection of human objects, and how she desires to visit the world of humans, despite what her father had to say of them. ("Part of Your World") The mood is quickly broken by Sebastian crashing in, and threatening to reveal Ariel's grotto to the king. Ariel attempts to reason with him, but before anything could be resolved in the conflict, a large object is seen floating overhead blocking moonlight from the grotto roof. Ariel, being ever curious, swims to the surface to figure out what this massive object was. The object proves to be a Eric’s ship, shooting fireworks into the night sky. Ariel swims towards the vessel, in spite of Sebastian's protests, and climbs aboard to behold dancing seamen. Ariel learns that the humans aboard are celebrating the birthday of their prince; one creature that catches her eye is Max, the sheepdog who takes a liking to Ariel. But Ariel is lovestruck when she sees the dog's master, Prince Eric, who receives a large, gaudy statue of himself as a birthday present, from Grimsby, who sourly proclaims that he hoped it would be a wedding present. Eric protests that he just had not found the right girl yet, but insists that when he does it will hit him, like lightning. It was then, that the sounds of thunder echoed in the distance, followed by an ever-growing gust of wind.
Without warning, a hurricane blows in, sweeping up both ship and crew violently in a volley of wind and water. The crew rushes to batten the hatches down, but to no avail. Ariel is thrown off the vessel but manages to catch sight of the ship being struck by lightning, setting it on fire. When the ship crashes into a gaggle of rocks, the crew is sent overboard, along with the statue of Eric. Though they all abandon ship and make it to the lifeboats, Eric discovers that Max is still on the burning vessel and goes off to rescue him. Unfortunately, while Eric manages to get Max to safety, he cannot save himself when he gets blown away by a massive explosion caused by the onboard gunpowder and lands into the ocean below underwater. While she witnesses this and rushes towards his aid, Ariel rescues Eric and takes him back to shore.
Once at the shore, Ariel sings of her desire to join Eric's world before fleeing at the sounds of Grimsby and Max approaching. While Ariel sings, Eric only manages to catch a glimpse of her before she leaves; but as Grimsby raises him up, Eric vividly remembers a girl who had saved him and is determined to find her. As Ariel watches them from a nearby rock, Sebastian tells her that the situation must be kept secret from her father, but Ariel does not pay attention. Instead, with vigor and determination, Ariel makes a bold proclamation that she will be a part of Eric's world (Part of Your World Reprise).
However, what Ariel does not realize is that she's being watched by Ursula's eels. Ursula is gleeful of the situation and eerily looks to a gaggle of polyps in her lair, all former dreamers who came to her power. She then mutters about Ariel becoming a charming addition to the group.
A few days later, Ariel spends her time daydreaming of Eric, which piques the curiosity of her father, who believes Ariel to be in love with another merman. All the while, Sebastian is a nervous wreck trying to keep the secret from being found out. Ariel then decides that she wants to visit Eric, but Sebastian is having none of that. He attempts to bring her down to earth with a musical number about how the sea is better than the land ("Under the Sea").
Sebastian manages to bring many fish together to sing along, but as this party is happening, Flounder shows up and manages to slip Ariel away unnoticed. By the time the song ends, Ariel is nowhere to be seen, and Sebastian is left alone to grumble about her. Suddenly, the royal herald calls for Sebastian to report to the King about Ariel. Sebastian, afraid that Triton figured out what has happened, accidentally slips the truth during the meeting and is forced to tell the King everything, much to his fury. Back at Ariel's grotto, Flounder reveals that he had saved the statue of Eric from the wreck, much to Ariel's delight. However, the pleasantries are cut short when Triton arrives at the grotto with Sebastian behind. After a short argument, Ariel confronts Triton and tells him that she rescued Eric from drowning to death, and she loves him. Horrified by her words, the enraged Triton confronts Ariel and blasts all the secret treasures in her grotto and reduces them to a junk pile with his trident. When Triton even blasts the statue of Eric into pieces, Ariel breaks down and begins mourning. After a now remorseful Triton leaves, feeling extremely guilty over what he had done, a tearful Ariel tells Sebastian and Flounder to leave her alone to grieve, not allowing them to comfort her.
However, unbeknownst to her, Flotsam and Jetsam enter the grotto and sweet talk Ariel into going to Ursula to achieve her dreams of being with Eric. Not trusting Triton, Ariel accepts with an escort from Flotsam and Jetsam who send her to Ursula. As they leave, Sebastian tries to warn Ariel about Ursula, but she doesn't want to hear it as she is still angry with him for telling her father. Flounder and Sebastian follow after Ariel all the way to Ursula's lair. Ursula comforts Ariel and explains that she can grant Ariel's wish to be human for three days, but she must give Eric the kiss of true love before the sunset on the third day, or she belongs to Ursula. ("Poor Unfortunate Souls") Flotsam and Jetsam interrupt Flounder and Sebastian attempting to stop Ariel. In exchange for legs, though, she must give away her voice. Ariel agrees to these terms and signs the contract, trapping her voice in a necklace Ursula wears, and giving her human legs.
Once Ariel has been transformed into a human, Sebastian and Flounder escape Flotsam and Jetsam's grasps and help take her to the surface as Ariel can no longer breathe underwater. After making it to shore the group meets up with Scuttle on a beach near Eric's castle. Sebastian threatens to tell King Triton about the deal Ariel made with Ursula, but Ariel manages to convince him to help the group as she loves Eric and she would be miserable if she went home. Scuttle then tells Ariel about how to blend in with humans, and the first step is to dress like them. Next, Scuttle takes a portion of a sail and some rope for Ariel to wear, just as Prince Eric arrives at their location. Though Eric does not know she's the girl who saved his life, he is willing to bring her to his castle to be taken care of, with Sebastian tagging along in a pocket in Ariel's sailcloth.
Later, inside the palace, while Ariel is taking a bath, Sebastian is sent, through a series of unfortunate events, to the castle kitchen. It's there that Sebastian encounters a seafood-obsessed chef who attempts to cook him. ("Les Poissons") As this conflict goes on in the kitchen, Ariel meets with Eric and Grimsby in the dining hall for dinner, where the two men discuss giving Ariel a tour of the kingdom, to which she agrees.
Later that night, Ariel watches Eric play with his dog Max and goes off to bed. Sebastian discusses plans to get Eric to kiss Ariel, though Ariel does not listen, being too enamored in the human world's splendors. Finally, after Ariel falls asleep, Sebastian tells her she is "completely hopeless" and drifts off.
Back in King Triton's palace, the situation is grim. King Triton has sent several search parties looking everywhere for Ariel and Sebastian, but not a single trace of either one has been found anywhere. Triton tells his squire (a seahorse) to keep looking and not rest until they're found. Triton is left in remorse over his actions, blaming himself for Ariel's disappearance.
The next morning, Ariel and Eric begin their tour of the kingdom, starting with the nearby town. Ariel is enamored by every single thing she sees, whether it's puppets, horses, or dancing. The day passes into the evening when Eric takes Ariel on a lagoon cruise. Sebastian, seeing this as the perfect moment, decides to take matters into his own claws, and plays a song to excite the two into kissing ("Kiss the Girl"). However, the song is quickly interrupted by Flotsam and Jetsam overturning the boat, successfully ruining the mood.
Frustrated with the progress Ariel's making, Ursula decides to take matters into her own tentacles and transforms herself into a beautiful young maiden named Vanessa. She then uses Ariel's voice to hypnotize Eric before announcing his true feelings to Ariel. The next morning, Eric and Vanessa are announced to be wed by sunset, leaving poor Ariel heartbroken as the wedding ship departs from a port. Ariel and her friends are left behind while Vanessa convincingly plays her role as a love-struck woman, constantly clinging to Eric's side, raising no suspicion. While Ariel witnesses the ship sailing off, she begins weeping over Eric's loss.
Little does anyone know, Scuttle happens to fly over the wedding ship when he hears Ariel's voice coming from the bride's dressing room. He spies from a porthole, and once Vanessa takes a look at the dressing room's mirror, Ursula's reflection is shown. Realizing Vanessa's true identity, Scuttle flies off to inform Ariel and the group about Ursula and her plot. The group has to think fast as the sun is setting, so they come up with a plan: Ariel and Flounder go after the wedding ship on a barrel and Sebastian goes to tell King Triton what's happening, while Scuttle goes off to stall the wedding.
Scuttle gathers lagoon and sea creatures of all sorts (including bluebirds, flamingos, pelicans, lobsters, starfish, dolphins, and seals) to converge on the wedding ship as the wedding is just underway. There is a little warning for Vanessa when the attack begins, and the ship is sent into disarray, giving to Ariel the time she needs to get aboard. Moreover, Vanessa is utterly flustered, disoriented, and sidelined from being able to do anything. Thanks to the help of Max, Scuttle manages to snap the necklace off Ursula's neck, shattering it across the deck, returning Ariel's voice back to her, and releasing Eric from the spell. Eric finds Ariel and admits she's the one who saved him, but Vanessa warns Eric to leave Ariel alone before realizing that her voice was now Ursula's voice after her shell broke. But before the two can kiss, the sun sets, and Ariel turns back into a mermaid. Ursula then transforms herself out of the fake Vanessa form and back to her true form, grabs Ariel and jumps back into the sea with her.
It is not long before Ursula has Ariel to herself and thinks of her next move and runs into Triton and Sebastian, and a conflict occurs. Triton confronts Ursula and demands her to release Ariel, but to no avail. Ursula counters by insisting that Ariel is her slave. After Triton hears Ariel apologizing to him, he attempts to destroy the contract she signed, binding her to Ursula, but finds that he is unable to due to being magically enhanced by being legal. So, Triton spares Ariel by signing the contract and becoming a polyp in her place as a prisoner to Ursula.
Meanwhile, Eric takes a rowboat from the wedding ship heading to Ariel’s location to help his endangered love. Ursula claims Triton's crown and trident and becomes queen of the sea, which angers Ariel to the point of attacking her. Ariel confronts Ursula and abuses her. When Ursula attempts to use the trident to sabotage Ariel, Eric dives into the ocean below underwater and strikes Ursula in the arm with a harpoon. Ariel reminds Eric to get away while Ursula commands Flotsam and Jetsam to drown him. Eric struggles to swim to shore and attempts to pull himself onto a boat, but is pulled down by Flotsam and Jetsam. Witnessing the commotion and, to save Eric, Flounder and Sebastian come to his aid and attack the two eels.
Amid the chaos, Ursula attempts to use the trident to destroy Eric, but a furious Ariel intervenes and stops Ursula by pulling on her hair, causing her to miss Eric and vaporize Flotsam and Jetsam instead, reducing them to ashes. Ursula mourns their loss before vengefully turning to the ones responsible. As Ariel hurries to join Eric, the enraged Ursula spouts black ink and begins to enlarge herself. Ariel attempts to tell Eric to save himself, but he refuses to abandon her, just as Ursula's gigantic form about the size of a kraken emerges, leaving Eric and Ariel helpless to her power. During her rampage, Ursula creates a whirlpool, raising shipwrecks from the ocean floor. Eric pulls himself into the ship with a splintered bowsprit. Saving herself from Ursula who attempts to sabotage her, Ariel avoids the trident’s blasts and begins to escape.
Just as Ursula prepares to destroy Ariel with the trident's blasts, Eric saves Ariel and kills Ursula by ramming a splintered bowsprit towards the evil witch's abdomen. Ursula blows up into a scattered mass of organs. While Ariel is safe from harm, Eric makes it to the shore and passes out on the beach. After Ursula is murdered and her remains sink to the ocean floor, her curse is lifted from the merfolk in her garden, as well as King Triton, and peace is once again restored to the ocean now that Triton has regained his crown, trident, and kingdom as a whole.
Back on the surface, Triton observes Ariel looking at Eric and realizes that he was wrong about humans, and that she really does love him. After talking with Sebastian, Triton decides that he has to let Ariel be free to lead her own life and tells Sebastian that he will miss her. He then transforms her once more into a human - this time with no strings attached. Triton sends Ariel to Eric to be together again. They finally kiss, and much later the two are wed. At this ceremony, after Ariel and Eric are married onboard the wedding ship, Ariel bids her friends and her six older sisters, her father Triton, Sebastian, Flounder, and Scuttle, farewell to live her new life in Eric's surface world of humans. But not after Sebastian is chased by Chef Louis once again in an attempt to cook him, but easily outsmarts him. The film ends with the wedding ship sailing away under a rainbow Triton creates with his trident and Ariel and Eric kissing as the screen fades to black.
Cast[]
Main Cast[]
- Jodi Benson as Ariel and Vanessa
- Jason Marin as Flounder
Supporting Cast[]
- Buddy Hackett as Scuttle
- Ben Wright as Grimsby
- Christopher Daniel Barnes as Prince Eric
- Pat Carroll as Ursula
- Samuel E. Wright as Sebastian
- Kenneth Mars as King Triton
- René Auberjonois as Chef Louis
- Paddi Edwards as Flotsam and Jetsam
- Edie McClurg as Carlotta
- Will Ryan as The Seahorse Herald
- Kimmy Robertson as Alana, Adella, Arista, and Andrina (uncredited)
- Frank Welker as Max, Sea creatures (uncredited)
Additional voices[]
- Hamilton Camp - Seadog
- Debbie Shapiro Gravitte
- Robert Weil - Man
- Ed Gilbert - Male Merman
- Charlie Adler - Priest
- Jack Angel - Sailor #1
- Susan Boyd - Chorus
- Steve Bulen - Man
- Nancy Cartwright - Female Mermaid #3
- Philip L. Clarke - Sailor #3
- Jennifer Darling - Female Mermaid #1
- Allan Davies - Chorus
- Gail Farrell - Man
- Donny Gerrard - Chorus
- Mitch Gordon - Chorus
- Willie J. Greene Jr. - Man
- Linda Harmon - Chorus
- Walter S. Harrah - Chorus
- Phillip Ingram - Chorus
- Luana Jackman - Chorus
- William A. Kanady - Man
- Edie Lehmann Boddicker - Chorus
- Anne Loockhart - Washerwoman
- Sherry Lynn
- Melissa MacKay - Chorus
- Guy Maeda - Chorus
- Lynn Dolin Mann
- Arnold Markussen
- Mickie McGowan - Female Mermaid #2, Ursula (voice match)
- Gene Merlino - Chorus
- Gene Morford - Chorus
- Kathleen O'Connor
- Patrick Pinney - Sailor #2
- Marilyn Powell - Chorus
- Gloria Grace Prosper - Chorus
- Michael Redman
- Sally Stevens - Chorus
- Robert Tebow - Chorus
- Rob Trow - Chorus
- Joe Turano
- Jackie Ward - Chorus
- Bobbi Page - Chorus
- Robert S. Zwirn
Uncredited[]
- Jim Cummings as Harold the Merman
- J.D. Daniels
- Gerrit Graham
- Rob McKuen
- Malachi Pearson
Development[]
In 1986, The Great Mouse Detective co-director Ron Clements discovered a collection of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales while browsing a bookstore. He presented a two-page draft of a movie based on The Little Mermaid to CEO Michael Eisner, who passed it over because at that time the studio was in development on a sequel to Splash. But the next day, Walt Disney Pictures boss Jeffrey Katzenberg, green-lighted the idea for possible development, along with Oliver & Company.
That year, Clements and Great Mouse Detective co-director John Musker expanded the two-page idea into a 20-page rough script, eliminating the role of the mermaid's grandmother and expanding the roles of the Merman King and the sea witch. However, the firm's plans were momentarily shelved as Disney focused its attention on Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Oliver & Company as more immediate releases.
In 1987, songwriter Howard Ashman became involved with Mermaid after he was asked to contribute to Oliver & Company. He proposed changing the minor character Clarence, the English-butler crab, to a Jamaican Rastafarian crab and shifting the music style throughout the film to reflect this. At the same time, Katzenberg, Clements, Musker, and Ashman changed the story format to make Mermaid like an animated Broadway musical. Ashman and Alan Menken teamed up to compose the entire soundtrack. In 1988, with Oliver out of the way, Mermaid was slated as the next major Disney release.
More money and resources were dedicated to Mermaid than any other Disney animated film in decades. The artistic manpower needed for Mermaid required Disney to farm out most of the bubble-drawing in the film to Pacific Rim Productions, a China-based firm with production facilities in Beijing.
Principal artists worked on the animation - Glen Keane and Mark Henn on Ariel, Duncan Marjoribanks on Sebastian, Andreas Deja on King Triton, and Ruben Aquino on Ursula. Originally, Keane had been asked to work on Ursula, as he had established a reputation for drawing large, powerful figures (the bear in The Fox and the Hound, Professor Ratigan in The Great Mouse Detective). Keane, however, was assigned as one of the two lead artists on the petite, charming Ariel, and oversaw the "Part of Your World" musical number.
Another first for recent years was that live actors and actresses were filmed for reference material for the animators. Broadway actress Jodi Benson was chosen to play Ariel, and Sherri Lynn Stoner, a former member of Los Angeles' Groundlings improv comedy group, acted out Ariel's key scenes. Not all of Disney's animators approved the use of live-action reference; one artist quit the project over the issue. An attempt to use Disney's famed multiplane camera for the first time in years for quality "depth" shots failed because the machine was reputedly in a dilapidated condition.
Aside from its main animation facility in Glendale, California, Disney opened a satellite feature animation facility during the production of Mermaid near Orlando, Florida, within the still-unfinished Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park at Walt Disney World. Though the park opened to the public a year later, work at the animation studio began in May 1988, and the Disney-MGM facility's first projects were to produce an entire Roger Rabbit cartoon short, and contribute ink and paint support to Mermaid.
The Little Mermaid is the last Disney feature film to use the traditional hand-painted cel method of animation. Disney's next film The Rescuers Down Under, used a digital method of coloring and combining scanned drawings—CAPS (Computer Animation Production System), which eliminated the need for cels. A CAPS prototype was used experimentally in a few scenes in Mermaid, including the final wedding scene. Other CGI includes some wrecked ships in the final battle, a staircase behind a shot of Ariel in Eric's castle, and the carriage Eric and Ariel are riding in when she bounces it over a ravine (notice that the wheels do not move when it comes down for a landing).
On November 15, 1989, The Little Mermaid began critics' screenings in Los Angeles and New York City. On November 17, 1989, the world premiere of The Little Mermaid took place near Orlando, Florida on all ten AMC Pleasure Island screens at Walt Disney World's newly-built Pleasure Island nightclub.
Significance[]
The Little Mermaid is an important film in animation history for many reasons:
- It marked a return to the musical format that made Disney films popular from the 1930s to the 1970s, after a test run with Oliver & Company the year before. It featured seven original songs by composer Alan Menken and lyricist Howard Ashman, who also served as the film's producer.
- It is the first Disney movie that shows a girl almost completely naked, though her front and back are never fully shown (This is the second, however, if one counts Cinderella showering in the beginning of Cinderella). The movie Mulan later repeats this when Mulan is stripped of her clothes in shadow form, and the bath scene.
- It had the most special effects for a Disney animated feature since Fantasia was released forty-nine years earlier. Effects animation supervisor Mark Dindal estimated that over a million bubbles were drawn for this film, in addition to the use of other processes such as airbrushing, backlighting, superimposition, and some flat-shaded computer animation.
- The Little Mermaid was a box office success and grossed over $200,000,000 worldwide.
- This film marked the first use of CAPS (Computer Animation Production System) in a Disney feature, seen in the movie's final scene. CAPS is a digital ink-and-paint and animation production system that colors the animators' drawings digitally, as opposed to the traditional animation method of tracing ink and paint onto cels (see Traditional animation). All subsequent 2D animated Disney features have used CAPS instead of ink-and-paint, with Home on the Range as the last one.
- This film signaled a renaissance in Disney animation; the films were popular and financial successes, causing Disney's feature animation department to begin significant expansion, from about 300 artists in 1988 to 2,400 by 1999. In fact, The Little Mermaid was Disney's first significant animated success since The Rescuers in 1977.
- The Little Mermaid won the 1990 Academy Award for Original Music Score. "Kiss the Girl" and "Under the Sea" were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song; the Oscar went to "Under the Sea".
- The soundtrack, riding high on the heels of the film's popularity and the Academy, Golden Globes and Grammy Awards, went triple platinum, an unheard-of feat for an animated movie at the time.
Music[]
The film contains 10 songs in total; including three reprises with lyrics by Howard Ashman and a score by Alan Menken, the first Disney film he composed.
A soundtrack was released for the film on October 13, 1989, and was met with great praise and accolades. The soundtrack would later be re-released in 2006 as well.
Critical Reception[]
The Little Mermaid was released to rave reviews upon its initial release. It quickly became a cultural phenomenon, with many critics hailing it as a return to the quality filmmaking Disney animation was known for during the days of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Cinderella. It won a number of accolades, specifically for its music, including two Academy Awards for Best Song and Best Score, two Golden Globes and one Grammy, among others. Rotten Tomatoes reported that the film has a 93% "Certified Fresh" score based on 69 reviews, with an average rating of 8.19/10. It became the 9th highest grossing film of 1989 behind Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Batman, Back to the Future Part II, Ghostbusters II, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Licence to Kill, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, and Lethal Weapon 2. The site's consensus reads "The Little Mermaid ushered in a new golden era for Disney animation with warm and charming hand-drawn characters and catchy musical sequences".
On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 88 out of 100 based on 24 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times was very enthusiastic about the film, writing "The Little Mermaid is a jolly and inventive animated fantasy—a movie that's so creative and so much fun it deserves comparison with the best Disney work of the past." Ebert also commented very positively on the character of Ariel, stating she "is a fully realized female character who thinks and acts independently, even rebelliously, instead of hanging around passively while the fates decide her destiny."[1] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune wrote, "While the story won't win any prizes from the women's liberation movement, the animation is so full and colorful and the songs so beguiling that this is a case of where someone made one like they used to. The drawing of the evil octopus witch who is jealous of the mermaid's singing voice is particularly outstanding."[2] Janet Maslin of The New York Times praised the film as a "marvel of skillful animation, witty songwriting and smart planning. It is designed to delight filmgoers of every conceivable stripe... Adults will be charmed by the film's bright, outstandingly pretty look and by its robust score. Small children will be enchanted by the film's sunniness and by its perfect simplicity."[3]
Awards[]
Academy Awards[]
- Two Wins
- Best Original Score
- Best Original Song - "Under the Sea"
- One Nomination
- Best Original Song - "Kiss the Girl"
Golden Globe Award[]
- Two Wins
- Best Original Score - Motion Picture
- Best Original Song - Motion Picture - "Under the Sea"
- Two Nominations
- Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical
- Best Original Song - Motion Picture
Grammy Award[]
- One Win
- Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television - "Under the Sea"
- Two Nominations
- Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television
- Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television
Other Awards[]
- BMI Film & TV Awards
- One Win: BMI Film Music Award
- Los Angeles Film Critics Association
- One Win: Best Animation
- Golden Screen Awards
- One Win: Golden Screen Award
- Golden Reel Awards
- One Win: Best Sound Editing - Animated Feature
- Young Artist Award
- One Win: Best Family Motion Picture - Adventure or Cartoon
TV series, sequels and prequels[]
- The animated series version of this movie titled The Little Mermaid premiered in late 1992.
- A direct-to-video sequel called The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea was released on September 19, 2000.
- A direct-to-video prequel called The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning is in development for a 2007 release. It was originally scheduled for 2008, but when John Lasseter took over as CCO of Walt Disney Animation, more resources were spent on completing the sequel for a quicker release. In July 2006, Disney announced that work was wrapping up on Cinderella III: A Twist in Time and continuing on Mermaid III. A trailer and a musical number from The Little Mermaid III are attached to the DVD re-release for the original film. The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning was released on Disney DVD on August 26, 2008.
Theatrical Releases[]
- November 17, 1989 (original release)
- November 14, 1997 (re-release)
- September 13, 2013 (one-month limited engagement 3D re-release at the El Capitan Theatre)
- September 20, 2013 (Disney Second Screen Live re-release)
Home video release history[]
- 1990 (VHS - Walt Disney Classics) - The film's home video debut was in May 1990 after a highly successful run at the box-office. Consumers made this the year's top-selling title on home video, with over 10 million units sold (including 7 million in its first month). It was one of the highest-selling home video titles ever at the time. On the cover of this version, one of the pillars on the golden castle bears an resemblance to a phallus, though it is a coincidence as said by Disney and the man who drew it, who in fact did not work for Disney. Most people believe it was done by a disgruntled artist, though this is far from true.
- 1998 (VHS - Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection) - The growing popularity of Disney films that peaked with The Lion King in 1994 ignited much interest in The Little Mermaid from new Disney fans and from a new generation of kids. By the time the movie was re-released on VHS in March 1998, millions of people were eager to set their hands on a copy. The VHS sold 13 million units and ranked as the 3rd best-selling title of the year on the VHS chart.
- 1999 (DVD - Limited Issue) - The film was included in the Limited Issue line and was released as a "barebones" DVD set with a poor video transfer and no substantial features.
- 2006 (DVD - Platinum Edition) - The film was re-released on DVD on October 3, 2006, as part of the Walt Disney Platinum Editions line of classic Walt Disney animated features. Deleted scenes, new musical sequences and several in-depth documentaries were included, as well as the Academy Award-nominated short film intended for the shelved Fantasia 2006, The Little Matchgirl. [2] On its opening day the DVD/Blu-ray Disc sold 1.6 million units,[3] and in its first week, over 4 million units, making it the biggest animated DVD/Blu-ray Disc debut for October. It ranked second on the DVD sales chart and enjoyed the best first week sales of all the Platinum titles.[4] The Special edition came out in the U.K on November 6, 2006.
- 2013 (Blu-Ray - Diamond Edition) - The film was re-released on Blu-Ray/DVD, Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital Copy, Blu-ray 3D/Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital Copy/Music on October 1, 2013 as part of the Walt Disney Diamond Edition collection. A Stand alone Diamond Edition DVD/Digital Copy was released on November 19, 2013.
Trivia[]
- The film was originally planned as one of Disney's earliest films. Production started soon after Snow White, but was put on hold due to various circumstances.
- The idea for the movie was one of Walt Disney's favorites. In the 1980s, the Disney company did not know that Walt had intended to make a Little Mermaid film. The Disney Company thought of the idea independently. While in production in the 1980s, someone found Walt's Mermaid script by chance. Many of his changes to Hans Christian Andersen's original story were coincidentally the same as the changes made by Disney writers in the 1980s. (source: DVD making of)
- Glen Keane, the supervising animator for Ariel, jokingly stated on the Pocahontas: 10th Anniversary Edition DVD that Ariel looks exactly like his wife "without the fins." The character's body shape and personality were based upon that of Alyssa Milano, then starring on TV's Who's the Boss? and the effect of her hair underwater was based on footage of Sally Ride, when she was in space.
- In Ursula's spell to turn Ariel human, various references to the throat and voice are made, as well as references to fish.
- When Scuttle is providing "vocal romantic stimulation" while Eric and Ariel are out at the lagoon, he is actually squawking his own version of Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet".
- A number of backgrounds used during the "Kiss the Girl" number were recycled from Disney's earlier film The Rescuers.
- The dress Carlotta wears is a larger version of the one used by Cinderella in Cinderella.
- The Little Mermaid ranks as #51 of the 100 Greatest Cartoons as voted in Great Britain.
- Near the start of the film when King Triton is seen riding a dolphin-pulled chariot over an audience of mermaids and mermen, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy can be seen in the audience. Also, one of the audience members in this scene resembles Kermit the Frog.
- Divine was in part the inspiration for the design of Ursula the Sea Witch.
- In the contract Ursula has Ariel sign, there is a crude drawing of Mickey Mouse's head amongst a jumble of letters.
- During Scuttle's disruption of the wedding between Eric and Vanessa, The Grand Duke and King from Cinderella can be seen standing together in the background.
- In the scene after Ursula is destroyed, Ariel's pose as she looks longingly at Eric bears resemblance to the famous statue of Andersen's little Mermaid in Copenhagen (sculpted by Edward Eriksen).
- According to the DVD commentary, the shark that chases Ariel and Flounder at the beginning is named Glut, and he was planned to return for a rematch with Flounder later on.
- The characters of The Little Mermaid, and the kingdom of Atlantica, are featured in all three installments of the popular Square Enix series of Kingdom Hearts games. In the first game, Ariel is featured as a character who joins the party in battle. In Kingdom Hearts II, Atlantica serves as a world of musical mini-games rather than a traditional searching and battle area like in the first two games. Among the songs in the mini-games, new versions of two of the songs from the film, Part of Your World and Under the Sea are featured. Ariel is also the only official Disney Princess featured in the game who is not one of the fabled Princesses of Heart. Strangely, Alice of Alice in Wonderland is featured as a Princess of Heart, while unlike Ariel, she in no way a princess.
- The color that Disney Imagineers created for Ariel's tail was, in fact, created just for the movie and was aptly called "Ariel".
- On the main menu (disc 1) of Finding Nemo, one of the things Dory says is: "I'm so excited! I've always wanted to see The Little Mermaid!"
- When this film was re-released in theatres in 1997, some of the foreign translations were redubbed. The original dubbings were returned when the film was released on DVD.
- The first-ever Russian dubbing of this film was made in 2006. Prior to this, only a male voice was used on top of the English version.
- The original dressing for Ariel was showing her being covered in seaweed. Although this design was dropped because nothing would keep the seaweed from falling off her body.
- In some dubs, the song "Kiss the Girl" plays during the end credits.