The Little Mermaid (1989)
Review Date: April 18th, 2022
Hi everyone. I hope everyone had a great Easter this year. However, The Little Mermaid is considered to be as the return of Disney’s spirit. Making it the 1st Disney film during a period known as The Disney Renaissance. But anyways, let’s get down to the review.
CAST:
Jodi Benson - Ariel
Christopher Daniel Barnes - Eric
Pat Carroll - Ursula
Kenneth Mars - King Triton
Samuel E. Wright - Sebastian
Jason Marin - Flounder
Buddy Hackett - Scuttle
Paddi Edwards - Flotsam & Jetsam
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!!
A 16 year old mermaid princess named Ariel is not satisfied with life in an underwater kingdom known as Atlantica. But she is fascinated by the human world. With her best friend named Flounder, she collects human artifacts in her grotto. She also ignores the warnings of her father named King Triton, the king of Atlantica, & the warning is that…
CONTACT BETWEEN MERPEOPLE & HUMANS ARE STRICTLY FORBIDDEN
1 night, Ariel, Flounder, & Sebastian travel to the ocean surface, so that they can watch a birthday party for Prince Eric. She falls in love with him. But suddenly, a thunderstorm arrives, destroying the ship, & knocking Eric overboard. But she saves him, & brings him to shore. She also sings to him as well. As soon as Eric regains consciousness, Ariel leaves the shore to avoid being discovered by the humans. Eric loves Ariel’s voice, he vows to find the girl who both saved his life, & sang to him, while Ariel tries to find a way to be a part of his world.
Sometime after, Trition travels to Ariel’s grotto, & destroys her collection of artifacts in a misguided attempt to protect her, after discovering her love for Eric. After he leaves, 2 eels who are the minions of Ursula named…
Flotsam & Jetsam
Convince Ariel to visit Ursula the sea witch.
During the visit, Ursula makes a deal with Ariel to transform her into a human for 3 days in an exchange for Ariel’s voice, which Ursula puts in a nautilus shell. Within her 3 days as a human, Ariel must receive the…
Kiss of True Love
How she would receive it: Ariel would have to get Eric to kiss her, & remain a human permanently. If she fails, she will turn back into a mermaid, & belong to Ursula.
Ariel accepts the deal, & is given human legs. But Flounder & Sebastian take her to the surface.
I remember my Dad singing the Poor Unfortunate Souls a couple of times though.
Shortly after, Eric finds Ariel at the beach, & he takes her to his castle, unaware that she is the 1 who saved his life, & sang to him. They also spend time together. But at the end of the 2nd day, they almost kiss. But Flotsam & Jetsam ruin it. Furious at Ariel’s close success, Ursula disguises herself as a beautiful young woman named…
Vanessa
& appears onshore with Ariel’s voice.
On the 3rd & final day, Ariel discovers that Eric will be married to Vanessa. But she is informed by Scuttle, a seagull who Ariel used to visit for false knowledge on human culture back when she was mermaid. Earlier in the film, Scuttle calls a fork a…
Dinglehopper 🍴
She used the fork to comb her hair.
When she discovers Vanessa’s true identity, & they plan to stop Eric & Vanessa’s wedding. With the help of various sea animals. During the chaos, the nautilus shell that’s around Ursula’s neck gets destroyed, & Ariel regains her voice. When Eric realizes that Ariel’s the 1 who saved his life, & sang to him. He rushes over to kiss her. But the sun sets, & Ariel turns back into a mermaid, while Vanessa turns back into Ursula. She kidnaps Ariel, & the final battle occurs.
After the deaths of Flotsam & Jetsam, Ursula uses Triton’s trident to grow into a monstrous size, approximately the size of Godzilla or King Kong, while Ariel & Eric reunite on the surface. Then, Ursula gains full control of the entire ocean, creating a storm & bringing sunken ships to the surface. Just as Ursula’s about to kill Ariel, Eric takes control of a wrecked ship, & kills Ursula by impaling her with a splintered bowsprit. With Ursula dead, everything goes back to normal. But Triton willingly changes Ariel from a mermaid, & into a human permanently, & approves her marriage to Eric, after realizing that Ariel really loves Eric. Ariel & Eric get married on a ship, depart, & they kiss.
THE END
The Little Mermaid is also 1 of my favorite Disney movies of all time though. When Walt Disney himself was still alive, he wanted to work on this movie. But he had other plans to work on other Disney movies though. Sometime after his death, there was a dark era of Disney movies known as..
The Bronze Age
It was a period of time, when Disney was struggling to create good stories. So they used more experimental animation techniques & different stories, which garnered mixed results. Some liked it. Some didn’t. Here are the Disney movies during that time…
In 1989, The Little Mermaid received positive reception after its theatrical release. Regaining Disney’s spirit, & the film was released on VHS a year later in 1990.
OVERALL: 10/10
End of Review