A triumphant Disney gem

Rating: 9/10 (7 July 2007)

The 28th animated Disney classic is said to be responsible for Disney's renaissance after a dark period during the 1980's decade. Back then Disney was in a delicate situation. I wonder what would have happened to Disney if "The Little Mermaid" hadn't been made or if it hadn't been a success.
"The Little Mermaid" is one of the greatest animated films from Disney. It has fine artwork and palette colors, classic humor, adventure, darkness, great animation, awesome songs, enjoyable characters, romance... in other words, the crucial gradients that make Disney classics. Some mythology is here either, considering it's a movie about merpeople.
The soundtrack is fresh, with jaunty songs such as "Under the Sea" and "Les Poissons", the romantic song "Kiss the Girl" and the somewhat sad song "Part of your world". Even Ursula's song, "Poor Unfortunate Souls", is good.
As for the characters, the goofy seagull Scuttle and the Chef Louis can be perfectly considered a comic relief, although Sebastian is often hilarious too, especially in the kitchen where Chef Louis is (Sebastian's facial expressions of horror and panic are priceless).
Scuttle has a comical way to teach things about human artifacts and respective cultures. For example, he refers to a fork as a "dinglehopper" and says that it is used as a comb. He also calls a smoking pipe a "snarfblatt", telling it is used to play music as if it was a trumpet. Scuttle also sings terribly, but he sings much better than many self-claimed artists in the world of music. Although goofy, Scuttle is smarter than he seems. He discovers, for example, the true identity of "Vanessa" and he does a hilarious destruction of the wedding (with the help of other birds and animals).
Prince Eric is one of Disney's coolest and most charming princes. He's handsome too. Grimsby is funny at times. Ariel is a pretty mermaid and she looks even better as human. Ariel is one of my favorite Disney princesses, for her sexy looks and feminine personality. Ursula, the evil sea witch, is one of Disney's biggest villains and one of the most eccentric too. Max, Eric's Old English Sheepdog, is a cute fellow.
I wonder what kind of fish Flounder is. Maybe he is not a particular kind of fish. Perhaps he was just drawn that way, fruit of the artists's imagination. He is a cute little fish, friendly and cool. He is also very nervous, shy and gets frightened easily.
I don't know where or when this movie takes place, but I suppose it is somewhere in Denmark.
As for the cast, there are many talented voices here: the inimitable comedian Buddy Hackett aka "Tennessee Steinmetz", Ben Wright, Rene Auberjonois, Christopher Daniel Barnes, Jodi Benson, Jason Marin, Samuel E. Wright, Kenneth Mars and Pat Carroll.
This should definitely be on Top 250.