It should've stayed 'under the sea'...

Rating: 5/10 (6 June 2004)

A Disney pacifier for children. Perky mermaid Ariel longs for life outside the ocean, acquires legs and ventures forth on land to meet a boy. The swirling colors and Broadway-styled musical numbers are pleasant and upbeat for the first half of the picture, yet even they take on a chintzy/glitzy ambiance that nullifies the old-fashioned tale, bowling the audience over yet numbing them at the same time. It is not "the greatest thing ever put out by Disney", although the film's creators would like you to think so. As cloying as the Disney output could be while Walt was alive and overseeing product, the worse everything got once he passed away. "The Little Mermaid" is hectic and mildewy, with a ready-made villainess and non-dialogue spouted by the vocal actors as if they were truly underwater. ** from ****