The Little Mermaid

Rating: 8/10 (30 October 2006)

I was 7 years old when "The Little Mermaid" was released in 1989, and it became an overnight classic. I never got to see it in the theaters, but once it was released on video, I mooched off the opportunity to see from anyone who happened own it. I was caught up the aesthetic trappings: the dazzling bright colors, hummable songs (Under the Sea won the Oscar for best song who knew?), and the refreshingly spunky heroine Ariel, a nice antidote to the more passive Disney princesses of yesteryear. And you should have heard all the off-key renditions of "Part of Your World" that every girl under the age of 15 were belting (raises hand guiltily).
Now that I'm 24, older and more cynical, I recently watched the brand new 2-disc DVD of "The Little Mermaid" and must say that it does look better than ever. The older side of me appreciates the mechanics of the animation. Hand drawn animation is becoming a rarity these days and "The Little Mermaid" is easily right up there with "The Wizard of Oz" and "An American in Paris" as one of the best-looking and most colorful films ever made. The character animation is also superb, especially on Ariel. She spends a good portion of the movie silent, so the animators really live up to the challenge of giving her face emotion. I especially love how they dare to allow her to look silly with her facial expressions from time to time (unlike Botox-faced Cinderella or Aurora).
I especially love the villain Ursula: lusty, histrionic, and bad to the bone, she's the most entertaining Disney villain in many a moon. Not to mention the most competent: she has henchmen who actually do her bidding correctly, and Ursula is so resourceful and calculating, she practically wins at the end! Pretty impressive, I must say! Pat Carroll deserves special praise as Ursula, whose croaky voice brings to mind Lauren Bacall in a particularly foul mood.
The North Carolina-born Samuel E. Wright gives Sebastian a delightful Caribbean accent that never becomes too stereotypical. The late Buddy Hackett, with his decidedly grating voice, as a seagull; c'mon, casting doesn't get any better than that! Yet the real star is Jodi Benson as Ariel. Her sweet, Broadway-friendly voice is packed with feisty innocence and wistful longing. Like Judy Garland and "Over the Rainbow", you can't picture anyone else warbling "Part of Your World".
Now for the cynical side of my review: It's understandable that the good folks at Disney wanted to make a happy ending. After all, in the Hans Christian Anderson tale, the mermaid not only trades her voice for legs (by having her tongue cut out ouch!), but also loses the prince to another woman, so she throws herself into the sea and dies (but at least she goes to heaven). Yet the ending goes out of its way to be happy and it borders on downright saccharine, ending not only with a wedding but also with a parting shot of a rainbow. While I appreciate how the character of Ariel paved the way for the more modern, headstrong Disney female characters (especially my favorites, Belle and Mulan), she's hardly the exemplary "Woman of the '90s" critics make her out to be. Let's not forget that our spunky heroine essentially sells her soul to the evil Ursula just so she can hook up with some guy she's never had so much as a conversation with. And Prince Eric just never seemed worth it to me, he's so vapid and void of personality. I always root for Ariel, at least up to that point, and then I can't help but think, "what an idiot!"
All in all, "The Little Mermaid" is a guilty pleasure and is a perfectly good addition to your Disney library.