Something's starting right now

Rating: Null/10 (17 September 2015)

The end of the 80s was a good time for Disney Studios. They had managed to avoid closing down with The Great Mouse Detective, Oliver & Company had beaten The Land Before Time at the box office, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit had been a huge success. And it's that last movie that would lead directly to the creation of this one, and the beginning of Disney Renaissance, the undisputed Golden Age of Disney Animation. And the reason is that they managed to bring over a lot of the animators that had worked on Roger, thus bringing a lot of new blood and energy into their animation team. Add in the musical virtuoso Alan Menken and you had all the right ingredients for something magical.
And this is the first result of all that labour, love and effort. Adapting a story of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen, it tells about a little mermaid - what a twist - named Ariel, the youngest daughter of the sea king. Ariel is the loveliest of the daughters and the one with the most beautiful voice. Nevertheless she's a problematic child to raise, for she's endlessly fascinated by the human world above the waves, which has long been the source of misery for the sea folk. Things start to unravel as Ariel saves a drowning prince from a storm, naturally falling head over heels for this tall, dark stranger. As Disney princesses do.
The Little Mermaid is the source and well of a lot of things we have come to accept as Disney hallmarks. The Broadway musical style of songs, the fairy tale structure and source materials, the lavishly lush animation, the humorous side characters, the romance, the prince and the princess, the themes of yearning, acceptance, hope and dreams. Naturally other Disney films had had these things before, but in this film they all came together and took the shape and form we all recognize today.
And it's a very good example of that classic Disney formula. Especially on the musical side of things. This film has one of the best soundtracks out of all the Disney films. All the songs are classics, they're all catchy beyond belief and instantly recognizable by any member of modern society. Kiss the Girl is probably my favourite, closely followed by Poor Unfortunate Souls, but they're all great.
It's more than likely that you've all already seen this film, but if by some miracle you haven't What are you waiting for?