Once in a Lifetime.

Rating: 9/10 (9 July 2003)

Movies for the most part are entertainment. That is all they are meant to be. A few times in your life, just at the right time, just when you are at a turning point --- a movie comes along that mirrors your own emotions, your own angst, and your own sense of self. if this movie comes along just at the right moment, then the movie transcends entertainment and becomes an experience.
The Little Mermaid, was an experience for me. I sometimes think I may have been a little older than most people who it was meant for. But it's idea, of finding a place where you belong, of being part of something special, whether be it love, or something else was in line with my particular growing pains at the time.
The movie's characters, both Ariel and Prince Eric had a common bond, in that they wanted to surpass everyone's expectations of them, and they did. When I saw the movie, I was also going through that.
Never mind that this film is a CLASSIC. Perhaps one of the top 10 animated films ever made, I find it has a much deeper heart than Beauty and the Beast, and although it signified the beginning of a brand new Disney Empire, I find that it also signified the end of it. A film like this, can be imitated but it can never be duplicated. And animation has grown into a magnificence and technologically superior story telling medium. But what the Little Mermaid had, it's still to be re-captured, and that's a heart as big and as deep as the ocean.