Saved Disney.

Rating: 8/10 (16 May 2004)

The question to ask with any post-Walt Disney animated film is: W.W.W.D? (What Would Walt Do?) Having seen this with my goddaughter recently, I can safely say that Walt would have done *The Little Mermaid*, and he would have done it in much the same way that director John Musker does it here. (Though ole Walt may have looked askance at Ariel's flirty seashell bra, to say nothing of her frank sensuality.) So how did this film save the Disney Studio? By going Back to Basics: tirelessly detailed animation; Hans Christian Andersen; clearly delineated heroes and villains; hilariously inadequate male love interests; amusing sidekicks. It is no accident that this movie resembles *Snow White* more than any other "modern" Disney cartoon: it is clearly attempting to mine, once again, the Old Stuff, the Classic Motherlode. It was a triumphant return to form, after two decades of forgettable attempts to be more "relevant" (*Black Hole*, anyone?) to post-Sixties audiences.
Every one of the 84 minutes counts in this picture. Not a scene is wasted, not even the musical numbers, which -- for once -- build character or advance the plot. Lean, mean, and to the point. Doubtless, the hand-drawn animation provided the incentive for brevity and clarity. More recent Disney films, relying on cheaper and easier computer graphics, have shown a marked tendency of bloat. The story's "deadline" of 3 days -- during which Ariel is magically granted legs in order to pass as human and hence make the Prince give her a true love's kiss, thereby making her human forever -- also tightens things up. More suspense is added when the evil sea-witch Ursula, as a further condition for granting Ariel's wish to be human, removes the mermaid's magical voice -- the one thing that the Prince would recognize about her. It should be added that evil Ursula is truly nasty as well as comical, providing just the right foil for the sweet mermaid. Simple Good vs. Evil, here -- no "Golden Bough" moral complexity of, say, *The Lion King*, in which the animals worship the birth of the very creature who will likely grow up to eat them. *The Little Mermaid* keeps it simple, stupid -- Walt would've approved.