Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid/Transcript

So our story opens up in live action Denmark, the very country where the original story was written. And the narrator tells us about Anderson's authorship of the original novel. After a brief shot of a live action ocean and the opening title card, the movie finally begins as the footage transits from live-action to 2D hand drawn animation, which is the style that most of the movie utilizes. And yes, it seems this movie made use of live-footage long before the Dot series by Yoram Gross or even Who Framed Roger Rabbit. So anyway, the story finally begins. And Toei Animation wastes no time showing us just how awesome their animation style was even way back in the 70s. The backgrounds are very nicely detailed, and the characters aren't too shabby either. I mean sure, it does look dated compared to the anime we have today. But for the 70s, this is very well drawn and animated. During the opening credits sequence, we are introduced to the mermaid, our pain protagonist. And her companion; a baby dolphin named Fritz. And yes, this guy is basically the "Flounder" of this movie. Oh, and just so you know, in this movie, the mermaid's name is not Ariel. Instead its Marina. And throughout this opening credits sequence they swim by corals, schools of fish, and nearly get eaten by a larger fish. But are then released shortly afterwards. Talk about a close call... So anyway, after swimming through the ocean while exploring the marine life that lives there, Marina and Fritz journey back to the underwater palace (which I assume is Atlantis). All of a sudden, the background turns purple. And a fierce wind storm strikes the place. All the sea creatures take cover from the terrible storm. As do Marina and Fritz. Marina is quick to assume that this storm is the sea-witch's doing, to which Fritz comments "She has no right to push us around like this!" Just then, the sea-witch's voice is heard, threatening "You call me an evil woman, little fish? I am the most dreaded in the sea! Everything does as I command! Let the seas rage! Let the winds dance!" As the storm ravages the deep sea, our focus cuts to the surface, where the storm continues to rage as the winds pick up funnels of water, and lightning strikes a sailing ship. The violent waves of water then engulf the ship and bury it underwater. Fritz and Marina depart, and the latter is reunited with her sisters (who in true anime fashion, have an assortment of differently colored hair) and her father, the sea-king. The sisters comment that she shouldn't be out when the storm was raging. They also scold her that she won’t become of age if she keeps playing with the baby dolphin or if she keeps gambling with her life. Marina begs them not to tell their grandmother that she got back so late, to which the sisters have a good laugh about. Just then, the grandmother calls for Marina and her sisters. When they arrive to the scene, their father, the king of the seas, tells them that it’s not safe to be out and about during the storm, and sends them to bed. The next morning, the storm disappeared, and all is peaceful. Marina asks her sisters if they’re going up to the surface. They tell her yes, and she asks if she can come with them. But the grandmother stops them, saying “No, you may not!” and tells Marina that she’s too young to put herself in harm’s way. The sisters then tell her that there’s all kinds of dangers in the surface including humans. But Marina protests and tells them that they always told her how pleasant it is up in the surface of the ocean. And so with their grandmother’s consent, the sisters leave to embark on their activities, while the disappointed Marina stays behind. The grandmother reassures her that she’ll be able to go with her sisters soon enough. Then we get some random shots of all sorts of sea animals including crabs, jellyfish, these weird urchin things, and sea horses.
Despite being told to stay at the castle, Marina spies on her sisters enjoying their fun together, and expresses her disappointment. Just then, Fritz shows up, and tells her that he has something to show her. And what he shows her is an old sunken ship (which I assume was the ship that was sunken earlier). And there, Marina finds a boot and a smoking pipe. She fiddles with them, and concludes that the ship is belonged to an important king from the dry land. Fritz comments “Boy! It looks just like your father’s!” And as they delve further into the remains of the ship, they come across all kinds of items and treasures, and they also discover the armless stone statue of a prince, which Fritz comments as “Looks like the fossil of a man!” Marina marvels at the statue’s craftsmanship and beauty, and comments that there’s no man as beautiful as this in the ocean, and that it must be from the land. Marina hugs the statue, and declares that she wants to visit the surface, saying that it must be a lot nicer than her sisters have told her. Fritz then says “I want to go too”. Just then, the dolphin comes up with an idea; they will wait until everybody is asleep, and then they will leave the palace to explore the surface. After a few shots of some glowing squids, a devilfish, and some other kinds of sea creatures, our focus is back on Marina and Fritz, who sneak their way out of the castle, and meet up with a whale named Duke. Marina tells Duke what she wants, but Duke refuses to comply to her wishes, saying “Escape? That would never do. I won’t help you do any such thing!” Marina begs Duke to take her to the surface. But the whale tells her she’s not old enough. Just then, Fritz then blurts out the fact that long ago, Duke stole a pearl from the palace, and gave it to his wife as a gift. Duke gives in, and reluctantly agrees to escort the two of them to the surface. And so, they get in his gigantic mouth, and he swims his way through the ocean. It’s not long until they arrive there. The whale releases them. But it just so happens he had two other passengers; two fish who stowed away onboard Duke. The two fish promise that they won’t say a thing about Marina being gone from the palace. Duke tells Fritz to guard the princess well and return to the palace early. Then he leaves them, saying that the whaling ships would come after him if he is seen with the two of them. And so Duke leaves the scene. And we never see him again. Now that Marina and Fritz are finally at the surface, they swim their way to the top, and see a quarter moon in the sky. Fritz obviously doesn’t know what the moon is. So he asks “What’s that hanging in the sky? It looks like the pearl all crushed up!” Marina corrects him, saying “That’s the moon, Fritz. It’s as great as the sun in the day time.” Fritz then gets the idea (sort of), and comments “Oh! So the sun is the general of the daytime, and the moon is the general of the night.” Marina states “It’s just as beautiful as I expected. And this must be the wind blowing in my hair.” Fritz however, is bored, saying that it’s too dark to see anything. Then he jumps in and out of the water and suggests to Marina that they should go somewhere else where they can have fun.
But before they could do so, they are startled by the sight of fire crackers going off in the sky. Turns out the fireworks are coming from a ship at sea. Marina and Fritz both sit on top of a small ice burg and get a good look at all the passengers onboard. And turns out, the passengers are people in what I assume is 16th century clothes. And there’s also dogs and clowns on board. But among the passengers is a handsome young man who turns out being a prince (you know, because people of royal heritage are staples in old folk tales). Turns out, the young man bears a resemblance to the statue that Marina found earlier. And after glancing at him for no more than a few seconds, she falls head over heels in love with him. Just then, the prince notices Marina sitting on the ice burg with Fritz, who then vanish without a trace. A servant who was with the prince comments “I’m afraid the excitement of your birthday has got you seeing things, your highness.” Just then, a fierce storm appears. Lightning strikes through the dark cloudy sky, and the strong winds create destructive waves in the ocean. Fritz tells Marina that they should escape with their lives while they can. But a concerned Marina watches in horror as the lightning strikes the prince’s ship. Then the destructive waves engulf the ship and destroy it completely, killing almost all the passengers on board. As the ship sinks into the ocean, Marina frantically swims around searching for any survivors inside the ship which had sunken. But she soon comes across the unconscious body of the prince, who was floating on a piece of wood. He slips off, and sinks into the ocean. But Marina catches him just in time before he drowns, and carries him to the surface. Marina begs him to wake up. But just as the prince opens his eyes, he passes out. But even so, the mermaid brings the unconscious prince to the shore, and rests his body in a safe spot. And it is here where we have a rather dramatic scene with Marina staying with the unconscious prince, as she desperately pleads and begs him not to die, saying “No! Oh please! Dear God no! Don’t let him die!”. Just then, the prince’s skin turns from a ghostly pale to a rich flesh tone, and his body temperature returns to normal. Relieved, Marina grabs his hands and exclaims “He’s alive! Don’t worry, my prince! I’ll stay with you until you’re alright!” Then she removes a scale from her tail (which I remember clearly) and uses it to patch up an injury on the prince’s shoulder. And as the sun rises from the horizon, Marina kisses the prince on the forehead, and the church bells ring. The prince opens his eyes, but then he loses consciousness and passes out again… Okay, yeah… I can think of a number of things to call this guy; from “Sir Unconscious-Alot” to “Prince Pass-Out”. And no, Sleeping Beauty has already been used in Space Balls. So I’m not even going to use that joke. So anyway, Marina tries to get the prince to wake up. I don’t blame her honestly because he’s been unconscious for a long time. And he’s gotta snap out of it eventually. Just then, a group of women come out of the church and show up to the scene. Marina hurriedly races back into the ocean before the humans could see her. And only when one of these women goes to check on the prince, does he FINALLY wake up! Well sheesh! You sure took long enough! And no, I’m not being insensitive towards his near-death experience. But come on! And understandably, Marina doesn’t know anything about CPR or any other lifesaving maneuvers. Saddened and distraught, Marina watches as the women take the prince to safety and attend to his health. Fritz shows up and comments “Marina! You saved his life. Why didn’t you stay with him until he woke up?” to which Marina answers “I couldn’t, Fritz. As soon as he saw my tail, he’d get frightened.” Meanwhile, back at the underwater palace, a high-ranking lobster orders a group of fish to go in search of Marina and Fritz. And if they are to find Marina, she is to be escorted home, and Fritz must be punished for allowing her to leave the castle against her father's orders. Before long, they finally catch them, and bring them back to the castle. Back at the said castle, the sea king expresses utter disappointment in his daughter, saying “Do you have any idea how much worry you caused us last night? As you know, our race normally lives for 3000 years. But we can still meet with an accident and die anytime. As your poor mother did.” Whoa! 3000 years?! That’s a VERY LONG TIME! In fact, that’s a longer life span than us humans! Anyway, Marina begs her father’s forgiveness. He forgives her, but he also declares that she is not to go anywhere alone, and that she is forbidden to play with Fritz again. The grandmother begs the king not to be too harsh on Marina, or she’ll only become hardened and controlled if he’s too strict with her. The grandmother also reveals (from what information she got from Fritz) that Marina saved the life of a human prince. And for doing this good deed, she is to be rewarded by allowing her to join her sisters. The king reluctantly agrees, and says that the ceremony will be held tomorrow morning. Delighted, Marina embraces her father and her grandmother, and leaves. Later, the sea king anoints Marina with a pearl with flower-like pedals on the sides which he places in her hair. He states that it’s a symbol of her coming of age, and it will act as a passport which will allow her to come and go as she pleases. And after that, the king then has his daughters including Marina put on a show by performing an entire musical number of sorts. I can’t make out what the lyrics are. But the song itself sounds rather somber and dramatic. So much that it leaves me in deep contemplation about things. And all the while, a montage plays out as Marina fantasizes about being with the prince who’s life she saved earlier. She day dreams about dancing with him, and sitting with him on a crescent moon amongst the stars. Little does anybody know, that the sea-witch is observing the ceremony through her crystal orb.
As the song and the montage end, Fritz wakes Marina from her fantasy, and tells her that he has some good news for her. But before he could spill the beans, the two fish from earlier tell her that the prince is staying at a nearby castle called the “Summer Palace” in the dry land. They then ask if she is in love with the prince, to which Marina blushes. And so the two fish leave, and Marina contemplates about her desire to be with the prince. But she realizes that she can’t visit him as a mermaid with her fish-like tail. So, she comes to a drastic decision; to pay a visit to the sea witch. But a concerned Fritz tells her that she must not go there, that it’s too dangerous, and that the sea-witch is not to be trusted. This is similar to the scene from the Disney film where Sebastian told Ariel “No! She’s a demon! She’s a monster!” But despite Fritz’s desperate pleads, Marina ultimately decides to embark on this journey to visit the sea-witch. Fritz reluctantly accompanies her to the sea-witch’s lair. But as they make their way there, they come across the skeletal remains of mermen and mermaids, and soon, they are attacked by a giant squid which they manage to get away from. But just when they thought it was over, they are later attacked by a strange hydra-like sea-monster which appears to be plant-like. The creature has many heads, and it attacks relentlessly. Marina and Fritz have close calls. But then Fritz retaliates by throwing star-fish which act like shurikens as they cut through the creature’s flesh and decapitate its heads. So yeah, it seems that Fritz is quite formidable despite being a baby dolphin. However, the monster still advances on them. And Marina is knocked unconscious. But then Fritz gets the idea to toss poisonous sea urchins into the monster’s air holes. He does so, and the creature dies. After that, Fritz saves Marina, who is still determined to see the sea-witch. Fritz once again pleads her not to visit her. But Marina doesn’t take “no” for an answer. Fritz says that he wants to go in with her. But Marina tells Fritz that he’s been through too much danger because of her. She knocks on the door, and a creature that was crawling on it spews out a poison cloud which Marina avoids. Then the door opens, and she swims inside. But then the door slams shut behind her before Fritz could get in with her. And before long, she meets face to face with the sea-witch. Upon their meeting, the sea-witch states that she already knows the reason for Marina’s visit, saying “It’s true that love makes us blind.” But even so, the sea-witch agrees to grant Marina’s wish to become human. However, before she does so, the sea-witch tells her that there is a price to pay; once she’s become human, she can never be a mermaid again. And nor will she see her family ever again. She then questions her “You love him enough to lose all of this? What if he loves you not?” which leaves Marina in deep contemplation. The sea-witch also states that if she is unsuccessful to win the prince’s heart, Marina will die and turn into foam by the morning after the prince’s marriage to another. And lastly, Marina is forced to give up her voice. To this, she asks “How will I be able to speak to the prince without my voice?” to which the sea-witch answers “You can speak to him with your eyes!” The sea-witch then sees that Marina is hesitant to go along with this. But despite her reluctance and uncertainty, Marina begs the sea-witch to grant her wish no matter the consequences. The sea-witch agrees, and gives her a potion that will make her human. But she tells her that she must take it soon or the potion will lose its affect by sunrise the next day. After the discussion is over, the sea-witch allows Marina to go free. But Fritz overheard everything, and is heartbroken by the fact that she lost her voice. Then he breaks out in tears, and states that he doesn’t want Marina to become human. But even so, Marina comforts Fritz as best as she can even without her voice. Marina looks back at the palace, and reflects on the memories she has of her family. She also contemplates the sacrifice she has made, knowing that once she’s become human, she can never return to her family or the life she once had. And then she bids farewell to everything and everybody she’s ever known, and set out to become human.
And so Marina swims her way to the surface, and reluctantly drinks the potion that the sea-witch gave her. Before long, her fish-like tail became human legs. Of course they had to censor certain parts of her body which I won’t go into details with. She passes out and rests unconscious on the shore. But before long, she is found by the prince, who races to her aid and tries to wake her up. Marina is relieved that she is finally with the prince at long last. But she is unable to use her legs as she is not used to having human legs. But the prince helps her up. However, little did they know that an evil cat was watching them (who just so happens to be a pet at the royal palace). And the cat is not too pleased about Marina’s presence, often hissing and snarling at her very presence for no particular reason other than jealousy. Before long, some of the prince’s servants come along, cover up Marina, and help her back into the castle. All the while, the prince ponders “Where could she have come from?” Back inside the castle, the prince’s servant dressed Marina up in one of the prince’s garbs. Then she notices the pearl on her hair. Marina offers it to the servant, but the servant tells her to keep it, saying that she appreciates the offer, but such gifts are too good for the likes of her. The servant then concludes that Marina must come from a royal family as her manners are too appropriate for her to be a commoner. She then comes to the conclusion that Marina must have been onboard a ship that was raided by pirates. And so, Marina and the prince spend time together. And the prince comments “You know, your hair was shorter, we’d look like twins.” Marina smiles. The prince tries to pick up a conversation with her. But she is unable to talk to him due to losing her voice to the sea-witch. The prince then gets the idea that Marina is mute. He then asks if she can write, and encourages her to write something. The prince then tells her that he has the feeling that he has seen her somewhere before, but can’t remember exactly. Marina tries to explain to him what happened earlier. But again, since she is mute, she is unable to tell him the whole story or even the fact that she saved his life. A month has passed, and Marina has found it difficult to adjust to life on the dry land. But even so, she is happy to be with the prince. In one scene, she plays a harp so wonderfully, that the prince comments “Your music has the sound of the sea in it. The gentle rippling of the waves are a calm and beautiful day. And sometimes just the head of a distant storm. You came to me from the sea too. You’re my little mermaid princess.” Marina smiles, and the prince asks “Do you like that name?” And so the prince agrees that that’s what he will call her from now on, saying “It sounds as lovely as you look.” Just then, the prince spots a dolphin. Concerned, Marina races to the scene to see the children throwing rocks at Fritz. Marina and the prince stop them, and Marina comes over to greet Fritz. She hugs him dear to her, and Fritz tells her that he misses him. But as soon as Fritz sees the prince, he hurriedly jumps back into the water and swims away.
The prince asks why she considers the dolphin a friend of hers. But then he says “But then again, I can’t imagine anyone wishing you harm, princess.” The next day, they go horseback riding. And to her complete surprise, Marina turns out being rather good at it. In fact, she’s on par with the prince. But in the midst of their activity, the evil cat from earlier who hates Marina, plans to sabotage the activity. And since they’re in wolf territory, the cat jumps from a tree onto Marina’s horse, and bites him. The horse frantically loses his balance and falls down. And before long, Marina finds herself surrounded by hungry ravenous wolves. Alarmed, Marina makes a run for it as the wolves give chase. The prince, noticing that she’s in danger, races to her rescue, and fights off the wolves by shooting arrows at them, and slashing them with his sword, shouting “Back to the forest, you demons!”. And as he fights off the wolves, the cat is seen hiding from behind a large rock, who says “You won’t take him away from me, little mermaid! You will die even if he must die with you!” Okay, did I say this cat is evil? Well, there’s no doubt about it! This cat is PURE EVIL! Even more so than Lucifer from Cinderella! I mean she hated Marina ever since she first laid eyes on her, and she goes through drastic lengths just to put her through hell! If she was my cat, I would have her put down! And I wouldn’t even shed a tear for her. I mean seriously, this cat must have the soul of a demon to exhibit so much hatred. After killing all the wolves, the prince puts away his sword, and he and Marina share a passionate embrace of relief. But even so, the evil cat is still up to no good. Seriously, this cat can go rot in hell. And so later on, Marina is in the palace garden, where she is seen plucking off petals from a flower, all while quietly saying “He loves me, he loves me not”. But then a bird comes along and takes the flowers away from her before she could reach a definite conclusion. Meanwhile, back at the castle, the lord chamberlain tells the prince that his father wants him to attend a meeting concerning his marriage with a foreign woman who he has no history or chemistry with. The prince does not approve of this, and states that he will attend no such marriage. But the chamberlain declares that he has no choice in the matter, and that the orders of the king are absolute and must be obeyed. Marina overhears this, and is heartbroken. A little bird comes to her side, and tells her not to worry, saying that the prince wouldn’t trade her for another woman. But even that is not enough to reassure her, and she cries at the very thought of losing this opportunity to be with the prince for life. The prince comes to her side, and tells her the news. But then he tells her that the woman he wants to marry is the one who he met on the sea shore. The prince tells her about his near-death experience, and that he was saved by a girl with black hair (which he is totally wrong about considering it was Marina who saved his life and not the other woman). But he says that since he can’t find her and probably won’t know her name, that he wants to marry Marina instead. In the midst of their conversation, they are spied on by the chamberlain and the evil cat. The cat, who is hellbent on getting rid of Marina, reports the conversation to the king and queen, the prince's parents. When the cat spreads false news about Marina manipulating the prince, the queen suspects that Marina has bewitched her son (even though she has no evidence of that. I guess people were pretty superstitious centuries back). And also, I question how the cat is able to talk to humans considering that cats don’t talk in real life. But then again this is an anime. So anything goes. But another good explanation could also be because the cat is possessed by an evil spirit. That’s my theory anyway.
Later, when the ship arrives carrying the princess that the king and queen intend for their son to marry, the king orders Marina to be placed under arrest for treason, much to the dismay of both Marina and the prince. So basically, they forced this marriage upon him rather than letting him make a conscious decision of his own. The next morning, the prince meets the foreign princess and recognizes her as the same raven-haired girl who had supposedly saved him (despite that she really had no part in saving his life other than finding him unconscious on the shore). The prince and princess are soon married, much to the agony and dismay of Marina, who is devastated. After the wedding, the prince, his newly wedded wife, and Marina, all board a ship that takes off to sea for their honey moon. Marina is heartbroken, feeling that all hope is lost, and that all her sacrifices were in vain. As she grieves and agonizes on the deck of the ship, Marina's sisters emerge from the water with half their hair cut off. And no, they're not bald. But the lower part of their hair was removed in exchange for a magical dagger. The sisters tell Marina that all she has to do is kill the prince, and when his blood spills on her, she will turn back into a mermaid and continue life in the sea. Fritz hands her the dagger, and the sisters tell her that she must kill the prince before the sun rises. However, Marina simply can't pull herself to kill the prince after everything she's been through. And instead, she kisses him in his sleep, and tosses the knife into the water as it explodes in a flash of red light, which awakens the prince. Concerned, the prince makes his way up to the deck to find Marina standing on the edge. Feeling that she has nothing left to lose, Marina commits suicide by throwing herself into the ocean, where she drowns herself. And as her body sinks further down into the ocean, she turns into colorful bubbles which then ascend into the sky as the sun rises. The prince then sees that the girl has left behind her pearl hair-pin and a scale from her tail when she was a mermaid. Then he realizes that Marina was the mermaid who saved his life earlier. Devastated and heartbroken, the prince mourns Marina's death as the bubbles float away into the sky. All the while, Fritz cries out her name. The film ends with a live action segment of the ocean, and we see shots of a city in Denmark. Then the narrator concludes the story with a closing narration; "And so, the little mermaid's soul ascended to heaven. And eventually, her soul was allowed to return from heaven to the sea, where it had dissolved into foam with the coming of dawn's first light. From that time on, through her story; the story of her love, and her courage, she has guided the wayward hearts of man. And so she shall... Forever..." And that is the end of the movie.
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