The Little Mermaid

**The Little Mermaid** is a 1989 American animated film directed by John Musker and Ron Clements. It is the first instalment in The Little Mermaid franchise, the twenty-eighth Disney animated feature film and the first released during the Disney Renaissance.

It focuses on a teenage mermaid Princess named Ariel, who dreams of becoming human and falls in love with a human Prince named Eric, which leads her to make a magic deal with the sea witch, Ursula, to become human and be with him.

The film was released on November 17, 1989.

In 2022, The Little Mermaid was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

## Plot

In the kingdom of Atlantica, located under the Atlantic Ocean, Ariel, a 16-year old mermaid princess, is dissatisfied with her underwater life, but is fascinated by the human world. With her best friend Flounder, Ariel visits Scuttle, a seagull who gives Ariel inaccurate information about humans, and collects human artefacts in her grotto. She ignores the warnings of her father King Triton, the ruler of Atlantica, that contact between merpeople and humans is forbidden. One night, Ariel, Flounder, and Sebastian, a crab who serves as Triton's adviser and court composer, travel to the ocean surface to watch a birthday celebration for Prince Eric. Ariel falls in love with Eric after watching him for a while. Suddenly a violent storm arrives, wrecking the ship, and knocking Eric overboard. Ariel rescues Eric and brings him to shore. She sings to him, but leaves just as he regains consciousness to avoid being discovered. Fascinated by the memory of her voice, Eric vows to find the girl who saved and sang to him, and Ariel vows to find a way to join him in his world. Discovering a change in Ariel's behaviour, Triton questions Sebastian about her behaviour and learns of her love for Eric. An outraged Triton travels to Ariel's grotto and destroys her collection of artefacts in a misguided attempt to protect her. After a remorseful Triton leaves, two blue eels named Flotsam and Jetsam convince Ariel to visit Ursula the sea witch, who plans to use Ariel as ransom to get Triton's magical trident.

Ursula makes a deal with Ariel to transform her into a human for three days in exchange for Ariel's voice, which Ursula puts in a nautilus shell. Within these three days, Ariel must receive "True love's kiss" from Eric. If Ariel gets Eric to kiss her, she will remain a human permanently. Otherwise, she will transform back into a mermaid and belong to Ursula. Ariel accepts and is then given human legs and taken to the surface by Flounder and Sebastian. Eric finds Ariel on the beach and takes her to his castle, unaware that she is the one who had rescued him earlier. Ariel spends time with Eric, and at the end of the second day, they almost kiss but are thwarted by Flotsam and Jetsam. Furious at Ariel's close success, Ursula disguises herself as a young woman named Vanessa and appears onshore singing with Ariel's voice. Eric recognizes the song, and Ursula, transformed in Vanessa, casts a hypnotic enchantment on Eric to make him forget about Ariel.

The next day, Ariel discovers that Eric will be married to Vanessa. Scuttle discovers Vanessa's true identity and informs Ariel, who immediately pursues the wedding barge. Sebastian informs Triton, and Scuttle disrupts the wedding with the help of various sea animals. In the chaos, the nautilus shell around Ursula's neck is destroyed, restoring Ariel's voice and breaking Ursula's enchantment over Eric. Realizing that Ariel is the girl who saved his life, Eric rushes to kiss her, but the sun sets and Ariel transforms back into a mermaid and Vanessa transforms back into her true form of Ursula. Ursula then kidnaps Ariel. Triton confronts Ursula and demands Ariel's release, but the deal is inviolable. At Ursula's urging, Triton agrees to take Ariel's place as Ursula's prisoner, giving up his trident. Ariel is released as Triton transforms into a polyp and loses his authority over Atlantica. Ursula declares herself the Queen of the Seven Seas, but before she can use the trident, Eric intervenes with a harpoon. Ursula attempts to kill Eric, but Ariel intervenes, causing Ursula to inadvertently kill Flotsam and Jetsam. Enraged, Ursula spotting the couple as they swim to Eric's boat grows to a monstrous size in a cloud of black ink. Ariel and Eric reunite on the surface just before a gigantic Ursula separates them. She then gains full control of the entire ocean, creating a storm and bringing sunken ships to the surface. Just as Ursula is about to kill Ariel, Eric commandeers a wrecked ship and kills Ursula by impaling her in the abdomen with its splintered bowsprit. With Ursula dead, Triton and the other polyps in Ursula's garden revert to their original forms. Realizing that Ariel truly loves Eric, Triton willingly changes her from a mermaid into a human permanently and approves her marriage to Eric. Ariel and Eric marry on a ship and depart, with all of Ariel's friends and family watching them as well.

## Cast and Characters

* Jodi Benson as Ariel / Vanessa
* Christopher Daniel Barnes as Prince Eric
* Pat Carroll as Ursula
* Kenneth Mars as King Triton
* Samuel E. Wright as Sebastian
* Jason Marin as Flounder
* Buddy Hackett as Scuttle
* Paddi Edwards as Flotsam and Jetsam
* Ben Wright as Sir Grimsby
* Edie McClurg as Carlotta
* Will Ryan as Harold
* René Auberjonois as Chef Louis

## Music

See Also: The Little Mermaid (Soundtrack)

The Little Mermaid was considered by some as "the film that brought Broadway into cartoons". Alan Menken wrote the Oscar-winning score, and collaborated with Howard Ashman on the songs. One of the film's most prominent songs, "Part of Your World," was nearly cut from the film when it seemingly tested poorly with children, who became rowdy during the scene. This caused Jeffrey Katzenberg to feel that the song needed to be cut, an idea that was resisted by Musker, Clements and Keane. Both Musker and Clements cited the similar situation of the song "Over the Rainbow" nearly being cut from 1939's The Wizard of Oz when it was appealing to Katzenberg. Keane pushed for the song to remain until the film was in a more finalized state. During a second test screening, the scene, now colorized and further developed, tested well with a separate child audience, and the musical number was kept.

## Sequels

* The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea (2000)
* The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning (2008)

## Production

### Writing

The Little Mermaid was originally planned as part of one of Walt Disney's earliest feature films, a proposed package film featuring vignettes of Hans Christian Andersen tales. Development started soon after Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in the late 1930s, but was delayed due to various circumstances.

In 1985, Ron Clements became interested in a film adaptation of The Little Mermaid while he was serving as a director on The Great Mouse Detective (1986) alongside John Musker. Clements discovered the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale while browsing through a bookstore. Believing the story provided an "ideal basis" for an animated feature film and keen on creating a film that took place underwater, Clements wrote and presented a two-page treatment of The Little Mermaid at Walt Disney Studios to chief Jeffrey Katzenberg at a "gong show" idea suggestion meeting. Katzenberg passed the project over, because at that time the studio was in development on a sequel to their live-action mermaid comedy Splash (1984) and felt The Little Mermaid would be too similar a project. The next day, however, Katzenberg approved of the idea for possible development, along with Oliver & Company. While in production in the 1980s, the staff found, by chance, original story and visual development work done by Kay Nielsen for Disney's proposed 1930s Andersen feature. Many of the changes made by the staff in the 1930s to Hans Christian Andersen's original story were coincidentally the same as the changes made by Disney writers in the 1980s.

That year, Clements and Musker expanded the two-page idea into a 20-page rough script, eliminating the role of the mermaid's grandmother and expanding the roles of the Merman King and the sea witch. However, the film's plans were momentarily shelved as Disney focused its attention on Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Oliver & Company as more immediate releases. In 1987, songwriter Howard Ashman became involved with the writing and development of The Little Mermaid after he was asked to contribute a song to Oliver & Company. He proposed changing the minor character Clarence, the English-butler crab, to a Jamaican crab and shifting the music style throughout the film to reflect this. At the same time, Katzenberg, Clements, Musker, and Ashman revised the story format to make The Little Mermaid a musical with a Broadway-style story structure, with the song sequences serving as the tentpoles of the film. Ashman and composer Alan Menken, both noted for their work as the writers of the successful Off-Broadway stage musical Little Shop of Horrors, teamed up to compose the entire song score. In 1988, with Oliver & Company out of the way, The Little Mermaid was slated as the next major Disney release.

### Animation

More money and resources were dedicated to The Little Mermaid than any other Disney animated film in decades. Aside from its main animation facility in Glendale, California, Disney opened a satellite feature animation facility during the production of The Little Mermaid in Lake Buena Vista, Florida (near Orlando, Florida), within Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park at Walt Disney World. Opening in 1989, the Disney-MGM facility's first projects were to produce an entire Roger Rabbit cartoon short, Roller Coaster Rabbit, and to contribute ink and paint support to The Little Mermaid. Another first for recent years was the filming of live actors and actresses for motion reference material for the animators, a practice used frequently for many of the Disney animated features produced under Walt Disney's supervision. Sherri Lynn Stoner, a former member of Los Angeles' Groundlings improvisation comedy group, and Joshua Finkel, a Broadway actor, performed key scenes as Ariel and Eric respectively. Jodi Benson had already been cast as Ariel's voice actor by this time, and her recorded dialogue was used as playback to guide these live-action references. Before Benson was cast, Melissa Fahn was considered for the part.

The Little Mermaid's supervising animators included Glen Keane and Mark Henn on Ariel, Duncan Marjoribanks on Sebastian, Andreas Deja on King Triton, and Ruben Aquino on Ursula. Originally, Keane had been asked to work on Ursula, as he had established a reputation for drawing large, powerful figures, such as the bear in The Fox and the Hound (1981) and Professor Ratigan in The Great Mouse Detective (1986). Keane, however, was assigned as one of the two lead artists on the petite Ariel and oversaw the "Part of Your World" musical number. He jokingly stated that his wife looks exactly like Ariel "without the fins." The character's body type and personality were based upon those of Alyssa Milano, then starring on TV's Who's the Boss? and the effect of her hair underwater was based on both footage of Sally Ride when she was in space, and scenes of Stoner in a pool for guidance in animating Ariel's swimming.

The underwater setting required the most special effects animation for a Disney animated feature since Fantasia in 1940. Effects animation supervisor Mark Dindal estimated that over a million bubbles were drawn for this film, in addition to the use of other processes such as airbrushing, backlighting, superimposition, and some computer animation. The artistic manpower needed for The Little Mermaid required Disney to farm out most of the underwater bubble effects animation in the film to Pacific Rim Productions, a China-based firm with production facilities in Beijing. An attempt to use Disney's famed multiplane camera for the first time in years for quality "depth" shots failed because the machine was reputedly in dilapidated condition. The multiplane shots were instead photographed at an outside animation camera facility.

The Little Mermaid was the last Disney feature film in the canon to use the traditional hand-painted cel method of animation (the Disneytoon Studios film DuckTales the Movie also used cels), as well as the last Disney traditionally cel animated feature film directed by Clements and Musker. Disney's next film, The Rescuers Down Under, used a digital method of colouring and combining scanned drawings developed for Disney by Pixar called CAPS/ink & paint (Computer Animation Production System), which would eliminate the need for cels, the multiplane camera, and many of the optical effects used for the last time in The Little Mermaid. Clements and Musker's next film, Aladdin, also used digital colouring via CAPS. A CAPS/ink & paint prototype was used experimentally on a few scenes in The Little Mermaid, and one shot produced using CAPS/ink & paint—the penultimate shot in the film, of Ariel and Eric's wedding ship sailing away under a rainbow—appears in the finished film. Computer-generated imagery was used to create some of the wrecked ships in the final battle, a staircase behind a shot of Ariel in Eric's castle, and the carriage Eric and Ariel are riding in when she bounces it over a ravine. These objects were animated using 3D wireframe models, which were plotted as line art to cels and painted traditionally. The film being both the first film of the Disney Renaissance and the last to use the xerography technology used since 1961 with One Hundred and One Dalmatians made it somewhat of a transitional film between the two Disney eras.

### Casting

The design of the villainous Ursula was based upon drag performer Divine. An additional early inspiration before Divine was Joan Collins in her role as Alexis Carrington in the television series Dynasty, due to a suggestion from Howard Ashman, who was a fan of the series. Pat Carroll was not Clements and Musker's first choice to voice Ursula; the original script had been written with Bea Arthur of the Disney-owned TV series The Golden Girls in mind. After Arthur turned the part down, actresses such as Nancy Marchand, Nancy Wilson, Roseanne, Charlotte Rae, Jennifer Saunders and Elaine Stritch were considered for the part. Stritch was eventually cast as Ursula, but clashed with Howard Ashman's style of music production and was replaced by Carroll. Various actors auditioned for additional roles in the film, including Jim Carrey for the role of Prince Eric, and comedians Bill Maher and Michael Richards for the role of Scuttle.

## Release

The film was originally released on November 17, 1989, followed by a re-release on November 14, 1997. After the success of the 3D re-release of The Lion King, Disney announced a 3D re-release of The Little Mermaid scheduled for September 13, 2013, but this was cancelled on January 14, 2013, due to the under-performances of other Disney 3D re-releases until further notice. The 3D version was released on Blu-ray instead, but it did play a limited engagement at the El Capitan Theatre from September to October 2013. On September 20, 2013, The Little Mermaid began playing in select theatres where audiences could bring iPads and use an app called Second Screen Live. AMC Theatres screened the movie from September 6–12, 2019. The film was also screened out of competition at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival.

### Home Media

In a then-atypical and controversial move for a new Disney animated film, The Little Mermaid was released as part of the Walt Disney Classics line of VHS, LaserDisc, Betamax and Video 8 home media releases on May 18, 1990, six months after the release of the film. Before The Little Mermaid, only a select number of Disney's catalogue animated films had been released to home media, as the company was afraid of upsetting its profitable practice of theatrically reissuing each film every few years. The Little Mermaid became that year's top-selling title on home video, with over 10 million units sold (including 7 million in its first month) and 13 million units by October 1993. The home video release, along with box office and merchandise sales, contributed to The Little Mermaid generating a total revenue of $1 billion. This success led to future Disney animated films being released on home video soon after the end of their theatrical runs, rather than delayed for several years, making The Little Mermaid the first Disney animated feature to be released on home video 1 year after its theatrical release.

Following The Little Mermaid's November 14, 1997 re-release in theatres, a new VHS version was released on March 31, 1998, as part of the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection and included a bonus music video of Jodi Benson singing "Part of Your World" during the end credits, replacing "Under the Sea" as the end credits song. The VHS sold 13 million units and ranked as the third best-selling video of the year.

The Little Mermaid was released in a "bare-bones" Walt Disney Limited Issue DVD on December 7, 1999, with a standard video transfer. The film was re-released on DVD on October 3, 2006, as part of the Walt Disney Platinum Editions of features, alongside the music video for the cover version of "Kiss The Girl" performed by Ashley Tisdale. Deleted scenes and several in-depth documentaries were included, as well as an Academy Award-nominated short film intended for the shelved Fantasia 2006, The Little Matchgirl. The DVD sold 1.6 million units on its first day of release, and over 4 million units during its first week, making it the biggest animated DVD debut for October. By the year's end, the DVD had sold about 7 million units and was one of the year's top 10 selling DVDs. The Walt Disney Platinum Edition DVD was released as part of a "Little Mermaid Trilogy" boxed set on December 16, 2008. The Walt Disney Platinum Edition of the film, along with its sequels, went on moratorium in January 2009. The film was re-released on a 3-disc Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy combo, a 2-disc Blu-ray/DVD combo and 3D Blu-ray on October 1, 2013, as part of the Walt Disney Diamond Edition line. The Little Mermaid was re-released on HD and 4K digital download on February 12, 2019, with a physical media re-release on Blu-ray and Ultra HD Blu-ray on February 26, 2019, as part of the Walt Disney Signature Collection of the film's 30th anniversary.

A sing-along version of the film was released on Disney+ July 22, 2022.

## Reception

### Critical Response

Review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes reported that the film has a 93% approval score based on 71 reviews and an average rating of 8.2 out of 10. The site's consensus reads "The Little Mermaid ushered in a new golden era for Disney animation with warm and charming hand-drawn characters and catchy musical sequences." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 88 out of 100 based on 24 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times was enthusiastic about the film, writing, "The Little Mermaid is a jolly and inventive animated fantasy, a movie that's so creative and so much fun it deserves comparison with the best Disney work of the past." Ebert also commented positively on the character of Ariel, stating she "is a fully realized female character who thinks and acts independently, even rebelliously, instead of hanging around passively while the fates decide her destiny." Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune wrote, "While the story won't win any prizes from the women's liberation movement, the animation is so full and colourful and the songs so beguiling that this is a case of where someone made one like they used to. The drawing of the evil octopus witch who is jealous of the mermaid's singing voice is particularly outstanding." Janet Maslin of The New York Times praised the film as a "marvel of skilful animation, witty song writing and smart planning. It is designed to delight filmgoers of every conceivable stripe... Adults will be charmed by the film's bright, outstandingly pretty look and by its robust score. Small children will be enchanted by the film's sunniness and by its perfect simplicity."

Variety magazine praised the film for its cast of characters, Ursula in particular, as well as its animation, stating that the animation "proves lush and fluid, augmented by the use of shadow and light as elements like fire, sun and water illuminate the characters." They also praised the musical collaboration between Howard Ashman and Alan Menken "whose songs frequently begin slowly but build in cleverness and intensity." During the film's 1997 re-release, Hal Hinson of The Washington Post wrote a mixed review, referring to it as a "likably unspectacular adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen classic."

The staff of TV Guide wrote a positive review, praising the film's return to the traditional Disney musical as well as the film's animation. Yet they also wrote that the film is detracted from by the juvenile humor and the human characters' eyes. While still giving a positive review, they stated that the film "can't compare to the real Disney classics (which appealed equally to both kids and adults)." Todd Gilchrist of IGN wrote a positive review of the film, stating that the film is "an almost perfect achievement." Gilchrist also praised how the film revived interest in animation as it was released at a time when interest in animation was at a lull. Empire gave a positive review of the film, stating that "[The Little Mermaid is] a charmer of a movie, boasting all the ingredients that make a Disney experience something to treasure yet free of all the politically correct, formulaic elements that have bogged down the more recent productions."

In April 2008 – 19 years after the film's initial release in 1989 – Yahoo! users voted The Little Mermaid as No. 14 on the top 30 animated films of all time. In June, that same year, the film remained on the list but dropped six slots to end at #20. (Only three other traditionally animated Disney animated films - Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, and The Lion King, respectively - scored above it in the poll even after the update.) In 2011, Richard Corliss of Time magazine named it one of "The 25 All-TIME Best Animated Films".

### Box Office

Early in the production of The Little Mermaid, Jeffrey Katzenberg cautioned Clements, Musker, and their staff, telling them that since The Little Mermaid was a "girl's film", it would make less money at the box office than Oliver & Company, which had been Disney's biggest animated box office success in a decade. However, by the time the film was closer to completion, Katzenberg was convinced The Little Mermaid would be a hit and the first animated feature to earn more than $100 million in its initial run and become a "blockbuster" film.

During its original 1989 theatrical release, The Little Mermaid made $6.1 million in its opening weekend, ranking in third place behind Harlem Nights and Look Who's Talking. Throughout this run, it earned $84.4 million at the North American box office, falling short of Katzenberg's expectations but earning 64% more than Oliver & Company and becoming the animated film with the highest gross from its initial run. The film was theatrically reissued on November 14, 1997, on the same day as Anastasia, a Don Bluth animated feature for Fox Animation Studios. For this release, it ranked in third place behind The Jackal and Starship Troopers, collecting $9.8 million during its first weekend. The reissue brought $27.2 million in additional gross. The film also drew $123 million in box office earnings outside the United States and Canada between both releases, resulting in a total international box office figure of $235 million.

### Controversy

#### Sexual Interpretations

Controversy arose regarding the artwork for the film's original VHS release when consumers noticed an oddly shaped structure on the castle, closely resembling a human penis. Disney and the cover designer insist it was an accident, resulting from a late night rush job to finish the cover artwork. The object does not appear on the cover of the second release of the movie.

Another allegation is that the clergyman presiding over the wedding between Eric and Ursula (the latter disguised as Vanessa) is seen to have an erection. The object in question is actually the short, stubby-legged man's knee.

The combined incidents led an Arkansas woman to file suit against The Walt Disney Company in 1995, though she dropped the suit two months later.

#### Retrospectives on the Depiction of Consent and Empowerment

In 2018, an all-male Princeton a capella choir, the Tigertones, was criticized for using the song Kiss the Girl, and in particular the way their performance played into the lyrics. The film depicts a mute female character in a romantic setting with a male character, while the lyrics encourage him to kiss her. The Tigertones would bring on stage two unsuspecting members of the audience, one man and one woman, and encouraged them to kiss. Critics have raised issues of informed consent being at stake, as well as toxic masculinity. Comparisons were also drawn to other Disney animated films that provoked similar arguments, such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, wherein the prince kisses an unconscious Snow White. Some Princeton students told The New York Times that the lyrics were not troubling, but the Tigertones choosing people at random was.

Also in 2018, actor Keira Knightly said she would not permit her 3-year-old to watch Disney films, including Cinderella and The Little Mermaid, saying, "This is the one that I'm quite annoyed about, because I really like the film, but Little Mermaid, I mean, the songs are great, but do not give your voice up for a man. Hello."

## Awards and Nominations

### American Film Institute

* 2002: AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions (Nominated)
* 2003: AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains - Ursula (Nominated Villain)
* 2004: AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs - "Under the Sea" (Nominated)
* 2006: AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals (Nominated)
* 2008: AFI's 10 Top 10 (Nominated Animation Film)