The Little Mermaid (1989 film)

***The Little Mermaid*** is a 1989 American animated musical romantic fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and Walt Disney Pictures. The 28th Disney animated feature film and the first film in *The Little Mermaid* franchise, it is loosely based on the Danish fairy tale of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen. The film tells the story of a mermaid Princess named Ariel who dreams of becoming human and falls in love with a human prince named Eric. Written and directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, with music by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman (who also served as co-producer alongside John Musker), and art direction by Michael Peraza Jr. and Donald A. Towns, the film features the voices of Jodi Benson, Christopher Daniel Barnes, Pat Carroll, Samuel E. Wright, Jason Marin, Kenneth Mars, Buddy Hackett, and René Auberjonois.

*The Little Mermaid* was released to theaters on November 17, 1989 to critical acclaim, earning praise for the animation, music, and characters. It was also a commercial success, garnering $84 million at the domestic box office during its initial release, and $233 million in total lifetime gross worldwide. After the success of the 1986 Disney animated film *The Great Mouse Detective* and the 1988 Disney/Amblin live-action/animated film *Who Framed Roger Rabbit*, *The Little Mermaid* is given credit for breathing life back into the art of Disney animated feature films after a string of critical or commercial failures produced by Disney that dated back to the early 1970s. It also marked the start of the era known as the Disney Renaissance. The film won two Academy Awards for Best Original Score and Best Original Song ("Under the Sea").

The film's success lead to a stage adaptation with a book by Doug Wright and additional songs by Alan Menken and new lyricist Glenn Slater opened in Denver in July 2007 and began performances on Broadway January 10, 2008 starring Sierra Boggess. Other derived works and material inspired by the movie, include a live-action film adaptation, directed by Rob Marshall, currently in development, and a 2019 live musical presentation of the film airing on ABC as part of *The Wonderful World of Disney*.

## Plot

Ariel is a 16-year-old mermaid Princess in the kingdom of Atlantica, in the Atlantic Ocean. She is fascinated by the human world above. She ventures out with her best friend Flounder to collect human artifacts in her grotto and often goes to the surface of the ocean to visit Scuttle, a seagull who offers inaccurate knowledge of human culture. She swims back to Atlantica and is watched by two eels named Flotsam and Jetsam under orders from Ursula the sea witch. Ariel ignores the warnings of her father King Triton, the ruler of Atlantica, and Sebastian, a crab who serves as Triton's adviser and court composer, that contact with humans is forbidden.

One night, Ariel, Flounder, and an unwilling Sebastian travel to the surface to watch a celebration for Prince Eric's birthday on a ship. Ariel instantly falls in love with Eric. Shortly afterward, a violent storm arrives, which wrecks the ship and tosses Eric overboard. Ariel rescues him 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; Ariel vows to find a way to join him in his world. Noticing a change in Ariel's behavior, Triton questions Sebastian and learns of her love for Eric. Triton confronts Ariel in her grotto and destroys the artifacts she collected with his trident. After Triton leaves, Ariel begins weeping. Flotsam and Jetsam convince her to visit Ursula.

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 the "kiss of true love" from Eric to remain a human permanently. Otherwise, she will transform back into a mermaid and belong to Ursula. Ariel accepts and is given human legs and taken to the surface by Flounder and Sebastian. Unbeknownst to Ariel, Ursula, who harbors a secret vendetta against King Triton, plans to use her as a bargaining chip and take over the kingdom. 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. Angered at Ariel's near success, Ursula disguises herself as a beautiful young woman named Vanessa and appears onshore singing with Ariel's voice. Eric recognizes the song and, in her disguise, Ursula casts a hypnotic enchantment on Eric to make him forget about Ariel and marry Vanessa instead.

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. While Sebastian informs Triton, Scuttle disrupts the wedding with the help of various sea animals. Through all of the commotion the nautilus shell around Ursula's neck breaks, which restores Ariel's voice back to her and breaks 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. Ursula then reveals herself and kidnaps Ariel. Triton confronts Ursula and demands Ariel's release. However, the deal is inviolable; Triton makes a new deal to take Ariel's place as Ursula's servant by giving up his trident in order to save his daughter. Ariel is released as Triton transforms into a polyp and loses his authority over Atlantica. Ursula declares herself the new ruler, but before she can use the trident, Ariel confronts Ursula and attacks her, and Eric intervenes with a harpoon and hurts Ursula. Ursula attempts to kill Eric, but Ariel intervenes and causes Ursula to inadvertently kill Flotsam and Jetsam. As Ariel hurries to join Eric, the enraged Ursula uses the trident to grow to a monstrous size.

Ariel and Eric reunite on the surface just before Ursula grows past and towers over them. She then gains full control of the entire ocean, creating a storm and bringing sunken ships to the surface. As Ursula is about to destroy Ariel with the trident, Eric steers a wrecked ship and kills Ursula by impaling her with its splintered bowsprit. With Ursula dead, Triton and the other polyps in Ursula's garden revert to their original forms. Realizing that Ariel loves Eric, Triton changes her from a mermaid into a human permanently and approves her marriage to Eric. At the wedding, Ariel and Eric marry on a ship and depart.

## Voice cast

* Jodi Benson as Princess Ariel, the 16-year-old mermaid princess of Atlantica who is fascinated with humans, especially Prince Eric.

* Benson also voices Vanessa, Ursula's human alter ego

* Christopher Daniel Barnes as Prince Eric, a human prince saved by Ariel and is determined to find and marry her.
* Pat Carroll as Ursula, a sea witch who stole Ariel's voice and is determined to ruin her attempts to get Eric to love her.
* Samuel E. Wright as Sebastian, a worrisome Jamaican crab who serves as King Triton's advisor and court composer.
* Jason Marin as Flounder, Ariel's fish best friend.
* Kenneth Mars as King Triton, Ariel's father and the ruler of Atlantica who despises humans.
* Buddy Hackett as Scuttle, a dimwitted seagull who shares Ariel's fascination with humans and teaches her about "human stuff".
* Paddi Edwards as Flotsam and Jetsam, Ursula's symbiotic and insidious pet eels.
* Ben Wright as Grimsby, Eric's loyal valet.
* Edie McClurg as Carlotta, Eric's maid.
* Kimmy Robertson as Andrina, Arista, Adela and Alana, four of Ariel's sisters.
* Caroline Vasicek as Aquata and Attina, two more of Ariel's sisters.
* Will Ryan as Harold, a seahorse and Triton's herald.
* René Auberjonois as Chef Louis, Eric's mad chef who attempts to cook Sebastian, but fails.

## Songs

1. Fathoms Below - Disney Chorus
2. Daughters of Triton - Disney Chorus
3. Part of Your World - Jodi Benson
4. Under the Sea - Samuel E. Wright
5. Part of Your World Reprise - Jodi Benson
6. Poor Unfortunate Souls - Pat Carroll
7. Kiss the Girl - Samuel E. Wright
8. Les Poissons - René Auberjonois
9. Vanessa's Song - Jodi Benson
10. Happy Ending - Disney Chorus

## Trivia

* This was a first movie of the Disney renaissance.
* Another *The Little Mermaid* film had been planned as the next film after *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs*. Production started soon after *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs* but was put on hold due to various circumstances. While this film was in production in the 1980s, someone found Walt's Mermaid script by chance. Many of his changes to Hans Christian Andersen's original story were coincidentally the same as the changes made by Disney writers in the 1980s.
* Glen Keane, the supervising animator for Ariel, jokingly stated on the *100 Greatest Cartoons* DVD that Ariel looks exactly like his wife "without the fins." The character's body shape and personality were based upon that of Alyssa Milano, then starring on TV's *Who's the Boss?*; the effect of her hair underwater was based on footage of Sally Ride when she was in space, and her live-action reference model was Sherri Stoner.
* When Scuttle is providing "vocal romantic stimulation" while Eric and Ariel are out on the lagoon, he is actually squawking his own version of Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet".
* A number of backgrounds used during the "Kiss the Girl" number were recycled from Disney's earlier film *The Rescuers*.
* The dress Carlotta wears is a larger version of the one used by Cinderella in *Cinderella*.
* The film ranks as #51 of the 100 Greatest Cartoons as voted in Great Britain.
* Near the start of the film when King Triton is seen riding a dolphin-pulled chariot over an audience of merfolk, Kermit the Frog, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy can be seen in the audience.
* Ursula's design was based off the famous drag queen, Divine.
* In the contract Ursula has Ariel sign, if one were to pause as the camera pans down, one could see a Hidden Mickey between a bunch of jumbled letters.
* During Scuttle's disruption of the wedding between Eric and Vanessa, The Grand Duke and King from *Cinderella* can be seen standing together in the background.
* In transformation scenes in *The Little Mermaid* franchise, one only sees the mermaid to human transition, where the tail splits in half with each becoming a leg. In this film, we see that happen to Ariel when Ursula turns her into a human. In the sequel (*The Little Mermaid II*), the same thing happens to Ariel's daughter, Melody, when Ursula's younger sister Morgana's magic from a bottle wears out on her, while she was trapped in an ice cave with a much older Flounder. We never see these transitions the other way around. In the original movie, during Prince Eric and Vanessa's wedding scene when Ariel is about to kiss Eric, Ariel only jerks upward in pain and slips down on the deck (she is only shown to the waist). A clip later, her tail is shown having just transformed under her dress. In the sequel, when Melody is transformed, her feet are covered in swirling green lights before her tail pops out.
* In the scene after Ursula is destroyed, Ariel's pose as she looks longingly at Eric bears resemblance to the famous statue of Andersen's Little Mermaid in Copenhagen (sculpted by Edward Eriksen).
* According to the DVD commentary, the shark that chases Ariel and Flounder at the beginning is named Glut, and he was planned to return for a rematch with Flounder later on.
* In the video game series *Kingdom Hearts*, Ariel and Mulan are the only official Disney Princesses featured in the game who are not of the fabled Princesses of Heart. Strangely, Alice of *Alice in Wonderland* is featured as a Princess of Heart, while unlike Ariel, is not a princess.
* The color that Disney Imagineers created for Ariel's tail was, in fact, created just for the movie and was aptly called "Ariel".
* On the main menu (disc 1) of *Finding Nemo*, one of the things Dory says is, "I'm so excited! I've always wanted to see *The Little Mermaid*!"
* When this film was re-released in theatres in 1998, some of the foreign translations were redubbed. Some original dubs were restored later (like French original dub, restored for the 2006 DVD edition).
* The first ever Russian dub of this film was made in 2006. Prior to this, one male voice was dubbed on top of the English version.
* The final defeat of Ursula is very similar to the climax of Howard Philips Lovecraft's short story, "The Call of Cthulhu". Cthulhu is also a giant human-octopus hybrid (although his overall appearance is closer to that of Davy Jones) who is also vanquished by the prow of a ship being rammed into him.
* The original story did not have a happy ending. Walt Disney himself believed the original ending to Hans Christian Andersen's version to be too depressing and altered it. In the original version, after having her tongue cut out, the Little Mermaid does not marry the Prince but is instead offered the opportunity to slay him and return to life as a mermaid. Her refusal to do so is an act of true love, and thus she is turned into sea-foam – the manner in which merfolk die. Her 6 sisters offered their long, beautiful hair to the Sea Witch in an effort to allow their sister the opportunity to gain a soul. In exchange for their gorgeous hair (which mermaids are also known for) the Sea Witch allows the Little Mermaid to be reborn as a Sylph (an aerial spirit with an immortal soul devoted to helping children, and who herself will one day enter heaven).
* In the Norwegian version, Ursula was voiced by Frøydis Armand and Sebastian was voiced by Helge Jordal. The two actors were married at the time and had one child.
* It should be noted that *The Little Mermaid* is considered to be a transitional film; it was one of the last Disney movies use xerography and the first movie to introduce the CAPS system.
* This film is the only Disney one that Howard Ashman was alive to see fully finished. Ashman died during production of *Beauty and the Beast* and *Aladdin*.
* This is the last Disney film to have the 1985 Walt Disney Pictures logo in the theatrical release and 1990 home video release and the first Disney film to have the 1990 Walt Disney Pictures logo, which appeared in the theatrical trailer, the 1997-1998 re-release, 1998 home video release, 1999 DVD release, and 2006 Platinum Edition release.
* The 1998 VHS release of this film is the first one to have a music video during the credits. It depicts Jodi Benson, the voice of Ariel, on a beach, and, at the beginning and end of the video, the camera is moved over a live-action ocean. The second and third were *Recess: School's Out* and *Piglet's Big Movie*.
* This is the first Disney film to have music by Alan Menken.
* This is the first entry of the Disney Renaissance.
* This was the first Read-Along version to be narrated by Roy Dotrice.
* This is one of the most popular Disney movies on "Marine Day" in Japan, because of Ariel herself being a mermaid.