The Little Mermaid

DISCLAIMER: This blog is not for profit. I do not claim ownership of this material - all images and footage used are property of their respective companies unless stated otherwise.

                                                                   

When it comes to Disney movies, you can’t really get much bigger than the Little Mermaid and the movies that immediately followed it – this was the movie that brought Disney back in all its colourful singing glory, the movie that kick started what was arguably Disneys’ greatest era- its impact cannot be denied, but does it live up to its reputation?

In short: absolutely. First of all, this is some of Disney’s best music – all of the Howard Ashman and Alan Menken penned tunes are of course classics and I would argue that they are the film’s greatest assets, with the musical numbers being among the most enjoyable sequences in the film.

Another stand-out aspect in this film is the villain – like many a great Disney baddie before and after, 

Ursula is just so dramatic and so revels in being evil that she is really fun to watch.

As a protagonist, Ariel is actually more than a bit controversial, but I personally really enjoy her as a character. Many argue that her entire goal revolves around Eric and that she doesn’t change or learn anything throughout the story. On that first point, Ariels’ ambition to be human is clearly established before she meets Eric, although he was the final driving factor behind her deal with Ursula later on. The second point is actually true, but really the arc that Triton goes through is enough to balance this issue out overall.

Ariel is really the first interesting Princess in the canon (it took them until 1989, but they got there eventually!). She has a far more dynamic personality than the likes of Snow White or Sleeping Beauty- she’s adventurous, she’s curious and her mistakes make her feel more real and fleshed out than them as well. The only issue with said mistakes is that, as I said, she doesn’t really learn from them, but that’s only really a minor problem with the story.

Something else notable in this movie is the step up in the animation – this is a beautiful film, with fantastic backgrounds and colours on a level not present in the canon since Sleeping Beauty.

Overall, the Little Mermaid is a wonderful film well worth its’ status as one of Disney’s greatest classics.

Ratings

Good guys: Ariel is the best Princess so far and the supporting characters are a lot of fun too, so the good guys get 8/10

Bad guys: As I said, Ursula is a fantastic villain, so the bad guys get 9/10

Animation: Visually Disney’s best film since Sleeping Beauty, the animation gets 10/10

Music: Some of Disney’s best music gets 10/10

Plot: A classic fairy-tale, but with a slightly flawed arc, the plot gets 7/10

Overall Rating: 44/50

Next Review: The Rescuers Down Under