The Little Mermaid

Everyone loves an underdog story and "The Little Mermaid" may not be considered such a narrative but the story of its production is. In the early 80's, the Disney Animation department was kicked out of its own building on the studio lot that was built back in 1939. Many of the animators found themselves in trailers in a former parking lot. Thankfully, Disney-style animation was on people's minds again thanks to "Who Framed Roger Rabbit". Before that, "The Great Mouse Detective" and "Oliver & Company" performed reasonably well at the box office themselves but not all film critics were won over. It was into this setting that Ron Clements and John Musker (who helped to direct "The Great Mouse Detective") along with two songwriters created one of the most important animated films in history. You can trace the triumphs of not only Disney over the next two decades back to this movie, but also those of Pixar and DreamWorks Animation Studios. I can't say that "The Little Mermaid" is a favorite of mine but there are a lot of good things about it; the most important is that Broadway and animation were combined together almost seamlessly.

Everything is this movie is very well done but it is geared towards a certain audience. Women and young girls will like this movie a lot because of the characters and conflicts but male members of the audience don't have much they can relate to. Walt Disney was able to entertain his whole audience with many of the films he made personally. It wasn't just Snow White for instance; it was "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs". With "The Little Mermaid", the studio dialed in a lot of elements and employed just the right people to create something new and modern but this was only their first major success as a unit. It wasn't until "Beauty and the Beast" where the Disney studio figured out how to perfect their craft and appeal to every person in the audience. In that film, the protagonists are both Belle and the Beast. In "The Little Mermaid", Prince Eric (even though he is introduced first) doesn't get as much story time as a leading man should. He appears to have a similar role to that of Prince Philip in "Sleeping Beauty". As a result, one demographic can't relate to the story as much as the other as mentioned. At least the love that develops between Ariel and Eric feels natural. After saving Eric, Ariel vows to find a way to be with him. Eric as well becomes obsessed with the mystery girl that disappeared as he came to. As with "The Great Mouse Detective" however, there is a scene in the movie that feels too coincidental. I don't quite buy the fact that Eric happens to be on the beach at the same time that Ariel washes ashore. That is a minor note though because I understand that the filmmakers needed to get Ariel into Eric's castle in order for their relationship to grow. With Ariel as a human and without a voice however, the reset button has been pressed on that relationship. Eric thinks Ariel is someone else and Ariel is in a position where she can't tell him the truth. During her time with Eric, Ariel's infatuation becomes more genuine. From Eric's perspective, he is charmed by her beauty immediately but then begins to fall for Ariel's spunk and naivety. Eric's obsession with his mystery rescuer begins to fade and on the night of the second day, Eric decides to give up his obsession. Ariel appears to have all the qualities of his dream girl minus the voice. Unfortunately, this is the exact moment when Ursula lays her trap. Once Ariel gets her voice back and Eric's hypnosis is lifted, he realizes that Ariel has to be The One. What makes the moment all the better is that their relationship is strong. Eric for example got to know Ariel without the knowledge that he was his dream girl all along.

A few characters in this movie undergo an emotional change in this film. Sebastian plays in important role in the film, whether he is trying to hold Ariel back or help her achieve her dream. He sides with the Sea King on the issue of Ariel as Triton's advisor at the start of the show but doesn't tell the King anything he doesn't need to know, probably to stay out of trouble. That is why he keeps secret the grotto and especially the fact that Ariel saved a human. He tries to change Ariel's mind on his own but he accidently spills the beans to Triton anyways. He is against Ariel's deal with Ursula because obviously it is designed for Ariel to fail. Once the damage is done though, he realizes that the best thing for Ariel is for her to win Eric's heart. After spending so much time chasing after the mermaid, he understands that even in the unlikely scenario that Ursula returns Ariel to normal that Ariel would never be happy again. That is something that Sebastian doesn't want to happen, even if it goes against Triton. It's only when the Sea Witch interferes that Sebastian reports to the Sea King. It now has become obvious that the Ursula has something larger planned. I think the biggest reason why Sebastian is trying to hold Ariel back from her dream is for comedic purposes. His change of heart is not as dramatic as King Triton himself. As a seven year old when I first saw "The Little Mermaid", he came across to me as quite intimidating. Now that I'm older and wiser, I can see he has great love for Ariel but his fear and misgivings get in the way of him becoming a good father. In their first argument, Triton only seems to lose his temper once Ariel talks back to him. He only comes across as impatient and frustrated. You also sense the fear in his voice when talking about humans. He truly loves his daughter but his flaw is not listening to her or trying to understand her. He's also got the wrong idea about humans. On one hand, Triton's stance isn't crazy because humans endanger his subjects by hunting fish. On the other hand, he judges all humans as incapable of being civilized because of their fishing. Ariel may be the one to enlighten him but the more authoritative Triton is with her, the more he pushes her away. It is important to note that Triton feels remorse after every argument. This is vital to accepting his eventual change of heart. Ariel may be his first daughter to show a huge interest in the human world and he is having trouble dealing with her fascination. Ariel is a realistic teenage girl and is just as curious and independent. I think Ariel's desire to be a part of the human world stems from her father's indifference. If he showed more interest, Ariel may have been content with just her collection in the gotto instead of wanting to be with humans. Her troubles at home cause her to escape to a different place. After falling in love with Eric, Ariel isn't afraid or resentful of her father as long as he doesn't find out. She doesn't have a problem with her father personally, just his view on humans. When Triton does find out, he handles the situation in completely the wrong way by destroying her collection. This causes Ariel to turn to Ursula. By the time he finds his daughter in the hands of the Sea Witch, Triton will do anything to bring her home and that includes surrendering his freedom and crown. Eric is able to indirectly show Triton the good of humanity. Eric saves Ariel and destroys Ursula in the process. This in turn restores all the polyps to their original forms, including Triton himself. Triton almost lost his daughter because of his flaws and the events the climax ultimately humbles his heart.

As mentioned, I enjoy the story of the making of a movie because it tends to make it more sentimental. At first, Disney CEO Jeffery Katzenberg passed on the idea of adapting "The Little Mermaid" but then changed his mind the next day. Another event that pushed the project into further development was the discovery in the Disney archives of a treatment from the 1930's for a possible animated adaptation of "The Little Mermaid". What made this significant was that many of the story changes proposed in the 30's were coincidentally the same as were currently being proposed in the 80's. The final story crafted is quite different from Hans Christian Anderson's tale. The ending of the original 1837 book for example has the Little Mermaid die. This movie wouldn't have been nearly as special without the involvement of Broadway director/lyricist Howard Ashman and Off-Broadway composer Alan Menken. This was their first film for Disney but not their first project together. For "The Little Shop of Horrors", they both earned an Oscar nomination. Ashman also served as a producer on "The Little Mermaid" by the way and his greatest contribution to the movie besides the lyrics of the songs in my opinion was the suggestion of giving Sebastian a Caribbean accent. This in turn brought about a change in the style of the songs. Ashman, along with others in charge of the film began to restructure the story like a Broadway musical in which the songs move the story forward. An important fact that has become lost in the decades since the release of this film is that in a musical, the songs are not to be the focus of the film. As good as they are, the songs must help to tell the story and are therefore not as important as the narrative being told. Despite this, "Part of Your World" was almost cut from the film because Katzenberg didn't like the audience response after a test screening but most of the crew fought the decision. A second screening convinced Katzenberg otherwise becasuse that test audience starting responding positively once color and more animation work had been applied. It is quite horrific to hear this behind-the-scenes story because you can't imagine the film without that song/sequence. I liken the song unto "Over the Rainbow" from "The Wizard of Oz". Sebastian sings my favorite songs in the film such as the upbeat "Under the Sea" and romantic "Kiss the Girl". I also get a kick out of "Les Poissons". Because of the successes of the live action film "Splash" in the early 80's and "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", "The Little Mermaid" was given more resources than usual for the time (albeit the film was made off the studio lot as mentioned). Speaking of "Splash", Ariel's hair is red in order to differentiate her from Madison the mermaid. King Triton seems modeled after the Greek god, Poseidon. Ariel's transformation scene from mermaid to human was handled conservatively enough because of the editing and lighting but when Ariel is learning to stand, I felt some of those shots could have been less risqué.

The characters, and the actors and animators who brought them to life, deserved to be mentioned. Jodi Benson had worked with Ashman before and I believe her performance ushered in a new kind of Disney Princess. Past female heroines that the studio had produced previous to the 80's had independence and strength such as Cinderella but Ariel is more realistic and contemporary. Animators Mark Henn and Glen Keane took inspiration from numerous sources including Alyssa Milano, then acting on TV's "Who's the Boss?" An interesting challenge for these animators is that for much of the film, they are working with a mute character. It is in these moments that Ariel's facial acting becomes quite impressive. Henn and Keane would later animate Belle and the Beast respectively by the way. This movie has funny moments and Sebastian was my source for humor in this film. Scuttle was too annoying for me. You can't imagine anyone else besides Samuel E. Wright as the voice of that crab. I really love his line: "What would her father say? I'll tell you what her father'd say. He'd say he's gonna kill himself a crab, that's what her father'd say!" In terms of those considered for other roles in the movie, I can see Bea Arthur as Ursula but not Roseanne. Amazingly, a then-unknown Jim Carrey auditioned to voice Eric and Michael Richards (pre-"Seinfeld") tried out for the role of Scuttle. It is hard to argue the casting of famous comedian Buddy Hackett as the seagull, despite the fact I didn't find him all that funny. Ben Wright is Grimsby and this wasn't his first job at Disney. Another famous Disney character of his is Roger in "One Hundred and One Dalmatians" and Wright also has a small but memorable role in "The Sound of Music". This was Ben Wright's last film role and he died before seeing the released movie. I really love how Louis makes an appearance at the end of the film.

"The Little Mermaid" was a lot of firsts for the Disney Studio. The movie required more special effects animation than any other Disney feature animated movie since "Fantasia". This was because of the ocean setting and the filmmakers looked to previous films such as "Pinocchio" for reference. It is also the studio's first fairy tale since "Sleeping Beauty" in 1959. Before "The Little Mermaid", the studio felt that new movies shouldn't be released for home viewing until after a theatrical re-release several years down the road. VHS was somewhat new at the time and the fear was that putting the film directly on video would equate to less money being earned. The home video version of "The Little Mermaid" came only six months after its theatrical release and instead was a huge hit. Every new Disney film ever since has been released for home viewing relatively soon after appearing in theaters. This film was the beginning of an era at Disney but also represented an end. "The Little Mermaid" was the last animated feature film from Disney to use hand painted cells. CAPS was a new technology that allowed animation to be digitally composited and colored. While a few shots of the film were partially digital, the ending shot of the rainbow going over the wedding ship was produced solely with CAPS. Computer animation was also used to create ships and staircases in the movie.

I once went to a concert with friends but one of them backed out. I couldn't refund her ticket but I could exchange it for a different concert in the same venue. This led to me seeing "The Little Mermaid" in concert because it was the only show that appealed to me that wasn't already sold out. It was an interesting experience watching the movie with the Oscar-winning score played live. It was also neat to hear live music accompanying the singing from the original film. The musical accolades that this film garnished is noteworthy. The song "Under the Sea" won an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a Grammy. An Oscar and Golden Globe also went to Alan Menken for the film's musical score. Another bunch of firsts achieved by "The Little Mermaid" was that for first time for Disney since "Mary Poppins" and for the first time in Disney animation since "Pinocchio", the movie earned a dual Oscar win for Song and Score. Also, "Dumbo" was the last time a Disney animated film won Best Musical Score. This dual win would repeat itself four times in the 90's for the Disney Studio, three of which involved Menken. I should also mention that "Kiss the Girl" received an Academy Award nomination. I will admit that the film was intense when I saw it as a seven year old and while the movie may not appeal to me personally as an adult, I will never deny its importance. The effects of its success can still be seen today. Those involved in the creation of "The Little Mermaid", from the top down, would go on to make some of the most cherished animated movies of all time in a span of just five years. With the rise of Disney animation in the 90's, Pixar also became a powerhouse of the art and some of the filmmakers who worked on "Mermaid" would find their way to that studio. After "The Lion King", Katzenberg left Disney and helped to form DreamWorks Animation. It is amazing how one film can have such an effect on an industry and pop culture. Walt Disney brought us a Golden Age of Animation but with "The Little Mermaid", a new era had begun at the studio which bears his name: an era that became known as the Disney Renascence.

4 Stars