Reviewing - The Little Mermaid Collection
Ariel of Atlantica did more than kick off Disney’s Renaissance Era. King Triton’s youngest daughter reinvigorated the Disney Princess mega-franchise, launched her own film trilogy and even had a limited animated series on the Disney channel. With a great voice cast and all the makings of classic Disney entertainment, The Little Mermaid makes all of us want to be part of her world.
The Little Mermaid (****1/2)
In which a king fully endorses his daughter's decision to marry a man guilty of participating in the systemic genocide of the king's subjects
The drought is over - this is Disney’s best film in nearly forty years.
The last Disney film that I gave four-and-a-half stars to was Peter Pan, which was released in 1953. Since then, there have been plenty of good Disney movies (Lady and the Tramp, The Jungle Book, Winnie the Pooh), but nothing that knocked it out of the park in the way that Disney’s greatest films have. When I sat down to watch this with Jenna, I was floored at how far Disney had come. Just a few days before I had watched Oliver & Company. It’s hard to believe that they went from talking pets in 1980s New York City to a musical about a mermaid who falls in love with a prince. This is the kind of Disney movie we’re supposed to be getting! This is the Disney we’ve been waiting for!
My appreciation for the animation in this film skyrocketed after watching it this time. As a kid, I watched The Little Mermaid about as often as I watched the other Renaissance films – and of those films, The Little Mermaid is actually a bit less magnificent in terms of colouring and design. If you look at something like Beauty and the Beast, the shading on characters is really marvellous. The technology used for that wasn’t in use yet at the time of The Little Mermaid. As a result, I used to think that The Little Mermaid was the least good-looking film of the period.
But now? I mean, man, this film is beautiful – ESPECIALLY when you compare it to Oliver & Company. From the opening seconds, we get everything that makes a great Disney film. Triumphant music plays as a swirling ocean comes into view, and then a majestic galleon sails onscreen. It’s a world of fantasy – a place we could never get to on our own. There are so many shots in this movie that are show-stoppers, like the bit where Ariel is watching fireworks explode over the ocean as they’re launched into the sky from Prince Eric’s ship. Wow. And Ursula’s transformation in the final act? It’s just insane. She’s terrifying and shudderingly huge. It’s a scale of filmmaking that Disney hasn’t attempted in so long. I remember saying that many shots of Lady and the Tramp could be paintings, and the same is true here. There’s so many shots and sequences that are just a visual marvel. It’s stunning.
Then there’s the music to contend with, and again, we haven’t had music this great in decades. Sure, every now and then we’ve gotten a “Bare Necessities” or a “Bella Notte”, but this movie is PACKED with hits. Under The Sea, Part Of Your World, Poor Unfortunate Souls...even the French guy’s song is a blast! Alan Menken’s score is triumphant and magical. Listen to “Main Titles” from the 2014 re-release of his score for a taste.
At the end of the day, it’s all about the story – and Disney does not disappoint. To start, they’re getting back to their roots in adapting a well-known fairy tale. Secondly, they’re infusing it with new life by making it about prejudice and father-daughter relationships. King Triton doesn’t trust humans because they eat fish – which, realistically, is a totally valid complaint for a mermaid to have. Because of that, he forbids Ariel to do anything that has to do with humans. But of course, Ariel’s a teenager, so when her Dad says “No”, that basically means she has to do it. Triton comes across as a bit cruel in the first half of this movie, but you can see that he’s ultimately doing it out of a desire to protect his daughter. If your kid was dating someone that you considered to be a genocidal maniac, you’d probably flip out too. But in the end, Triton figures out that he’s gotta let Ariel make her own choices – and that maybe these humans aren’t so bad after all.
The only reason I can’t give this movie a perfect score is because I’ve got a bone to pick with Ariel. She starts off as a bit of a brat. She’s rebellious and doesn’t care what her Dad thinks. That’s fine – it’s the beginning of the movie. Maybe by the end it’ll get fixed, right? Nope. By the end of the movie, Ariel has gotten her way – and it’s really not because of anything she did. Remember, Ariel sold her voice to a sea witch. She failed to uphold her end of the bargain and get a kiss of true love in three days (and yeah, Ursula cheated, but still), and it wasn’t Ariel who defeated Ursula in the end. Eric killed Ursula, and Triton gave himself up to save Ariel. In the end, Triton is the one who gives Ariel what she wants, turning her into a human again. My point is that Ariel didn’t really change or develop as a character. She didn’t ever learn why her Dad was trying to protect her. We don’t get any real moment of resolution where her and her Dad come to terms with what has happened. Sure, he turns her into a human and they have a nice little hug, but there’s never a moment where Ariel says, “Hey Dad, really sorry for going to a sea witch,” OR where Triton says “Hey sweetheart, sorry for breaking your stuff. I guess these humans are okay.” I guess you could say that all of that is subtext in the final minutes of the film, but I think I would’ve preferred a bit more resolution with regards to that particular story arc.
Realistically, though, that’s a small gripe compared to how terrific I think this film is. It’s stunning animation, brilliant music, wonderful characters, and a compelling story. This is a return to form for Disney. It’s the dawn of a new age of storytelling. Disney is back, baby!
The Little Mermaid: The Series (***1/2)
Of all the Disney TV shows I’ve watched so far, this was the first one – after finishing the five-episode quota I set for myself – that actually had me wanting to keep going.
The thing that really made this show so interesting to me was the creativity behind the episodes. In just the first five episodes, I got to see a whole lot of awesome things I didn’t necessarily expect. Ariel got in a fight with a giant squid. Atlantica was invaded by shark-mermaids. We got to see baby mermaids, and Ariel found a wild raging giant seahorse. Turns out mermaids ride giant seahorses – which is awesome. The creators of this show could’ve just stuck with the characters from the movie and put them in weird situations, but instead, they chose to show us a whole bunch of wondrous things under the sea. I loved that! What’s more, I know there’s a villain in this show called “Evil Manta”, and he’s basically a half-man half-manta ray. That’s awesome. I kinda want to skim through the show just to see more of him.
Stories aside, the voice cast is terrific. Ariel, Triton, and Sebastian are ALL voiced by their original voice actors, which is fantastic. It’s always a downer when you hear a cartoon character with an unfamiliar voice. Even as a kid, it made me sad. I remember watching an episode of Jimmy Neutron when I was younger and they brought back a character from the feature film, but they changed his voice. As a kid, I remember thinking,
“Why would you even bring him back if you couldn’t land his original voice?”
And the same holds true for me as an adult. So the fact that three of the biggest characters from the film came back for this show means a lot. It makes you feel like this is authentically and genuinely a follow-up or continuation of the original film. That’s a big deal.
The music isn’t great, I’ll give you that. But I got to see a mermaid fight a giant squid, and there aren’t many kids shows like that around these days.
The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea (***)
In which the plot of the original film is duplicated, but in reverse - and worse
Sure, it’s not a certifiable hit, but compared to some of the stuff Disney has released and called a ‘sequel’, this is absolutely nothing to sneeze at.
I did not get frustrated once during this movie, which is actually a compliment for a Disney sequel at this point. The music was in-world as opposed to montage-style. The story had a satisfactory tie to the original, and it built on the world we’d come to know. The animation was at the level of competence we’ve come to expect from this period of Disney’s history, and a good chunk of the original cast came back to provide their voices for the sequel. Ariel, Sebastian, Triton, and Scuttle are all back, and get this. Pat Caroll, the voice of Ursula, is back as Ursula’s sister Morgana. To top off the refreshingly familiar voice cast, they brought in two additional voice actors who are near and dear to my heart: Max Casella, the voice of Daxter from the mega-popular ‘Jak and Daxter’ video game series, and Clancy Brown, who’s done a lot of stuff but is probably most recognizable for his role as Mr. Krabs in ‘Spongebob Squarepants’. To date, he’s the third Spongebob voice I’ve spotted in my Disney library watch-through, after Patrick Star in ‘Lady and the Tramp 2’ and Spongebob himself in the 2011 ‘Winnie the Pooh’. In short, this film had a lot going for it.
With all of that good news in mind, I have to be honest and admit that this film will likely not be a smash hit for anyone other than their target audience – namely, young girls who loved the original film. The movie’s basically an exact re-tread of the first flick, but in reverse. Ariel’s got a daughter now, and circumstances have forced her to forbid the kid from going near the ocean. Of course, this makes the kid want the ocean even more, and then along comes a sea witch who makes a dark bargain in order to turn the kid into a mermaid. The plot is unfortunately all too predictable as a result, and although I meant it when I said I wasn’t frustrated during the movie, I was definitely bored once or twice.
I loved Max Casella in ‘Jak and Daxter’, and I think his character is fun and plucky here too as a penguin. I just don’t understand why we’re bringing a penguin into a Little Mermaid movie. There’s a certain aesthetic you’d expect from a film like this, and penguins aren’t really part of that aesthetic. Even if he did fit, his character arc is really just padding the runtime. He and his sidekick did not have to be in this movie. The only thing that made them bearable for me was the fact that it was Casella.
I’m sticking with a three-star review here because even though there’s not much in here for adults to enjoy, the execution was competent and there isn’t really anything worth getting mad about in the movie. And your daughter will love it.
Oh – except for grown-up Flounder. That threw me for a loop.
The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning (***1/2)
In which the king's daughter uncovers an illegal speakeasy led by the king's most trusted advisor
This is one of the best direct-to-video Disney sequels I’ve seen yet.
Where the previous film managed to stick its own landing without having attempted anything particularly impressive, this one was actually enjoyable on more than one level. First and foremost, the animation was really good. The colours were bright and vibrant, and everything seemed to be popping off the screen. To my knowledge, this was the last direct-to-video sequel that Disney ever made (at least, as of 2020), so it makes sense that the animation would be the best we’ve seen so far. If you’re a fan of the golden age of animation like I am, you’ll love looking at this movie.
Secondly, I actually laughed a few times throughout this movie. Marina Del Rey (voiced by Sally Fields) and her assistant manatee had lots of great little bits together, and the chemistry of Ariel’s sisters as they all worked together was really fun. You expect a fair amount of physical comedy in family films, but there were multiple jokes in here that were cleverly constructed and aimed specifically for the grown-ups. I was surprised at the number of genuinely funny moments.
Most significant of all for me was the film’s significance to the world of ‘The Little Mermaid’ as a whole. When I reviewed The Fox and the Hound 2, I complained that the sequel and the film it was based on were connected by name alone – there wasn’t really any thematic continuity. This film is the opposite: not only does it address natural questions that may have emerged from the original film (like where Ariel’s mother is), but it builds on your appreciation of the original (by showing you the significance of having music in the kingdom of Atlantica). To top it off, it’s not just that it did these things, but that it did them well. A kingdom that banned music might be a recipe for a fairly cheesy movie, but they managed to make me understand just how heartbroken Triton was by the death of his wife. The emotional stakes are surprisingly potent.
I’ve been mostly disappointed by the Disney sequels I’ve watched, so this was a pleasant surprise. I wouldn’t say this movie was terrific, but it was better than okay and a far cry from the historic lows of, say, Lady and the Tramp 2. Check this one out!
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