The Little Mermaid (1989)

Really Surprised!

Highly Overrated But Still Good

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This Disney classic that revived good Disney animation and gave birth to the Disney Renaissance era features stunning animation for the time and catchy musical numbers. Ariel has an interesting character, but other than that, there isn't much else to praise. It's far from being a bad film, it's actually good, but the third act is where it all falls apart, and the romance is not as strong or powerful as it should be.

This was the final film my aunt and I viewed today, again on VHS. I was really elated from this morning to see this, as it begun what many people my brother's age proclaim as the best Disney era. So here lie my thoughts on it.While the story doesn't adapt everything in the Andersen tale, it pulled off some really great humor and magic that made Disney glorious again back in 1989. Almost every scene in this movie ended up taking my mind to places of fascination, which I would say even rival some films I consider a 10. The character development was absurdly strong, providing with it the lessons of knowing the implications of selfishness, and I do think Ursula is one of the better Disney Villains from her complex motives and just being all around awesome. The animation is of a quality I cannot describe; I could say that it conveys vivid environments and character designs, and I could say that it really does upgrade the occasional slapstick and sight gags, but that wouldn't scratch the surface of what Disney has achieved here. I will say right now that only Mary Poppins has a better overall score among all the Disney films I have seen; in the animated canon, though, this takes the cake. The 3 main songs of this movie all deserve to be remembered for years and really do serve as a foreshadowing to the career of the amazing Alan Menken.Any Disney fan or animation historian will want to view this movie for the impact it has made. While I still stand by that the Renaissance actually started with The Great Mouse Detective, this solidified its existence and brought complete stability to the company. Just for that, I want to give this film a special place in my heart. I possess optimism that many of you out there reading this will find at least 2 things to enjoy. For a Disney film, that's well above a compliment, but I feel it meritorious of such.

After a few years of making decent, if not exceptional films this was the one that enabled Disney Animation to bounce back on a big scale and launch their 'renaissance' that would last until 2000.This film, which sees a young mermaid dream of being a human, sets a template which lots of the Disney films that followed would stick to.It has great voice acting, some ear grabbing songs that stick with you beyond the end credits, and the animation is great too.It's a classic Disney film for a reason.

This is a masterwork for Disney Studios. The story alone would be enough to carry this. We have great undersea characters whose level of knowledge is restricted to their environment, naturally. We have a nasty villain, Ursula, who is jealous and pained by her own appearance and awful voice. We have a longing for something that is not easily understood by the other characters. Take a really neat plot and throw in some amazing songs. I mean Broadway songs. Animation has become its own Broadway with very little tweaking. Ariel is a fully developed character with wants and needs. She is a strong "woman." One may find the need for a man a bit sexist at times, but it is more of a longing. We then have a willingness to give up everything (her voice in particular) to experience what it would be like to be a woman. Looking back on this film, we see the die is cast for success after success with some of the best pop music ever written.