Animation Celebration Double Feature - The Little Mermaid and The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea

We head under the waves to take a look at one of Disney's most beloved films, the one that kicked off it's 90's Renaissance. We're also going to take a look at it's sequel, part of the infamous series of direct-to-home-media follow-ups to many of it's classic animated films that Disney churned out in from the mid-90's to the mid-2000's. How does the original film hold up "under the sea," and does its follow-up deserve the notoriety? Let's take a look and see...

The Little Mermaid
Disney, 1989
Voices of Jodi Benson, Pat Carroll, Buddy Hackett, and Christopher Daniel Barnes
Directed by Ron Clements and John Musker
Music by Alan Menken; Lyrics by Howard Ashman

The Story: Ariel (Benson) is a teenage mermaid, the daughter of the sea king Triton (Kenneth Mars). She's been forbidden to go above the surface for fear she'll be seen by humans, but she's obsessed with the world above and collects everything about it she can. One night, during a story, she rescues the handsome Prince Eric (Barnes) and falls head over fins for him. After her father discovers her treasures and destroys them, she turns to the sea witch Ursula (Carroll) to make her dreams come true. Ursula does turn her into a human, but takes her voice as payment. With the help of her father's crab composer Sebastian (Samuel Wright), the fish Flounder (Jason Marin), and the goofy seagull Scuttle (Hackett), Ariel has three days to make Eric fall in love with her in return and kiss her, or she'll end up a slave to the witch.

The Animation: The impressive animation, especially in the under the sea sequences, have always been a big part of the draw here. You really do feel like you're under the sea; everything just glows with colors so brilliant, they make the rainbow in the finale look pale. The sequences on land aren't as colorful, but are just as well-done. The details, both under and over the sea, are amazing. The musical numbers have so much going on in them, you can spend a viewing just checking out all the craziness.

The Song and Dance: While Benson's appropriately winsome as the naive title character, the real winners here are the character actors. Mars brings a great deal of authority to his role of the stubborn king who just wants to protect his daughter. Carroll is pitch-perfect as Ursula, the voluptuous, scheming octopus who is one of Disney's best villains. Wright and Hackett have a lot of fun as Ariel's two of Ariel's best friends in the sea and on land respectively.

I've always liked how the father-daughter situation is handled here. As a kid (I was 10 when this came out), I sided with Ariel. Now that I'm older, I can understand Triton's point of view. It doesn't make what he did to her collection right, but I can see why he did it. Disney doesn't often go into father-daughter relationships, making this aspect of the movie actually rather unique in animation.

Favorite Number: "Under the Sea" doesn't really have much to do with the story, but it's so infectious, and the sequence is so well-done, I can totally see why it won an Oscar. "Part of Your World," Ariel's solo as she tries to explain her feelings about the world above to Flounder, is one of the best (and most iconic) "I Want" songs in musical history.

My personal favorite has always been "Kiss the Girl." Not only is the song the best in the film, but it's performed beautifully by Wright and the chorus and has some of the film's best effects, with the bird dancing around them and the glittering water gliding under the boat.

Trivia: Like Cinderella, this was a return to form for Disney after two decades of movies that ranged from fun-but-underrated to so-so. It was such a smash, the merchandising and video releases alone supplied Disney with the money to make most of its animated films for the rest of the 90's.

"Part of Your World" was almost removed due to negative early test screenings, but the directors pushed to keep it as the movie neared completion. It worked with later audiences, and it stayed.

This was the last Disney film to be made with traditional hand-painted cells, and even this movie has some CGI effects (mostly in the climatic finale with Ursula and the ships). From The Rescuers Down Under onwards, all Disney animated movies would be colored and filmed digitally.

"Under the Sea" and "Kiss the Girl" were both nominated for Oscars; "Under the Sea" won. The movie also won for Original Score.

What I Don't Like: While she was praised for her independence and quick mind in 1989, Ariel doesn't always come off as the brightest starfish in the sea today, especially compared to later, more mature Disney ladies like Belle and Tiana. Prince Eric also has a tad bit more character than most of the Disney leading men who came before him, but is mostly pretty bland.

Like most Disney animated fairy tale retellings, this really doesn't have that much in common with the original Hans Christian Anderson Little Mermaid, especially the ending. I always found the happy ending to be a bit of a cop-out. While Ursula's flat-out villainy is hilarious, I did always like that the sea witch in the original story was ambiguous. She does what's asked of her because she's asked to do it, not because of any animosity.

The Big Finale: It's not one of my all-time favorite Disney movies, but it's still beloved among many animation lovers and mermaid-crazy girls for it's lush animation, memorable characters, and classic soundtrack. Give it a shot and make it "Part of Your World," too.

Home Media: Alas, this is another Disney movie that's currently on moratorium and is expensive on DVD and Blu-Ray. Once again, your best bet would likely be to look for it used on eBay or elsewhere.

DVD
Blu-Ray

The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea
Disney, 2000
Voices of Jodi Benson, Tara Cherendoff (Strong), Pat Carroll, and Buddy Hackett
Directed by Jim Kammerud and Brian Smith
Music by Michael and Patty Silversher and others

The Story: Melody (Cherendoff) is Ariel and Eric's daughter. At her christening, she's given a locket by her grandfather Triton to remind her that a part of her will always belong to the sea. Unfortunately, she also becomes the target of the scheming Morgana (Carroll), who wants to avenge her sister Ursula and take over Triton's kingdom. Hoping to protect her daughter, Ariel builds a wall to cut her off from the sea. It works no better than trying to keep Ariel from the surface did. Melody frequently swims under it, befriending Sebastian (Wright) and Scuttle (Hackett). Having found the locket, Melody wants to know more about it, but Ariel is afraid to answer her questions.

After a disastrous party, Melody takes off in a boat to learn more about her heritage. Morgana's underling Undertow (Clancy Brown) brings the girl to his mistress. Morgana does make Melody's legs into a tail, but says she'll only stay that way if she steals the trident from Triton (claiming he stole it from her). As she searches for the trident, Melody befriends Tip (Max Casella) and Dash (Stephan Furst), a penguin and a walrus respectively who are looking to be more heroic in the eyes of their families.

The Animation: A disappointing comedown from the original. This was animated by the Disney Television Animation studios (like most of the other direct-to-home-media movies of this time), and it shows. The animation is colorful, but lacks the detail and fluidity of the original. The underwater effects look flat and dull, and the scenes around the ice flows pretty much look all the same.

The Song and Dance: What I like here is the relationship between daughter and mother. Ariel is the only Disney princess to date who has been shown as a mother, even in the direct-to-home-media sequels. She's not as harsh as her father was, and you can understand why she's being so protective...but smothering is still smothering. When she says in the finale that she realizes she made some bad decisions regarding raising Melody and regrets it, you really feel that hurt. Melody, for her part, isn't even a rebellious teenager. She's just a confused kid who feels like she belongs in one place but is being kept in another.

Favorite Number: None, really. Other than the opening "Down to the Sea" with the cast celebrating Ariel and Eric's arrival, none of the new songs were even remotely memorable. Tip and Dash's big number with Melody was probably supposed to be a comic ditty on the lines of "Hakuna Matata," but comes off more annoying than anything. Which brings us to...

What I Don't Like: Too bad all that mother-daughter bonding is wasted on a rehash of the first movie. Couldn't they have come up with at least a slightly more original plot and a better villain? Morgana is basically just a thinner version of Ursula who wants attention, and the whole thing with her trying to get Undertow back to his regular size (he's supposed to be a shark, but Triton shrunk him) is basically filler. Tip and Dash are annoying, obnoxious, and contribute next-to-nothing to the plot. They're probably just there to be the hip, funny side characters. A lot of the dialogue sounds a bit too hip and modern for a fairy tale (probably showing some of the influence of Shrek from earlier in 2000). Eric's even less in this than he was in the original movie.

The Big Finale: I do know some kids who grew up with this on video in the early 2000's who have a soft spot for it. For anyone else, it's completely avoidable unless you're a massive Little Mermaid fan.

Home Media: Same deal. This is also out of print; once again, you're better off checking used DVD stores and other venues. Your best bet is to look for this one as a 2-pack with the prequel Ariel's Beginning.

2-Movie Collection (with Ariel's Beginning) DVD
2-Movie Collection (with Ariel's Beginning) Blu-Ray