The Little Mermaid (Disney)

Customer Reviews:

The Little Mermaid (finally) the way she was meant to be seen
"The Little Mermaid" ushered in a rebirth of the animated musical which had been in a steady decline since even before Walt Disney's death in 1966. This was the film that the floundering Disney animation department had to prove themselves with... sink or swim quite literally.

And the movie is a beauty! Inspired animation by greats like Ruben Aquino, Andreas Deja, and the legendary Glen Keane (who is directing the upcoming "Rapunzel"). The effects are stunning including a riveting storm sequence comparable to the Monstro scene in "Pinocchio" and the final sequence with the towering Ursula as queen of the seas. Sure its formulaic now, but the musical scenes are timeless and though "Under the Sea" is not as sophisticated as later animated "showstoppers" it still makes you see why the film's first audiences described wanting to stand up and cheer after the sequence.

If you're any kind of animation buff (and even if you're not), the DVD's bonus features are great. The "Making of" featurette is quite thorough and takes you through the whole filmmaking process from the director's initial pitch to the studio bringing in Howard Ashman who fleshed out the characters with his witty lyrics to the final tense moments leading up to the premier in 1989. There's some great suprises here including interviews with John Waters (over Ursula being modeled on drag queen legend, Divine), and ex-Disney exec Jeffrey Katzenberg who stepped away from Dreamworks long enough to bring his insight on making "Mermaid" (and who, we find out almost nixed Ariel's anthem "Part of Your World" from the film).

This film is inspiring to any wanna-be animator out there. Even more so, its a great film. I only hope the current studio brass takes note that films like this are priceless unlike the uninspired sequels they've been throwing at us for the past few years.

Viva la Mermaid!
--2006-12-09

The Little Mermaid: Classic Disney
This movie is just as good as I remembered. It's a classic Disney fairy tale, full of love, longing, fear, action, and beautiful songs. And the scene with Sebastian and the chef is priceless! If you haven't seen it yet, you can't miss this film!
--2006-11-20

Truly deserving of it's reputation...
I'd forgotten how good this film was, I really had, I had vague memories of being sat down in front of a video, and there was a large scary lady in purple doing bad things. But that was it, I'd forgotten how heart-warming and beautiful the film was.

The first step toward making this film a true Disney masterpiece, is the fact that the story is so strong. I was totally engrossed by it, and didn't get bored for a moment. I had forgotten about the sweet scenes in the town and by the river, they are what a film needs, character development and just a slight expansion of the story beyond the basic bones of the tale. Sure, it's not a faithful rendition of the original tale, but it isn't about tragedy, it's about love and your dreams coming true.

The animation, whilst not as accomplished as some of their slightly later films (such as the Hunchback of Notre Dame) is a delight to behold, and it really makes the mer-people seem very believable in the movement and actions. The animators of Ariel must of been very pleased with themselves, she comes across as being real (well, as real as a cartoon can be) I can see in her facial expressions will genuine expressions, not pale imitations as is so often the case in animation.

The soundtrack really makes it, generally, I find Disney side-kicks obtrusive and annoying, but Sebastian makes the film, I never imagined reggae style music could manage to be romantic! The key song, is also beautiful, whilst I don't know the title (shameful I know) the words continue to soar through my mind, 'now we can run....etc.!'

The extras are also very worthwhile, a fascinating making of, some games for the children and deleted scenes (utilising unused storyboards.) There is also a commentary and a new music video for 'Kiss the Girl.' However the best of them all has got to be the beautiful and tragic, 'The Little Match-Girl,' I can honestly say that few other films have managed to move me so deeply, I couldn't remembered the last time I cried over a film, until I saw this one. I knew it would be special when I watched the introduction by the director, he mentioned how he use to read the story to his children - it made me remember my parents use to read me the story too. I really hope that it will be Oscar Nominated - it deserves it.

Equally satisfying for any child or film critic. A true classic.

- Rachael -
--2006-11-06

Not just a cartoon!
This is a brilliant film! This is the first of what I like to refer to as The Disney Modern Classics (along with Beauty & the Best, Lion King and Aladin). A very touching story set to inspiring music makes this a true gem of cinema. Ursula rocks as one of Disney's most over-the-top and exciting villians!
--2006-11-02

Good if you don't mind minor edits
Finally got around to watching this last night. In this review I'm not going to bother to review the movie itself. It's seventeen years old. I'm sure if you are interested in it you've seen it by now. Rather, I'm going to review the technical quality of the film and the extras provided on the DVD. One thing that feel I should point out up front is that the movie HAS been edited, but only in one scene. The infamous 'clergyman sporting an erection' that caused such a stupid flundie flap has been photoshopped. The theatrical poster artwork is not on the cover or anywhere on the disc for a similar reason. You can find out more by going to Snopes and looking in the Disney films section. I personally don't care, but some people do. Now, on to the review.

This version is widescreen, but it's 16:9 widescreen and not theatrical widescreen, but this has been the case in pretty much all the Disney movie DVDs so no surprises there. The Little Mermaid was the next to last movie Disney did using painted cels, and the film has gone through some kind of digital restoration process. There are comparison shots on the back of the DVD box that show the difference. The colors are very vibrant, and I didn't notice any problems with the encoding or animation. There is support for surround sound and audio tracks in English, French, and Spanish.

It's a two disk set. Disc one has the movie, the configuration options (subtitles, commentary, language ect), a music video of the song 'Kiss the Girl' by someone I've never heard of, a bunch of previews that will be outdated in a few months, and a preview of what's on disc 2. On the box it touts something called Fast Play, which basically means when you load it in, after the standard FBI warnings and all that, the disc gives you the option of immediately starting the movie or going to the menu with the stuff I just mentioned. If you choose to start the movie directly, it plays a bunch of previews that you can skip past using chapter forward on your remote, if you go to the menu and pick play movie, it starts right away. You're actually not forced to sit through ten minutes of BS previews with no way to skip them like on some of the previous Disney DVDs. I approve.

The majority of the extras are on disc 2. It's broken up into three major sections: Backstage Disney, Deleted Scenes, and Games. Backstage Disney is the largest section. It has scads of concept art (imagine Ursula as a lionfish or manta ray instead of an octopus), a videos on how the movie was made, and a new animated short, The Little Match Girl. A silent film with a musical background and is amazingly enough, actually true to the story. It's pretty well done, IMHO. Deleted scenes is just that, stuff that was cut. There really isn't much. Only three selections, and two of them are just pieces that were cut from scenes that did make it in. There's an expanded version of the opening song, a very short scene where Triton's daughters tell Sebastian that Ariel isn't at the recital before it starts, and an extra verse in Ursula's song. All of these were cut before the final animation was done, and so as you watch it switches back and forth between storyboard still shots and very rough sketchy animation. The games I didn't even bother with, because has there ever been a DVD player game that hasn't totally sucked? Didn't think so.

Overall, it's going to boil down to how much you like the movie, and how much you hate minor edits. If not seeing Jessica Rabbit with no underwear for three frames bothered you, then this DVD is not for you. Otherwise, it is a comprehensive look at the movie that marked the beginning of Disney's second golden age.

I give it 9 out of 10 voice containing seashells.
--2006-10-28

- Walt Disney Video