The Little Mermaid (1989 film)
| The Little Mermaid | |
|---|---|
| File:Movie poster the little mermaid.jpg The Little Mermaid Original Teaser Poster | |
| Directed by | Ron Clements John Musker |
| Written by | Hans Christian Andersen (fairy tale) Roger Allers (story) Howard Ashman (musical) Ron Clements John Musker |
| Produced by | Howard Ashman John Musker Maureen Donley |
| Starring | Jodi Benson Samuel E. Wright Pat Carroll Christopher Daniel Barnes Kenneth Mars Jason Marin Buddy Hackett |
| Music by | Alan Menken (music) Howard Ashman (lyrics) |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures |
Release dates | November 17, 1989 (original release) November 14, 1997 (re-release) |
Running time | 83 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $40,000,000[1] |
| Box office | $222,300,000 |
The Little Mermaid is a 1989 animated feature film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and first released on November 15, 1989 by Walt Disney Pictures. The twenty-eighth animated feature in the Disney animated features canon, the film is loosely based upon the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale "The Little Mermaid." It grossed over $111 million in the U.S. and an additional $99 million worldwide,[2] and is given credit for breathing life back into the animated feature film genre after a string of critical and commercial failures beginning in the early 1980s.
A stage adaptation of the film with a book by Doug Wright.[3], and additional songs by Alan Menken and new lyricist Glenn Slater opened in Denver in July, 2007 and recently began performances on Broadway.[4]
Plot
Prince Eric and his manservant Grimsby are aboard a sailing ship. From the sailors, Eric learns about Triton, the ruler of the sea who can control the oceans. He rules a kingdom of merpeople in the watery depths.
Underwater, a sixteen-year-old mermaid princess named Ariel is dissatisfied with life under the sea and curious about the human world. Ariel and her best friend, a fish named Flounder, often sneak into sunken ships, where they collect human artifacts and visit the surface of the ocean to visit a goofy seagull named Scuttle, whose supposed expert knowledge of human culture is far from accurate. Ignoring the warnings of her father, King Triton, and the court musician, Sebastian the crab,[5] Ariel knows that contact between merpeople and humans is forbidden, but even so she longs to be part of the human world; to this end she has filled a secret grotto with all the human contraptions she has found.
Ariel is being observed by Ursula, an evil cecaelia sea witch, who for many years, has been seeking a way to exact her revenge upon King Triton for banishing her from the kingdom. She sees Ariel as the perfect pawn in her quest to rule the seas.
Ariel and Flounder travel to the surface to watch a celebration for the birthday of Prince Eric, with whom Ariel falls in love. The birthday celebration is cut short when a hurricane destroys the ship. Eric is lost at sea but is saved by Ariel who drags him onto a beach. She sings to him with her beautiful voice, and she disappears as he awakes. When the prince tells Grimsby of the girl, he tells Eric that he must have been dreaming. Eric vows to find the girl with the beautiful voice, and Ariel vows to somehow rejoin Eric.
Ariel's odd behavior the next day causes Triton to become suspicious, and he attempts to extract from Sebastian the name of the man (or rather, mer-man) she is in love with. Thinking that Triton already knows that Ariel's in love with a human and is just trying to force him to confess, Sebastian reveals Ariel's secrets. King Triton becomes furious and destroys Ariel's grotto. Ursula's henchmen eels, Flotsam and Jetsam, convince a distraught Ariel that to rejoin Eric, she must visit the Sea Witch.
Ursula makes a deal with Ariel to transform her into a human for three days. Within these three days, if she plans to remain a human, she must get from Eric the "kiss of true love;" otherwise she will transform back into a mermaid on the third day. If this happens, Ursula will own her very soul and wither her down into a polyp, to join her garden of other lost merfolk. Sebastian tries to stop her, but Ariel ignores his warnings.
In exchange for her voice (Ursula convinces Ariel that on land it's more appropriate for women to remain silent), Ariel is turned into a human by Ursula's magic. Ariel is helped to the surface by Sebastian and Flounder. Later, Eric finds Ariel on the beach. At first, Eric thinks she is the beautiful girl who rescued and sang to him. His hopes that Ariel is the one he is looking for are dashed when he learns that she can't speak. But charmed, he does let her live in his palace, much to her pleasure. As for Sebastian, to his horror he barely escapes Chef Louis who tries to turn him into stuffed crab.
While Ariel is enjoying life with Eric in the human kingdom, Sebastian, Flounder and Scuttle try to get Ariel and Eric to kiss so Ariel will become human permanently. They come close to kissing, but Flotsam and Jetsam overturn their boat, ruining the moment. Furious, Ursula takes the disguise of a beautiful young woman named "Vanessa", and she appears onshore singing in Ariel's voice, which is housed in a magic nautilus shell around "Vanessa's" neck. Eric recognizes the song that Ariel had sang to him, but "Vanessa" casts a hypnotic spell of enchantment on Eric, who plans to marry her immediately.
The next day, Ariel finds out that Eric is with another woman and the wedding has already been set, taking place in a cruise. Heartbroken, Ariel cries deeply when the boat departs.
The ceremony takes place at sunset, which is when Ariel's deal with Ursula ends. Scuttle discovers "Vanessa's" true identity and informs Ariel. Sebastian swims off to inform Triton, Ariel and Flounder swim after the wedding boat, and Scuttle is assigned to distract the wedding party. With the help of various sea and air animals, Scuttles manages to break the nautilus shell around Ursula's neck, restoring Ariel's voice, and breaking Ursula's enchantment over Eric. Realizing that Ariel was the girl who saved his life, Eric rushes to kiss her, but the sun sets and Ariel transforms back into a mermaid. Ursula reverts back to her true form and she kidnaps Ariel. Eric chases after them, determined to save Ariel.
Triton appears, but cannot destroy the contract Ursula made with Ariel. As Ursula had planned, Triton sacrifices himself for his daughter and is transformed into a helpless polyp.
Ursula takes Triton's crown and trident and declares herself queen. Eric dives into the sea and throws a harpoon at Ursula; it distracts her long enough for Ariel to escape. In the battle, Ursula accidentally kills Flotsam and Jetsam. Then she transforms into a giant version of herself and begins to stir up a storm using the magical trident. Ursula forms a massive whirlpool that drags in wrecked ships from the bottom of the sea. Ursula turns her attention back to killing Ariel, but neither is aware that Eric has taken control of one of the ships. He rams the ship's splintered bowsprit through Ursula's abdomen, destroying her in a huge explosion. She drops the trident, which falls to the sea floor.
The trident transforms the polyps in Ursula's garden, including Triton, back into merpeople. Later, Triton, moved by his daughter's love and sacrifice, turns Ariel into a human using his trident. She runs into Eric's arms, and the two finally kiss.
In the final scene, Ariel and Eric are seen kissing on their wedding day. Both humans and merpeople turn out for the wedding, Sebastian escapes Louis again, and Triton accepts Eric as a part of the family.
Divergence from the Andersen original
This film departs from the original story (by Hans Christian Andersen) in a far more radical way than previous Disney productions such as Cinderella and Snow White, since the original does not feature a romantic happy ending: rather than winning over the prince, the mermaid dies after throwing herself back into the ocean, dissolving into foam on the water and becoming a spirit of the air. Changing the tale to conclude with a "they lived happily ever after" involved changing the basic philosophy underlying the Disney film from that of the Andersen original.
The original is essentially a tale without a villain. The Little Mermaid is faced with an inherently unjust universe, where her love for the Prince and her wish to gain an immortal soul have a chance only through terrible sacrifices, privations and risks. And the Mermaid ultimately fails, though Andersen presents her as amply deserving of the Prince's love and of gaining a soul (or, rather, demonstrating over and over again, by her courage, compassion and noble sacrifice, that she has a soul already). Unlike the film, the Sea-Witch in the original tale is not a villain, but rather a "technician" implementing the harsh rules of this universe.
All the above gives some grounds for those who assert that the Disney film should not be regarded as being a version of the Andersen tale, but rather as an independent creation sharing some plot points with it. Following the release of this film, many subsequent productions (whether live-action or animated) and children's book editions of The Little Mermaid include a modified happy ending.
Cast and characters
- Princess Ariel, voiced by Jodi Benson, is the protagonist, a mermaid obsessed with the human world.
- Sebastian, voiced by Samuel E. Wright, is the crab that leads the Atlantica orchestra. During development, he was turned from British to Jamaican.
- Ursula, voiced by Pat Carroll, is the antagonist, a witch half-human half octopus banned by Triton long before the film's event. After getting Ariel's voice, she tries to marry Eric under the identity of Vanessa (Jodi Benson).
- Prince Eric, voiced by Christopher Daniel Barnes, is a prince that likes to sail, and with whom Ariel falls in love after saving from a shipwreck.
- King Triton, voiced by Kenneth Mars, is the ruler of Atlantica and Ariel's father.
- Flounder, voiced by Jason Marin, is Ariel's fish sidekick.
- Scuttle, voiced by Buddy Hackett, is a seagull which Ariel considers an expert in the human world.
- Flotsam and Jetsam, voiced by Paddi Edwards, are Ursula's eel pets/henchmen.
- Grimsby, voice by Ben Wright, is Eric's majordomo.
- Chef Louis, voiced by Rene Auberjonois, is the chef of Eric's house, whose favorite dish is fish and seafood in general. He tries to cook up Sebastian.
Other actors include Edie McClurg as Carlotta, Will Ryan as a seahorse messenger, Frank Welker as Eric's Sheepdog Max, and Mark Hamill.
- Princess Ariel makes regular appearances in the Disney theme parks, having a special location called Ariel's Grotto. Prince Eric and Chef Louis make appearances as well, though less frequently. Sebastian and Flounder appear only in parades, shows, and at special events.
Significance
The Little Mermaid is an important film in animation history for many reasons:
- It marked a return to the musical format that made Disney films popular from the 1930s to the 1970s, after a test run with Oliver and Company the year before. It featured seven original songs by composer Alan Menken and lyricist Howard Ashman, who also served as the film's producer.
- It had the most special effects for a Disney animated feature since Fantasia was released forty-nine years earlier. Effects animation supervisor Mark Dindal estimated that over a million bubbles were drawn for this film, in addition to the use of other processes such as airbrushing, backlighting, superimposition, and some flat-shaded computer animation.
- The Little Mermaid was a box office success and grossed over $200,000,000 worldwide.
- This film marked the first use of CAPS (Computer Animation Production System) in a Disney feature, seen in the movie's final scene. CAPS is a digital ink-and-paint and animation production system that colors the animators' drawings digitally, as opposed to the traditional animation method of tracing ink and paint onto cels (see Traditional animation). All subsequent 2D animated Disney features have used CAPS instead of ink-and-paint, with Home on the Range as the last one.
- This film signaled a renaissance in Disney animation; the films were popular and financial successes, causing Disney's feature animation department to begin significant expansion, from about 300 artists in 1988 to 2,400 by 1999. In fact, The Little Mermaid was Disney's first significant animated success since The Rescuers in 1977.
- The Little Mermaid won the 1990 Academy Award for Original Music Score. "Kiss the Girl" and "Under the Sea" were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song; the Oscar went to "Under the Sea."
- The soundtrack, riding high on the heels of the film's popularity and the Academy, Golden Globes and Grammy Awards, went triple platinum, an unheard-of feat for an animated movie at the time.
Music
The Little Mermaid was considered by some as "the film that brought Broadway into cartoons".[6] Alan Menken wrote the Academy Award winning score, and collaborated with Howard Ashman in the songs.
Songs
Fathoms Below - Sailors
Daughters of Triton - Triton's daughters
Part of Your World - Ariel
Part of Your World (Reprise) - Ariel
Under the Sea - Sebastian & Sea Creatures
Poor Unfortunate Souls - Ursula
Les Poissons - Chef Louis
Kiss the Girl - Sebastian & Chorus
Vanessa's Song - Scuttle, Vanessa/Ariel & Ursula*
Part of Your World (Finale) - Chorus
- Note: Vanessa's Song is not included on any official Disney Soundtrack of The Little Mermaid. It is a reprise of Poor Unfortunate Souls.
Production
The film was originally planned as one of Disney's earliest films. Production started soon after Snow White, but was put on hold due to various circumstances.
In 1985, "The Great Mouse Detective" co-director Ron Clements discovered a collection of Hans C. Andersen's fairy tales while browsing a bookstore. He presented a two-page draft of a movie based on "The Little Mermaid" to CEO Michael Eisner, who passed it over, because at that time the studio was in development on a sequel to Splash. But the next day, Walt Disney Pictures boss Jeffrey Katzenberg, green-lighted the idea for possible development, along with "Oliver & Company." Unknown to the production team at the time, the idea for the movie has actually been one of Walt Disney's favorites. While in production in the 1980s, someone found Walt's Mermaid script by chance. Many of his changes to Hans Christian Andersen's original story were coincidentally the same as the changes made by Disney writers in the 1980s. (source: DVD making of)
That year, Clements and "Great Mouse Detective" co-director John Musker expanded the two-page idea into a 20-page rough script, eliminating the role of the mermaid's grandmother and expanding the roles of the Merman King and the sea witch. However, the film's plans were momentarily shelved as Disney focused its attention on "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and "Oliver & Company" as more immediate releases.
In 1987, songwriter Howard Ashman became involved with Mermaid after he was asked to contribute to "Oliver & Company." He proposed changing the minor character Clarence, the English-butler crab, to a Jamaican Rastafarian crab and shifting the music style throughout the film to reflect this. At the same time, Katzenberg, Clements, Musker, and Ashman changed the story format to make Mermaid like an animated Broadway musical. Ashman and Alan Menken (composer) teamed up to compose the entire songtrack. In 1988, with "Oliver" out of the way, Mermaid was slated as the next major Disney release.
More money and resources were dedicated to Mermaid than any other Disney animated film in decades.[citation needed] The artistic manpower needed for Mermaid required Disney to farm out most of the bubble-drawing in the film to Pacific Rim Productions, a China-based firm with production facilities in Beijing.
Principal artists worked on the animation - Glen Keane and Mark Henn on Ariel, Duncan Marjoribanks on Sebastian, Andreas Deja on King Triton and Ruben Aquino on Ursula. Originally, Keane had been asked to work on Ursula, as he had established a reputation for drawing large, powerful figures (the bear in The Fox and the Hound, Professor Ratigan in The Great Mouse Detective.) Keane, however, was assigned as one of the two lead artists on the petite, charming Ariel and oversaw the "Part of Your World" musical number.
Another first for recent years was that live actors and actresses were filmed for reference material for the animators. Broadway actress Jodi Benson was chosen to play Ariel, and Sherri Lynn Stoner, a former member of Los Angeles' Groundlings improv comedy group, acted out Ariel's key scenes. Not all of Disney's animators approved of the use of live-action reference; one artist quit the project over the issue. An attempt to use Disney's famed multiplane camera for the first time in years for quality "depth" shots failed because the machine was reputedly in dilapidated condition.
Aside from its main animation facility in Glendale, California, Disney opened a satellite feature animation facility during the production of Mermaid near Orlando, Florida, within the still-unfinished Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park at Walt Disney World. Though the park opened to the public a year later, work at the animation studio began in May 1988, and the Disney-MGM facility's first projects were to produce an entire "Roger Rabbit" cartoon short, and contribute ink and paint support to Mermaid.
The Little Mermaid is the last Disney feature film to use the traditional hand-painted cel method of animation. Disney's next film, "The Rescuers Down Under", used a digital method of coloring and combining scanned drawings -- CAPS (Computer Animation Production System), which eliminated the need for cels. A CAPS prototype was used experimentally on a few scenes in Mermaid, including the final wedding scene. Other CGI includes some of the wrecked ships in the final battle, a staircase behind a shot of Ariel in Eric's castle, and the carriage Eric and Ariel are riding in when she bounces it over a ravine. (Notice that the wheels aren't moving when it comes down for a landing.)
Glen Keane, the supervising animator for Ariel, jokingly stated on the Pocahontas: 10th Anniversary Edition DVD that his wife looks exactly like Ariel "without the fins." The character's body shape and personality were based upon that of Alyssa Milano, then starring on TV's Who's the Boss? and the effect of her hair underwater was based on footage of Sally Ride, when she was in space.
On November 15, 1989, The Little Mermaid began critics' screenings in Los Angeles and New York City. On November 17, 1989, the world premiere of The Little Mermaid took place near Orlando, Florida on all ten AMC Pleasure Island screens at Walt Disney World's newly-built Pleasure Island nightclub.
Box office
According to TheNumbers.com.
1989 original run
| Release Week | Gross | Rank | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $6,031,914 | 3 | $6,065,716 |
| 2 | $8,384,862 | 3 | $16,832,844 |
| 3 | $4,030,274 | 5 | $22,109,571 |
| 4 | $2,764,119 | 7 | $25,748,251 |
| 5 | $2,522,362 | 4 | $28,941,871 |
| 6 | $3,319,664 | 6 | $34,089,416 |
| 7 | $9,235,512 | 3 | $49,401,857 |
| 8 | $4,585,047 | 5 | $56,126,383 |
| 9 | $3,851,208 | 6 | $60,855,174 |
| 10 | $2,823,840 | 8 | $65,247,711 |
| 11 | $2,174,414 | 9 | $68,066,110 |
| 12 | $1,774,352 | 9 | $74,262,415 |
1997 re-release run
| Release Week | Gross | Rank | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $9,814,520 | 3 | $9,814,520 |
| 2 | $5,687,421 | 5 | $17,950,386 |
| 3 | $3,990,314 | 8 | $23,947,879 |
Awards
Academy Awards
- Two Wins
- Best Original Score
- Best Original Song - "Under the Sea"
- One Nomination
- Best Original Song - "Kiss the Girl"
Golden Globe Award
- Two Wins
- Best Original Score - Motion Picture
- Best Original Song - Motion Picture - "Under the Sea"
- Two Nominations
- Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical
- Best Original Song - Motion Picture
Grammy Award
- One Win
- Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television - "Under the Sea"
- Two Nominations
- Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television
- Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television
Other Awards
- BMI Film & TV Awards
- One Win: BMI Film Music Award
- Los Angeles Film Critics Association
- One Win: Best Animation
- Golden Screen Awards
- One Win: Golden Screen Award
- Golden Reel Awards
- One Win: Best Sound Editing - Animated Feature
- Young Artist Award
- One Win: Best Family Motion Picture - Adventure or Cartoon
Theatrical release history
U.S. Canada & Mexico release dates
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Worldwide release dates
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Home video release history
The film's home video debut was in May 1990 with a VHS release, part of the Walt Disney Classics line, that became that year's top-selling title on home video, with over 10 million units sold (including 7 million in its first month).[7] It was one of the highest-selling home video titles ever at the time. On the cover of this version, one of the pillars on the golden castle bears an accidental resemblance to a phallus.[8]
Following the re-release on theaters, a new VHS was released in March 1998 as part of the Masterpiece Collection. The VHS sold 13 million units and ranked as the 3rd best-selling video of the year.[9][10]
The Little Mermaid was released in a Limited Issue "barebones" DVD in 1999, with a standard video transfer and no substantial features. The film was re-released on DVD on October 3, 2006, as part of Buena Vista Home Entertainment's Platinum Edition line of classic Walt Disney animated features. Deleted scenes and several in-depth documentaries were included, as well as the Academy Award-nominated short film intended for the shelved Fantasia 2006, The Little Matchgirl.[11] On its opening day the DVD sold 1.6 million units,[12] and in its first week, over 4 million units, making it the biggest animated DVD debut for October. On its first three months out, the DVD had already sold 6.5 million units and ranked as one of the year's top ten selling DVDs.[13]
Legacy
- Note: John Musker and Ron Clements have no affiliation with these sequels/spin offs.
TV series and sequels
- The animated series version of this movie titled The Little Mermaid premiered in late 1992.
- A direct-to-video sequel called The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea was released on September 19, 2000.
- A second direct-to-video sequel called The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning is in development for a Feb 2008 release. It was originally scheduled for mid 2007, but when John Lasseter took over Disney Animation, more resources were spent on completing Cinderella III, (among other things) for a quicker release. In July 2006 Disney announced that work was wrapping up on Cinderella III and continuing on Mermaid III. A trailer and a musical number from The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning are attached to the DVD re-release for the original film.
- Ariel, Prince Eric, Scuttle, Chef Louie, Max the Sheepdog and Sebastian were featured as guests in House of Mouse, and Ursula was one of the villains in Mickey's House of Villains. Ariel and Ursula were featured in Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse.
Broadway
A Broadway stage version premiered in Denver at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, with Alan Menken working on the music and Doug Wright working on the book. A demo album was produced featuring Kerry Butler as Ariel and Emily Skinner as Ursula, and Stephen R. Buntrock as Prince Eric. The musical began performances at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in New York City on November 3, 2007 and will officially open on December 6, 2007.[14] The show features Sierra Boggess as Ariel, Norm Lewis as King Triton, Sherie Rene Scott as Ursula, Eddie Korbich as Scuttle. Tituss Burgess as Sebastian, Sean Palmer as Prince Eric, Jonathan Freeman as Grimsby, Derrick Baskin as Jetsam, Tyler Maynard as Flotsam, Cody Hanford and J.J. Singleton as Flounder, Heidi Blickenstaff as Carlotta, & John Treacy Egan as Chef Louis.
Even though the show has so far received mixed reviews by critics, it has become the most successful tryout for a Disney musical by selling nearly 95,000 seats.[15]
Video games
Four games were released based on the film: The Little Mermaid, by Capcom for the Nintendo Entertainment System and Game Boy, The Little Mermaid: Magic in Two Kingdoms, by Buena Vista Games, released for the GBA, Ariel the Little Mermaid by Sega for the Mega Drive/Genesis, Game Gear and Master System. This also includes the feature of playing as Triton. The most recent game released was Disney's The Little Mermaid Ariel's Undersea Adventure which was released on the Nintendo DS on Oct. 2, 2006. It was quite successful, selling thousands.[citation needed]
The Little Mermaid is also featured in the Kingdom Hearts series. All the three games have the Atlantica world, which follows the film's plot with adaptations to accommodate the presence of the three main protagonists (Sora, Donald, and Goofy.)
See also
- The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea
- The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning
- The Little Mermaid Broadway Musical
- List of Disney theatrical animated features
- Disney special editions
Opening to The Little Mermaid VHS
Closing to The Little Mermaid VHS
References
 | This article has an unclear citation style. |
- ^ Stewart, James B. (2005). DisneyWar, p. 104. ISBN 0-684-80993-1. Simon & Schuster. Accessed June 4, 2007.
- ^ The Little Mermaid at Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 28, 2007.
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ [3]
- ^ Aladdin Platinum Edition, Disc 2: Alan Menken: Musical
- ^ http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CEEDC1039F931A2575AC0A965958260&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fSubjects%2fR%2fRecords%20and%20Achievements
- ^ [4]
- ^ http://www.mickey-mouse.com/pressreleases.htm#TBC
- ^ http://www.onvideo.org/oldnews.htm
- ^ http://www.ultimatedisney.com/littlemermaid-platinumedition-pressrelease.html]
- ^ [5]
- ^ [6]
- ^ http://www.playbill.com/news/article/112468.html
- ^ http://www.denverpost.com/littlemermaid/ci_6763729
External links
- The Little Mermaid - Official The Little Mermaid Platinum Edition DVD site
- The Little Mermaid Special Edition - Product page on DisneyVideo.com
- The Little Mermaid at IMDb
- The Little Mermaid at Rotten Tomatoes
- The Little Mermaid at Box Office Mojo
- Template:Bcdb title
- Original drawings of The Little Mermaid - Disney-Archive