The Little Mermaid

Rating:
Summary: Going along Swimmingly
Review: Disney's 28th feature-length cartoon, very loosely based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale and featuring an Oscar-winning score by Alan Menkin, was a box-office smash that helped usher in a new era of top-flight feature animation.
Princess Ariel lives in Mermaid City with her father, King Triton. Ariel is fascinated by human beings. Attracted by a fireworks display on a ship, Ariel sneaks aboard and falls in love at first sight with the handsome Prince Eric. When a violent storm destroys the ship, Ariel saves Eric's life, and he is smitten with her beautiful singing voice. Mermaid City's court composer, a crab named Sebastian, accidentally tells King Triton that Ariel is in love with a human, and Triton destroys all of her human possessions and forbids her to see Eric again. An evil sea witch named Ursula, who has been banished by Triton, lures Ariel into a deal whereby she will be given human form, but will have to give Ursula her voice in return. If, after three days, Ariel cannot get Eric to bestow upon her a kiss, she will belong to Ursula.

THE LITTLE MERMAID was the first of Disney's new generation of animated musical features (which would be quickly followed by BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and others) that marked a return to the studio's former glory days, at least in the eyes of the public and most critics. The film features some undeniably impressive animation, particularly in the frightening scenes at which Disney artists have always excelled at--the violent storms filled with swirling winds, lightning, and crashing waves. But just as undeniably, it also suffers from overly broad and juvenile humor, some sappy songs, and the "wide-eyed human" syndrome, wherein all the humans have huge saucer-eyes and the same constantly startled expression. Eric looks like a hunky fashion model, while Ariel is drawn as a big-haired, denatured Barbie doll, despite her hourglass figure and skimpy seashell brassiere. As usual with Disney, the nonhumans are much more interesting, and the various undersea creatures are quite amusing and very well-drawn, as is the whole underwater milieu. Overall, it's an enjoyable film, thankfully free of the computerized look of later Disney cartoons, but it really can't compare to the real Disney classics (which appealed equally to both kids and adults).

Rating:
Summary: wow! Wow!! WOW!!!
Review: This Disney movie was great! Way better than the sequel "The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea". Most of the songs were cute, especially "Kiss the Girl". Sebastian was funny, Flounder was cute, and Ursula was creepy! I had lots of nightmares when I think about her. Cool villain, just as cool as Maleficent from "Sleeping Beauty" and Cruella DeVil from "101 Dalmatians". I'd recommend this to anyone, no matter what age. But some parts can be frightening, for example the ending where Ursula becomes big and try to destroy Ariel and Eric. But they're only about 2-4 minute scenes, which wouldn't be a big deal. Watch this and you'll probably end up watching it a million times! I guarantee it!

Rating:
Summary: Not the standard, but the best
Review: Many say that the Little Mermaid was the movie that restored the magic of Disney in its films. This statement may not be enough. The Little Mermaid is one of, if not the best movie Disney has made yet. The animation is a little inferior to recent movies such as Beauty and the Beast and the Lion King. However, the Little Mermaid makes a connection with its characters and the audience like no other Disney film. In this film the viewer feels for the characters. I was standing anxiously awaiting for Eric to finally pucker up and kiss Ariel in the magical boat ride scene. In the final scene when Ariel is wed to Eric and she whispers to her father, "I love you, daddy" melted my heart. The songs are fantastic. "Under the Sea" and "Kiss the Girl" won major awards but don't forget Ariel's song performed by the lovely Jodi Benson "Part of Your World." The bottomline is that the movie entertains like no other. The Little Mermaid should not be considered the standard of Disney movies but the pinnacle. I have yet to see another film by Disney that moved in me the same way as The Little Mermaid.

Rating:
Summary: BOO! to Disney!
Review: After playing the best video game ever, "Kingdom Hearts" on Playstation 2, I wanted to buy Disney DVDs like "The Little Mermaid" only to find out Disney only released them for a limited time. WHY!? Now that I actually want to buy this movie I can't because Disney took it off the market! So when are they going to release it again? A year? Two years? Five years? I would give this movie 5 stars if I could actually BUY it! Playing "Kingdom Hearts" is the next best thing I guess. If you're a fan of "The Little Mermaid" or any other Disney movie, go out and buy "Kingdom Hearts" for Playstation 2. Over 100 of your favorite Disney heroes and villains are in it.

Rating:
Summary: very pleased
Review: Very speedy delivery. Very friendly to work with. I ordered the movie on a Friday and got it 5 days later on a Wednesday. Could not have asked for better service. I will definately buy from brandonsbooks again. Movie was in excellant condition.

Rating:
Summary: A Classic for all ages
Review: This Disney film is probably one of the most beloved Disney films of all time. It started a wave of new Disney animated films including Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast and the Lion King and so on.

The animation in this film is divine (not compared to the new computer generated stuff of course) I have enjoyed this film since it first came out and love watching childrens faces when they watch the magic come alive.

The basic plot is the typical Disney plot (once upon a time and happily ever after) Ariel who is a sixteen year old sea princess wants nothing more than to live in the human world. However her Dad King Tritan of the Mer people won't have anything to do with humans. So she goes to Ursela the sea witch to be turned into a human. However like anything it costs her and she has to give up her beautiful voice. This takes ariel on a wurlwind of an adventure on land. (I won't share what happens next, but in the end of course she gets her man and lives on the land "Happily Ever After")

A must see for all families

Rating:
Summary: My Guilty Pleasure
Review: Sigh. Ok, I'll admit I'm a guy (with no kids). So what am I doing reviewing the Little Mermaid, you say? Maybe I'm was a sucker for a pretty face - real or animated, but I really loved this film a great deal. I never would have imagined I would fall for something like this. After all, I was 18 when the film first came out, certainly not a child, and I was never a Disney animation fan (I prefer Japanese anime). So how did someone like me, mature and sophisticated beyond my years became enthralled by...THIS? After all, wasn't it just a kiddie cartoon?! I don't know...I guess there was something truly MAGICAL about this film - a certain sparkle and dazzle that Disney was never truly able capture before or after. Despite the film being a bit formulaic, it somehow flows beautifully and surprisingly well. The classic fairy tale was transformed into a more modern and hip coming-of-age story with a happy ending (of course)! The songs were among the most wonderful I have ever heard, worthy of Broadway (it WAS composed by a pair of Broadway vets after all)! The musical numbers were spectacular, varying from the deliciously witty and delightful to the poignant and emotional. The animation was a kaleidoscope of rich colors and incredibly fluid, graceful motion. The story was fast paced and hilarious! And of course, who can ever forget our wonderful heroine, Ariel - the embodiment of beauty, innocence, and childlike curiousity, who yearns for a world beyond her own. You can really feel for her as if she was flesh and blood. A wonderful film - one that I hate to admit I love. I guess I'm what you would call a closet Mermaid fan....

Rating:
Summary: What can you say about a classic?
Review: Even though I love Beauty and the Beast and it is my favorite Disney Movie of all time, however this movie is not far behind! This movie was out before Beauty and the Beast and I enjoyed it! It is one of the Disney's great classics of all time!
:)

Rating:
Summary: It Was Probably The Best Disney Animated Flick Since BAMBI
Review: The year was 1989. It had been arguably twenty-two years since Disney had produced a classic- THE JUNGLE BOOK. Walt Disney Pictures had been known in recent years to spend three or four years on an animated flick, only to have it vanish out of theaters in little time at all. That all changed with THE LITTLE MERMAID, where Disney finally realized what made their movies excellent and enjoyable in the first place.

THE LITTLE MERMAID tells its story extremely well about a young mermaid named Ariel who has a desire to act like humans, much to the dissent of father King Triton. Her desire increases even more when she rescues a human named Prince Eric from a shipwreck; she immediately falls in love with him. The scheming Ursula the Sea Witch (who is actually an enemy that is mysterious and evil, unlike the enemies in then-recent Disney movies) has been watching these scenes and decides to strike a deal with Ariel: She will give Ariel a potion that will turn her into a human for a limited period of time...for Ariel's voice, a special trait that Ariel loves. Even though Ariel's personality could be controversial, many of us would probably believe that Ariel knows what she wants (and she does), and she will do anything to get it- even if it means she has to have her voice taken away.

But the story is not the only thing that makes this movie superb-it is also great to see how the other characters interact within the plot. And even when the focus of the plot changes, it is great to see that all of the characters move with the plot without changing their personalities. This makes events such as Sebastian's observation of a chef cooking sea critters, the singing of "Under the Sea" at its particular time, and Scuttle's attempt to stop a particular marriage perfectly reasonable and acceptable. The major characters are also all very memorable (with the possible exception of Ursula's sidekick eels Flotsam and Jetsam, who can never be really told apart).

It is upsetting to think that Disney's artistic comeback was not realized initially, as THE LITTLE MERMAID was a lightweight in theaters. But thankfully, many people have bought the movie over the years. This movie is undeniably a phenomenon in its own right, and it is only one notch below the quality of Disney's ultimate triumph, SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS. And Disney would come close to SNOW WHITE again with BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.

Rating:
Summary: The very best of Disney!
Review: The Little Mermaid is Walt Disney's masterpiece, right up there with Snow White and Cinderella. It was such a groundbreaking film that it will be forever remembered as the film that brought Disney back on track to make top quality films. It has every thing you'd expect from a Disney film. Top-notch animation: you'll be amazed by how the underwater sequences look so real. This includes surface reflections on every object under the sea, millions of bubbles (all of by which were hand drawn) and the stunningly beautiful vistas of the ocean and the land.
The music: a crucial factor in a Disney film, The Little Mermaid provides some of the best music ever heard on a Disney film or any film for that matter. And really, who can't recognize "Under The Sea", "Part Of Your World" and "Kiss The Girl"? And what about the famous main titles theme? It's all there! And the characters: Ariel, do I really need to add? In case you didn't know, she's the most licensed animated character in history, thus appearing on more products than any other animated character - yes, including Micky Mouse. She's beautiful, headstrong and for a change she's a heroine who actually does something to reach for her goal. Sebastian is the ultimate sidekick and so are Flounder and Scuttle. The Little Mermaid is the ultimate Disney classic, and one of those films that everyone saw. If you still don't own it go buy your copy today, you won't regret it!