The Little Mermaid (1989)

Directors:

Ron Clements
John Musker

Writers:

John Musker (written by) and
Ron Clements (written by) ...

Release Date:

17 November 1989 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Family | Fantasy | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

Somewhere under the sea and beyond your imagination is an adventure in fantasy.

Plot:

A mermaid princess makes a faustian bargain with an unscrupulous seahag in order to meet a human prince on land.

Plot Keywords:

Mermaid | Sea | King | Sea Witch | Little Mermaid

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 9 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Rene Auberjonois	...	Louis (voice)
Christopher Daniel Barnes	...	Eric (voice)
Jodi Benson	...	Ariel (voice)
Pat Carroll	...	Ursula (voice)
Paddi Edwards	...	Flotsam & Jetsam (voice)
Buddy Hackett	...	Scuttle (voice)
Jason Marin	...	Flounder (voice)
Kenneth Mars	...	Triton (voice)
Edie McClurg	...	Carlotta (voice)
Will Ryan	...	Seahorse (voice)
Ben Wright	...	Grimsby (voice)
Samuel E. Wright	...	Sebastian (voice)
Hamilton Camp	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Debbie Shapiro Gravitte	...	Additional Voices (voice) (as Debbie Shapiro)
Robert Weil	...	Additional Voices (voice)

Also Known As:

La sirenita (Argentina) (Peru) (Spain) [es]
A Pequena Sereia (Brazil) (Portugal) [pt]
Arielle, die Meerjungfrau (West Germany) [de]
But Ha-Yum Ha-Ktana (Israel: Hebrew title) [iw]
De kleine zeemeermin (Netherlands) [nl]
Den lilla sjöjungfrun (Sweden) [sv]
Den lille havfrue (Denmark) [da]
Den lille havfruen (Norway) [no]
I mikri gorgona (Greece) [el]
Küçük denizkizi (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
La petite sirène (France) [fr]
La sirenetta (Italy) [it]
Mala syrenka (Poland) [pl]
Pieni merenneito (Finland) [fi]
Ritoru maameido (Japan) [ja]

Runtime:

83 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) (original release) | DTS (re-release) (1997) | Dolby Digital (re-release) (1997) | Dolby (35 mm prints) (original release) | SDDS (re-release) (1997)

Certification:

Singapore:G | Iceland:L | West Germany:o.Al. | Canada:G (Quebec) | Portugal:M/4 | South Korea:All | New Zealand:G | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Belgium:KT | Canada:G | Chile:TE | Finland:K-6/3 | France:U | Netherlands:AL | Peru:PT | Spain:T | Sweden:Btl | UK:U | USA:G (PCA #29385) | West Germany:0 (re-release) | Ireland:G | Brazil:Livre

Company:

Walt Disney Pictures

Trivia:

There was a widespread rumor in the early to mid-'90s that the priest in the wedding scene has an erection. He doesn't (in fact the shot is of the priest's knee moving underneath his tunic) but this didn't deter enraged moralists from strenuous protest (even to the extent of filing at least one lawsuit against Disney). In the 2006 Platinum Edition DVD release, the scene has been altered so that the priest is standing on a small platform box and his knee is no longer visible through his robes.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the lunch scene with Ariel, Eric, and Grimsby, Sebastian crawls from Grim's plate to Ariel's, and the table is clean. At the end of the scene, little white footprints appear.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Prince Eric: Isn't this great? The salty sea air, the wind blowing in your face... aaah, the perfect day to be at sea!
Grimsby: [leaning over rail] Oh, yes... urp... delightful.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "Saturday Night Live: Reese Witherspoon/Alicia Keys (#27.1)" (2001)

Soundtrack:

Happy Ending

Life must be great under the sea!

The Little Mermaid is one of the best Disney films of the 80's! It's such a wonderful film and is such a tear jerker, lol. The songs, the story, the animation, the voices, were just so wonderful and perfect. This is the film that I'm sure will go on for generations to come, I just showed it to my cousin recently, he's 6, and he just loves it as well. I remember watching this movie when I was a little girl and I just wanted a friend like Sebastian, he was so much fun, even though he's somewhat of a buzz kill, he can really get the party going. Just the whole story is a blast to watch and is so beautiful.

Ariel is one of the many princesses of King Triton's mighty kingdom under the sea, but she has a different dream. She goes up constantly to the shore to collect human items and wonders what it would be like to be a human instead of a mermaid. One day when she gets into a nasty fight with her father, Ursella, an evil octopus woman who wants to take over King Triton's kingdom, grants Ariel's wish, but she can only stay human if she can get her crush, Eric, to say her name, sounds easy, right? Well, Ursella takes her voice away, but her intentions are for Ariel to fail and make sure that she takes over the kingdom.

The Little Mermaid is such a fun Disney film and is a great treasure of our time. I just love the song "Under the sea", it's so much fun to sing and dance too, I admit it, I'm a dork, I still sing and dance to it when I see it. I highly recommend this movie for anyone, it's a true Disney classic that is so much fun, I guarantee you that you might shed a tear when Ariel says "Daddy", you'll see what I mean when you watch it.

10/10