Plot: What’s it about?
It’s hard to believe that there was a time, not too long ago, that Disney didn’t own the entire animation marketplace. Ok, ok…I know – stop you heathens before I continue! I realize that nowadays there are other “leaders” in the animation industry, but when we’re talking classic animation, most of us think of Disney. Gone were the days of Snow White, Fantasia and Peter Pan. It was the late 80’s and Disney’s animated films were along the lines of The Great Mouse Detective and Oliver and Company. By no means were these movies bad, but they just weren’t synonymous with what the world had come to expect from Disney. However a little mermaid with a fiery red mane and a desire to become human changed all that and, in many ways, might have just changed the entire face of Disney to come. You see, due to the success of The Little Mermaid, it in turn paved the way for other movies to come after it. I’m talking Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin to name just a few. One would have to wonder how different the face of animated movies from Disney would be had The Little Mermaid tanked at the box office, but as is stands this one little movie had quite the long-lasting impact.
It’s hard to believe that it’s been nearly 25 years since this movie was originally released and being a Disney movie, the plot isn’t exactly difficult to follow. We meet Ariel (voiced by Jodi Benson), a mermaid who wants nothing more than to go to the surface world. She collects little tidbits of things that reside at the ocean floor and wonders what it’s like to see an actual person. However King Triton (voiced by Kenneth Mars) has warned his daughter of the dangers of the surface world and, being a “teenage” girl, she refuses to listen. Triton assigns Sebastian (voiced by Samuel E. Wright) to watch over her but to no avail. Ariel instead heads to the surface world with best friend Flounder (voiced by Jason Marin) along for the ride. And in nearly record time Ariel falls for a human prince, Eric (voiced by Christopher Daniel Barnes). King Triton finds out and confines Ariel to her room. She escapes. She then makes a deal with the proverbial devil in Ursula (voiced by Pat Carroll) by sacrificing her voice to be human. Is Ariel destined to be Ursula’s slave or will things work out in the end?
Watching The Little Mermaid for the first time in years made me realize exactly how far we’ve come in the animation field. I realize that computer animated films, popularized by Pixar, have given these a new perspective but even traditional 2D animation nowadays looks uber-realistic. To be totally honest, I’ve found other Disney animated realizes to be more entertaining like Aladdin, Mulan and Beauty and the Beast. That’s not to say that this film doesn’t have some good moments, but I felt it played more to females than males (and bear in mind when this came out I was in High School – not exactly the target audience). Of course we can’t forget that it’s a classic Disney film with songs that you most likely know by heart (especially if you have children) like “Under the Sea” and “Kiss the Girl.” Still, this movie has earned its place in the pantheon of Disney cinema classics and rightfully so. With this first release on Blu-ray, we get just about everything you’ve ever wanted in one package.
Video: How’s it look?
Since Disney was kind enough to send us the 3D Blu-ray version, I’ll cover both the 3D and 2D releases, each with their own disc. The 2D version is shown in a 1.78:1 AVC HD transfer which is a night and day difference from the standard DVD released a decade ago. Colors pop, the lack of dirt on the print is a sight for sore eyes and everything seems to flow better. Ariel’s red hair literally lights up the screen. Having said that, compared to some newer releases I found some of the “exterior” scenes to still be a bit on the dingy side. This is what prompted my comment about how far animation has come. It looks fairly dated, but considering what the animators go through to bring a film to life – I’ll let them off the hook as it’s evident that a LOT of work has gone into this release.
The 3D version isn’t quite the experience that you’d expect. Obviously the film wasn’t made for 3D and it’s something that they’ve done to get with the times. Personally I’m not too big of a fan of 3D and would, given the choice, watch the 2D version. But I have to justify my television somehow, so here we go. Everything I said about the 2D release stands true, though this 3D version seems to have hypercolor or something. Everything seems almost a bit too bright and “in your face.” I realize that the point of a 3D film is to be “in your face” but this just seemed a bit odd to me. Those that grew up with this movie are most likely parents now and I highly doubt any child is going to sit and nitpick about the pros and cons of this 3D version. If they do, drop me a line, I’ve got an open spot for children’s reviews! Only kidding.
Audio: How’s it sound?
It’s a bit odd to listen to a movie that now has up to 8 channels of sound, but yes The Little Mermaid now has a very robust DTS HD Master Audio mix that’s been given new life due to this Blu-ray. And, without a doubt, this is the best that the movie has sounded. The vocals seem to have more pop to them, the surrounds seem to offer more of an audio “experience” and the entire soundtrack as a whole sounds much better. Again, having said that, there are some bits here and there that still seem to somewhat lack any depth. I found a few of the lines of dialogue to be a bit thin and some of the sounds seem to be manufactured. Well, they are, but you get what I’m saying. But, like the video, the audio is by far the best this has ever sounded.
Supplements: What are the extras?
The good news is that if you have the special edition DVD that Disney put out a while back, you can retire it. All of the supplements from the previous standard DVD have been included here as well as a bevy of new features for this release. Though we do have a review of the standard DVD, it looks as if it’s for the feature-less version, so without further ado…let’s get started, shall we?
Standard DVD Bonus Features
- Audio Commentary – Writer/Director(s) Ron Clements and John Musker give their thoughts on the movie, the production as well as a slew of technical information to boot. They’re joined by Alan Menken, the film’s composer as well.
- Deleted Scenes – Seven deleted scenes that were cut from the film.
- Backstage Disney – A collection of nine short featurettes:
- The Making of The Little Mermaid
- The Little Match Girl
- The Story Behind the Story
- Storm Warning: Special Effects Unit
- Under the Sea Early Presentation Reel
- John & Ron Make Caricatures of Each Other
- Animators Comment on their Characters
- The Little Mermaid Handshake
- Theatrical Trailer
- Music & More – Lyrics for four of the film’s songs are shown (“Part of Your World”, “Under the Sea”, “Les Poissons” and “Kiss the Girl”) as well as a music video with Ashley Tisdale.
- Disneypedia: Life Under the Sea – A short segment on oceanic wildlife (geared for children).
- Behind the Ride that Almost Was – A Little Mermaid emattraction that was scrapped.
- Under the Sea Adventure – A theme park ride, virtual of course.
Blu-ray Special Features
- @DisneyAnimation – We get to see the long lasting impact of films such as The Little Mermaid as some animators are interviewed and even cite this film as making them want to go into animation as a career. Clearly they’re passionate about their work (and talented to boot, of course) and truly live the life.
- Under the Scene – Utilizing an old tactic, we get to see how the animators conquered a few of their problems by actually using live action segments and then drawing over the to get the right look and feel.
- Howard’s Lecture – We get some background on Howard Ashman, a major player in making The Little Mermaid come to life, as we get some lectures and Q & A from him. Ashman died in 1991 from AIDS.
- Deleted Character: Harold the Merman – We get a peek at a character who might have been on many lunch boxes but was, alas, taken out of the movie never to see the light of day.
- Crab-E-Oke Sing Along – Similar to the “Music and More” section on the standard DVD bonus features.
- Part of Her World – We get to meet and follow Jodi Benson, the voice of Ariel, as she heads to the Disney Animation Resort. She, now a mother, reflects on the role that made her a star and the long-lasting impact that the film has had on her life.
- Music Video – Carly Rae Jespen (yes, the “Call me Maybe” performer) performs “Part of Your World.”
