The Little Mermaid is my most favouritest Disney movie of all time, and lastnight I did something I didn't think I'd ever do... I watched the sequels. It was out of a mix of bordom, curiosity, and the my love for Ariel.
The Little Mermaid
Released in 1989, The Little Mermaid was, and still is, an amazing film. And it's done sooo much for Disney. It brought back the musical format that Disney became known for in the first place, and it pretty much saved Disney animation studios (which was they were apparently thinking of scrapping). And it was their last movie to feature hand-painted cels. Also, just so you know how much effort was put into this film: every bubble was hand-drawn!!
The soundtrack is amazing - eventhough they almost skipped over "Part Of Your World" - which is my favourite song from the movie. I actually got really p*ssed when I heard about that. The reason why they nearly cut it was because one some guy thought it was boring, mainly because one kid who was watching the sequence, spilt his popcorn was was more interested in picking it up than watching the screen. So, because of one kid you almost scrap an amazing song, and a very important part of Ariel's life? Also, what these kids were watching wasn't even finished!! The animation hadn't been coloured, and some of it was just story boarding. Of
course they're gonna get bored. Idiots. ¬_¬
There's actually so much behind this film that I could be here all night. You'll just have to Google, or watch some Making Of videos for the rest. ^^;
Personally, when I first saw this movie, I was too young to really know or care about what this did for Disney behind the scenes. Loving animation and music though, I was able to appreciate everything this film had to offer up-front. And loving dreams and fantasy, and the sea, I was pretty much hooked. ^^;
Ariel, and the Little Mermaid film, are the main reasons I became such a Disney kid. I remember my parents having alot of Disney videos, so it was something I'd always been brought-up with. But Ariel was everything I wanted to be as a child. She was beautiful, she was slim, her hair was bright and flowed softly, she had an amazing voice, she was a mermaid, and she lived in a world where magic existed, and dreams really could come true.
I honestly can't tell you how much I wanted to
be Ariel, or how much I loved, and still love, this film. <3
And let's not forget Eric. He was an awesome male lead. And Ursula was an amazing bad guy.
When I heard about The Little Mermaid II, I cringed. I did used to watch the tv series, but even at a young age, I could tell between movie quality and series quality. It was fun, and I got to see more mermaid stuff, more Ariel, but I never really considered any of it cannon. Maybe it was. But I didn't really take it as such.
Hearing about a sequel years later could only mean bad things. Disney sequels are generally very poorly animated and voiced, and the story lines are either recycled, or just plain crap (there are exceptions, of course). I put off watching this movie for a looong long time.
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