Disney brings the film that led to a new age of excellent animated features onto DVD in a new 2 disc Platinum edition. This new edition lays on the special features and is a worthy upgrade for those that own the previous edition.
Ariel (voiced by Jodi Benson) is a mermaid that wants to be a human. She and her fish friend Flounder (Jason Marin) collect artifacts that she finds on the sea floor and she longs to “be a part of their world.” She gets a loony bird named Scuttle (Buddy Hackett) to inform her what the objects are and he has his own nutty translations of what they are. One night she witnesses Prince Eric (Christopher Daniel Barnes) on his ship and ends up saving him from drowning.
She is smitten with the prince and this only cements her longing to join the human world. The Prince is also smitten, but only hears the voice of the girl that saved him from the ocean depths. Ariel’s father King Triton (Kenneth Mars) wants her to have no part of the human world and forbids her from doing so. He instructs royal advisor Sebastian the crab (Stephen E. Wright) to keep an eye on Ariel. This only heightens her desire to join the human world and to that end she consults the sea witch Ursula (Pat Carroll).
Ursula agrees to transform her into a human but takes her voice to seal the bargain. Ariel has only three days to get the Prince to fall in love with her and give her the kiss of true love or Ursula takes possession of her body and soul. So Ariel finds herself with legs instead of fins, mute, and having to make the Prince fall in love with her in three days or face doom. She’s aided by Sebastian, Flounder, and Scuttle in her quest.
Kiss the girl
The Prince is slowly falling in love with Ariel, but is unsure if she is the same girl that saved him from drowning since she has no voice. However, a mysterious dark haired girl shows up on the beach that has the voice of the Prince’s savior. He’s immediately under her spell, most literally since this is the sea witch in disguise and using Ariel’s voice. The Prince arranges to marry the mysterious girl, but Scuttle discovers that it’s the sea witch in disguise and Ariel and her friends have to race to stop the wedding.
The Little Mermaid is a true Disney Classic in every sense of the word. The company had seemingly lost its way and wasn’t producing the hits that they had in the glory days (though I happen to like the Great Mouse Detective). There was talk of shuttering the animation division completely, but then the company had a change in management. Michael Eisner came on board and put Jeffrey Katzenberg into feature animation.
There was a general consensus that the project was shaping up to be the classic we know it as, but there was no idea that it would be such a box office hit and garner two Oscars (Original Score and Original Song “Under the Sea.”). What is even more interesting is that Walt Disney himself had considered bringing the Little Mermaid to the screen in the 1940s. So this production seemed to have the virtual blessings of Uncle Walt.
The movie benefits greatly from the music and lyrics of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman and their Oscars were well deserved. It’s a combination of great vocal casting (especially Pat Carroll – I always love the villains), beautiful animation, and excellent songs that makes Little Mermaid a classic.
Reaching out to the human world
The Little Mermaid is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) and enhanced for 16x9 televisions and features an all new digital restoration. Disc 1 features the film and is enhanced with the Disney Fastplay system (the film and video based extras play if you don’t select the main menu).
The main special feature on disc 1 is an audio commentary by writer/directors Ron Clements and John Musker, composer Alan Menken, along with vintage interviews with Howard Ashman. The other features found on disc 1 are a “Kiss the Girl” music video (3 minutes) by Ashley Tisdale, a feature that allows you to only play the songs in the film, a sneak peek at Little Mermaid III (why, oh why? It claims to be a musical number from the film but feels like “Under the Sea” with a different song in its place) and a preview of Disc 2.
Disc 2 is divided into three sections – Backstage Disney, Deleted Scenes, and Games & Activities. Backstage Disney contains the majority of the documentaries. The first is the 45 minute “Treasures Untold: The Making of the Little Mermaid.”
It has interviews with Ron Clements, John Musker, Leonard Maltin, Roy E. Disney, animator Andrea Deja, Patty Disney (Roy’s wife), effects animator Ted Kierscey, animator Glen Keane, former chairman of Disney Jeffrey Katzenberg, former chairman Peter Schnieder, story artist Roger Allers, Alan Menken, Sarah Gillespie (sister of Howard Ashman), filmmaker John Waters, writer/director Nora Ephron, director Frank Oz (both Ephron and Oz worked on Ashman projects), Jodi Benson, Bill Lauch (Ashman’s partner), assistant to Ashman Nancy Parent, Howard Ashman (from 1989), supervisor of visual effects Mark Dindal, Pat Carroll, animator Mark Henn, associate producer Maureen Donley, animator Ruben Aquino, and animator Duncan Marjoribanks.
The next featurette is the 8 minute “Storm Warning: The Little Mermaid Special Effects Unit.” It has interviews with Dindal and Kierscey, but adds effects animator Randy Fullmer and Dorse Lanpher to the mix. “The Story Behind the Story” runs 8 minutes and discusses both Hans Christian Andersons’ story and Disney’s 1940 attempt at filming it. It interviews Clements, Musker, and Ejnar Stig Askgaard (Curator of the Hans Christian Anderson museum in Denmark).
Ursula the sea witch
Next is the 7 minute short “The Little Match Girl” which was directed by Roger Allers (who provides an introduction). Finally there’s a 2 minute Presentation Reel (looks like something to show the investors), the original theatrical trailer, and Art Galleries. The Deleted Scenes section contains 26 minutes of deleted scenes in unfinished form. They do have the vocal tracks and each is introduced by Clements and/or Musker.
Some highlights include a different version of “Fathoms Below” which tells more of Triton and Ursula and an alternate version of “Poor Unfortunate Souls” which adds another verse. Games & Activities really contains more featurettes than games or activities (in my opinion) but they’re worth checking out. The first is the 4 minute “Under the Sea Adventure: A Virtual Ride.” Disney Imagineers were going to make a Little Mermaid ride (think the Peter Pan ride at Disney) but it never came to fruition. Now they’ve built a virtual version of the planned ride.
You can go through the ride with the ride soundtrack or the optional Imagineer commentary. The next featurette is the 5 minute “Ride with the Disney Imagineers.” This has the same commentary, but also adds production sketches and other visual goodies to the mix. The final featurette in this section is the 5 minute “Behind The Ride that Almost Was.”
It interviews Sr. Vice-President of Disney Imagineering Tony Baxter, V.P. of Creative Joe Lanzisero, chief sculptor Valerie Edwards, Sr. show designer Don Carson, and model maker John Stone. The final feature in this section is the 8 minute “Disneypedia: Life under the Sea” which focuses on the sea creatures that inspired Little Mermaid’s characters.
Scuttle, Sebastian, and Flounder
Little Mermaid is an excellent film and has been give a great special edition. If you’re a fan of the film then this new edition is light years beyond the original release. A definite must buy for Disney fans and parents (though you can just pretend that you have kids if you feel strangely standing in the checkout line with it).
The Little Mermaid (Two-Disc Special Edition) is now available at Amazon . It is available for pre-order at AmazonUK for a Nov. 6th release. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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