The Little Mermaid

Little Mermaid

Disney’s 28th animated motion picture marked the beginning of one era and the end of another. The Little Mermaid ushered in an animated Renaissance for the studio. The film was also the last fully cell-animated picture for the studio, as computers soon took over many of the animators’ more menial tasks.

Young mermaid Ariel longs to explore the world of human beings, but her father, forbids it. Defying the king, Ariel ventures up to the surface and saves the life of a drowning human prince named Eric. When Triton learns of this, he destroys her collection of human artifacts and restricts her from seeing the prince again. Then Ariel strikes a bargain with Ursula, the sea witch, agreeing to trade her voice for a pair of human legs. As with all bargains, this one comes with a catch. If Ariel can’t get a kiss from her Prince within two days, Ursula will own her soul forever. The humanized mermaid finds Eric, but without her precious singing voice, the handsome Prince Eric has no way of identifying her as the woman who saved his life. To make matters worse, Ursula assumes a human form of her own, using Ariel’s voice to steal the Prince’s heart. Unless Ariel, Sebastian the crab, Flounder the fish and Scuttle the albatross can spoil the sea hag’s plot, the little mermaid will be lost forever.

This page was last updated on: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 at 6:30 PM