Review of The Little Mermaid (1989) by Jacob B — 02 Sep 2017

Well, I did the other Disney Renaissance movies so I might as well go back to the one that started it all: The Little Mermaid. After nearly three decades of movies that were either critical failures or commercially unsuccessful, Disney was just about to give up on animation.

After Who Framed Roger Rabbit was a success at the box office becoming the second highest-grossing film of 1988, Disney was inspired to avoid trying too hard and, lo and behold, the Renaissance came to be.

Like Jeffrey Katzenberg back when he used to work at Disney before founding DreamWorks with Spielberg and Geffen, I was worried going into this movie because I thought it would be too girly. Fortunately, I was mistaken because the only reason I may have thought of that is because of the fact that I'm blinded by consumerism and it's easier for a girl to say "I saw The Little Mermaid" than a boy, regardless of age unless they're critics.

The animation is delightful to look at with a colourful palette and detailing. The songs are as catchy today as they were back in 1989. The characters are memorable and charming with Ursula being a great villain.

Personally, I think the best Disney villains are the Renaissance villains. Not every one of them but still. Ariel is a sweet heroine who has her flaws but who doesn't? The voice actress is so sweet-sounding when she voices her and she sung "Part of Your World" beautifully.

I'll take The Lion King over The Little Mermaid anytime but the movie manages to remain tons of fun throughout managing to appeal to both the masculine and the feminine crowd at the same time.