Monday, August 22, 2011

The Little Mermaid

Released Year: 1989
Directed by Rob Clements & John Musker

Voiced by:
Jodi Benson as Princess Ariel
Chrisopher Daniel Barnes as Prince Eric
Pat Carroll as Ursula
Samuel E. Wright as Sebastian
Jason Marin as Flounder
Kenneth Mars as King Triton
Buddy Hackett as Scuttle
Story:
Ariel, a sixteen-year-old mermaid princess, is dissatisfied with life under the sea and curious about the human world. With her best fish friend Flounder, Ariel collects human artifacts and goes to the surface of the ocean to visit Scuttle the seagull, who offers very inaccurate knowledge of human culture. She constantly ignores the warnings of her father (King Triton) and court musician (Sebastian, the crab) that contact between merpeople and humans is forbidden (the sea's primary contact with humans involve fishermen, so King Triton considers humans as nothing more than mere predators), longing to join the human world and becoming a human herself. Sebastian, who is assigned to watch over Ariel and be sure she does not visit the surface again, tries to convince her that it is better to live under the sea than in the human world.

One night, Ariel, Flounder and an unwilling Sebastian travel to the ocean surface to watch a celebration for the birthday of Prince Eric on a ship, with whom Ariel falls in love. A storm hits, which sinks the ship there after. Everyone on board manages to escape except for Eric, who came up into the vessel to save his dog Max and is knocked out by a gunpowder explosion inside. Ariel saves the unconscious Eric from drowning and sings to him, but quickly leaves as soon as he regains consciousness to avoid being spotted by Max and his guardian Grimsby. Fascinated by the memory of her voice, Eric vows to find who saved and sung to him (unaware that it was Ariel) and Ariel vows to find a way to join him and his world.

Triton and his daughters notice a change in Ariel, who is openly lovesick. Triton questions Sebastian about her behavior, during which Sebastian accidentally reveals the incident with Eric out of pressure. Triton furiously confronts Ariel in her grotto, where she and Flounder store human artifacts, and destroys the objects with his trident. After Triton leaves, a pair of eels, Flotsam and Jetsam, convince a crying Ariel that she must visit Ursula the sea witch, if she wants all of her dreams to come true.

Ursula makes a deal with Ariel to transform her into a human for three days. Within these three days, Ariel must receive the 'kiss of true love' from Eric; otherwise, she will transform back into a mermaid on the third day and belong to Ursula. As payment, Ariel has to give up her voice, which Ursula takes by magically removing the energy from Ariel's vocal chords and storing it in a nautilus shell. Ariel's tail is transformed into legs and she loses her ability to breathe underwater, forcing Sebastian and Flounder to drag the drowning Ariel to the surface. Meanwhile, Triton discovers Ariel and Sebastian's disappearance and, overwhelmed with guilt, orders a search for them.

Eric and Max find Ariel on the beach. He initially suspects that she is the one who saved his life, but when he learns that she cannot speak, he discards the notion, to the frustration of both Ariel and Max (who know the truth). He helps her to the palace, where the servants think she is a survivor of a shipwreck. Ariel spends time with Eric, and at the end of the second day, they almost kiss but are thwarted by Flotsam and Jetsam. Angered at their narrow escape, Ursula takes the disguise of a beautiful young woman named "Vanessa" and appears onshore singing with Ariel's voice. Eric recognizes the song and, in her disguise, Vanessa/Ursula casts a hypnotic enchantment on Eric to make him forget about Ariel.

The next day, Ariel finds out that Eric will be married to the disguised Ursula on a ship. She cries and is left behind when the wedding barge departs. Scuttle discovers that Vanessa is Ursula in disguise, and informs Ariel. As Ariel and Flounder chase the wedding barge, Sebastian informs Triton, and Scuttle is assigned to literally "stall the wedding." With the help of various animals, the nautilus shell around Ursula's neck is broken, restoring Ariel's voice and breaking Ursula's enchantment over Eric. Realizing that Ariel was the girl who saved his life, Eric rushes to kiss her, but the sun sets and Ariel transforms back into a mermaid. Ursula reverts to her true form and kidnaps Ariel.

Triton confronts Ursula and demands Ariel's release, but the deal is inviolable. At Ursula's urging, he agrees to take Ariel's place as Ursula's prisoner. Ariel is released as Triton transforms into a polyp and loses his authority over Atlantica. Ursula declares herself the new ruler. She is then attacked by Ariel and Eric, and in the confusion accidentally kills her minions, Flotsam and Jetsam. Enraged by this, Ursula begins to grow into titanic proportions on the seafloor.

Ariel and Eric reconcile on the surface just before Ursula grows past and towers the two. She then gains full control of the entire ocean, creating a storm with a maelstrom and shipwrecks, one of which Eric commandeers. As Ursula attempts to destroy a trapped Ariel in the maelstrom, Eric turns the wheel hard to port and runs Ursula through the abdomen with the ship's splintered bowsprit, mortally wounding her. The ocean calms after her demise, and Eric makes it to shore before losing consciousness.

After her death, Ursula's power breaks, causing Triton and all the other polyps in Ursula's garden to revert back into their original forms. Triton's power returns after the change. Later, after seeing that Ariel truly loves Eric and that he also saved her and the ocean in the process, Triton willingly changes her from a mermaid into a human permanently using his trident, where she reconciles with Eric once more.

An unspecified amount of time later, Ariel and Eric have their wedding on a ship, where both humans and merpeople could attend, before sailing away afterwards happily married.
L² Scored: 9.5/10

L² Comment:
This is one of my favorite cartoon ever :) Watch it during the first time when i was 7 years old and i still love it nowadays. Ariel is the main reason why i always love those caucasian who has red hair~

The cartoon is so real if you make it humanity. First of all, a lot of ppl is willing to make a deal with devil to get what they want; second of all, Ariel leaving her seaworld to human world is a big challenge and she's willing to change for love. I really hope i can find the 2nd movie of Little Mermaid which has been filmed in 2000.

My favorite scene will be when Sebastian the hermit crab went into the kitchen and chase after by Luigi the chef~ lol... and the music are nice :) A classic cartoon of Walt Disney which u should never ever miss~

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