The Little Mermaid - Movie Review Example

Number] The Little Mermaid The Little Mermaid is a Walt Disney film directed by Ron Clements and John Musker. It is an animated movie that revolves around a young mermaid, Ariel and her desire to explore the world above the Oceans and the Seas (Stewart 104). The presence of mermaid depicts that the film is fictitious and certain characters are illusionary. Creatures that we perceive as imaginary are shown to exist in the film like the cruel witch Ursela, the mermaids and the King Trion. However, the film does include humans and non-imaginary animals like dog, seagull, fishes and yes, a crab. Yet fiction is retained as animals are portrayed as speaking creatures like humans (Grant 344). The film has a tinge of royalty as Ariel, the main character, is a princess. Her father, the King Trion and Ariel’s love Prince Eric, the two important men in her life were aristocrats. In fact during the initial plot of the film a royal concert is shown to take place at King Trion’s palace. The display of nobility is manifested many a time like at the dancing party of Prince Eric and his wedding ceremony. Even Sebastian, the crab is represented as the court composer and Grimsby as Eric’s guardian. These authorities show that they enjoyed nobility. Although religion was not an issue in the film but the wedding bells, dresses and the arrangement depict that Eric and Ariel are Christians. The human and human-like characters seem to be from the western world that is expressed through their life style and appearance (Grant 344). All characters are either feminine or masculine which is represented through their appearance like the mermaids, the witch and the King Trion. Ariel’s love for Eric is similar to the love of an ordinary girl. Other characters were assigned genders through the quality of the voice and by their behaviour. Although the original fairy tale was written by Hans Christian Anderson, it was reprised by Roger Aller. The two versions contradict each other in several ways. Anderson’s tale was mature and complicated as compared to Aller’s edition. There were a lot of changes made basically to make it comprehensible for a large audience. The original work had beautifully laid out concepts such as the description of immortal soul by the mermaid’s grandmother. Anderson’s plot and rhetoric enchants the reader. However, as the animated pictures like the mermaid are overwhelmingly viewed by younger generation there was a dire need to get down to something simpler (Allan 46). A few characters, such as the mermaid’s grandmother, are missing from the movie. The story describes 6 sisters whereas in the film seven are mentioned. The discussion regarding the daughters of the air is unheard throughout the film. There are additional characters added in the film such as Flounder and Sebastian. The ending of the film is entirely different. In the original text the mermaid neither marries the Prince nor the cruel sea witch was her opponent. Aller has brought a cliché happy ending to the movie (Corliss). The film shows different characters possessing different behaviour. The King Triton is represented as the leader. He has the Supreme authority and the right to make decisions. The King imposes restriction on Ariel for not allowing her swim above the water surface. He even destroys all humanly articles she had gathered. Triton seems to have influenced Ariel’s life. However, near the end of the story Ursula temporarily seizes the authority from the King and hence plays a powerful role. She’s also shown as clever witch as she tricks Ariel into her trap (Eugene). On the contrary, the role of a coward weakling is played by Flounder. He’s afraid to take any step. Many times he hides behind Ariel and follows her to find escape. He usually warned Ariel from exploring new places or things. However, Ariel exhibits a bold character in the film. She is brave and strong. Ariel is not afraid of taking chances and is determined to meet the destiny of her dreams. Her bravery is observed as she rescues herself and her friend, Flounder from the sharks and her decision of turning into a human being. But she’s also seen to plunge herself into troubles one after another. She swam to places that were prone to danger. Later she visited the dwell of the wicked witch and accepted her terms at the cost of her voice. She did not bother taking someone’s suggestion and left her home. Her decisions could have an adverse impact on her entire life but she was saved with the help of her friends. Sebastian informed the King while the Seagull distracted the marriage of the Prince with Vanessa. Ariel was saved by her Father who wrote his name on the contract instead of her name. The efforts of courageous Eric cannot be ignored as he dived under the water to help save Ariel. It was his plan of ship wreck that led to the destruction of Ursula. The film imparts much positive energy towards its audience. According to the critics it spreads love and emphasises its importance as Ariel agrees to sacrifice her voice for Prince Eric. However, care must be taken that with which the bargaining is being done and at what cost as the deal turns out to be detrimental for Ariel. Bravery, courage and strength are given high preference as the role model Ariel is seen to possess all these attributes. Moral values such as loyalty manifest in the role of Sebastian as he helps Ariel though he disagrees with what she was doing. The movie takes credit for many good things, but it does have some drawbacks. The destruction shown in the movie is a display of violence which is unhealthy for the children. The ship wreck, imprisonment of the King and the chef running after Sebastian with cleaver all tend to send negative messages. The ordinary audience criticizes the strong desire of Ariel to marry Eric for it portrays that a woman’s biggest achievement is a man. Anyways the film was a huge success and earned around 111 million dollars in USA and around 99 million dollars abroad. At the box office the movie earned a total $6,065,716 during the first week alone and in the last (twelfth) week the figure was $74,262,415; Impressive. Apart from this Ariel is a Disney princess. Hence the sales from merchandise would be significant too (Gans). Little Mermaid is an improved form of animated movie produced by the Walt Disney Feature Animation. It does not portray the common trends of the Disney picture where beauty alone is preferred. Ariel is appreciated for both her appearance and intellect. The film does not show the female leading role as feeble and helpless as in other Disney publications like Aladdin. Ariel is represented as a brave and courageous girl. However few concepts abide by the Disney heritage. Ariel falls in love with the prince and her crucial aim is to marry him. Though beauty and intellect complement each other in the film yet obese and ugly women are shown as cruel like the mean witch Ursula (Gans). The culture and religion shown is Christianity and the human features like hair, eye colour and complexion are those possessed by the people of the west. The storyline greatly digresses from the original theme. Profit concern could be an important reason behind this as people, in particular children, like to see happy endings. Also characters like Sebastian and Flounder would increase the merchandise sales. However, the film not only marked financial success but the response led to the creation of much improved animated Disney films in the future. Work Cited Allan, Neuwirth. Makin Toons: Inside the Most Popular Animated TV Shows and Movies. NY: Allworth Communications, Inc. 2003. Print. Corliss, Richard. "The 25 All-Time Best Animated Films – The Little Mermaid". TIME, 23 June 2011. Web. 25 Sept. 2012. Eugene, Emery, C. When the media miss real messages in subliminal stories. The Skeptical Inquirer, March 1, 1996. Web. 25 Sept. 2012. Gans, Andrew. "Playbill News: Little Mermaid to Celebrate First Broadway Anniversary January 10". Playbill, Aug 1, 2010. Web. 25 Sept. 2012. Grant, John. Encyclopaedia of Walt Disneys Animated Characters (Third Edition). London: Hyperion, 1996. Print. Stewart, James B. Disney War. NY: Simon & Schuster, 2004. Print. Read More