The Little Mermaid (1989) on Netflix
G19891h 23mAnimationFamilyFantasy
Ariel, the youngest of King Triton's daughters, longs for the human world, but her father forbids contact with humans. She falls for Prince Eric. Ursula, a sea witch, offers her a bargain.
- Netflix4.0/5
- IMDb7.6/10315,532 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes92%
Trailer
Plot summary
The kingdom of Atlantica lies under the ocean, ruled by King Triton, who has forbidden any contact between merpeople and humans. His youngest daughter, Ariel, is curious about the world above and keeps the objects she finds there in a grotto. Flounder, a fish, is her best friend, and Scuttle, a seagull, tells her about people, though his accounts are wrong. One night she swims to the surface with Flounder and Sebastian, the crab who advises Triton, to watch a birthday celebration held for Prince Eric. She falls in love with him at once, and when a storm throws him into the sea she carries him to shore. Outraged, Triton destroys her collection. Flotsam and Jetsam, two eels, then lead her to Ursula, a sea witch, who proposes a deal: legs in exchange for her voice.
Cast
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Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Little Mermaid (1989)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The song 'Part of Your World' was nearly cut when it seemingly tested poorly with children, who became rowdy during the scene; Jeffrey Katzenberg felt the song needed to be cut, but Musker, Clements, Ashman and Keane resisted, citing how 'Over the Rainbow' was nearly cut from 1939's The Wizard of Oz.
- The original script was written with Bea Arthur of The Golden Girls in mind for Ursula; after Arthur turned the part down, actresses such as Roseanne and Jennifer Saunders were considered, and Elaine Stritch was cast before clashing with Howard Ashman's style of music production and being replaced by Carroll.
- Various actors auditioned for additional roles in the film, including Jim Carrey for the role of Prince Eric, and the comedians Bill Maher and Michael Richards for the role of Scuttle.
- The Little Mermaid is the last Walt Disney Animation Studios feature film to use the traditional hand-painted cel method of animation; the next film, The Rescuers Down Under, used CAPS, a digital coloring system developed for Disney by Pixar, which eliminated the need for cels and the multiplane camera.
- Effects animation supervisor Mark Dindal estimated that over a million bubbles were drawn for this film, and the artistic manpower needed meant Disney farmed out most of the underwater bubble effects animation to Pacific Rim Productions, a China-based firm with production facilities in Beijing.
- The Little Mermaid was the first Disney animated feature to be released on home video one year after its theatrical release, and its success led future Disney animated films to reach home video soon after their theatrical runs rather than being delayed for several years.
- Walt Disney Feature Animation expanded as a result of The Little Mermaid and its increasingly successful follow-ups, with staff growing from 300 members in 1988 to 2,200 in 1999 across three studios in Burbank, Lake Buena Vista and Montreuil.
