Hiatus Explained

Hello to the 2 or 3 people who actually visit this blog.

I know, I promised my next review would go up, like, two weeks ago! But I haven't written it yet, or the next few, and all my work has really caught up with me. Between hardcore work and the few golden moments of leisure I get in between, there isn't much time to dwell on Disney movies at the moment.

So I apologise for the inconsistency. My hiatus hopefully won't be too long, and I can hopefully get to work making up for the blogging weeks I've missed when the load of the HSC lightens momentarily. It might take a year, but I will finish the Disney reviews!

Hope you're all well. (All 2 or 3 of you)

Top 15 Disney films I grew up with, #10

It took a while, but I got around to it!

#10: The Little Mermaid (1989)

In terms of how influential it is as a Disney cartoon, The Little Mermaid probably ranks third behind Snow White and The Lion King, if it isn’t second or first. It was based on the much more suicidally dark fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson, and was a return to the musical style based on a princess story that had been so successful in Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty decades earlier.

            First, let me just acknowledge how great the quality of this movie is, down to the thousands of bubbles in this movie, ALL OF WHICH WERE HAND DRAWN. That might not sound like much, but watch this movie! Every time someone moves under water, there’s at least fifty bubbles. It’s insane. Disney hadn’t committed this well to a cartoon since … well … ever! And that’s what Disney was all about in the 90s; quality. Great stories, great direction, great voice acting, great music, AMAZING animation, etc. etc.

            The only real qualm I have with this movie is the one critics usually have. Ariel and Eric, the protagonist and the love interest, hardly develop at all as characters, even though they take up so much screen time. What does Eric learn at the end? From the start he’s pretty much a perfect hero, to the point where he risks his life to save his dog, which, along with his perfect looks, is probably why Ariel falls in love with him almost immediately. There’s no room for improvement in Eric, which is what makes him unrealistic and plain, and generally considered a B-grade Disney hero compared to the likes of Aladdin and the Beast. He also doesn’t have a song, which is kind of weird considering he’s the deuteragonist.

Ariel, meanwhile, is a flawed character who makes the wrong decisions; a very relatable character who very accurately represents the unrealistic aspirations of teenage girls. But does she rectify her missteps, as we must? Does she learn that not everything will always go her way, as we must? Not really. King Triton (arguably the most developed character) sacrifices himself for her. Eric kills Ursula for her. Sebastian (almost) gets Eric to kiss her, after learning to respect her desires. But Ariel learns basically nothing. Sure, there’s a great message in there about following your dreams and being yourself, but in following her dreams Ariel is constantly jeopardising herself and other people, and that kind of selfishness and carelessness is rewarded with … a marriage to a prince? Nostalgia Chick made this point really well in her funny video review a couple years ago: http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/team-nchick/nostalgia-chick/31642-the-little-mermaid. I love the animation of Ariel, especially when she has no voice and manages to convey so many emotions through just her face. But isn’t it kind of disturbing when you like a character more when she either shuts up or sings? The rest of the time, Ariel’s pretty much just whining, crying or nearly getting Flounder killed in order to salvage a "dingle hopper" from a sunken ship.

Regardless of the dubious messages The Little Mermaid might send, the fact that this nit-picky ethical reading of mine is the only significant flaw in this movie is very impressive. Ursula is definitely somewhere in my top ten favourite Disney villains, and she’s definitely one of the best-designed. The songs, as I said before, are brilliant, with “Part of Your World” being Disney’s most iconic “I Want” song (a song in which the protagonist expresses their yearning for “more” somewhere in the middle of Act 1).

Besides this, I don’t have much else to say. The Little Mermaid, at the end of the day, is a brilliant classic that I hope kids will never stop loving (as opposed to its dreaded sequel; Disney’s straight-to-video sequels are pieces of poo made for idiots).

Next week, we’re going back to 1950 for a movie I never hesitate to re-watch out of pure, wistful nostalgia. Hint: it involves a highly delicate shoe.

Image source: http://www.a113animation.com/2013/09/the-little-mermaid-blu-ray-review.html