I was happy to revisit the beginning of the Disney Renaissance. To talk like “the kids” these days, I was eating good as a youth—I saw those films, the classic Looney Tunes cartoons, the old animated shorts from Disney, some Woody Woodpecker, Tom & Jerry, The Pink Panther, etc. No, don’t expect me to ever tackle the live-action remake. Besides the pointless nature of the movie and it lasting over 2 hours when this was able to tell the same story in only 78 minutes before end credits, hearing that “song” from Awkwafina is enough to keep me away!
The story is simple yet effective: the protective King Triton having headaches w/ his typical 16-year-old teenager Ariel, Ariel’s desire to be part of the human world, her manipulation by the evil Ursula (modeled after Divine) to become human but losing her voice, etc. There are many positive attributes… the animation, the number of interesting characters, a story that’s never boring, and arguably most important: the usage of a Broadway format where several musical numbers are heard & shown throughout. Thankfully for the movie and for Disney, Broadway veterans Alan Menken and Howard Ashman succeeded. Both the score and the soundtrack are aces. All the songs still hold up in 2025.
The Little Mermaid is still delightful as an adult. Now, I can laugh that the French chef name-dropped Maurice Chevalier & Ursula’s henchmen are Flotsam and Jetsam. My two younger sisters were for certain fans of this film-I believe they still are now. Who knows about the kids of today, but hopefully Mermaid is still a film that can be loved & beloved by the entire family. A film that has genuine laughs that aren’t forced, is not political, and is void of both crude humor and then-modern references—I appreciate that in these modern times.
No comments:
Post a Comment