5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
A Disney Favorite
Date of Review: May 6, 2001
The Bottom Line: still one of disney's best
This is my all-time favorite Disney animated movie. I didn't watch a lot of cartoons when I was a kid, but I did watch most of Disney's cartoons, up until Beauty and the Beast and this one is by far my favorite.
Lots of great stuff in The Little Mermaid, including the music. It just blew me away as a kid. I couldn't get the songs out of my head. "Under the Sea," "Part of Your World," and "Kiss the Girl" are amazingly good. The animation is pretty impressive as well. Ariel is beautiful and her companions Sebastian the crab, Flounder, and the seagull add a lot of fun to the cartoon. The happy ending is satisfying and appropriate. However, I remember going into the video store with my cousin (she was 6 then) and she refused to watch this cartoon because she thought the witch looked really scary. I think Ursula isn't too bad though. Compared to the witch in Cinderella or The Wizard of Oz, she is not scary at all!
There are several different versions of The Little Mermaid. I have also seen a Japanese version which didn't have a happy ending. I watched that as a kid too and didn't find the tragic ending too upsetting, just extremely sad and touching.
Overall, The Little Mermaid is a great cartoon that is extremely entertaining and will leave you asking for more of the music at the end of the cartoon. It is not just for one-time viewing. Although I haven't seen it for quite a few years, I have seen it many times before and found it fun to watch every time.
