Ron Clements
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Aladdin (2019)
Directed by Guy Ritchie
influenced by Aladdin (1992), The Little Mermaid (1989)
Characters Music
Guy Ritchie, he of the fast-talking cockney crime films, would seem an inspired (if, on the surface, unconventional) choice to helm Disney’s live-action remake of Aladdin , its beloved 1992 animated fable based on One Thousand and One Nights ’ Aladdin and the Magic Lamp .
It would be too easy to compare Will Smith’s casting of the Genie to the legendary portrayal by Robin Williams in the 1992 animated Aladdin .
There is a lot of Aladdin that flounders on its own, and even more so when inevitably compared to the 1992 animated version.
The cartoon Aladdin (1992), directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, owed a great deal to Alexander Korda’s version of The Thief of Bagdad (1940), to the extent of borrowing its villain (Conrad Veidt’s sorcerer Jafar) and replacing the ‘new lamps for old’ business with special-effects sorcery.
Some character choices feel distracting more than inspired, but that could be said about a lot of "Aladdin."
After The Little Mermaid (1989) and Beauty and the Beast (1991) resurrected Broadway showstoppers, Aladdin appended to its Alan Menken tunes a fast-moving plot, top-notch comedy, and even some scares.
Although it will draw thematic comparisons to "The Little Mermaid" and "Finding Nemo," it's unlike any other animated feature – excepting, of course, Miyazaki's own.
The Disney picture, "The Little Mermaid," is a musical, not unlike "The Sound of Music," and while it happens to be an undisputed classic, it also feels very old-fashioned in its shape and message.
In a story loosely inspired by "The Little Mermaid," five year-old Sosuke (Frankie Jonas) finds a very odd fish, with a face, near his house on the cliff by the sea.
Not surprisingly, Ponyo, inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's classic The Little Mermaid , is a huge success in Miyazaki's native Japan.
Casually, you might hitch Miyazaki’s “Ponyo’’ to any iteration of “The Little Mermaid’’ tale, namely the musical one from Disney - which is also distributing “Ponyo.’’
Ponyo, an emotionally profound, visually thrilling animated reimagining of the classic fairy tale ''The Little Mermaid,'' is another opportunity for the smitten to state the obvious: The work of the legendary Japanese animation artist Hayao Miyazaki is both unmistakable and inimitable.
Tangled (2010)
Directed by Nathan Greno
influenced by The Little Mermaid (1989), Aladdin (1992), The Princess and the Frog (2009)
“Tangled” is a lively, funny, deft and delicious musical in the vein of Disney’s 1989 classic “The Little Mermaid.”
"Tangled" is reminiscent of the successful run of movies Disney made in the early 1990s and would fit right in with those films which included "Beauty and the Beast," "The Little Mermaid" and "The Lion King."
While the music - by Alan Menken and Glenn Slater - are engaging and move the plot along, they don't stick in your consciousness like "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Little Mermaid," Menken's classic collaborations with the late Howard Ashman.
The fact that Alan Menken (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast) wrote all the tunes makes it feel like it’s 1990 all over again, albeit with computer-generated, rather than hand-drawn animation.
It's not to the level of modern classics like Aladdin (1992) or The Little Mermaid (1989) and of course it shouldn't be compared to classic classics such as Dumbo (1941) and Lady and the Tramp (1955), but for 2010?
Unlike last year’s The Princess and the Frog, where Disney stuck to its traditional hand-drawn animation and storytelling formula, Tangled takes all the familiar elements of the “princess movies” (think The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin) and combines them with Disney’s application of new technology -- CGI and 3D.
Williams' volatile delivery has never been more suited to a character--and in enabling the animators' sense of mischief (it's doubtful they would have made those po-mo references isolated from Williams' contribution (including killer homages to Raiders of the Lost Ark , Cleopatra , and the "Night on Bald Mountain" segment from Fantasia) without the spectre of his manic performance to goad them), he honours Mel Blanc's legacy better than latter-day Looney Tunes have.
Pinocchio even makes a cameo appearance, along with Sebastian from "The Little Mermaid," and there's even a reference to "Fantasia."
The first of these was Swan Lake, a never-realised project that would have completed the studio's adaptations of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's three great ballets (following "The Nutcracker Suite" in Fantasia , and Sleeping Beauty ); King of the Jungle, later renamed The Lion King ; and the Ashman/Menken/Woolverton Aladdin.
Reminiscent of the classic original Disney adventures “Atlantis: The Lost Empire” and “Treasure Planet,” the Mouse House’s latest, an homage to 1950s science fiction called “Strange World”, is a fitting lesson on the ethos of climate change and humanity’s ability to protect their homestead.
There’s a painterly feel to the landscape, which, combined with the film’s sci-fi bent, might trigger memories of Disney’s Treasure Planet.
Not since the back-to-back years of 2001’s “Atlantis” and 2002’s “Treasure Planet” has Disney crafted a throwback, Jules Verne-esque venture this fun and rousing.
The Mouse House's Treasure Planet springs to mind, too, as do Jules Verne's contributions to literature.
Those who came of age (including this critic) right at the moment Disney, like every other major American production studio, gave up on hand-drawn two-dimensional animation and who hold those last unloved movies (“Treasure Planet,” “Titan A.E.,” “The Iron Giant”) as a final glimpse of an era that never was, may see in “Strange World” an attempt to recreate some of that lost magic.
Even outside the limited scope of Disney adventure films dating back to Atlantis and Treasure Planet , or well outside the mouse house to the film’s most obvious influences, which include but aren’t limited to Raiders of the Lost Ark and Journey to the Center of the Earth .
The Lion King (1994)
Directed by Roger Allers
influenced The Princess and the Frog (2009), Treasure Planet (2002), The Little Mermaid (1989)
Characters
"Princess and the Frog" isn't the second coming of "Beauty and the Beast" or "The Lion King."
The Princess and the Frog could fit squarely in the resurgence of Disney that happened with The Little Mermaid , Beauty and the Beast , Aladdin , and The Lion King .
Lead females have included an Arab (Jasmine, Aladdin ), a lioness (Nala, The Lion King ), a Native American ( Pocahontas ), and a Chinese girl ( Mulan ).
The Princess and the Frog may not be in the same league as those gems, but it’s the first Disney film since The Lion King that feels like a real heir to this tradition.
Their heyday was undoubtedly 1991-1994, with the incredible combo of Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King -- a streak that's unmatched, I dare say, even by Pixar.
Compare that to the marketing surrounding "Tangled" 16 years later as the first classic Disney film to use a fairy tale again, or "The Princess and the Frog" as the first classically-animated film in a similar amount of time and it's obvious what a big change the industry has gone through in a short time.
I like the film much more when it's content to steal unashamedly from the 1940 The Thief of Bagdad : adventure, spectacle, good humor and adventure, leading me to suppose that if Aladdin wasn't going to commit to being a dramedy like Beauty and the Beast, it should at least have gone for being a straight-up comedy swashbuckler that didn't take its romantic subplot seriously at all; as it stands, it's awfully close to being a great story, but it keeps having to settle for pretty damn good.
A lot of early exposition time is also used to explain the chicanery of Jafar (voice by Jonathan Freeman), the Sultan's evil vizier, whose chilling, bony features suggest a composite of Nancy Reagan (the animators have mentioned this as a deliberate reference, along with a more pointed one to Conrad Veidt in "The Thief of Bagdad") and Captain Hook.
Families today will note how heavily Disney’s Aladdin borrowed from this version of The Thief of Bagdad: Disney’s treacherous grand vizier Jafar is overtly modeled on Veidt’s Jaffar, who similarly plots to marry a princess who is in love with a beggar who claims to be a prince, and whose dwarfish, childlike sultan father (Miles Malleson) is the archetype for Jasmine’s father.
The same low-flame romance was mirrored in Disney's " Aladdin " (1992), greatly influenced by both versions of the "Thief," combining Abu and Ahmad as "Aladdin."
Anticipating the swashbuckling fare of Errol Flynn and Tyrone Power, not to mention the Disney-ride silliness of Pirates of the Caribbean (and an animated Aladdin that seems to lift whole segments from Thief) this star vehicle for Douglas Fairbanks was a sensation in 1924.
Aladdin this is not.
The Lure (2015)
Directed by Agnieszka Smoczyńska
influenced by The Little Mermaid (1989)
Plot Themes Visuals
The Lure is, at heart, a dark, wild riff on Hans Christian Andersen’s original The Little Mermaid crossed with a vampire/monster movie, especially once Gold begins enticing innocent men and women—mermaids being bisexual, apparently—to their lustful doom.
Like a retro-disco nightmare after eating too much seafood and watching “The Little Mermaid,” the Polish whatchamacallit “The Lure” is a woozily entrancing mash-up, shimmying by itself in the corner of the horror-musical canon and sure to earn quizzically appreciative stares from genre enthusiasts.
Eat your heart out, Hans Christian Andersen – this is my kind of “The Little Mermaid” adaptation.
Working from a screenplay by Robert Bolesto, Smoczynska has crafted a horror romance, a pop musical and coming-of-age wild ride, inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid” and the dance-hall restaurants popular in communist-era Eastern Europe.
Imagine if Gaspar Noé and (the late) Andrzej Zulawski collaborated on a remake of “The Little Mermaid” and you’ll have a faint idea of what to expect from Agnieszka Smoczynska’s “ The Lure ,” a wonderfully demented new musical that bridges the gap between Hans Christian Andersen and Nine Inch Nails.
Maybe it's just because of the pleasant nature of so many of the jokes, rather than the calculated snarkiness of a DreamWorks film: playful references to other Disney characters (I think it has more cameos than any other Disney film), and a gag in the "Friend Like Me" number stretching all the way back to the 1936 Mickey short "Thru the Mirror" for its winking reference.
Raya and the Last Dragon (2021)
Directed by Carlos López Estrada
influenced by Aladdin (1992), Treasure Planet (2002)
Characters
In keeping with the adventurous spirit of the film, the music from James Newton Howard (who also scored two of Disney’s most rollicking affairs, Treasure Planet and Atlantis) is full of peppy blockbuster blasts with unique instrumentation.
Heralded as a Genie-like figure ahead of the film’s release, Awkwafina’s Sisu can’t find the many notes of the late Robin Williams’ performance in the animated Aladdin , nor quite match his zany energy.
Overflowing with endless humour and gorgeous heart, Awkwafina’s sensational vocal work is reminiscent of the late, great Robin Williams in Aladdin .
And it has Awkwafina, the most inspired Disney choice to voice a fantasy animated character since Robin Williams in “Aladdin.”
Sisu is exuberantly voiced by the comedian/actor Awkwafina, who gives the most energetically creative animation performance in a Disney movie since Robin Williams played the genie in “Aladdin.”
Meanwhile there are some subtle cinematic homages inserted, including Aladdin’s retrieval of the lamp reminiscent of “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” while the water ride on the rug evokes “Superman: The Movie.” Disney’s “Aladdin” sticks to the convention with success, providing a film that’s fun and exciting all at the same time.
Williams' volatile delivery has never been more suited to a character--and in enabling the animators' sense of mischief (it's doubtful they would have made those po-mo references isolated from Williams' contribution (including killer homages to Raiders of the Lost Ark , Cleopatra , and the "Night on Bald Mountain" segment from Fantasia) without the spectre of his manic performance to goad them), he honours Mel Blanc's legacy better than latter-day Looney Tunes have.
Like Raiders of the Lost Ark , the film’s style and energy will outlast more technically advanced imitators.
Undine (2020)
Directed by Christian Petzold
influenced by The Little Mermaid (1989)
Themes Plot Characters
The premise behind a myth whose roots go back to classical Greece and which inspired Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid is clearly sketched in an efficient script that falters a little only in its over-hasty supernatural denouement.
Via interpretations of the myth by E.T.A. Hoffmann, Tchaikovsky (and other canonical composers), Hans Christian Andersen, Arthur Rackham, and Jean Giraudoux, its diluted onscreen children include Splash (1984), Disney’s The Little Mermaid (1989), and Neil Jordan’s Ondine (2009).
In Undine, Petzold turns to the titular mythological character — think a water nymph or Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid more than Disney’s version — who becomes human when she falls in love but is doomed to die if he is unfaithful to her.
…and even ALADDIN (Robin’s Genie can’t zap Jasmine into loving that “strett rat”)…
The “be careful what you wish for” trope dates back (at least) to the fabled King Midas. And wishing for others to fall in love with you is so frowned upon that not even the Genie in Aladdin would grant it.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966)
Directed by Richard Lester
influenced Hercules (1997)
Themes
Kudos is also in order for how deftly the project's "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" comic tone has been combined with traditional Disney life lessons for little folks.
But its tone is the borscht-belt burlesque of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum."
Moana (2016)
Directed by John Musker
influenced by The Little Mermaid (1989), Aladdin (1992), The Princess and the Frog (2009), Hercules (1997), Treasure Planet (2002)
Themes
If that daddy-daughter dynamic sounds familiar, it may have something to do with the fact that “Moana” was directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, best remembered for a very different oceanic fantasy called “The Little Mermaid.”
The directors of Moana are John Musker and Ron Clements, as close to living legends within Walt Disney Animation Studios as you can find; they’ve also directed The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules, and The Princess and the Frog, among others.
Directed with confidence, care, and a deep-seated respect for Polynesian culture by John Musker and Ron Clements (“The Little Mermaid,” “Aladdin,” “The Princess And The Frog”) under Jared Bush’s equally touching, heartfelt original screenplay, it’s a buoyant, impressively lovely work of popping visuals, textured storytelling and toe-tapping music numbers, all of which come naturally and progressively during its smoothly realized 103 minutes.
Made with the involvement of veteran Disney co-directors and co-writers Ron Clements and John Musker (Aladdin, The Little Mermaid), Moana takes the skeletal structure of a hero’s journey and turns it into a multilayered feast for the eyes, ears and heart that refuses to talk down to adults or children.
“Moana” may not be “The Little Mermaid” or “Aladdin,” but the film, set among the islands of Polynesia, boasts not only cultural authenticity but also a young heroine who is steadfast and proud, even as she struggles to find her way.
Clements and Musker were behind Disney animated classics The Little Mermaid and Aladdin, but they were also responsible for 2009’s mediocre The Princess and the Frog, which similarly attempted to blend an underrepresented cultural tradition with familiar Disney storytelling styles.
Another character that's a lot of fun is B.E.N., a beaten down robot voiced by Martin Short (Innerspace) who is reminiscent of old Bob from The Black Hole minus the Western drawl.
Tarzan (1999)
Directed by Chris Buck
influenced by The Little Mermaid (1989), Treasure Planet (2002)
Visuals Plot Characters
The film is the newest in a line of successful Disney cartoons: it follows "Mulan," "Hercules," "The Hunchback Of Notre Dame," "Pocahontas," "The Lion King," "Aladdin," "Beauty And The Beast," and, of course, the mother of them all, "The Little Mermaid."
The familiar ingredients—absent parents, unthreatening yet princely hero, perky but ditzy heroine, swarthy villain, cute sidekicks, hugs, lessons, and a CD's worth of forgettable pop tunes—have served Disney since 1989's The Little Mermaid.
"Revolutionary" and "Disney" are not words typically combined, I know, but the studio's adaptation of Tarzan must surely qualify: for it introduced a new technology that was the most important and amazing new development in 2-D animation since the introduction of CAPS with The Rescuers Down Under , nine years earlier (right, the "introduction" happened with one scene in The Little Mermaid , but that was more like a demo reel).
That's why Ariel survives in The Little Mermaid , the bulk of Aladdin only vaguely resembles "A Thousand and One Nights," The Hunchback of Notre Dame completely eviscerated Victor Hugo's attacks on the Catholic Church, and Hercules conveniently ignored the sexual appetites of the gods of Olympus.
Musker, Clement and their team take the 3-D animation dubbed "Deep Canvas" that was developed for "Tarzan" and brings it a giant step forward.
Along for the journey is fussy Dr. Doppler (David Hyde Pierce), yet another comic relief device who arranges in his awkward academic way (a way with which we're recently reacquainted in Disney's own Atlantis ) for the services of the feline Captain Amelia (Emma Thompson, modeling her chop-chop interspeciel love interest character on Minnie Driver's Jane (Tarzan)) and her ship, the R (obert) L (ouis) S (tevenson) Legacy.
The Book of Life (2014)
Directed by Jorge R. Gutierrez
influenced by Hercules (1997), Aladdin (1992)
Characters Plot
Then Perlman brings a thick layer of eager malevolence, reminiscent of James Woods evil underworld ruler in the animate Hercules.
Reminding of a less-inspired variant of 1997's " Hercules ," "The Book of Life" features familiar character types in a story that wears itself down in exposition.
And when Manolo, during his trip to the underworld, encounters the Candle Maker who guards the titular Book of Life, perhaps it's no surprise that this supreme spirit being turns out to be voiced by Ice Cube, in a maneuver that seems like little more than an attempt to give the late Robin Williams's Genie from Aladdin a run for its money.
The supporting cast in Book of Life all do fine work handling their characters’ larger than life personalities, be it Ron Perlman and Kate de Castillo as the sparring immortal lovers and lords of the underworlds, or Ice Cube as another key mystical figure, known as The Candle Maker (he’s to this movie what Robin Williams’ Genie is to Disney’s Aladdin, in some ways).
Mulan (1998)
Directed by Tony Bancroft
influenced by The Little Mermaid (1989), The Princess and the Frog (2009), Aladdin (1992)
Themes
“Hunchback” was TOO serious, without enough humor to balance it; “Aladdin” and “Hercules” were very funny but with little depth; even the classic “The Little Mermaid” had little to offer in the way of serious themes or morals.
Arguably the most mature of the eight "new wave" (post- 1988, beginning with The Little Mermaid ) films, Mulan effortlessly blends serious, comic, and cute elements into a whole that should entertain the majority of movie-goers, regardless of race, gender, or age.
The last couple Disney films (although all good) have not attained the "classic" status of, say, The Lion King or The Little Mermaid.
So while it's not Disney's first time at dipping a toe in multicultural waters -- "Aladdin," "Mulan" and " Pocahontas " were there first -- "The Princess and the Frog" still feels like baby steps.
Lead females have included an Arab (Jasmine, Aladdin ), a lioness (Nala, The Lion King ), a Native American ( Pocahontas ), and a Chinese girl ( Mulan ).
Directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, who revived the Disney animation tradition (and the company's fortunes) when they created "The Little Mermaid" in 1989, "The Princess and the Frog" is an attempt to re-establish the "princess" brand that has been ignored (on the big screen, if not in Disney merchandise) since "Mulan" in 1998.
Beauty and the Beast (2017)
Directed by Bill Condon
influenced by The Little Mermaid (1989), Aladdin (1992), The Princess and the Frog (2009)
Music
Arguably, it’s an appropriate tribute to the late lyricist Howard Ashman (who also wrote songs for The Little Mermaid and Aladdin , and who died of AIDS four days after the animated Beauty and the Beast ’s first screening).
Beauty and the Beast 2017 is a direct remake of the 1991 interpretation, which was notable for a number of reasons: it was the first animated film to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, it was the last full collaboration between lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken, and it accelerated the renaissance of Disney animation begun in 1989 with The Little Mermaid .
This small token offers an opportunity to remember and honor a genius behind the cinematic scene, the openly gay Ashman, whose lyrics for The Little Mermaid, Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast helped bring these tales as old as time to unforgettable life.
Thanks to his work on The Little Mermaid and Beauty , Ashman—who died of AIDS-related complications in 1991—had as much to do with the revival of Disney’s animation legend as anybody.
Even more so than its immediate predecessor The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast’s integration of big Broadway-style tunes into the narrative helped reshape our understanding and expectations of an animated musical, which is perhaps why is remains so beloved to this day despite some clear narrative shortcomings (just so you know, I’m in something of a minority in not ranking the animated original among my favorite Disney films, although I can see why people love it).
The new, murky, 3-D, live-action romantic musical “Beauty and the Beast” is as advertised — an almost beat-by-beat remake of the 1991 Disney animated film that young people cherished as children with the same beloved-by-some musical score by lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken, who also provided the music for the Jeffrey Katzenberg era’s “The Little Mermaid” and “Aladdin.”