John Musker
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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” 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?
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.
The Princess and the Frog (2009)
Directed by Ron Clements
influenced by The Little Mermaid (1989)
Music
Under the guidance of Ron Clements and John Musker, who wrote and directed "The Little Mermaid" and "Aladdin," a variation on the old "Frog Prince" fairy tale was devised, set in 1920s New Orleans and featuring all the old hallmarks of a Disney classic: magic spells, talking animals, princes, princesses, and plenty of singing.
Clements and Musker are pretty much Disney born and raised with two of the studio's best musical showstoppers, "The Little Mermaid" and "Aladdin," heading their résumés.
Co-directors John Musker and Ron Clements, the men behind Aladdin and The Little Mermaid, resurrect all the reliable tropes in a story that moves at a snappy pace, boasts its share of funny moments and features a distinct New Orleans spirit that sets it apart.
While the songs in The Princess and the Frog generally are not up to the high standard of Aladdin and The Little Mermaid, Dr. Facilier's showstopping "Friends on the Other Side" is almost as colorful and bouncy as Aladdin's "A Friend Like Me."
Directed by Ron Clements and John Musker (Aladdin, The Little Mermaid), the movie features vibrant songs by Randy Newman and such voice talents as Oprah Winfrey, Terrence Howard, and Keith David.
But Uncle Walt's nephew, Roy Disney, was not convinced and the following year, The Little Mermaid - directed by Musker and Clements - signalled Disney Animation's return to the big time.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
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.”
Many have been shocked at that in light of the corporate culture that seemed inspired by gay lyricist and eventual AIDS victim Howard Ashman’s reinvention of the screen musical, in animated form (“The Little Mermaid” and “Beauty and the Beast), which led to a more openly gay-friendly company.
The character design, meanwhile, takes the distinctive colors and costumes of the older films and re-renders them in the distinctive Disney house style developed in the '70s and perfected in The Little Mermaid : slightly angular faces, just-too-large eyes and little crinkly noses.
Songs from multiple Oscar winners Alan Menken ("The Little Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast," "Aladdin") and Stephen Schwartz ("Pocahontas," "The Prince of Egypt") and splashy, polished dance numbers complete the package.
Lima worked on Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid and Aladdin, three of the better Disney animations, and his live-action resumé includes 102 Dalmations and Eloise at the Plaza.
And although Oscar-winning composer Alan Menkin's songs might not come off as crisp as his contributions to such classic Disney fare as "The Little Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast" and "Aladdin," the song "That's How You Know" -- which, judging by the size of the production number built around it, Disney will likely push for Oscar consideration -- has a certain stick-in-your-headness about it that's not at all unpleasant.
The curiously enervating Dempsey does his best to sap the energy of the curiously enlivening Adams, and Enchanted meanwhile resurrects the calypso themes of The Little Mermaid without delving any further into its racial implications in a film every bit as vanilla and Wonder Bread as the rest of Disney's cavalcade of schlock.
Disclosure Day (2026)
Directed by Steven Spielberg
influenced by The Little Mermaid (1989)
Characters
Margaret metaphorically serves as a stand-in for the millennial “princess” generation; a byproduct of The Wizard of Oz (1939) and The Little Mermaid (1989).
From the pink jellyfish meadow to a creepy sunken submarine, the computer graphics in "Finding Nemo" make "The Little Mermaid" look like a coloring book.
The Little Mermaid ), this movie offers up another dose of computer-animated genius no less vibrant than Pixar?s previous full-length outings, inaugurated in 1995 by the revolutionary Toy Story and followed with astoundingly consistent success by A Bug?s Life , Toy Story 2 , and Monsters, Inc .
Fourteen years later, however, with the imminent release of Finding Nemo, another undersea animated picture from Disney, The Little Mermaid looks like something that Cronus kicked across the floor of his cave in yet another fit of paternal pique.
Finding Nemo couldn’t be anything other than computer animation, because its essence is inseparable from the splendor of its undersea world, realized in quasi-photographic grandeur and richness unmatched by the noblest attempts of hand-drawn animation (Disney’s “Arab Dance” fish in Fantasia ’s “Nutcracker Suite” sequence; The Little Mermaid; even Miyazaki’s Ponyo ).
It is love at first sight for Barbie (voice of Jodi Benson who is famous for the title role of Ariel in “The Little Mermaid”) who falls for this dreamy guy in short shorts.
Besides sending up prison break movies, the filmmakers also give us wonderfully nutty scenes like Barbie (Jodi Benson from “The Little Mermaid”) finally meeting Ken (Michael Keaton) and Buzz being reprogrammed in unexpected ways.
Barbie (The Little Mermaid's Jodi Benson) may have proverbally and literally found her Ken (Michael Keaton), but Sunnydale is clearly not the dream house they had in mind.
But “The Lion King” is based on “Hamlet” and “The Little Mermaid” story, itself, was originally by Hans Christian Andersen.
But Disney proper’s take on The Little Mermaid took the time to express Ariel’s growing urge to be part of that world, with a big number that laid her yearning out plainly.
Seeing as how 2020 has not exactly proven to be a bountiful year in regards to, among many other things, animated feature films--granted, you may have liked "Trolls: World Tour" more than I did but even the first of the year's two Pixar entries, "Onward," proved to be a bit of a misfire--I approached "Over the Moon" with perhaps a greater degree of anticipation due to the participation of late screenwriter Audrey Wells and Glen Keane, the Disney Animation legend (who contributed to the likes of "The Little Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast" and "Aladdin," to name a few) making his long-awaited directorial debut with this freewheeling take on a classic piece of Chinese mythology.
Famous for his work on The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast , director Glen Keane amazes with 3D animation here.
Director Glen Keane, who worked on “The Little Mermaid” and “Aladdin” among many others, brings much of his Disney experience to “Over the Moon,” this time making his feature directorial debut.
The animated musical streaming on Netflix Oct. 23 gives off Disney vibes, as it should considering it’s directed by Glen Keane, a 2018 Oscar-winner for the short film “Dear Basketball” about Kobe Bryant’s basketball career and an animator on “The Little Mermaid,” “The Beauty and the Beast,” and “Tangled.”
It's directed by former Disney veteran Glen Keane, who helped bring many 90s classics to life, including "The Little Mermaid" and "Beauty and the Beast."
The director Glen Keane, making his feature debut, is a longtime animator whose storied Disney career includes character work for “The Little Mermaid” and “Beauty and the Beast”; his co-director, John Kahrs, is a Disney and Pixar veteran who made the Oscar-winning animated short “Paperman.”
Miranda's prolificacy brings to mind Howard Ashman, the Disney lyricist who delivered hit after hit for a trifecta of Disney classics — "The Little Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast," and "Aladdin" — until his death at the age of 40.
You could, if you wanted, date the age of contemporary girl power back to two Disney films: “The Little Mermaid” (1989), with the self-actualizing retro moxie of its title heroine, and then, the following year, “Pretty Woman,” which put its stamp on the age of hip princess feminism as surely as “Sex and the City” did eight years later.
“The Little Mermaid” is the first animated fairy tale to surface from the Disney studio since “Sleeping Beauty” in 1959.
Sleeping Beauty would be the last Disney feature with fully hand-inked cels, and the last fairy tale princess movie until 1989’s The Little Mermaid .
Adding to the movie’s subversiveness, that song is co-written by Alan Menken, an Oscar winner for his work on “Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin” and “The Little Mermaid.”
Sausage Party gets off to a dreary start by opening with a song with music by Alan Menken (almost any Disney musical since The Little Mermaid, with the exception of Frozen) and lyrics by his frequent collaborator Glenn Slate, but somehow there’s no real orchestration.
“Sausage Party” opens with a big musical number (the score was co-written by Oscar winner Alan Menken, of “The Little Mermaid” fame) that lays out its premise and introduces its main players, all of whom anticipate the great adventures that lie outside the store.
Set like many a Pixar movie in a heavenly paradise—this time a shiny supermarket, as opposed to a child’s bedroom—Sausage Party begins strong when Alan Menken of The Little Mermaid and Aladdin fame is recruited to write the music for a song about the aspirations of food.
This time, attentive viewers will catch unflattering glimpses of Ariel (The Little Mermaid) and the duo of Lumiere and Cogsworth (Beauty and the Beast).
In the honeymoon montage that begins the film, there are references to "From Here To Eternity," "The Lord of The Rings," and "The Little Mermaid" -- more importantly, at least two of those three gags get a laugh.