John Musker
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Filmography
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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 (2010)
Directed by Nathan Greno
influenced The Little Mermaid (1989), Moana (2016), Aladdin (1992)
Themes Visuals
Nearly 30 years later, “Moana” follows “Tangled” and “Frozen” in a newer wave of cleverly refurbished fairy tales, reinventing the company line with CG animation, self-referential humor, slyly feminist attitudes and other contemporary amenities.
Move over, “Frozen;” not since 2010’s “Tangled” has Disney made such a refreshing tribute to the human spirit.
More than “Tangled,” more than “Frozen,” “Moana” keeps with the tradition that made Disney the leader in animated fairy and folk tales, and yet, showing a thoroughly modern touch, it’s the first to do so without so much as suggesting a love interest.
(I’m thinking specifically of the generic styles of Tangled and Frozen – movies you could swap shots between without noticing.)
“Tangled,” about a rebellious Rapunzel, was an early attempt in 2010, but it was “Frozen” (2013) that turned girl power into box-office gold and topped the Billboard charts with the hear-me-roar anthem “Let It Go.”
Rapunzel escaped her tower in “Tangled” so she could see a lantern festival; Anna tried to prevent her sister from icing their kingdom in “Frozen”; and now the title character in “Moana” has to save her people and her island from death and destruction.
Lilo & Stitch (2002)
Directed by Dean DeBlois
influenced Moana (2016), Aladdin (1992)
Visuals Characters Themes
As both a gentle ecological parable and the first Disney cartoon showcase for a Polynesian cast since “Lilo & Stitch” (2002), it could scarcely be otherwise.
The Hawaiian tropics that Disney painted several years back in the cute but slight “Lilo & Stitch” can’t compare.
There’s the welcome cultural aspect of the female explorer, of course, plus the fact that the film gives its heroine a healthy, more realistically proportioned physique (reminiscent of the Hawaiian characters in “Lilo & Stitch”), rather than forcing Moana into the mold of past princesses.
On the plus side, the filmmakers have drawn inspiration from a new cultural setting — indigenous Polynesian culture and mythology — a move crucial to the success of Lilo & Stitch and The Princess and the Frog , which also featured brown-skinned heroines.
In contrast to the sylph-like figures of Frozen , Moana has a sturdiness that recalls the Hawaiian heroines of 2002’s Lilo & Stitch .
It’s been a slow road to self-realization for Disney heroines, but the old tropes have steadily been strengthened through films like Mulan , Lilo & Stitch , The Princess a nd t he Frog , Tangled , Zootopia , and Frozen .
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.
Pocahontas (1995)
Directed by Mike Gabriel
influenced Moana (2016), The Little Mermaid (1989)
Characters Themes Visuals
Moana’s grandmother, the human equivalent of that mystical old chanting tree in Pocahontas, knows the cause of this curse: It all goes back to Maui (PEOPLE Sexiest Man Alive 2016 Dwayne Johnson ), demigod of wind and sea, and his betrayal of Te Fiti, who outranks him as a full-fledged nature goddess.
"Moana" reminds of countless past Mouse House musicals, from 1989's "The Little Mermaid" to 1995's "Pocahontas" to 2013's " Frozen ," and on those terms it is decidedly commonplace, likable but without those extra shots of imagination and inspiration that turn a good picture into something truly special.
Disney loves their non-talking animal sidekicks ( Tangled , Frozen , Pocahontas ) and Alan Tudyk’s cowardly chicken is also responsible for a lot of laughs.
Moana also draws on a wrinkle familiar from films like Mulan and Pocahontas : The heroine isn’t just buoyed by her own inner strength, she’s drawing on the teachings and traditions of her culture as well.
As a depiction of foreign culture and legend, this is “Pocahontas,” without being patronizing, “Mulan” with funnier combat.
Disney's successes The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast were behind them, and they hadn't yet begun to adopt that smooth angular style stemming from Chuck Jones, or the wide-eyed use of scale from Japanese anime.
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.
Además de las inevitables alusiones (conscientes e inconscientes) a su propia obra, ambos directores han referido al western Temple de acero ( True grit , 1969) como una importante fuente de inspiración para Moana .
It still boggles my mind that nearly all the studio’s directors venerate the work of Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki (there are a horde of masked coconut beasties in this film which are clear homages to the kodama of Princess Mononoke), yet can’t find time in their own films to simply appreciate silence or stillness for a minute or so.
Maui hollers as they go into battle against a tribe of malevolent coconuts (just go with it; it’s an homage to Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke) — but in Moana’s case that’s clearly not true.
Raya and the Last Dragon (2021)
Directed by Carlos López Estrada
influenced by Aladdin (1992), Moana (2016)
Plot
Directed by Carlos López Estrada and Don Hall from a script by Adele Lim and Qui Nguyen, Raya and the Last Dragon plays like a greatest hits record of Disney princess past, borrowing most specifically from Moana and Frozen.
Raya and the Last Dragon directors Don Hall (Big Hero 6 and Moana co-director) and Carlos López Estrada (Blindspotting) borrow and blend visual elements from several Southeast Asian cultures, creating a world that's beautifully realised, feels lived in, and features some gorgeous landscapes.
In fact, it perhaps shouldn’t surprise that Raya and the Last Dragon is directed by Don Hall, credited as a co-director on Moana, the closest touchstone for this latest.
Yes the formula is a little familiar, reminiscent of both Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Lord of the Rings , but much like Moana, the fusion of creativity and a different cultural perspective breathes new life into the well-trodden structure.
Directed by Don Hall (Moana, Big Hero 6) and Carlos López Estrada (Blindspotting), Raya and the Last Dragon is a truly stunning piece of animation, from the fantastically realized dragon to the way water, fire, fog, and even the Druuns are visualized.
2016 was perhaps the last great year for the Mouse House's animation outfit, having given us two gems in Zootopia and Moana .
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.
The Princess and the Frog (2009)
Directed by Ron Clements
influenced The Little Mermaid (1989), Moana (2016)
And as with Musker and Clements’ previous film, “The Princess and the Frog” (2009), which featured a rare African American heroine in a 1920s New Orleans setting, a conscientious effort to diversify the company stable has already met with appreciation and trepidation alike.
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.
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.
Whereas Clements and Musker’s last film, The Princess and the Frog, got bogged down in storytelling cul-de-sacs and less than inspiring music from Randy Newman, Moana has a buoyancy that allows it to glide across its gorgeous renderings of aquatic life.
That's not an easy task, and if you doubt that check out 2009's Creole-spiced "The Princess and the Frog," the movie "Moana" directors Ron Clements and John Musker set in 1920s New Orleans.
That Moana is helped at every stretch — by sidekicks, sometimes even by the ocean itself, which tends to curl up into a humanoid shape, a la “The Abyss” — takes some of the wind out of her sails.
Moana's destiny is clear from childhood, when lapping waves beckon, at times resembling water aliens from The Abyss.
Moana is called to her quest by the sea itself, represented by a beckoning, often playful water column reminiscent of a similar element in James Cameron’s “The Abyss.”
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.
Tarzan (1999)
Directed by Chris Buck
influenced The Little Mermaid (1989), Moana (2016)
Visuals Plot
The film’s four directors/co-directors (Ron Clements, John Musker, Don Hall, and Chris Williams) are all Disney veterans with a specialty in films whose greatest strengths lay in movement (their collective resume includes The Emperor’s New Groove and Tarzan, for example).
So does Lin-Manuel Miranda, whose first new songs since Hamilton—co-written with longtime Disney composer Mark Mancina ( The Lion King , Tarzan ) and the Samoan-born bandleader Opetaia Foa’i—pepper the film and sometimes even have the energy to break through the accumulated cruft of decades of Disney boilerplate.
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.
Mulan (1998)
Directed by Tony Bancroft
influenced by The Little Mermaid (1989), Aladdin (1992)
Themes Characters
“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.
“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.
It's clear that, in his vocal characterization of the dragon, Eddie Murphy is trying to top (or at least equal) Robin Williams' genie from Aladdin .
Murphy brings the same quality to this film that Robin Williams brought to Aladdin - a kind of manic, self-aware comic tone where the jokes whiz by at lightning pace.
Beauty and the Beast (2017)
Directed by Bill Condon
influenced by The Little Mermaid (1989), Aladdin (1992), Moana (2016)
Themes Characters
With movies like 2013’s Frozen and 2016’s Moana , Disney has made a pronounced shift away from the traditional concept of princess movies and toward stories where its female leads have more agency.
Her singing voice is nice but small and too often drowned out by Alan Menken’s overpowering score and the camera retracting away from her. Someone less pristine could have made Belle a quirkier and more active heroine like Moana’s (2017) title character.
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.
That same fiery climax also feels surprisingly (and pleasantly) reminiscent of the “Firebird Suite” sequence in Fantasia 2000, as we see a winsome female character face off against a visualization of environmental destruction, only to incur a sort of verdant rebirth.
Te Fiti and Te Ka are borrowed directly from the Firebird Suite segment of Fantasia 2000 , with its pagan spirits of life and destruction — though where Fantasia 2000 presents its lava monster and life-giving sprite as opposed, dualistic principles, Moana takes a more monistic approach.