February 2000

The Little Mermaid: Limited Issue
Reviewed by Roger Kanno
DVD Format

Overall Enjoyment:
Picture Quality:
Sound Quality:
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Starring the voices of Jodi Benson, Christopher Daniel Barnes, Samuel E. Wright, Rene Auberjonois, Buddy Hackett

Directed by Ron Clements and John Musker

Theatrical Release: 1989
DVD Release: 1999
Dolby Digital 5.1
Widescreen

Disney Home Video has recently released several of their classics and recent animated features on DVD for a limited time only. One of these, The Little Mermaid, single-handedly revitalized both Disney’s then stagnant animation division and the entire animation industry. Combining gorgeous hand-drawn animation with an incredible soundtrack and a captivating story, The Little Mermaid ushered in a new era of animated filmmaking. Disney, Dreamworks, Warner, and Pixar in conjunction with Disney annually produce many excellent animated features that we now take for granted.

The story of The Little Mermaid follows the exploits of a young mermaid named Ariel who falls in love with a human, Prince Eric, against the wishes of her father, King Triton. She strikes a deal with the evil witch Ursula to make herself human and try to win over Prince Eric. Of course, Ursula is up to no good and plots to steal the kingdom away from Triton and turn both him and Ariel into trolls. Along the way Ariel is joined by her colorful friends Scuttle, Flounder, and her chaperon Sebastian who is played with dignity and humor by Samuel E. Wright.

In addition to a heartwarming story, The Little Mermaid features songs and
music from the team of Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman that are
as memorable as that of any other Disney film. "Part of Your World" will stay with you long afterwards and you may even find yourself involuntarily humming it out loud. There are other wonderful songs in this film, most notably Sebastian’s Caribbean inspired "Under the Sea," which won an Academy Award, and the atmospheric "Kiss the Girl."

The hand-drawn animation may seem flat and two-dimensional when compared to today’s computer generated images, but it flows with a spirit and charm that is unmistakably Disney. For instance, Ariel’s flowing red hair and facial expressions although stylized, convey all of the feeling and emotion of her songs. The low contrast film-like transfer enhances the beauty of the simple, but effective animation. The picture can sometimes be a little soft, but colors are always rich and vibrant with very deep blacks. Unfortunately, like many recent Disney and Buena Vista DVDs, The Little Mermaid is not anamorphically enhanced.

The soundtrack of The Little Mermaid has been re-mixed into 5.1 Dolby Digital, which was done for its 1997 theatrical re-release. The sound is just a little thin, but overall it is still very satisfying. All of the songs are reproduced with good imaging and fidelity. Dialogue is ADR produced and sounds that way, but it is intelligible and never harsh. The split surrounds are used effectively when required to complement the action as well as to provide surround ambience. While technically inferior to the soundtracks of more recent animated features such as The Prince of Egypt or The Iron Giant, this is nonetheless an effective and enjoyable sound design especially when featuring the award-winning music score.

Like most other Disney DVDs, this disc is lacking in extras. Unless you consider recommendations for other recent Disney releases to be extras (which I certainly do not), this is a basic DVD containing only the film along with a 5.1 English soundtrack and Spanish and French language stereo soundtracks. In Disney’s defense, older titles such as this do not often have extras readily available for inclusion with DVD versions, but considering that it carries a suggested retail price of $39.99, I would have expected more. Even though this DVD is another lackluster effort from Disney considering the absence of extras, the non-anamorphic transfer, and the high retail price, it is still worth owning this modern animated treasure.

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