Under the Sea

The Little Mermaid (1989) is considered to be the savior of traditional 2-D animation that has inspired future films like Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King. Its beautiful animation and magnificent musical numbers such as "Part of Your World," "Under the Sea" and "Kiss the Girl" are what truly make this film a masterpiece.

What also deserves credit are its three grand stars.

• The adventurous and rebellious mermaid, Ariel.
  
• The musical Jamaican crab, Sebastian.
• The villainous sea witch, Ursula.

These three characters provide charm and appeal that capture the hearts of the audience.

Flounder is cute and is a character that gives someone for Ariel to talk to while Scuttle provides comic relief with his so-called knowledge of the human world.

Prince Eric, the human who stole Ariel's hearts, is a different story. Like the other princes in past Disney films, Eric's character is too dry. He falls in love with Ariel so fast that he immediately wants to get hitched without getting to know her enough.

King Triton happens to be more scary than Ursula. He always acts like a loose cannon whenever his daughter Ariel disobeys him. Although he gets mad at Ariel often, its only because he is being a caring parent. This however leads to the following flaw of the film.

Even though Ariel is constantly scolded by her father or Sebastian, she never learns a lesson in the story at all. You'd think she'd feel a bit more responsible for the stress and mayhem she puts her friends and family through. She got lucky that her dad somehow was able to use the same magic to turn her human again.

This may be because the original fairy tale had a grimmer ending. The Disney animation staff most likely wanted The Little Mermaid to have a happy ending. Thanks to this movie there are people who are still inspired by art of 2-D animation.

The Little Mermaid belongs to Disney.