Cartoon Corner- The Little Mermaid

Originally posted at the DL November 2015

Oh this movie.  Let's just get to the songs first.



Fathoms Below- Man I forgot this even existed.  Ah, that's why.  It's a chantey that's talked over by Eric and his butler dude.  Let's move on.

Daughter's of Triton- A deliberately aborted song.  It's a little too chirpy, but really we can pretend that's why Ariel didn't want to show up.

Part of Your World- The primordial I Want song.  I dunno.  I really don't get much of anything out of it.  It actually feels much more expositional than anything else?  I dunno, I guess it just doesn't add anything that a still shot of the grotto wouldn't.

Part of Your World (Reprise)- Ah, there we are.  This is really Ariel sorta coming around to understanding her first crush, and that comes through so well here, where the previous version of it was more frustrated daydreaming which... just isn't a terribly strong emotion.  But this works.

Under the Sea- Man this movie loves to end songs on nobody listening.  Self-deprecation perhaps?  Heh.  It's fun, not a lot more though.

Poor Unfortunate Souls- Hellooooooo animation budget.  God damn.  Everything about Ursula and how she moves and is design is GREAT.  More Ursula please movie.
Oh yeah the song is also amazing.  The spectacle of it all is more fun than about anything.  "Oh I just want to help those poor miserable people who just need a little magic to be happy!  This is the face of a woman you can trust~"  Playing with the girl's hopes and dreams like that is also pretty fun to see in action.  It's great.

Les Poissons- Go home Odo you're drunk.
Okay this is an oddly placed song.  It's obviously meant for comedy but we'd already had some thanks to the payoff of Scuttle's blathering.  And really the movie is actually quite a ways away from getting dark so a mood lightener is a bit out of place.  My best guess is they just wanted a song playing off Triton's fears about humans and couldn't figure out another place for it.

Kiss the Girl- *shrug*  Our last song here and I really got nothin'.  It works narratively but I don't really have any stronger feelings towards it.

Sooo yeah you'll be unsurprised to know that I do not actually have any special affection for The Little Mermaid.  And... yeah, it never clicks.  There's some real flashes of brilliance but they're a small bit of the overall film.  Mostly, when the characters have a chance to just exist and show their personality, that's always great.  Ariel is a character that would really be a lot more fun in another story.  I already said the bit on Ursula.  The side characters never really get a chance to shine (aside from Sebastian, and that's just musically) but I feel like it's there.

Still, it's less there's something wrong with it as it never quite comes together.  But there's still some fun parts.

Rating- 6/10