The Little Mermaid, revisited.

Last year embarked on a quest to watch of the Godzilla movies (and as many of the related ones as I had in my possession) in sequence. After that I decided to plow through all of my animated films, of which I have many. So after tackling the three classic Disney Princesses, a couple of early Miyazaki masterpieces, and the gaudy, goofy commericalism of the 1980's Transformers and G.I. Joe films, I find myself at the start of the second Disney golden age, and my big animation crush, The Little Mermaid.

So, despite the advances in animation--both 2D and 3D--since 1989 I am pleased to say The Little Mermaid still holds up. That may be partly driven by nostalgia. After years of TV fare like Scooby-Doo, Superfriends, and G.I. Joe, seeing The Little Mermaid was the the first time I really became consciously aware that all cartoons are not created equal, and that there is a difference between flashy animation (like 1986's Transformers the Movie) and good animation, like this. (I was too young when seeing older classics like Snow White and The Jungle Book to notice the difference.) The songs are still catchy songs and enjoyable as well, but the big thing is the animated "performaces" by Ursula, Sebastian and especially Ariel. Ursula's outrageousness set a new standard for Disney villainy, and the versatility and ingenuity of Sebastian's design allows for some of the film's funniest moments. (Props to both voice actors for the assists.) But Ariel takes the title of the most expressive of the 2D Disney princesses handily--fortunate since she spends half the film as a mute. Even though she's a bratty animated teenager, it's impossible not to fall in love with her--she is just so alive and full of energy. When you look at my old superhero comics from that era, there's a clear shift in my rendering of the female protagonist between the issue I drew before seeing this movie and the issue I drew after. Hands down, The Little Mermaid is my favorite Disney Princess film, and probably my favorite "classic" Disney film of all time.

(I should also mention that there are significant bonus points for the hilarious --and surprisingly brutal --"Les Poissons.")