The Little Mermaid... She's Gotta Have It.

With this week's Disney announcement that The Little Mermaid will get 3D rerelease treatment (along with other pictures) that put The Lion King back on everyone's lips, I thought it was time to republish this piece on the classic film...

The Little Mermaid (1989)  | Directed by Ron Clements and John Musker Screenplay by Roger Allers, Ron Clements, and John Musker (very loosely based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale) | Music by Alan Menken Lyrics by Howard Ashman | Starring the Voices of: Jodie Benson, Pat Carroll, Kenneth Mars and Samuel E Wright | Production Company Walt Disney | Released 11/17/1989

American members of Generation Y or Z and beyond may have a good deal of trouble imagining this but it's true: once upon a time, animated movies were considered highly uncool. They were strictly for babies. Teenagers disdained them. Adults took their children under duress. They barely caused a ripple at the box office. The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences ignored them. CGI was not part of the national vernacular. Strange but true.

In a very short window of time, from November 1989 through February 1992, three major events changed modern perceptions of the animated film in a gargantuan way. Let's take them in reverse order: The third big-bang was the moment when Beauty & the Beast (1991) was nominated for six Oscars including Best Picture, the first time that a cartoon had received that pinnacle mainstream honor. The middle part of the three-part revolution was when hipster American audiences began to discover that there was more to the form than Walt Disney. Katsuhiro Ôtomo's Japanese sci-fi spellbinder Akira was the key that opened the door for anime, now very big and influential business in America. But the first key event in animation's rebirth (stateside at least) was the release of Disney's "28th animated classic" The Little Mermaid; an orgasmic reawakening of the most flexible and fantastical of film mediums...

"She's Gotta Have It!"

The heroine of Disney's modern breakthrough film is Ariel, a teenage mermaid. Since this is a fairy tale (and a Disney one at that) she's also a beautiful princess: the youngest daughter of King Triton who rules the ocean. Only trouble is, despite her quick smile and high spirits, she's restless and unhappy... dissatisfied with her life of privilege under the sea. She wants to trade up. Literally. Since this is a late 1980s film (and a Disney one at that) she's also the headstrong entitled type. This princess isn't going to whisper her need. She's no Oliver with his meager allotment of gruel, politely asking for more.

music, sexuality and animated evolution after the jump... 

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Disney Princesses as Fashionistas

Remember those Disney Princes in their underwear a few years back? Online illustration trends never don't involve the Disney stable of instantly recognizable characters. Now artist Danté Tyler has envisioned eight of the Princesses as Vogue cover models.

Here is Aurora from Sleeping Beauty.

Love that one eye is pink and the other blue, and it doesn't hurt that her shoulders are as sharp as the spindle on a spinning wheel.

Belle and Ariel after the jump...

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Crabs, Robots, Divas, Ships, Sing-Alongs... LINKS

Montages top ten robots on film (in norwegian but with pics) Roy Batty of Blade Runner is at number one selvfølgelig. Who else, you know?
Hollywood Reporter in case you've been wondering why there's still talk of a Green Lantern sequel (despite the lame box office for the Ryan Reynolds affair), here's why it might happen.
Ultra Culture "better than the last one but still pretty shit" sharp funny review of Transformers Dark of the Moon. Most of the bile is saved for Shia LaBeouf but Megan Fox's replacement gets this.

It might be a little premature to judge Megan Fox’s replacement, British model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, given how little she has to work with here — STICK YOUR BUM OUT, LOOK SCARED, POUT YOUR LIPS IN SUCH A WAY AS TO SUGGEST THAT YOU MIGHT BE PROFICIENT AT ADMINISTERING A BLOWJOB — but even with just a handful of lines she’s a firm lock for worst performance of 2011. I’m not even sure she can do a British accent properly.

"Dr Horrible" vinyl lp by Joe SpiottoAlt Screen suggests you see Choose Me (1984) tonight if you're in NYC. God I loved this movie on VHS in the late 80s. Don't remember much of it though.
Critical Condition Oscar Songs Project 1989. Time for The Little Mermaid.  
Super Punch "Doctor Horribles Sing-a-Long Blog Vinyl Album." By the artist Joe Spiotto. Soooooooo cute I just died. (Must finish this post in Zombie-Nathaniel form.)
Hollywood Reporter James Cameron's 3D conversion of Titanic (1997) generating buzz. I will see it because I love all things Cameron but I worry that it will restore the lustre of 3D just as it's been (rightfully) fading.
Kenneth in the (212) "the greatest 30 seconds in cinema" Shirley Maclaine is. still. here. Actually is she? Where is she? 

Go Fug Yourself is absolutely right about this hideous tacky Newsweek cover. 
Coming Soon Madonna, who has been photographed constantly with her supposed "ex" French dancer Brahim Zaibat this week will soon have a cluttered December calendar. The Weinstein Co has announced they'll open W.E. (recently discussed) on December 9th and expand by January. Mark your Oscar calendars. 
Cinema Blend reports that Scarlett Johansson may be starring in the music-centric film  Can a Song Save Your Life? from Once talent John Carney. This seems like a very good idea since ScarJo doesn't even seem like an actress anymore, right?, just a celebrity.

Sing Out Jodi! "Part of Your World"

She wants to be part of your woooooooooooorrrld. 

The original Ariel, Jodi Benson, sings her signature tune at the opening of the The Little Mermaid ride which I think just opened in California ("Adventure Park")  but I can't keep track of their parks. It's coming to Florida's Magic Kingdom too.

How many times do you think people have asked her to sing that song for them since 1989: 1,989? 14,000? 890,000? Infinity?

I'm not sure when I came to be so obsessed with The Little Mermaid but sometime about 4 years ago I realized that though I always claim Sleeping Beauty and Beauty & The Beast as my favorite Disney movies (and Jungle Book as my childhood favorite), I mention Little Mermaid, like, a thousand times more often than any of those. What's wrong with me?

Obsessed.

The ride apparently has a surprise ending and Movie|Line made nine cheeky guesses (though #7, "flounder sandwiches", wouldn't surprise me at all, since Disney is totally cannibalistic with their 'children) but they forgot one.

I'll help them by providing it...

#10 the fattest white-haired passenger is impaled and electrocuted.

"Tangled" Contest Winner

Congratulations to Christopher in Los Angeles who is the winner of the Tangled Blu-Ray contest. I pulled the winner randomly from your entries but read all of them so that I could LOL at your answers to "Which movie characters hair would you most like to braid?" It was the girliest question I have ever asked on this blog and maybe even in my life. Which is [ahem] saying a lot.

As for Christopher, he said.

I would like to braid Ariel's hair. I had a mad crush on her as a kid. Must be because she was the only Disney princess wearing a bikini.

Those specialty bikinis always do it, don't they? Think of what a formative experience Princess Leia's gold bikini was to boys in the early 80s.

I thought I'd share two more entries that particularly amused me. These are from Evan and Matthew who said respectively.

Shelby Eatenton from "Steel Magnolias." Why? Because clearly, I'd be braiding her hair at Truvy's shop, which would mean I'd get to hang out with five of the sassiest women of all cinematic time.

I think I'd pick Clementine's from "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" -- all the different hair colors she has! A magical rainbow braid.

Thanks to all who entered and voted on the poll of which animated films I should write up next. Coming up this month: The Rescuers and Beauty and The Beast as per your votes.