the last line of this movie is literally "i love you daddy"

The shit in the kitchen with Louis trying to kill Sebastian is the funniest shit in the world oh my god. He’s just the gruesome French proto-Wario singing to himself about how much he loves to brutalize the dead fish and how glad he is that they’re dead, having the time of his life. Completely alone, giving it his absolute all for no audience. And then when he sees a living crab he instantly loses his mind and begins trying to kill him with a glee that borders on suicidal. Tex Avery shit.

ariel: i'm sixteen years old, i'm not a child anymore!

me: bitch, sit your ass down and shut the hell up, bitch

The Little Mermaid hasn't particularly aged well for being the first one to kick off the Disney Renaissance period as its thin romance plot, & main character aren't exactly all the best/intriguing to follow along here.

The film, however, does eventually rise above those specific downsides for sure as the hand-drawn animation is top-notch from start to finish, side cast/villains are favorably likable & charismatic all the way through, and the musical sequences are no doubt some of the greatest out there among the beloved Disney classics.

It remains to be a relatively enjoyable animated outing in the end, although much better animated features were certainly to come after this one from Disney.

ariel is a young anthropologist mermaid who wants to go on land to be with humans. prince eric is just a nice and REALLY HOT bonus. tbh it wouldn't be worth the deal with Ursula if he wasn't as hot as he was. like if they fucked up the character design and made him bad looking or boring then the movie would have made no sense

Got a new big video ranking coming! This time, I'll take a look at all the Disney Renaissance films.

THIS ONE IS SO GOOD. Perfect pacing, stunning cinematography, breathtaking animation, vibrant colors, phenomenal songs, great characters. Ursula is such a bad bitch, Sebastian is hilarious, Ariel is really compelling. Seriously I don't remember this movie being this fantastic when did that happen???

me, with literally no evidence whatsoever: i feel like every girl whose favourite disney prince was eric is a lesbian now

When I was five I let my neighbor Emily borrow my VHS copy of The Little Mermaid and a few weeks later her family moved and she took it with her. Emily, what the fuck?

My favorite disney princess named after a font.

“I consider myself a reasonable merman” is a truly hysterical line

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

My therapist recently told me that I should start addressing some harmful "core beliefs." Should I start with "love is an 80lb fish teen melodically lusting after a hunky prince who has the world's best pupper but is also incredibly susceptible to the influence of squid witches"? No. I'ma hold onto that for the rest of my life.

I don't believe anyone has ever wanted anything as much as Ariel wants to be human. If the greatest strength of animation and musicals is to tap into emotions more directly than realism can, this one's a medium-defining triumph.

Call me Bucky Barnes because I'm a Sebastian Stan

My favourite movie as a child

it was between this and taxi driver

Honestly I channel big Flounder energy.

I do not like Ariel. However, I don’t want to focus on my dislike of her, because this film is truly a marvel. 

The two biggest reasons why this movie ushered in the Disney Renaissance: Howard Ashman (producer & lyricist) & Alan Menken (composer and musical director). They revived the Disney musical with a near-perfect formula where every major plot point hits its climax with a number. If the character can’t convey what they’re feeling through dialogue, they sing. If singing doesn’t cut it, they dance. And the cycle goes on for an hour and a half (story climax notwithstanding, where the audience needs to focus entirely on the plot’s high point, but can still appreciate the score) until the final reprise where the theme comes back via the chorus, like Ancient Greek theatre.

Subjectively speaking, I'm always going to like The Jungle Book more than this, but I'd say they're about on the same level of quality for me.

The music is a vast improvement over anything from Snow White or Peter Pan (except the first song with Ariel, that one wasn't that good), the voice acting is a lot better and certainly much less fucking annoying, and I felt the direction improved quite a bit too.

Story's a bit cliche, granted, and it's still not a directorial tour de force or anything, but hey, I can't pretend it wasn't a hell of a lot less boring than some of Disney's earlier stuff.

And it was nice that they didn't take the piss out of Native Americans this time around as well.

However, it's the next Disney film I plan on watching that will probably never be beaten in my eyes...

Taking a away because i’m not giving up my fins for a man.

Isn't it kind of fucked up how Ariel and the prince fall in love despite her being unable to speak? "We're both attractive people, it must be true love! But Ursula is a bitter, fat, ugly person, let's fuckin murder her. Best wedding gift ever, m i rite"

I think this just might be the best of the Disney Renaissance era. Every song works, the animation is gorgeous. MVP: Buddy Hackett as Scuttle.