When you look back at the history of Disney, The Little Mermaid is truly one of the most important Disney movies of all time. Disney had a few misses in the 80s and it was The Little Mermaid that turned things around and started a fantastic run of popular and very successful movies into the 90s.
How to Download The Little Mermaid (1989)
You can download or stream the film from a digital platform. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and make your choice. Check out also other animated Disney classics such as Beauty and the Beast (1991) or Aladdin (1992).
The Movie Review
The people behind this movie are the duo of John Musker and Roger Clements and if you ask me the house of mouse owes a great deal of the success they have today to these guys and their talented team. The story is a Disney version of the classic Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale.
Taking place “under the sea” we have 17-year-old Ariel who is the princess of Atlantica. Ariel is pretty bored with her life under the waves and dealing with her overprotective father King Triton. He just wants what is best for her, but in many ways, the relationship between Ariel and Triton is very typical for a teenager and that is kind of fun.
Ariel has a real fascination with life up above. One night, Ariel, her crab friend Sebastian and her fish buddy Flounder take a trip to watch a celebration for Prince Eric. There is a situation where Eric ends up falling into the ocean and Ariel saves him. Ariel and Eric meet only briefly, but the two of them fall in love.
The Little Mermaid Anniversary Edition
Eric vows to search the seas to find the girl that saved him and Ariel could not be any more smitten by him. The major problem here is that interaction between humans and mermaids is forbidden by royal law! Once Triton finds out about Ariel’s love for a human, he is furious and forbids it.
Things are kicked up a notch by the entrance of the evil sea witch Ursula. Ursula is one of the best Disney villains ever, I love going to Disney parks and she is always a major highlight. Ursula tells Ariel that she can use her magic to give her legs so that she can walk on land and be with Eric, but she wants her voice in return.
Of course, this is a terrible idea and while Ariel gets to walk on land and get to know Eric better, Ursula has more sinister motives and the movie really picks up steam. Look, The Little Mermaid is just a great movie and I know that it may seem like a “girls” movie and I certainly felt that way as a kid. However, once I watched it, I loved it!
At the time the animation here was the best we had ever seen in a Disney movie. Even now, this movie looks great and it was a real turning point for animated movies. We also have some incredible vocal performances as well as some of the most iconic songs of all time such as Under the Sea, Kiss the Girl, and Part of Your World.
Even all these years later, The Little Mermaid is still a fantastic movie and I would argue one of the best Disney Princess movies. Ariel has been a firm favorite with kids and adults for over 30 years at this point! If for some crazy reason, you have still not seen this movie, you have to take the time to watch it, it truly is a Disney classic.
