The Little Mermaid (cartoon, 1989)

The little mermaid Ariel, the youngest daughter of the sea king Triton, out of forgetfulness does not attend a concert arranged by the court composer - crab Sebastian, where she was supposed to perform for the first time and sing the main part. Instead, she and her friend, the fish Flounder, set off for one of the shipwrecks. Ariel's dream is a world of people, and she collects a collection of human things from wrecks. She recognizes their destiny thanks to her friend - the scattl gull.

After a dispute with his father over a disrupted concert and repeated surfacing to the surface, Ariel floats into his secret cave, which stores human household items. Nearby is sailing ship of Prince Eric. A holiday is arranged on the ship on his birthday, but a storm begins at the height of this party. From lightning, the sails light up, and the ship crashes into the rocks. The prince is blown away from the ship, but Ariel saves him and brings him ashore. There he comes to his senses to the sound of her beautiful voice.

Eric cannot forget her and sets out to find, to offer her a hand and heart. Ariel also falls in love with Eric, but Sebastian, who was sent to follow her, accidentally reveals a secret to King Triton (in fact, under pressure from the king, since he had suspicions that Sebastian was hiding something). The latter hates people and considers them barbarians and fish-eaters. He finds his daughter’s secret cave and, after another debate, destroys her entire collection with his trident. Ariel are moray eels Flotsam and Jetsam - assistants to the sea witch Ursula. Being an exile of the palace, Ursula had long watched the royal family in search of a convenient chance to return.

Out of hopelessness, Ariel decides to make a deal with a sea witch. The contract is as follows: Ursula makes Ariel mortal and grants her human legs, provided that within three days the prince kisses her with a kiss of true love. If this does not happen, Ariel will again turn into a mermaid and will be a captive of Ursula, like all those who made deals with her before her. In return, the latter demands Ariel's voice. In fact, the witch is going to use it in order to later exchange it for the crown and trident of Triton and thereby seize power in the Atlantic .

Ariel concludes a contract with Ursula and takes on a human form, but becomes speechless: Ursula concludes her voice in her shell medallion. On the seashore Ariel was found by Eric. He learns that she is dumb, but nevertheless somehow reminds him of his mysterious savior. Eric invites Ariel to the palace. Sebastian, Flounder, and Scuttle follow her to help the little mermaid. Eric is fascinated by her, and the next day they begin a tour of the kingdom.

In the evening of the same day, lovers go for a walk in a boat. The prince almost kisses the little mermaid, but the Flotsams and Jetsams turn the boat over. Ursula, seeing that her plot is in jeopardy, turns into a beautiful girl Vanessa with Ariel's voice and hypnotizes Eric. Under the spell, the prince proposes to her. At sunset on the third day, released to the main character by the sea witch, the wedding ship sets sail, while heartbroken Ariel remains on the pier. Flying over the ship, Scatter hears Ariel’s voice and discovers that the prince’s new bride is actually Ursula, but in a different guise.

Upon learning this, Ariel tries to catch the ship by swimming and disrupt Ursula's plans. Scuttle instigated by birds and the inhabitants of the water world are organizing a pogrom on the ship, trying to interfere with the wedding. In total confusion, Vanessa loses her locket, which is broken at the feet of Ariel. The spell is lifted, Eric leaves the hypnosis, and her voice returns to Ariel. However, the prince does not have time to kiss the little mermaid - the sun sets. Ariel again becomes a mermaid, and Vanessa transforms into Ursula and takes the main character to the sea.

Ursula leads Ariel to his refuge, but King Triton, whom Sebastian told about the incident, blocks their path. He demands his daughter to be released, but Ursula refuses, saying that Ariel now belongs to her and presents the contract. To save her daughter, Triton voluntarily gives the crown and trident to Ursula and turns into her slave - a sedentary worm , of which she already had many. Eric dives to the bottom of the sea and enters the battle, hoping to save his beloved and both kingdoms from an inevitable disaster.

An angry Ursula sets up a storm in the ocean and raises wrecks from the day of the sea. She is trying to kill the main character with a trident. Eric takes control of the ship and directs him to the sea witch. From the bowsprit of the ship, the witch dies, and Erica brings to the sea shore.

After the death of Ursula, her spell loses its power. All her captives return to their former state, as does King Triton, and peace reigns in the ocean again. His crown and trident return to Triton. Seeing how Eric and Ariel love each other (in addition, the prince saved his daughter from death), the sea king decides to reconsider his views in relation to people, as a result of which he makes his daughter a full-fledged person and lets her go. Eric and Ariel get married, and the earthly and underwater kingdoms are united under a single banner.

Ariel

“How can a world in which such wonderful things are created be bad?” ( I don’t see how a world that makes such wonderful things could be bad )

- Ariel

Ariel is the princess of the underwater kingdom of the Atlantic, the youngest of the daughters of the sea king of Triton. She is 16 years old. She is very interested in human things, which her father does not approve of. In love with Prince Eric.

Ariel’s character was based on the little mermaid from Andersen ’s original fairy tale, but co-director and screenwriter Ron Clements thought the story was too tragic and sad, so he changed it ^[7] . The original design of Ariel was developed by animator Glen Keane, according to whom, the appearance of the heroine was based on his wife ^[8] . Another prototype for Ariel's appearance was actress Alyssa Milano , who was then 16 ^[9] . Sherry Stoner ^{[7] [10]} became a living model for the little mermaid. Ariel's hair movements underwater were based on frames with the first American astronaut Sally Ryde in space ^[9] .

Ursula

“The daughter of Triton will be mine. How will he suffer! I’ll finally catch him on the hook! ” ( Eng. Triton's daughter will be mine, and then I'll make him writhe. I'll see him wriggle like a worm on a hook! )

- Ursula

Ursula is a vicious sea witch, in fact, also a mermaid, only she has the body of an octopus instead of a fish tail. Its main goal is to seize power over the Atlantic. Ursula lives in the depths of the ocean, in a cave resembling the skeleton of a sea ​​snake . Owns a whole garden of polyps, which were previously mermaids who made deals with her.

Initially, Glen Keane was supposed to do Ursula's animation, because of his ability to draw large and powerful figures like a bear from the cartoon “ Fox and Dog ” or Professor Ratigan from “The Great Mouse Detective ” ^[8] , but soon, he was replaced by another animator , Ruben Aquino ^[9] . Ursula herself was originally conceived as a mermaid ^[11] , then she was changed, and she became like a “lion fish” or “scorpion fish” ^{[7] [12]} . But one day, Matt O'Callaghan, who worked on the storyboard of the film, watching underwater shooting of octopuses ^[11] , suggested depicting Ursula as an octopus ^[7] . The main inspiration for the creation of Ursula was the stage image of the singer-travesty Devine ^{[13] [14]} . The prototypes for the villain were also Madame Medusa from the film “ Rescuers ” ^{[14] [15]} , Norma Desmond and actress Pat Carrol , who gave the heroine her voice. Ursula also became the prototype for creating Hades, the villain from the cartoon Hercules .

The Little Mermaid cartoon was originally planned to become one of the short animated films from the Silly Symphonies series (from the English - “Silly Symphonies”) ^[14] , and using vignettes of fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen ^[9] . Production of the film began in the late 1930s ^[16] , immediately after the release of the animated film “ Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, ” but was soon suspended due to the creation of another Disney-based animated film based on Andersen’s fairy tale “The Ugly Duckling” ( 1939 ) ^[14] .

18 years after the release of the cartoon, based on its motives, the musical Little Mermaid was released on Broadway . Its premiere took place on November 3, 2007, but the musical was temporarily closed on November 10, 2007, in connection with a workers' strike on Broadway ^[17] . Initially, the musical was supposed to be resumed on December 6, 2007, but soon the date of the show was postponed to January 10, 2008 ^[18] . In the American version, Ariel played actresses of Broadway musicals, Sierra Boggess ^[19] and Chelsea Morgan Stoke (as a substitute for Boggess) ^[20] . The original production of Broadway was closed on August 30, 2009 ^[21] , a year and a half after the release of the musical, mainly due to poor reviews ^[22] .

Russian production

March 15, 2012, Stage Entertainment announced the premiere of the Russian production of the musical The Little Mermaid ^[23] . The role of Ariel in the musical was assigned to musical actress Natalia Bystrova ^[22] , who had previously played Belle in the musical Beauty and the Beast ^[23] . The musical premiered on October 6, 2012 at the Rossiya Theater on Pushkinskaya Square ^[24] .

The premiere was visited by the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Vladimir Medinsky , many Russian theater and film stars, as well as Disney studio composer Alan Mencken , who wrote several new compositions for the Russian production of The Little Mermaid, such as: “Daddy's Daughter”, “Her Voice”, “On step closer ”and others ^{[24] [25]} .

The musical director and chief conductor of the production is Mariam Barskaya. In connection with the participation of Mariam Barskaya in the production of Stage Entertainment , the musical Chicago , in 2013, the main conductor in the second season is Irina Orzhekhovskaya, who worked as an assistant to the main conductor in the first season.

• The cartoon characters were used in the action of the National Marine Heritage Fund (NMSF) and the US National Oceanography and Atmosphere Administration (NOAA), which was aimed at drawing attention to the problem of negative anthropogenic and anthropogenic impact on the ecosystem of the oceans ^{[26] [27]} .
• The cartoon set an absolute record for sales among collectible “platinum” publications ^[28] .
• After the first film adaptation of the cartoon, the sequel appeared - “The Little Mermaid 2: Return to Sea ” and the background - “The Little Mermaid: The Beginning of Ariel's Story ”. There is also a series about the adventures of cartoon characters.

The Russian release of the cartoon in full dubbing (including vocal parts) was released in 2006, and the series released by the studio later was already shown to the audience. The characters were voiced by famous Russian actors and performers ^[29] - these were Svetlana Svetikova , Thomas Shlekker , Alexey Ivashchenko , Anastasia Mintskovskaya , Boris Klyuyev , Ilya Khvostikov , Ismail Ziyadzade , Igor Yasulovich and others. The dubbing was directed by Yaroslav Turylyov .

The film was dubbed by Pythagoras Studio for the Disney Character Voices International company in 2006 ^{[3] [31]} .

• Dubbing Director - Yaroslav Turylyov
• Translator - Olga Klyushnikova
• The author of the synchronous text is Ekaterina Barto
• Sound producer - Ekaterina Larchenko
• Lyricist - Pyotr Klimov
• Musical Directors - Ekaterina Larchenko, Armen Poghosyan
• Creative Consultant - Michal Voinarovsky

Roles Duplicated

• Svetlana Svetikova - Ariel / Vanessa before losing voice (vocals and 2 small phrases)
• Ilya Khvostikov - Eric
• Ismail Ziyadzade - Sebastian
• Thomas Schlecker - Flounder
• Boris Klyuev - Triton
• Anastasia Mintskovskaya - Ursula / Vanessa after losing her voice (3 small phrases)
• Vasily Dakhnenko - Flotsam / Jetsam
• Alexey Ivashchenko - Scatter
• Dmitry Filimonov - seahorse
• Igor Yasulovich - Ugryumus
• Alexey Kolgan - Louis
• Svetlana Harlap - Carlotta

In episodes

• Vyacheslav Baranov - one of the sailors
• Polina Shcherbakova - Aquat
• Tatyana Veselkina - Andrina
• Anna Shtukaturova - Arista
• Tatyana Shitova - Attina (accidentally translated as “Afin”)
• Julia Cherkasova - Adella
• Natalia Fishchuk - Alana
• Nikita Prozorovsky - a priest

Vocals

• The vocals in the songs “In the deep sea”, “In the sea world” and “Kiss”:
  • Armen Poghosyan
  • Alexander Inshakov
  • Sergey Naumenko
  • Andrey Birin
  • Andrey Nikiforov
  • Egor Chernegov-Nomerov
• Performance of the song “Daughters of Triton”:
  • Olga Vorozhtsova
  • Yulia Timoshenko
  • Olga Nadezhdina
  • Nonna Vinogradova
  • Elena Veremeenko
  • Anna Khazanova

In the United States, in 1990, the cartoon was released on VHS in the Walt Disney Classics video collection on NTSC. He was also released on VHS by Walt Disney Home Video. In Europe and other countries, it was produced with dubbing in different languages ​​and in NTSC / PAL systems. Also in the 1990s, it was also released on Laserdisc.

In the countries of the former USSR in the 1990s, it was distributed on “pirated” video cassettes (and moreover, they were shown on cable television) in the author's one-voice voice-over translations by Alexei Mikhalev , Andrey Gavrilov , Yuri Tovbin and others. In 1998, the cartoon was re-released in the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection on VHS.

In the USA and Canada, the first release of the cartoon on DVD took place in the late 1990s. In Russia, in the early 2000s, it was produced in the translation of Yuri Zhivov to VHS in the PAL system and DVD in the NTSC system. There, in 2003, was released on DVD with a professional two-voiceover voiceover of Peter Glanz and Inna Koroleva . During the first half of the 2000s, there were no Russian-language menus and Russian subtitles on Russian DVDs on this DVD.

The cartoon was very warmly received by critics who noted an interesting adaptation of the plot, wonderful animation and carefully thought-out images of the main characters, and especially the little mermaid Ariel herself. The musical accompaniment to the cartoon, which subsequently received many official awards, in particular the Oscars and Golden Globes , received special praise. On the Rotten Tomatoes website, 90% of all reviews for The Little Mermaid are positive. In light of this, individual negative remarks, which mainly criticize the significant difference between the screenplay script and the original story from Hans Christian Andersen , seem completely insignificant. "The Little Mermaid" revived interest in animation around the world and became a real milestone in the history of Disney studios and animation in general.

Cartoon composer Alan Mencken received the Academy Award for his work on the cartoon in 1990 in the nominations for “Best Song” and “Best Music” ^[32] . In the same year, for the work on the film, Mencken received the Grammy Award in the nomination “Best Sound Recording for Children”, as well as for the song “Under The Sea” in the nomination “Best Song Written Especially for Film or Television” ^[33] .

The cartoon won the Golden Globe Award in the nominations for "Best Song from the Film", "Best Music for the Film" and was nominated for the Golden Globe in the nomination for "Best Film, Comedy or Musical" ^[34] .

In May 2016, Deadline Hollywood reported that Disney had decided to restart the cartoon in a version of a movie with live actors. ^[35] Three months later, it was announced that Alan Mencken would return as a film composer and write new songs with Lin-Manuel Miranda , who would also co-produce the film with Marc Platt Productions. ^[36] Lindsay Lohan and Chris Evans signed up to work on the project ^{[37] [38] [39]} . In December 2017, it was reported that Rob Marshall would be the director, and Jane Goldman would write the script ^[40] . On July 3, 2019, it was announced that the role of the Little Mermaid herself in the film would go to the African-American artist Holly Bailey ^[41] .

• Cartoon forum
• Interview with Yaroslav Turylyova // Website about pro-Disney animation www.prodisney.ru: Internet site. - 2010.