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Blu-Ray : Recommended
Ranking:
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Release Date: October 1st, 2013 Movie Release Year: 1989

The Little Mermaid: Diamond Edition - 3D

Overview -

Ariel, a fun-loving and mischievous mermaid, is off on the adventure of a lifetime with her best friend, the adorable Flounder, and the reggae-singing Caribbean crab Sebastian at her side. But it will take all of her courage and determination to make her dreams come true—and save her father's beloved kingdom from the sneaky sea witch Ursula!

OVERALL:
Recommended
Rating Breakdown
STORY
VIDEO
AUDIO
SPECIAL FEATURES
Tech Specs & Release Details
Technical Specs:
Blu-ray 3D/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy
Video Resolution/Codec:
1080p/TBA
Length:
83
Aspect Ratio(s):
1.78:1
Audio Formats:
Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles/Captions:
English SDH, French, Spanish
Special Features:
Disney Intermission
Release Date:
October 1st, 2013

Storyline: Our Reviewer's Take

Ranking:

First released on November 14, 1989, 'The Little Mermaid' was Walt Disney Studio's 28th animated feature film. Loosely based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale (the original is MUCH darker), the film tells the story of a mermaid princess named Ariel who is so fascinated with the world above, she secretly collects human treasures from shipwrecks. Her father, King Triton, knows humans are barbarous fish-eaters who would like nothing more than to snare his daughter in one of their nets. Like all teenage daughters, Ariel immediately rebels and goes looking for trouble.

With the help of her friend Flounder, and despite the constant complaints of her father's crab steward, Sebastian, Ariel finds a ship setting off fireworks in the night. There she sees the handsome Prince Eric for the first time and immediately falls in love. When a hurricane pushes Eric's ship into the rocks and sets it ablaze, Ariel breaks a huge rule and saves Prince Eric's life.

Waking up from nearly drowning, Eric doesn't see Ariel clearly, but he hears her beautiful and enchanting voice. Eric, the lifelong bachelor, has finally found the woman of his dreams, but the rest of his human friends aren't sure if she's even real.

Meanwhile, King Triton hears rumors of Ariel falling in love. He is, at first, excited for her... until he finds out she loves a human. Enraged, Triton destroys Ariel's cave filled with human trinkets and leaves his daughter crying. That's when the evil sea witch, Ursula, ensnares Ariel into a contract that will give her legs and a chance to be with Prince Eric.

Ariel travels to the world above, now with a pair of human legs, where she must make Prince Eric fall in love with her. But, if Eric doesn't fall in love by sunset on the third day, Ariel will become Ursula's possession, one of the hopeless worm-like creatures that blanket the entrance to her lair. Making matters even more challenging, Ursula takes Ariel's voice too -- the one thing by which Eric would instantly remember her. Flounder and Sebastian and Scuttle the seagull work hard to set the right mood for falling in love. And it seems to be working -- true love will prevail -- but the devilish Ursula will do anything to win, even cheat.

Will Ariel find true love's kiss or will Evil triumph...?

Probably not -- it's a Disney movie after all -- but I'll leave the rest of the review free of plot points.

For anyone who grew up in the 80s (and early 90s), 'The Little Mermaid' is such a pop culture touchstone, you probably still know all of these songs. This is the first film of Walt Disney Animation's second Golden Age, which continued through films like 'Beauty and Beast', 'Aladdin', and 'The Lion King'.

Revisiting this movie for the first time in a decade (or two), it's not hard to see why the film works so well. Before there was CGI animation, this was one of the most expensive Disney movies ever made -- a state of the art production that crossed classical animation techniques that had gone out of use (multi-plane camera, and live action reference footage) with new computer effects. Though somewhat primitive today, 'The little Mermaid' is dazzling and delightful. The broad comedy still makes you chuckle, the simple story entertains children of all ages, the many songs are unforgettable, and the world itself is gorgeous.

Yet, taking the animation fan and nostalgia hat off for a few minutes... I think we need to talk about Ariel as a protagonist for a quick moment. Basically, 'The Little Mermaid' seems to have two Ariels. First Half Ariel is inquisitive, generous, heroic, and bold. Yes, she's a typical teenager in love who makes huge choices without realizing repercussions, and she's quick to rebel when she shouldn't. But honestly, boy or girl, how many of us didn't make the thematically similar mistakes? Despite her flaws and somewhat naive view, First Half Ariel is awesome and so, so active. A great protagonist, who in a weak moment, makes a terrible mistake.

Then there's Second Half Ariel. She's mute now, which is fine and an understandable challenge, but she doesn't actually do anything to help Eric fall in love. Seriously, look at the film's short second and third acts. Sebastian, Flounder, Scuttle, and Prince Eric get all the action. Ariel either sits there hoping something will happen (ie, a kiss), or cowers in various places, frightened of the danger, and letting the male characters get to work.

I still love the movie, and obviously 2013 is a much different era than even the recent years of the late 80s, but it's kinda lame to have Ariel turns from an universal, human, interesting, and active protagonist... into a prop. Ariel deserves better than that, not because of any glass ceiling politics, but because we've already seen what she can do.

Character arc issues aside, I really enjoyed revisiting 'The Little Mermaid'. It's still a ton of good fun. And though it may not be the best, or my personal favorite, Disney film, but its ambition, artistry, and success set the stage for some amazing work that wouldn't have been possible if this musical had not come first.

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-Ray

'The Little Mermaid - 3D' makes its Blu-ray debut as a 3-disc Diamond Edition. Disc one is the Blu-ray 3D, Disc two is a standard Blu-ray, and Disc three is a DVD. These Blu-rays are Regions A, B, and C compatible. There is also a Magic Code to activate your iTunes Digital Copy as well as to download 10 Music Tracks from the film's soundtrack. 3D trailers include 'Frozen' and an anti-smoking ad. 2D trailers include 'The Jungle Book' Diamond Edition, 'Frozen', 'Mary Poppins' 50th Anniversary Edition, and an anti-smoking ad.

Video Review

Ranking:

3D 4/5 stars

Like 'The Lion King' and 'Beauty and the Beast' before it, 'The Little Mermaid' has been meticulously restored and converted to 3D. We are presented here with an MVC MPEG-4 encode, framed in the film's original 1.85:1 aspect ratio.

Funny, when I first watched this 3D conversion, I was a little disappointed. Compared to later films of the era, it's not as visually complex, in an animation sense, and felt like a very flat conversion. But, when one watches the 2D version and actively compares the two, you can appreciate the added depth and artistry involved much more. The way I like to describe it is: falling into a painting. This 3D may be subtle at times, but it can be quite immersive, especially when the filmmakers are more ambitious with their multi-plane camera shots. Colors remain bold, the animation clear, and shadows do not erase detail. In fact, this version of the film felt a tad brighter than the 2D encode.

The only thing I didn't like about this conversion, more so than on previous Disney conversions, was panning shots. On my 65-inch VT series Panasonic Plasma, these were unsettling and akin to artificial feeling some experience when viewing high frame rate. There was also some minor ghosting (even on the film's main menu, which my wife and I assumed was intentional until we put in the 2d Blu-ray) though it's unclear if there is an actual mistake or if it's just my particular display. For fans of 3D pop out, I did not see any.

'The Little Mermaid' might not be the best Disney 3D conversion to date -- lacking some depth and complexity -- but overall the film looks very good.

2D 4.5/5 stars

'The Little Mermaid' swims onto Blu-ray with an excellent AVC MPEG-4 transfer framed at the film's original 1.85:1 aspect ratio.

It's been years since I've seen 'The Little Mermaid', having skipped the mid-2000s Platinum DVD. However, given the source material's age, the movie looks fantastic. There are no signs of damage or dirt or any encoding flaws, from what I can see. The film is a combination of hand drawn animation with some computer effects (bubbles, water distortion, and shimmering lights, ship's movement) that looks as good as it did upon the original theatrical release. Colors are bold at times, subdued at others. Take a look at backgrounds -- Triton's castle, Ursula's lair, Prince Eric's kingdom, the "Kiss the Girl" sequence -- and you can really enjoy the full details of the animators' craftsmanship.

The only minor disappointment comes after seeing the film in three dimensions. 'The Little Mermaid' can seem primitive at times compared to modern animation (and other films that came out only a few years later). And it can sometimes feel somewhat flat when looking at it next to the likes of older films like 'Snow White' or 'Bambi'. Though not a perfect conversion by any means, the 3D world felt a little more energetic and alive. But let me be clear -- this "flatness" isn't something that could or should be fixed because it represents the original source material.

Overall, I think Disney Animation fans are going to love 'The Little Mermaid' on Blu-ray. The 2D version is restored, but hasn't been ruined by excessive processing. Purists who saw and remember the film theatrically should be thrilled..

Audio Review

Ranking:

While the video restorations are excellent and this soundtrack is quite good for its age, 'The Little Mermaid' definitely doesn't come close to competing with either modern animation soundtracks (something no one expects) or other Diamond Edition releases like 'The Lion King' and 'Beauty and the Beast' (much more possible). Call it a very good, yet slightly underwhelming, remastered 7.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack.

In terms of highlights, the bigger set pieces -- various ship sequences, bigger musical numbers, and the epic climax -- show a fair amount punch. The music itself receives a wide soundstage with wonderful immersion. Ariel's lost voice, in particular, remains haunting and romantic. Voice levels are also quite even -- you never lose dialog or a song.

The disconnect, for me, comes when dialogue and sound effects are mixed into the music. There are definitely some panning effects to bring sounds from front to rear channels, BUT voices and sound effects often seem locked to the center channel. It's almost like the music was mixed multi-channel, but the rest of the sound is in mono. It doesn't feel natural. The oddest part is how some sound effects zoom offscreen to side and rear channels, but they rarely seem alive in the front left or front right speakers. LFE does admirable work at times, but is kinda quiet.

'The Little Mermaid' sounds pretty good for its age, but some of it seems compressed or lacking dynamic range. Perhaps there's no way for a film produced in the late 1980s to line up next to films produced even a few years later. But that's okay. The highlight of this musical remains the songs and the score, which are wide and immersive.

Special Features

Ranking:

Though I don't have a Platinum Edition on hand, Walt Disney Studios appears to have ported over all the Classic Bonus Features from that 2006 DVD release. These include:

  • Deleted Scenes
  • Backstage Disney Music & More
  • Audio Commentary
  • Disneypedia: Life Under the Sea, Behind the Ride that Almost Was
  • Under the Sea Adventure: A Virtual Ride Inspired by Disney Imagineers: Ride the Attraction

In addition to the Classic Bonus Features, Walt Disney Home Entertainment has crafted over an hour of new high definition exclusives:

  • "Part of Your World" Music Video Featuring Carly Rae Jepsen (HD, 3:39). The "Call Me Maybe" singer recorded a new vision of the classic song. Here's her rendition in music video form. She's pretty good, but her voice isn't quite as full as Jodi Benson's. 
  • @DisneyAnimation (HD, 10:45). A behind-the-scenes look at the animators who work at Disney Animation. What's fun here is that it starts with people who made 'The Little Mermaid', but then moves on to the new generation who was inspired to become animators by this film and other Disney classics.
  • Deleted Character - Harold the Merman (HD, 2:05) Co-writers/directors Ron Clements and John Musker introduce a character / scene they had to remove from their original script.
  • Under The Scene: The Art of Live-Action Reference (HD, 13:13). Inspired by Walt Disney's early animation techniques, the filmmakers went back to shooting live action reference material to help the animators create realistic human performances. Interestingly, this process is almost like a rudimentary motion-capture. A must-watch for any animation fan. Personally, I've heard of animators recording themselves or acting in a mirror to capture a performance, but never seen this. Fascinating. 
  • Howard's Lecture (HD/SD, 16:27) Howard Ashman was the lyricist for 'The Little Mermaid'. He did what the filmmakers called a "lunchtime lecture" for the animators during the film's production. That lecture, about the importance of musicals and why the form works, is intercut with modern interviews. 
  • Part of Her World: Jodi Benson's Voyage to New Fantasyland (HD, 4:45). Playing the part of Ariel changed Jodi Benson's life. Follow Jodi and her family as they go to the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World to see New Fantasyland. They already have a Little Mermaid ride, but they're currently building a 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' roller coaster, which will open in 2014. Totally just an ad for Disney World and the Art of Animation Resort, but definitely fun to see if you enjoy going to the various parks. 
  • Crab-E-Oke Sing-Along (HD, 15:35). Songs include "Part of Your World", "Under the Sea", "Poor Unfortunate Souls", "Les Poissons", and "Kiss the Girl". Really interesting animation merges characters and film locations with songs lyrics so you can sing along.

Final Thoughts

While I may not love every character choice made in 'The Little Mermaid', it remains a certifiable Disney classic, having kicked off one of the greatest eras of modern animation. Seeing this film today, get ready to fall in love with the world, characters, and songs all over again.

As a Blu-ray, the 3D conversion is not the best Disney conversion, but modernizes the movie in a fun way. The 2D Blu-ray contains a meticulous and faithful restoration that purists will adore. The 7.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack is pretty good -- especially from a music standpoint -- but is somewhat disappointing compared to other similar-era remixes. Special Features include everything from the 2006 DVD as well as an hour of new material. Overall, this is a pretty great package. Pick up the 3D version if you love 3D; if not, spring for the 2D, which houses the film as well as the bonus materials.