Mouse -Over Cover Art for Details –
The Film
[Rating:5/5]
The Little Mermaid tells the story of Ariel (Jodi Benson), a mermaid living far under the sea with her friends Sebastian (Samuel E. Wright) and Flounder (Jason Marin.) Her father, Triton (Kenneth Mars), rules this kingdom; however, he’s always butting heads with Ursula (Pat Carroll.) While life under the ocean may be fun, Ariel longs to live above the seas, with the humans, despite the disapproval of her father. Wishing to fulfill this dream, Ariel travels to see Ursula, who agrees to make Ariel human in exchange for Ariel’s voice. Even though Ariel now may be living said dream, she soon realizes that Ursula has greater, more devious desires for her and her father. What results is yet another instance of a classic film from the Disney renaissance era.
What helps to make The Little Mermaid one of the best Disney films ever made, lies not necessarily in the story, but more in the film’s villain – Ursula. She helps to bring a sense of horror to the film. She’s downright devious at times, only thinking of herself while taking advantage of Ariel’s innocence. This aspect makes the story rise above its normal tones (you know, the standard girl longing for a world her father disapproves of, only to seek help from the one person her father despises.) It almost makes the plot seem rather clever, a trait that I had never seen at the time of the film’s release.
Also worthy of mention is that the film is simply a joy to watch, something that seems to be all but missing from modern Disney films (well, outside of their combined Pixar efforts and Wreck-It Ralph.) Watching this one again was purely entertaining, something I’m sure fans who grab this title will certainly agree with me on.
Video Quality
2D HD: [Rating:4.5/5]
3D Effect: [Rating:4.5/5]
Arriving with a 1:78:1 framed, AVC MPEG-4 encoded transfer, Disney’s The Little Mermaid contains a solid effort. While this transfer may not rank at the top of their animation shelf, I was still pleasantly surprised at the quality. Colors pop off the screen, whether it be the blues of the oceans, the whites of Trition’s beard or the fireworks during Eric & Ariel’s ‘Kiss the Girl’ scene. Detail is as strong as one might expect, with facial close-ups (like the screenshot directly below) result in accurate colors and no notice of image blurring. The film’s print is also in fine condition, despite its 24-year age. The restoration work that Disney put in easily shows from the opening moments. Gone is the layer of source noise. There’s no notice of blips, scratches or any other anomalies here.
Equally solid is the film’s 3D effort. With this being a film with an underwater locale, there’s numerous instances where 3D can shine. Little instances like bubbles moving towards the surface, ‘pop’ off the screen giving us a fine 3D effect. Common 3D issues like that of ghosting, were not noticeable at all. Like its 2D sibling, detail is quite strong here. Colors pop as strongly as the 2D counterpart, and there’s no real ‘gimmicky’ use of 3D that most modern live-action 3D films use.
Again, while this may not be as demo worthy as releases like Beauty and the Beast, Disney has still delivered a technical effort fans will appreciate.
Audio Quality
[Rating:5/5]
Audio-wise, the film’s DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 Mix is excellent. Dialogue is well reproduced throughout via the center channel. Atmosphere impressed me the most. Whether it be the sequence where Ariel rescues Eric and brings him to shore, or the varying musical moments, every little effect has been carefully placed to create a truly fine sense of atmosphere. LFE, especially during the closing battle against Ursula, is deep and immersive, giving us a nice little ‘oomph’. The film’s score is also quite excellent, mixing in both songs and little musical moments that help to draw us into the story. All in all, this is the best The Little Mermaid has ever sounded, and I can’t ask for much more here.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
All included features are presented in High Definition:
- Music Video – “Part Of Your World” by Carly Rae Jepsen
- Crab-E-OKE Sing Along
- Never-Before-Senn Deleted Character (Harold The Merman)
- Part Of Her World: Jodi Benson’s Voyage To New Fantasyland
- @Disney Animation: Behind The Scenes
- Howard’s Lecture: Music In Movies
- Under The Scene
- Music Downloads – A 10 Music Track Download has been made available via MermaidOffers.com with the included code.
- 7 Deleted Scenes – 7 scenes are shown.
- Treasures Untold: The Making of the Little Mermaid
- Storm Warning: The Little Mermaid Special Effects Unit
- The Story Behind the Story
- The Little Match Girl
- Early Presentation Reel
- Original Theatrical Trailer
- Music Video “Kiss the Girl” by Ashley Tisdale
- DisneyPedia: Life Under the Sea
- Behind The Ride That Almost Was with Disney Imagineers
- Ride the Attraction
- Platinum Edition Easter Eggs – The following Easter Eggs are available. John Musker and Ron Clements doing caricatures of one another, comments from the animators Ruben Aquino, Glen Keane and Mark Henn and Musker and Clements demonstrating “The Little Mermaid handshake.”
- DVD – A DVD Copy has been included on a separate disc.
- Digital Copy – A Digital Copy, playable in iTunes, has been included.
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:4.5/5]
The Little Mermaid has stood the test of time, easily being one of Disney’s greatest animated efforts. Equally great is Disney Blu-ray effort with an all around impressive effort on virtually every front. This one earns my highest recommendation.
Additional Screen Captures
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[amazon-product]B00C7607BC[/amazon-product]
[amazon-product]B0036TGT2A[/amazon-product]
[amazon-product]B00C7607FS[/amazon-product]
[amazon-product]B00C7607BC[/amazon-product]
[amazon-product]B0036TGT2A[/amazon-product]
Lol, you completely ignored all the old DVD features, which are included here as well?!
-7 Deleted Scenes (~27 min)
-Treasures Untold: The Making of the Little Mermaid (~46 min)
-Storm Warning: The Little Mermaid Special Effects Unit (~9 min)
-The Story Behind the Story (~11 min)
-The Little Match Girl (~7 min, HD)
-Early Presentation Reel (~3 min)
-Original Theatrical Trailer (~2 min)
-Music Video “Kiss the Girl” by Ashley Tisdale (~3 min)
-DisneyPedia: Life Under the Sea (~8 min)
-Behind The Ride That Almost Was with Disney Imagineers (~6 min)
-Ride the Attraction (~4 min)
-Platinum Edition Easter Eggs
–John Musker and Ron Clements doing caricatures of one another (~1 min)
–Comments from the animators Ruben Aquino, Glen Keane and Mark Henn (~2 min)
–Musker and Clements demonstrating “The Little Mermaid handshake” (~1 min)
It’s an error that’s being resolved. Thanks for your comment.
Steffen,
My apologies. I wrote all of the extras down on my note pad, yet forgot to include them. -_-
Thanks for reading!
since i know this title requires me to buy it at my own risk, all the 2Ds are affected by an animation sync error, along with the DVDs and the DC’s are corrected on most prior to the fact.
is the 3D disc to be serviced by disney or if it is, does this require the company who converted it (Legend 3D) to step back in, deconvert those scenes back to 2D than convert it again.
i know 3D will be the film thats it for this, all extras are on the 2D, the previous supplements from prior DVDs will be on that copy. DC is itunes with music bundle.
I don’t really understand what you’re asking. The error is on the 2D discs only and Disney has a replacement program in place for those. The 3D does not factor in.
i am asking if i buy that particular diamond, is the 3D disc serviceable by Disney at all? or am i stuck with the digital copy+ download because of my still current hookup (3D player+2D TV)?
I’m still not really understanding — why would you need the 3D disc “serviced” and what does it have to do with your current setup? There’s nothing wrong with the 3D disc, apparently, the issue is only on the 2D discs. This would remain true regardless of your playback equipment.:)
it has nothing to do with that, so would i need to purchase a correctly operating 2D or 3D diamond in another country in order to use it, or do i need to buy than send the discs to disney regardless of which diamond edition i pick?
If the 2D disc has the error, simply contact Disney here: http://www.disneystudioshelp.com/ContactUs or by phone: 800-723-4763 (U.S.), 888-877-2843 (Canada) to get a replacement. They will most likely only exchange the 2D discs, Blu-ray and DVD.
i did read somewhere that the 3D disc has the same errors the 2D does but is more complex to service/fix.