The Little Mermaid is a 1989 animated feature film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and first released on November 15, 1989 by Walt Disney Pictures. The twenty-eighth animated feature in the Disney animated features canon, the film is based upon the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale "The Little Mermaid." The film grossed over $111 million in the U.S. and an additional $99 million worldwide, and is given credit for breathing life back into the animated feature film genre after a string of critical and commercial failures
An upcoming stage adaptation of the film is planned with additional songs by Alan Menken and new lyricist Glenn Slater and is expected to open on Broadway in 2007 or 2008. The book for the musical has been completed by Doug Wright.
The film follows the story of a beautiful, headstrong sixteen-year-old mermaid named Ariel, who is dissatisfied with life under the sea. Ignoring the warnings of her father, King Triton, and the court musician, Sebastian the crab, Ariel and her best friend, a fish named Flounder, often sneak up to the surface of the ocean. There, they collect human artifacts with the help of a goofy seagull named Scuttle, whose supposed expert knowledge of human culture is far from accurate; he identifies a fork as a hairstyling device called a "Dinglehopper", and a smoker's pipe as a "Snarfblatt", a musical instrument. Ariel knows that contact between the humans and merpeople is forbidden, but she longs to be part of the human world.
Worried about his daughter's behavior, Triton assigns Sebastian to look after her and report on her activities. Sebastian discovers that Ariel has been collecting all of the items she finds from the surface in a secret underwater grotto, but he decides not to tell Triton for Ariel's sake.
Unknown to anyone, all of this is being observed by Ursula, an evil octopus-like sea-witch, who for many years has been seeking a way to exact her revenge upon King Triton for banishing her from the kingdom. She sees Ariel as the perfect pawn in her quest to rule the seas.
That evening, Ariel and Flounder (with the concerned Sebastian in tow) travel again to the surface to watch a fireworks celebration for Prince Eric's birthday. Eric is presented with a giant stone statue of himself, commissioned by his guardian Grimsby, who is pressuring Eric to get married so he can become king. The birthday celebration is cut short when a violent storm destroys the ship. Eric is lost at sea and almost drowns before he is saved by Ariel, who falls in love with the handsome young prince. Ariel drags him through the ocean and onto a shoreline. She disappears just as he is awakening, but Eric is enthralled by the memory of her beautiful singing voice. Sebastian, fearful of the consequences for both Ariel and himself, decides to conceal these events from the King as well, including the fact that Ariel has fallen in love with Eric (whether she actually loves or fancies him remains unknown).
Ariel's dazed behavior the next morning causes her father to become suspicious, and Triton attempts to extract from Sebastian the name of the man she is in love with; paranoid that Triton already knows the truth, Sebastian reveals Ariel's secrets in a panic. When King Triton learns that his daughter is in love with a human, he becomes furious and destroys Ariel's grotto, including the stone statue from Eric's birthday party, which Flounder (and a reluctant Sebastian) had arranged to be placed there.
Ursula decides that now is the time to make her move, and she assigns her pet eels Flotsam and Jetsam to bring Ariel to her underwater cave. There, Ursula makes a deal with the princess to transform Ariel into a human for three days. Within these three days, if she plans to remain a human, she must get from Eric the "kiss of true love"; otherwise she will transform back into a mermaid at sunset on the third day. If this happens, Ursula will own her very soul and wither her down into a polyp, to join her garden of other lost merfolk. Sebastian tries to stop her, aware of the sea witch's trickery, but Ariel is bitter and blames him for telling her father about her love for Eric.
As agreed, Ursula makes a potion to change the little mermaid. As "payment", she takes Ariel's voice and makes her unable to speak, knowing that Eric remembers Ariel only by her voice. Ursula's spell splits Ariel's tail into two legs. Sebastian and Flounder drag Ariel to the surface in the iconic scene where she breaks into the sky and gasps for air. Her friends then take toward the beach. She learns to stand shakily. In a matter of minutes, Eric comes along and sees her. His initial hopes that this familiar-looking girl is the one he is looking for are dashed when he learns that she can't speak--he is seeking the one with the beautiful voice. He has no idea who Ariel is and what she has done for him, and she is unable to tell him.
While Ariel is enjoying life with Eric in the human palace, Sebastian, Flounder and Scuttle try to get Ariel and Eric to kiss and break the spell. Ursula, however, is trying to prevent them from doing so. Taking the guise of a beautiful young woman named Vanessa, Ursula appears onshore, singing in Ariel's voice, which is housed in a magic nautilus shell around "Vanessa's" neck. She casts a spell of enchantment on Eric, who plans to marry her immediately, much to Ariel's dismay.
The ceremony is set to take place at sunset, which is when Ariel's deal with Ursula ends. Unknowingly to "Vanessa", Scuttle spots her while staring in one of the boat's portholes and sees the reflection of Ursula in the mirror. He rushes towards Ariel and explains the situation. Sebastian rushes to inform Triton, while Scuttle, Flounder and Eric's sheepdog Max stall the wedding by causing all sea and air animals to distract the wedding party. Scuttle and his fellow seabirds pull at "Vanessa's" hair and nautilus necklace. After a flock of seagulls fly between her causing her to stumble, Max bites her bottom and she becomes susceptible to revealing her true identity. When "Vanessa" is distracted, the nautilus shell around her neck is broken, and Ariel's voice is restored. Realizing that Ariel was the girl who saved his life, Eric rushes to kiss her, but he is too late; the sun sets and Ariel transforms back into a mermaid. "Vanessa" transforms back into Ursula and she grabs Ariel as she disappears into the sea.
Triton catches up with Ursula and attempts to destroy the deal she made with Ariel, but is unable to do so. Before Triton's eyes, Ursula's contract swirls around Ariel and she begins to wither into a polyp. While she is transforming, Ursula offers Triton a deal: she will accept his soul in the place of Ariel's. Triton sacrifices himself for his daughter and is transformed into a helpless polyp.
Ursula takes Triton's crown and trident and declares herself ruler of the ocean. Enraged, Ariel attacks Ursula; the Sea Witch throws her aside, and Ariel's rage turns to pleading fear as Ursula levels the glowing trident at her. Eric suddenly arrives, though, and throws a harpoon at Ursula; it misses, but it distracts Ursula long enough for Ariel to get free. After Flotsam and Jetsam are unable to drown Eric thanks to Flounder and Sebastian, Ursula decides to remove Eric herself, aiming the trident for a destructive blast. Ariel rushes to stop her, and causes Ursula to destroy her pet eels. An enraged Ursula transforms into a giant big bad monster. Ariel and Eric can only cling to one another in fear as Ursula summons a storm. The two are ripped from one another, and Ursula forms a massive whirlpool that drags wrecked ships from the bottom of the sea. Ariel clings to a rock to avoid them, and watches in dismay as one crashes down on Eric. Her own problems increase, though, as Ursula spots her and blasts her off of the rock, sending the little mermaid into the bottom of the whirlpool. Ursula fires blast after blast at her, but Ariel narrowly dodges each one. Ursula then laughs and raises the trident for a final blow, and Ariel gapes in horror. But neither one is aware of Eric--the prince has taken control of one of the shipwrecks, and he rams the ship's splintered bowsprit through Ursula's heart just before she can destroy the princess. The trident's power then backfires and the Sea Witch ironically dies an explosive death by the power she craved most. With her last breaths, Ursula uses her tentacles to pull the ship down along with her, unaware that Eric has jumped overboard and made it safely to shore.
With Ursula gone, the polyps in Ursula's garden, including Triton, are all changed back into merpeople. Noticing how sad his daughter is and how much she truly loves Eric, Triton decides to give Ariel what she wants. Ariel watches in astonished delight as she is changed permanently into a human, and walks gracefully to shore before her proud father's eyes. She runs into Eric's arms, and the two finally kiss.
In the next scene, she and Eric are seen kissing on their wedding day. Both humans and merpeople turn out for the wedding, and Triton accepts Eric as a part of the family. Eric and Ariel sail away into the sunset to live happily ever after.
