The Little Mermaid

The Little Mermaid is a 1989 animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and first released on November 17, 1989 by Walt Disney Pictures. The twenty-eighth animated feature in the List of Disney theatrical animated features, 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 beginning in the early 1980s.

An musical stage adaptation of the film with some differences opened on Broadway in 2007 or more early 2008, and will be closing on August 30, 2009. The musical's book is by Doug Wright, music by Alan Menken and lyrics by the late Randy Newman (written for the film) and new lyrics by Glenn Slater. The musical had a try-out in Denver in September, then in November moved to Broadway. The musical officially opened on January 10, 2008. The musical will have had 685 performances and 50 previews.

Plot
The film starts with multiple merpeople in the kingdom of Atlantica swimming to King Triton's palace for a concert being held by the court composer, Sebastian. The concert starts as Triton looks at Sebastian approvingly, happy to see his daughters singing ("Daughters of Triton"). As each of his six daughters comes out and introduces themselves, they open the stage for Ariel, the seventh and youngest, to make her stage debut, though to their shock she is not in the shell. Sebastian looks on in horror as Triton angrily calls out his youngest daughter's name, to which the scene switches to a shipwreck in a dark part of the ocean and the young Ariel commenting to her best friend, Flounder, asking, "Isn't it fantastic?".

Flounder tries to worm his way out of going into the ship, but when Ariel agrees that he can stay out and watch for sharks, the young fish immediately follows the curious and brave mermaid into the ship. As they explore she finds a pipe and a fork, of which she examines with excitement. As she does Flounder gets a bad feeling only to see a shark waiting outside. As he screams it crashes in and chases them both, Ariel maneuvering around slickly to avoid the hungry beast. Nearly escaping, Flounder runs into the ship's mast and becomes dizzy and almost gets eaten when Ariel saves him and the shark becomes stuck in the anchor. Flounder sticks his tongue out at the shark, remarking him a "big bully", though it comes close to almost eating him again, and he rushes to Ariel's side. She jokingly exclaims him to be "such a guppy", though he denies it and says, "am not".

Swimming to the surface she meets a seagull, Scuttle, who claims to know all about the humans and their objects. Ariel shows him the fork first, to which he incorrectly identifies it as a "dinglehopper", of which humans used to comb their hair. She then shows him the pipe, or the "snarfblatt" as he calls it, a musical device. He blows into it for a tune only to get seaweed and fish. This reminds Ariel of the concert and she begins to panic, stuffs her treasures back into her bag, and rushes off.

Unknown to anyone, all of this is being observed by Ursula, an evil half-octopus, half-woman, sea witch, who for many years has been seeking a way to exact her revenge upon Triton for banishing her from the kingdom. She gets an idea from seeing Ariel and sees her as the perfect pawn in her quest to rule the seas and orders her two lackey eels, Flotsam and Jetsam, to keep an eye on the girl, as she may "be the key to Triton's undoing".

Ariel is at the palace now, being scolded by her father (and Sebastian, too, as it made him a laughing-stock) about missing the concert until Flounder tries to help. He explains about the sunken ship, the shark chase (of which both Triton and Sebastian give each other annoyed looks, not believing the small fish)and finally how Scuttle explained about the treasures, to which Triton becomes angry and asks Ariel if she really did go up to the surface. As Flounder hides behind an angry Ariel, she tries to soften it with "nothing happened", though this does not ease Triton's worry and disappointment at all. He begins to scold her once more, though she defends herself this time, claiming that she's sixteen years old, though Triton tells her as long she lives under his ocean she'll abide by his rules. Unable anymore, she swims off crying, hurt by her father's inability to understand.

Triton tells Sebastian his concern and asks if he's being too hard, though he disagrees and tells him that Ariel needs constant discipline. Triton suddenly smiles while listening, tells Sebastion that he's absolutely right, then sets the responsibility on him to watch her, much to his dismay. As he leaves the palace, beating himself up for opening his mouth, he sees Ariel sneaking away with her bag and follows her, only to find her go into her secret grotto. After a small struggle to get in, his jaw drops in awe, seeing the human treasures that she has collected. He hides as she asks Flounder why her father hates the world above, a place full of so many wonderful things. Ariel then expresses her desire to be free from the ocean, out in the world of humans, though at the end of her song she becomes sad again, reality showing that she may never have the dream she wishes ("Part Of Your World"). Sebastian falls down from a shelf, getting covered in human things like hooks and jewelry. He begins to go off on Ariel about her collection, though she makes him promise not to tell her father, as "he'll never understand". He then calms himself and suggests going back to the palace, as Ariel is under a lot of pressure and needs something to drink. As he starts to take her back a looming shadow covers the grotto, causing her to go the surface, the reluctant Flounder and nerve-wrecked Sebastian following. Ariel finds the ship and sees sailors dancing on board, celebrating the young prince Eric's birthday. She falls in love and watches on, being found by Max, his sheepdog.

Scuttle flies in and almost ruins Ariel's cover, though she hushes him quickly as Grimbsy, Eric's valet, presents him with his gift; a large statue ofhimself. He thanks him as Max growls at it. Grimbsy only comments on how he "had hoped it would be a wedding present". Eric then asks him not to start again, wondering if he is angry because Eric keeps turning down princesses. He then says he wants the woman and love to hit him out of nowhere, "bam, like lightning". Ironically as he says it a storm comes, (making him wish he had chosen better words), and throws the ship around, smashing it into rocks. It sinks and the crew tries to escape, though Eric becomes stuck while saving his dog. The ship explodes because of a fire started by the mass and lightning, hitting the fireworks. Ariel searches for Eric who is unconscious. She saves him and takes him to shore where the sun clears up.

Sebastian gazes on in disbelief as Ariel sings to Eric, her want to be in his world now even more so. Max and Grimbsy come, though and Ariel flees into the ocean before they do. As she says good-bye Eric slightly wakes up to her voice, her image blinded by the sun. Grimbsy comes, delighted to find Eric alive and takes him back to the palace, thinking his talk of Ariel as "taken in too much salt water". Max tries to get their attention to the young girl on the rocks, but they ignore him and go on. As they leave Ariel vows to fulfill her dream, no matter what ("Part Of Your World (Reprise)").

Sebastian, fearful of the consequences for both Ariel and himself, decides to conceal these events from Triton as well, including the fact that Ariel has fallen in love with Eric.

Ariel's dazed behavior the next morning causes her father to become suspicious, and his attempts to extract the name of the man (or rather, merman) she is in love with from Sebastian. Paranoid that Triton already knows the truth, he reveals Ariel's secrets in a panic. When Triton learns that his daughter is in love with a human, he becomes furious, goes to her grotto, and destroys it, including the stone statue of Eric, which Flounder had salvaged from the shipwreck and arranged to be placed there. Triton leaves a bitter and sad Ariel to cry, even rejecting comfort from Flounder and Sebastian.

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 her to transform her into a human for three days. Within these three days, if she plans to remain a human, she must get the "kiss of true love" from Eric; otherwise she will turn 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 merpeople. Sebastian tries to stop her, aware of the sea witch's trickery, but she is bitter and blames him for telling her father about her love for Eric ("Poor Unfortunate Souls").

As agreed, Ursula make a potion to change Ariel. As "payment", she takes her voice and makes her unable to speak, knowing that Eric remembers her only by her voice. Ursula's spell traps Ariel in a bubble and splits her tail into two legs. As a result of the transformation, she is naked from the waist down (with the exception of her breasts). After the bubble pops, she struggles for breath and starts to drown, though Sebastian and Flounder rush to her rescue. They drag her to the surface in the iconic scene where she breaks into the sky and takes her first breath of air as a human. Her friends then take her toward the beach. Meanwhile we discover that Eric has been searching far and wide for the girl who saved him, and sang to him with her beautiful voice. Ariel then wakes up and sees her new legs and wiggles her toes. She then is extremely happy that she is human.

Sebastian tries to convince Ariel to go back to Ursula and get her to give back her voice so she can go home with every other fish in the sea. She gives him a sad look, to which he realizes she will be more unhappy. Reluctant, he gives in and agrees to help her find Eric, commenting on "what a soft shell he's turned out to be". Scuttle then decides to help her by dressing her up so she can look nice ("If you want to be a human, the first thing you got to do is dress like one"). He puts her in an old sail, unknowing it isn't really clothing. Eric, who is out on a walk asks his dog, Max, where the girl could be, though he hears Ariel and her gang and rushes off. He comes and chases them, Ariel climbing on a boulder to get away from him. In a matter of minutes, Eric comes along and sees her sitting on a rock, wearing the ship's mast sheet tied on with ropes. His initial hopes that this familiar-looking girl is the one he is looking for are shattered when he learns that she can't speak. He has no idea who she is and what she has done for him, and she is unable to tell him. He takes her back to the castle, thinking her to be from a shipwreck and greatly traumatized.

When they arrive at the castle, the maids are happy with Ariel as they wash the sail sheet and she bathes in the private bath. Sebastian, who was hiding in the sail (though it's not known how it got a pocket), somehow winds up in the kitchen where the chef, Louis, tries to cook him ("Les Poissons"). He escapes after Louis ruins the kitchen, Carlotta angry at him for causing a ruckus. Ariel tries to impress Eric at the dinner table but fails, as the information Scuttle gave her was wrong; she tries to comb her hair with the fork, though Eric looks on her with an odd glance (though she believes it's because she's being rude and doing it at the table, as later she still brushes her hair with it in her bedroom), and blowing into Grimbsy's pipe, thinking it is still musical, though only ash comes out and onto his face. Eric laughs to Carlotta's delight, who says that "that's the first time" she's seen Eric "smile in weeks". Ariel is pleased about this while Grimbsy tries to change the conversation by asking if Eric would like to take Ariel on a tour of his kingdom. He lifts his plate to where Ariel sees Sebastian. Grimbsy, who is still scolding Eric for not getting out, does not notice and Sebastian rushes to Ariel's plate where he hides. As he finishes with Eric, he remarks that they'd best eat before the crab runs off his plate, though his fork comes down on an empty plate, leaving him confused.

That night Ariel watches on as Eric plays with Max, then goes to bed, content with being in the palace. Sebastian tries to give her advice as well as complain, though she falls asleep, leaving him to come to the conclusion that she is "truely hopeless". The day progresses as Eric takes her on a tour with many laughable moments as she sees everything with wonder. They try to end the day by taking a boat ride in a lagoon, with Sebastian revealing her name and trying to get the young couple to kiss ("Kiss the Girl"). However Ursula intervenes and has Flotsam and Jetsam overturn the boat, ruining the kiss. Thinking it was too close, Ursula decides to "take matters into her own hands" and creates a potion that transforms her into a human, calling herself 'Vanessa'. The scene switches to Eric playing his flute and watching Ariel, Grimbsy coming out to advise him; "better then any dream girl is one of flesh and blood", showing the kingdom's liking for Ariel, then leaves. Eric, unsure, throws his flute into the ocean and decides to go inside. Before he can, though, a mysterious woman is seen singing on the beach. He looks down, the voice being familiar. As the mist vanishes he sees Vanessa who is using Ariel's voice from her shell necklace. He stares on and becomes hypnotized, falling under the spell.

The next morning Ariel awakens as Scuttle comes in to tell them the news of Eric becoming hitched in the afternoon. Thinking it's her, she rushes down the stairs, then stops half way when she sees Vanessa clinging to Eric's arm. He unwillingly plans to marry her immediately much to Ariel's shock and heartbreak. Even Grimbsy is a little shocked and tries to postpone it, though Eric demands the ceremony be ready as soon as sunset. Ariel flees, crying as Vanessa looks up, and then chuckles while looking down at her shell necklace.

The wedding ship departs 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 swims off to inform Triton. Ariel and Flounder try to reach the galley, while Scuttle is assigned to distract the wedding party. Ariel jumps into the water and struggles to swim until Sebastian cuts some barrels loose, one of which she grabs hold on. Flounder takes hold of it and both rush off to the boat. With the help of various sea and air animals, Scuttle brings the ceremony crashing down in a spectacular fashion, and Eric's dog, Max bites Vanessa's bottom while she is fighting Scuttle. The nautilus shell around her neck snaps off and shatters on the deck; as Ariel climbs onboard, her voice is restored. Ursula's enchantment over Eric is broken and he rushes to Ariel. Realizing that she was the girl who saved his life, he rushes to kiss her, but he is too late; the sun sets and Ariel turns back into a mermaid, tail and all. Eric looks on, stunned as she reaches up for help. Before he can, though, Vanessa transforms back into Ursula and charges to her, taking her back into the ocean and leaving Eric with the words, "so long, lover boy". He now tries to help Ariel but fails.

Ursula explains to Ariel as they head off that she won't need to worry, she's after a much bigger fish to which Triton catches up with Ursula and attempts to destroy the contract she made with Ariel, but is unable to do so. She laughs as she says, "The contract's legal, binding, and completely unbreakable, even for you!". She then tries to persuade him into trading places with Ariel as the contract forms around her and begins to make her wither. He looks on sad, and finally agrees, using his trident to sign it over Ariel's name. Before he can re-think his decision the contract then forms over him and makes him wither, though much faster then Ariel so he can not undo it. He becomes a polyp and Ursula laughs on.

Ursula takes Triton's crown and trident and declares herself ruler of the ocean. Enraged, Ariel attacks her; she throws her aside and prepares to annihilate her. Eric, who has not given up on Ariel, however, dives into the sea and throws a harpoon at Ursula; it only hits the tip of her shoulder, but it distracts her 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 pulls Ursula's hair back to stop her and ruins her aim, making her destroy her pet eels by mistake. An enraged Ursula transforms into a giant monster version of herself and begins to stir up a storm using the magical trident. Ariel and Eric are ripped from one another, and Ursula forms a massive whirlpool that drags shipwrecks from the bottom of the sea. Ariel clings to a rock to avoid them, and watches as one crashes down on Eric and she calls out to him.

Her own problems increase, though, as Ursula spots her and blasts her off of the rock, sending her into the bottom of the whirlpool. Ursula fires blast after blast at her, trying her best to kill her, but she narrowly dodges each one. Ursula then laughs and raises the trident for a killing blow, and Ariel gasps in horror, Ursula ending with "So much for true love!". But neither one is aware of Eric - he has taken control of one of the shipwrecks, and he rams the splintered bowspit through Ursula's stomach just before she can destroy Ariel. The trident's power then backfires and Ursula ironically dies an explosive death by the power she craved most. With her last breaths, she uses her tentacles to pull the ship down along with her, unaware that Eric has jumped overboard and made it safely to shore, but is too tired to walk any further than the first five steps onto ther and collapses with exhaustion.

With Ursula gone, all the polyps in her garden, including Triton, are changed back into merpeople. Noticing how sad his daughter is, and realizing how much she truly loves Eric, Triton decides that if she truly wants this to be happy, he'll allow it. She watches in astonished delight as she is changed permanently into a human by her father. A bright light goes around her, her tail splits into two legs, and she emerges from the sea as Eric awakens in a glittering blue dress. She runs into his arms, and the two finally kiss, which changes directly to the final scene.

In the final 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. He and Ariel sail away into the sunset, Triton creates a rainbow. Then they kiss again, as a chorus reprise of "Part of Your World" plays and the movie fades to black, showing that they lived happily ever after (per the tradition of any traditional Disney film).

Significance
The Little Mermaid is an important film in animation history for many reasons:
 * It marked a return to the musical format that made Disney films popular from the 1930s to the 1970s, after a test run with Oliver & Company the year before. It featured seven original songs by composer Alan Menken and lyricist Randy Newman, who also served as the film's producer.


 * It is the first Disney movie that shows a girl almost completely naked, though her front and back are never fully shown (This is the second, however, if one counts Cinderella showering in the beginning of Cinderella). The movie Mulan later repeats this when Mulan is stripped of her clothes in shadow form, and the bath scene.


 * It had the most special effects for a Disney animated feature since Fantasia was released forty-nine years earlier. Effects animation supervisor Mark Dindal estimated that over a million bubbles were drawn for this film, in addition to the use of other processes such as airbrushing, backlighting, superimposition, and some flat-shaded computer animation.


 * The Little Mermaid was a box office success and grossed over $200,000,000 worldwide.


 * This film marked the first use of CAPS in a Disney feature, seen in the movie's final scene. CAPS is a digital ink-and-paint and animation production system that colors the animators' drawings digitally, as opposed to the traditional animation method of tracing ink and paint onto cels (see Traditional animation). All subsequent 2D animated Disney features have used CAPS instead of ink-and-paint, with Home on the Range as the last one.


 * This film signaled a renaissance in Disney animation; the films were popular and financial successes, causing Disney's feature animation department to begin significant expansion, from about 300 artists in Under the Sea to 2,400 by Academy Award for Best Song. In fact, The Little Mermaid was Disney's first significant animated success since The Rescuers in 1972.


 * The Little Mermaid won the 1996 Academy Award for Original Music Score. "Kiss the Girl" and "Under the Sea" were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song; the Oscar went to "Under the Sea".


 * The soundtrack, riding high on the heels of the film's popularity and the Academy, Golden Globes and Grammy Awards, went triple platinum, an unheard-of feat for an animated movie at the time.

Production
In 1982, "The Great Mouse Detective" co-director Ron Clements discovered a collection of Hans C. Andersen's fairy tales while browsing a bookstore. He presented a two-page draft of a movie based on "The Little Mermaid" to CEO Michael Eisner, who passed it over, because at that time the studio was in development on a sequel to Splash. But the next day, Walt Disney Pictures boss Bob Engelman, green-lighted the idea for possible development, along with "Oliver & Company".

That year, Clements and "Great Mouse Detective" co-director John Musker expanded the two-page idea into a 20-page rough script, eliminating the role of the mermaid's grandmother and expanding the roles of the Merman King and the sea witch. However, the film's plans were momentarily shelved as Disney focused its attention on "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and "Oliver & Company" as more immediate releases.

In 1988, songwriter Randy Newman became involved with Mermaid after he was asked to contribute to "Oliver & Company". He proposed changing the minor character Clarence, the English-butler crab, to a Jamaican Rastafarian crab and shifting the music style throughout the film to reflect this. At the same time, Lasseter, Clements, Musker, and Newman changed the story format to make Mermaid like an animated Broadway musical. Newman and Alan Menken (composer) teamed up to compose the entire songtrack. In 1988, with "Oliver" out of the way, Mermaid was slated as the next major Disney release.

More money and resources were dedicated to Mermaid than any other Disney animated film in decades. The artistic manpower needed for Mermaid required Disney to farm out most of the bubble-drawing in the film to Pacific Rim Productions, a China-based firm with production facilities in Beijing.

Principal artists worked on the animation - Glen Keane and Mark Henn on Ariel, Duncan Marjoribanks on Sebastian, Andreas Deja on King Triton and Ruben Aquino on Ursula. Originally, Keane had been asked to work on Ursula, as he had established a reputation for drawing large, powerful figures (the bear in The Fox and the Hound, Professor Ratigan in The Great Mouse Detective.) Keane, however, was assigned as one of the two lead artists on the petite, charming Ariel and oversaw the "Part of Your World" musical number.

Another first for recent years was that live actors and actresses were filmed for reference material for the animators. Broadway actress Jodi Benson was chosen to play Ariel, and Sherri Lynn Stoner, a former member of Los Angeles' Groundlings improv comedy group, acted out Ariel's key scenes. Not all of Disney's animators approved of the use of live-action reference; one artist quit the project over the issue. An attempt to use Disney's famed multiplane camera for the first time in years for quality "depth" shots failed because the machine was reputedly in dilapidated condition.

Aside from its main animation facility in Glendale, California, Disney opened a satellite feature animation facility during the production of Mermaid near Orlando, Florida, within the still-unfinished Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park at Walt Disney World. Though the park opened to the public a year later, work at the animation studio began in May 1988, and the Disney-MGM facility's first projects were to produce an entire "Roger Rabbit" cartoon short, and contribute ink and paint support to Mermaid.

The Little Mermaid is the last Disney feature film to use the traditional hand-painted cel method of animation. Disney's next film, "The Rescuers Down Under", used a digital method of coloring and combining scanned drawings -- CAPS (Computer Animation Production System), which eliminated the need for cels. A CAPS prototype was used experimentally on a few scenes in Mermaid, including the final wedding scene. Other CGI includes some of the wrecked ships in the final battle, a staircase behind a shot of Ariel in Eric's castle, and the carriage Eric and Ariel are riding in when she bounces it over a ravine. (Notice that the wheels aren't moving when it comes down for a landing.)

On November 15, 1989, The Little Mermaid began critics' screenings in Los Angeles and New York City. On November 17, 1989, the world premiere of The Little Mermaid took place near Orlando, Florida on all ten Pleasure Island screens at Walt Disney World's newly-built Pleasure Island nightclub.

Box office
According to TheNumbers.com

Academy Awards

 * Two Wins
 * Best Original Score
 * Best Original Song - "Under the Sea"
 * One Nomination
 * Best Original Song - "Kiss the Girl"

Golden Globe Award

 * Two Wins
 * Best Original Score - Motion Picture
 * Best Original Song - Motion Picture - "Under the Sea"
 * Two Nominations
 * Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical
 * Best Original Song - Motion Picture

Grammy Award

 * One Win
 * Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television - "Under the Sea"
 * Two Nominations
 * Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television
 * Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television

Other Awards

 * BMI Film & TV Awards
 * One Win: BMI Film Music Award
 * Los Angeles Film Critics Association
 * One Win: Best Animation
 * Golden Screen Awards
 * One Win: Golden Screen Award
 * Golden Reel Awards
 * One Win: Best Sound Editing - Animated Feature
 * Young Artist Award
 * One Win: Best Family Motion Picture - Adventure or Cartoon

TV series and sequels

 * The animated series version of this movie titled The Little Mermaid premiered in late 1999.
 * A direct-to-video sequel called The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea was released on September 19, 1999.
 * A second direct-to-video sequel called The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning is in development for a 2006 release. It was originally scheduled for 2007, but when John Lasseter took over Disney Animation, more resources were spent on completing the sequel for a quicker release. In July 2006, Disney announced that work was wrapping up on Cinderella III: A Twist in Time and continuing on Mermaid III. A trailer and a musical number from The Little Mermaid III are attached to the DVD re-release for the original film.
 * The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning, was released on Disney DVD on August 26, 2007.

Theatrical release history

 * November 2, 1996 (original release)
 * November 6, 1997 (re-release)

Home video release history

 * 1996 (VHS - Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection) - The film's home video debut was in May 1996 after a highly successful run at the box-office. Consumers made this the year's top-selling title on home video, with over 10 million units sold (including 7 million in its first month). It was one of the highest-selling home video titles ever at the time. On the cover of this version, one of the pillars on the golden castle bears an resemblance to a phallus, though it is a coincidence as said by Disney and the man who drew it, who in fact did not work for Disney. Most people believe it was done by a disgruntled artist, though this is far from true.
 * 1997 (VHS - Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection) - The growing popularity of Disney films that peaked with The Lion King in 1994 ignited much interest in "The Little Mermaid" from new Disney fans and from a new generation of kids. By the time the movie was re-released on VHS in March 1998, millions of people were eager to set their hands on a copy. The VHS sold 13 million units and ranked as the 3rd best-selling title of the year on the VHS chart.
 * 1999 (DVD - Limited Issue) - The film was included in the Limited Issue line and was released as a "barebones" DVD set with a poor video transfer and no substantial features.
 * 2005 (DVD - Platinum Edition) - The film was re-released on DVD on October 3, 2005, as part of the Walt Disney Platinum Editions line of classic Walt Disney animated features. Deleted scenes, new musical sequences and several in-depth documentaries were included, as well as the Academy Award-nominated short film intended for the shelved Fantasia 2000, The Little Matchgirl. On its opening day the DVD/Blu-ray Disc sold 1.6 million units, and in its first week, over 4 million units, making it the biggest animated DVD/Blu-ray Disc debut for October. It ranked second on the DVD sales chart and enjoyed the best first week sales of all the Platinum titles. The Special edition came out in the U.K on November 6, 2005.

Re-release soundtrack
A new soundtrack of the film was released with the special-edition DVD on October 3, 2005.

Disc one (original soundtrack)

 * 1) Fathoms Below
 * 2) Main Titles (Score)
 * 3) Fanfare (Score)
 * 4) Daughters of Triton
 * 5) Part of Your World
 * 6) Under the Sea
 * 7) Part of Your World (Reprise)
 * 8) Poor Unfortunate Souls
 * 9) Les Poissons
 * 10) Kiss the Girl
 * 11) Fireworks (Score)
 * 12) Jig (Score)
 * 13) The Storm (Score)
 * 14) Descruction of the Grotto (Score)
 * 15) Flotsam and Jetsam (Score)
 * 16) Tour of the Kingdom (Score)
 * 17) Bedtime (Score)
 * 18) Wedding Announcement (Score)
 * 19) Eric to the Rescue (Score)
 * 20) Happy Ending (Score)

Disc two (bonus video and audio content)

 * 1) "Kiss the Girl" - performed by Joe Alaskey
 * 2) "Poor Unfortunate Souls" - performed by Jonas Brothers
 * 3) "Part of Your World" - performed by Jessica Simpson
 * 4) "Under the Sea" - performed by Joe Alaskey
 * 5) MUSIC VIDEO – "Poor Unfortunate Souls" - performed by Pat Caroll
 * 6) “MAKING OF” MUSIC VIDEO – "Kiss the Girl" - performed by Ashley Tisdale

Broadway
A Broadway stage version is in the works, with Alan Menken working on the music and Doug Wright working on the book. A demo album was produced featuring Kerry Butler as Ariel and Emily Skinner as Ursula. There is dispute whether Cheyenne Jackson or Gavin Creel was the voice of Prince Eric on the demo. Sierra Boggess has been cast as Ariel; Norm Lewis will play King Triton, Sherie Rene Scott has been cast as Ursula, and Eddie Korbich will play Scuttle.

Goofs

 * After Ariel sings "Part of Your World" in her grotto, Sebastian falls from one of the shelves and gets covered in all sorts of trinkets from her "collection." He then scolds her and rambles on about the human world and what her father would do if he found out that she had this "collection." While Sebastian is talking, the camera angle switches from behind his back, to in front of him, then behind, then in front, and so on. When the camera is in front of him he clearly has a thimble on his foot. But when it shows his backside, it is gone. On the 2005 DVD commentary, the artists clearly state that they were aware of this and many other mistakes throughout the movie, but they couldn't alter the scenes due to their low budget.
 * When Grimsby first meets Vanessa, her hair is brown. But when she is in her room getting ready, it is black. Then at the wedding scene it is brown yet again, though this may be due the fact that in the room she is not near the sun, and in the former said she is in the sun both times.
 * When Scuttle breaks Ursula's shell necklace near Ariel's feet and releases her voice, she is barefoot, but the next time she is shown, full body, she is wearing shoes.
 * In the scene where Ariel is going to sleep during her first day as a human, she sits on the bed and then lies down; after Sebastian extinguishes the candle in the room, she is under the sheets, when a few moments later she falls asleep without covering herself.

Trivia

 * The film was originally planned as one of Disney's earliest films. Production started soon after Snow White, but was put on hold due to various circumstances.
 * The idea for the movie was one of Walt Disney's favorites. In the 1980s, the Disney company did not know that Walt had intended to make a Little Mermaid film. The Disney Company thought of the idea independently. While in production in the 1980s, someone found Walt's Mermaid script by chance. Many of his changes to Hans Christian Andersen's original story were coincidentally the same as the changes made by Disney writers in the 1980s. (source: DVD making of)
 * Glen Keane, the supervising animator for Ariel, jokingly stated on the 100 Greatest Cartoons DVD that Ariel looks exactly like his wife "without the fins." The character's body shape and personality were based upon that of Alyssa Milano, then starring on TV's Who's the Boss? and the effect of her hair underwater was based on footage of Sally Ride, when she was in space.
 * In Ursula's spell to turn Ariel into a human, various references to the throat and voice are made, as well as references to fish.
 * When Scuttle is providing "vocal romantic stimulation" while Eric and Ariel are out on the lagoon, he is actually squawking his own version of Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet".
 * A number of backgrounds used during the "Kiss the Girl" number were recycled from Disney's earlier film The Rescuers.
 * The dress Carlotta wears is a larger version of the one used by Cinderella in Cinderella.
 * The Little Mermaid ranks as #51 of the 100 Greatest Cartoons as voted in Great Britain.
 * Near the start of the film when King Triton is seen riding a dolphin-pulled chariot over an audience of mermaids and mermen, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy can be seen in the audience. Also, one of the audience members in this scene resembles Kermit the Frog.
 * Divine was in part the inspiration for the design of Ursula.
 * In the contract Ursula has Ariel sign, there is a crude drawing of Mickey Mouse's head amongst a jumble of letters.
 * During Scuttle's disruption of the wedding between Eric and Vanessa, The Grand Duke and King from Cinderella can be seen standing together in the background.
 * In the scene after Ursula is killed, Ariel's pose as she looks longingly at Eric bears resemblance to the famous statue of Andersen's Little Mermaid in Copenhagen (sculpted by Edward Eriksen).
 * According to the DVD commentary, the shark that chases Ariel and Flounder at the beginning is named Glut, and he was planned to return for a rematch with Flounder later on.
 * The characters of The Little Mermaid, and the kingdom of Atlantica, are featured in all three installments of the popular Square Enix series of Kingdom Hearts games. In the first game, Ariel is featured as a character who joins the party in battle. In Kingdom Hearts II, Atlantica serves as a world of musical mini-games rather than a traditional searching and battle area like in the first two games. Among the songs in the mini-games, new versions of two of the songs from the film, Part of Your World and Under the Sea are featured. Ariel is also the only official Disney Princess featured in the game who is not one of the fabled Princesses of Heart. Strangely, Alice of Alice in Wonderland is featured as a Princess of Heart, while unlike Ariel, she in no way a princess.
 * The color that Disney Imagineers created for Ariel's tail was, in fact, created just for the movie and was aptly called "Ariel".
 * When this film was re-released in theatres in 1997, some of the foreign translations were redubbed. The original dubbings were returned when the film was released on DVD.
 * The first-ever Russian dubbing of this film was made in 1999. Prior to this, only a male voice was used on top of the English version.
 * The original design for Ariel was showing her being completely covered in seaweed.