The Little Mermaid is a 1989 American animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 28th Disney animated feature film, it is loosely based on the 1837 Danish fairy tale of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen. The film was written and directed by John Musker and Ron Clements and produced by Musker and Howard Ashman, who also wrote the film's songs with Alan Menken. Menken also composed the film's score. Featuring the voices of Rene Auberjonois, Christopher Daniel Barnes, Jodi Benson, Pat Carroll, Paddi Edwards, Buddy Hackett, Jason Marin, Kenneth Mars, Ben Wright and Samuel E. Wright, The Little Mermaid tells the story of a teenage mermaid princess named Ariel, who dreams of becoming human and falls in love with a human prince named Eric, which leads her to make a magic deal with the sea witch, Ursula, to become human and be with him.
Alan Irwin Menken is an American composer, pianist, music director, and record producer, best known for his scores and songs for films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. Menken's music for The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), and Pocahontas (1995) has each won him two Academy Awards. He also composed the scores and songs for Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Newsies (1992), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Hercules (1997), Home on the Range (2004), Enchanted (2007), Tangled (2010), and Disenchanted (2022), among others. His accolades include winning eight Academy Awards — becoming the second most prolific Oscar winner in the music categories after Alfred Newman, a Tony Award, eleven Grammy Awards, seven Golden Globe Awards, and a Daytime Emmy Award. Menken is one of eighteen people to have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony. He is one of two people to have won a Razzie, an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony ("REGOT").
Samuel Ernest Wright was an American actor and singer. He was best known as the voice of Sebastian in Disney's The Little Mermaid, for which he provided the lead vocals to "Under the Sea", which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. He played Dizzy Gillespie in Bird, the biographical film about Charlie Parker. Wright also played the part of Mufasa in the original cast of The Lion King on Broadway and voiced Kron the Iguanodon in Disney's 2000 CGI/live-action film Dinosaur.
Ariel is a fictional character in the Walt Disney Pictures 28th animated feature film The Little Mermaid (1989). Ariel is voiced by Jodi Benson in all official animated appearances and merchandise. The fourth Disney Princess, Ariel is the youngest daughter of King Triton and Queen Athena of an underwater kingdom of merfolk called Atlantica. She is often rebellious, and in the first film, she longs to be a part of the human world. She marries Prince Eric, whom she rescued from a shipwreck, and together they have a daughter, Melody. She is the first Disney Princess to be developed during the Disney Renaissance.
"Kiss the Girl" is a song written by lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken for Walt Disney Pictures' 28th animated feature film The Little Mermaid (1989). Originally recorded by American actor Samuel Wright in his film role as Sebastian, "Kiss the Girl" is a romantic calypso love song; the song's lyrics encourages Prince Eric to kiss Ariel before it's too late.
"Poor Unfortunate Souls" is a song from the Walt Disney Pictures animated film The Little Mermaid. Written by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken and performed by Pat Carroll, "Poor Unfortunate Souls" is sung to Ariel by Ursula the Sea Witch. In a style that combines Broadway theatre with Burlesque, Ursula uses the song to seduce Ariel into trading her voice for the chance to temporarily become human.
The Little Mermaid is a stage musical produced by Disney Theatrical, based on the animated 1989 Disney film of the same name and the classic story by Hans Christian Andersen about a mermaid who dreams of the world above the sea and gives up her voice to find true love. Its book is by Doug Wright, music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman, with additional lyrics by Glenn Slater. Its underwater setting and story about aquatic characters requires unusual technical designs and strategies to create gliding movements for the actors.
"Part of Your World" is a song written by lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken for Disney's animated feature film The Little Mermaid (1989). Performed by American actress and singer Jodi Benson in the titular role as Ariel, a mermaid princess, "Part of Your World" is a power ballad in which the main character expresses her strong desire to become human; its lyrics use placeholder names in lieu of several human-related terms that would be unfamiliar to a mermaid. The film's theme song is later reprised by Ariel after she rescues Eric, a human prince with whom she has fallen in love, from drowning.
The Little Mermaid: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack to the 1989 Disney animated feature film, The Little Mermaid. It contains the songs from the film written by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, as well as the film's score composed by Alan Menken. The score was orchestrated by Thomas Pasatieri. The album has achieved multi-platinum sales and won the Grammy Award for Best Recording for Children. The album includes recordings of the music that won the Grammy for Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television, the Academy Awards for Best Original Score and Best Original Song and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score.
Beauty and the Beast: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the official soundtrack album to the 1991 Disney animated feature film, Beauty and the Beast. Originally released on October 24, 1991, by Walt Disney Records, the album's first half – tracks 2 to 9 – generally contains the film's musical numbers, all of which were written by composer Alan Menken and lyricist Howard Ashman, while its latter half – tracks 10 to 14 – features its musical score, composed solely by Menken. While the majority of the album's content remains within the musical theatre genre, its songs have also been influenced by French, classical, pop and Broadway music. Credited to Various Artists, Beauty and the Beast: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack features performances by the film's main cast – Paige O'Hara, Richard White, Jesse Corti, Jerry Orbach, Angela Lansbury, Robby Benson and David Ogden Stiers – in order of appearance. Additionally, the album features recording artists Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson, who perform a pop rendition of the film's theme song of the same name, which simultaneously serves as the soundtrack's only single.
The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning is a 2008 American animated direct-to-video fantasy film produced by Disneytoon Studios, with the animation production being done by Toon City and DisneyToon Studios Australia. The film is a prequel to Disney's 1989 animated film The Little Mermaid, the third installment in The Little Mermaid trilogy, and the direct-to-video sequel after John Lasseter took over as chairman for the Disney Animation Division. It is also the first in the chronology of the story running through the series and it is based on the fairy tale The LittleMermaid of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen and Disney's The Little Mermaid by Walt Disney Animation Japan and Walt Disney Television.
"Les Poissons" is a song from the 1989 film The Little Mermaid, which is sung in the film and in The Little Mermaid Broadway show by the character Chef Louis. Chef Louis is voiced by René Auberjonois in the film, and by John Treacy Egan in the Broadway show. The song was composed by Alan Menken with lyrics by Howard Ashman.
Sebastian from The Little Mermaid is the first of three original albums inspired by Disney's The Little Mermaid film, released on May 17, 1990 by Walt Disney Records on CD, LP and audio cassette. Many of the songs are cover versions of classic calypso and reggae songs. All of the songs are performed by Samuel E. Wright as Sebastian the crab with the exception of "Dancing Mood" and "Dance the Day Away", which are two of the album's biggest hit singles; the latter written by the album's notable producers, Grammy winner Don Mizell and Leonard Jones and performed by Jodi Benson as Ariel, who also joins Sebastian on "Day-O". Jason Marin plays the speaking role of Flounder in the beginning of some tracks. The album was recorded in Jamaica and the reggae group Third World performs rhythm tracks and background vocals.
The Little Mermaid is a Disney media franchise. The success of the 1989 American animated feature film The Little Mermaid led to a direct-to-video sequel, a prequel film, a spin-off television series, a musical, several video games, theme park attractions, and other merchandise. A live action remake of the film was released in 2023. The Little Mermaid paved the way for what would become the Disney Renaissance, with the original film becoming the first film of that era.
"Fathoms Below" is the opening song from the 1989 animated Disney feature film The Little Mermaid. It is 1:41 minutes in length, while the version in the musical is about twice as long, with additional lyrics written by Glenn Slater. The song is written by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, sung by the Ship's Chorus, and was featured on the album The Little Mermaid: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.
The Little Mermaid Jr. is a stage musical produced by Disney Theatrical, based on the animated 1989 Disney film of the same name and the classic story of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen about a mermaid who dreams of the world above the sea and gives up her voice to find love. Its book is by Doug Wright, music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman, with additional lyrics by Glenn Slater. The Little Mermaid Jr. first became available to license by the company Music Theater International and Disney Theatrical Productions.
The Wonderful World of Disney Presents The Little Mermaid Live!, or simply The Little Mermaid Live! is a musical television special created for ABC, based on Disney's 1989 animated feature film The Little Mermaid. It is produced by Done and Dusted and directed by Hamish Hamilton, who also executive produced alongside Katy Mullan, David Jammy, Raj Kapoor, Ian Stewart, and Richard Kraft, with the original voice of Ariel, Jodi Benson, introducing the special.
The Little Mermaid is a 2023 American musical fantasy film directed by Rob Marshall from a screenplay written by David Magee. Co-produced by Walt Disney Pictures, Lucamar Productions, and Marc Platt Productions, it is a live-action adaptation of Disney's 1989 animated film of the same name, itself loosely based on the 1837 fairy tale of the same title by Hans Christian Andersen. The film stars Halle Bailey in the titular role, alongside Jonah Hauer-King, Daveed Diggs, Awkwafina, Jacob Tremblay, Noma Dumezweni, Art Malik, Javier Bardem and Melissa McCarthy. The Little Mermaid follows a mermaid princess Ariel who is fascinated with the human world and makes a deal with a treacherous sea witch Ursula to trade her voice for human legs to impress Prince Eric, who she saved from a shipwreck before time runs out.
The Little Mermaid is the soundtrack album to the 2023 live-action adaptation of Disney's 1989 animated film of the same name. The soundtrack features songs from the original film, three new songs written by the original film's composer Alan Menken, Howard Ashman and Lin-Manuel Miranda, and a score composed by Menken. The soundtrack was released digitally on May 19, 2023 and on physical CD and vinyl on May 26, 2023, by Walt Disney Records. A deluxe edition of the album was released on the same date, featuring the complete original score.
