The Little Mermaid



Alan Menken

Rating: 7.4


As the first in a line of enormous Disney animated musical hits, The Little Mermaid has become an intrinsic part of the culture Disney has created for itself. There is no doubt that this movie will, for all of the foreseeable future, hold a place in the hearts of Disney fans. It has all the lightheartedness of which these type of movies are made, and the story focuses around a young person who wants to leave home, which seems to be an extra point for it in many circles. Nearly two decades later, its longevity has been proven, and fans abound. Not only did The Little Mermaid begin Disney's run of animated musicals, it also began Alan Manken and Howard Ashman's collaboration and their tenure as Disney's heavy-hitting musical duo. No doubt The Little Mermaid will be remembered favorably because of its historical implications. With the release of the Two Disc Special Edition in 2006, it was high time it's music was brought under an unbiased-by-history microscope. Such I here present to you.

Much, if not all, of the credit for The Little Mermaid's timelessness can be handed unreservedly over to the songs. Besides the two tracks "Main Title - The Little Mermaid" and "Fanfare", the first ten tracks are all songs, ranging from trite to moving. "Daughters of Triton" is impossible to defend, and trite might be too generous for it. Of course, we have to assume it was written this way on purpose, and is merely a venture into the low quality side of child-ish to which Menken and Ashman rarely stoop. "Fathoms Below" is, though a step up, still a good distance below the Manken/Ashman output we can now expect, given what we later learned the pair was capable of. These are the only two songs, however, that lack the Menken/Ashman touch. Were they the standard of the album, it would have to be placed barely in the listen-able category. Fortunately, we have much of greater quality to occupy us, and, though a smudge, these songs do not overly mar the effect of the album.

So, then, we have six songs of normal Menken/Ashman worth, and, firmly at the bottom of this very selective category sits "Poor Unfortunate Souls", the song in which the arch-nemisis of the mermaid's (Ariel's) father convinces her to give up her voice in order to become a human. The song begins in a slightly lighthearted manner, almost out of place for the subject matter. Where this piece really succeeds, however, is when, having convinced Ariel to give up her voice, Ursula (Pat Carroll) tells her to sing. The melody for "Part Of Your World" is what she sings wordlessly as the orchestration turns to a simple homophonic accompaniment. The result is tragic, and fits perfectly. "Kiss the Girl" probably comes next in an order of quality among songs. Very Caribbean in its composition and orchestration, Samuel E. Wright leads the chorus admirably. Certainly the funniest song on the album is "Les Poissons", and Rene Auberjonois's performance is excellent. The chef's glee as he prepares fish for a meal is portrayed in a hilarious way.

The most soaring song on the album is "Part of Your World", and Jodi Benson does a remarkable job on this track. Moving and powerful, the combination of Benson's voice, Menken's music and Ashman's lyrics comes together in an exceptional way. The manner in which Menken combines a rather busy secondary melody for the strings as well as the arpeggiations in a xylophone-like instrument works brilliantly, as does the woodwind work later in the piece. The reprise for this song is put together nicely as well, with a very well done crescendo to a quiet resolution at the end making a fittingly longing type of ending. "Under The Sea" defines the word 'classic' when it comes to the Disney musical. Calypso in style, it is the outstanding track on the album. Menken combines calypso elements with an almost big-band sound, making for a fun, crazy and brilliant listening experience. Of course, Ashman characteristically rises to the challenge with catchy and undeniably fun lyrics. But, exceptional as the efforts from these giants of the animated musical are, it is the performance of Samuel E. Wright that really steals the show, and his almost gleeful delight in explaining to Ariel the wonder of life at home is contagious. All of these elements come together to create one of the high points in the illustrious Menken/Ashman musical history.

Some say that Menken never quite returned to the innocence of the instrumental scoring in The Little Mermaid. This may be true, and though the scoring in Mermaid seems to define the word 'innocent' and what it has come to mean, this is not necessarily a good thing. "Fireworks" is a fine celebration track, and "Jig"works adequately as a dance piece. But this illustrates the problem with much of the scoring. Though it is 'fine', it sometimes has a hard time rising above what is necessary, and is so innocent as to sound cheesy. "Tour of the Kingdom" and "Wedding Announcement" also show the same problem, with both being fine, but not much more. Perhaps it is unfair to judge Menken by the astounding effect he later showed he was capable of, and, when compared with most any other animated cartoon-like scores, The Little Mermaid looks exemplary. Unfortunately for Menken, we can never judge him by what others do, but by the high level of excellence he can often produce. However, the previously mentioned tracks notwithstanding, there certainly are some very fine examples of classic Menken scoring, with "The Storm", "Destruction of the Grotto" and "Eric to the Rescue" showing some very good intense Menken music, and "Bedtime" being an excellent example of restrained and delicate scoring. "Happy Ending" wraps it all up nicely, and, though unoriginal in the extreme, the normal Menken finale finishes off the scoring nicely.

Such a review fits equally well for either the original release, or the re-release of 1997. Unfortunately, the most recent 'Special Edition' appears to have forgotten completely reason that this music is so popular. Instead of presenting unreleased cues or instrumentals of songs, we get three very bad pop renditions of songs, and one slightly acceptable rendition of "Under the Sea", performed by Raven-Symoné. Such seems to usually happen, and it really is a shame that either the audience wants this (which is a scary option), or re-releases almost always miss the mark on what would be most desirable in a 'Special Edition'. Perhaps we can hope for more unreleased music inclusion with the admirable 'Complete Editions' released for the Lord of the Rings scores. Maybe other labels will follow suite. The folks at Disney have never been known for their soundtrack releases, though, and they show no signs of mending their ways. In the case of The Little Mermaid, there is absolutely no reason to buy the 'Special Edition' over the other releases.

In the end, The Little Mermaid is undoubtedly a must-buy for any Menken fan or Disney animated musical fan (a redundant statement, perhaps), and certainly deserves the place that it holds as 'the one that began it all'. Possibly the least worthy of the famous Menken/Ashman trilogy of successes, it is still a very enjoyable album with some excellent songs, and its historical implications certainly add to the interest.

-Colin Thomson

Track List (Special Edition):

Fathoms Below
Main Titles - The Little Mermaid
Fanfare
Daughters of Triton
Part of your World
Under the Sea
Part of Your World (Reprise)
Poor Unfortunate Souls
Les Poissons
Kiss the Girl
Fireworks
Jig
The Storm
Destruction of the Grotto
Flotsam and Jetsam
Tour of the Kingdom
Bedtime
Wedding Announcement
Eric to the Rescue
Happy Ending
Kiss the Girl (Remake)
Poor Unfortunate Souls (Remake)
Part of Your World (Remake)
Under the Sea (Remake)

1 comment:

Madeline said...

"Much, if not all, of the credit for The Little Mermaid's timelessness can be handed unreservedly over to the songs"

I totally agree!