The Little Mermaid DVD – Through the Looking Glass
The Little Mermaid DVD is the best thing that could happen to the lovers of the ever green tale. It is indeed very rare to find a person who has not watched or at least heard of The Little Mermaid. One of Disney’s best productions, adapted from the Hans Christian Andersen classic, the story revolves around the beautiful sixteen-year old mermaid princess, Ariel. For those who do not know, here is the storyline: Ariel is the daughter of Triton, the white-bearded King of Sea. She has an amazing voice. Her friends are Sebastian the lobster, who sang the Academy Award winning “Under the Sea” to her, Flounder the fish, Scuttle the seagull. However, she once travels to the land, where she sees the handsome Prince Eric celebrating his birthday on a ship. She immediately falls in love with him, but cannot let him know, for she is a mermaid. Prince Eric’s ship is destroyed in a storm, and Ariel saves him and sings to him. She leaves before he can see her, though, and all Prince Eric remembers is the beautiful voice that sang to him, and decides to find out who it belongs to.
Meanwhile, Ariel longs to be human, so she can frequent the shore and meet Prince Eric, which is completely against her father’s wishes. To accomplish this, Ariel takes the help of Ursula, the evil witch of the sea, who makes a deal with Ariel to turn her into a human for three days, so she can fulfill her dream, but in exchange for her voice. Ariel does not take notice of her father’s warnings that mermaids and humans are not meant to be together, and goes ahead with Ursula’s plan. According to Ursula’s plan, if Ariel does not receive a kiss from Prince Eric within the three days, she will turn back into a mermaid, only this time belonging to Ursula for the rest of her life. With such a great deal at stake, Ariel tries her best to acquaint herself with the prince. However, Ursula’s minions thwart any kissing attempt between them, which forces Ursula herself to come ashore, bearing Ariel’s voice. Prince Eric mistakenly thinks Ursula is the one who sang to him, and falls for her. The rest of the story is all about how he realizes who the real Ariel is, how Ursula wrecks havoc over the sea, and how he finally kills Ursula, restoring peace once more.
Triton finally realizes how much Ariel loves the Prince, and willingly changes her to a human forever, after which she marries the prince and they leave the ocean. This beautiful story is portrayed perfectly well by Disney’s animators, who used the perfect voice casts and production techniques to make the story truly come alive. The first release of the film was in 1989, after which it had various VHS releases. The first Little Mermaid DVD came out in 1999, but it just had the main film, and no bonus content. The 2006 release of the special edition Little Mermaid DVD contained a lot of extra features, like deleted scenes, interviews, documentaries, and went on to sell over 4 million DVDs right in the first week of its release. In 2008, the Platinum Edition of the Little Mermaid DVD was released, which was a 2-disc set and contained additional bonus content and extras that the limited edition did not.
The Little Mermaid DVD features a completely re-mastered movie, both in terms of picture and sound. The trademark Disney 5.1 surround sound mix is wonderful to hear, and perfectly complements your home theater system. There are a few sound options to choose from, including English, French and Spanish Dolby Digital systems. The picture is presented in the widescreen format, is vibrant, clear to the tiniest detail and aesthetically pleasant on the eye. The extras include how the adaptation was initiated, the story behind the story, art galleries, loads of deleted scenes, exciting games and engaging activities that will make you jump in joy, and music video for “Kiss The Girl”, many songs hand selected by Disney’s sound artists, interviews with Disney’s animators, and an alternate ending narrated by the makers themselves. This is not something that can be missed, so go grab your copy of The Little Mermaid DVD right now!