The Little Mermaid Ariel is one of the main characters of the Walt Disney studio and the heroine of the 1989 cartoon “The Little Mermaid”. The cartoon about Ariel is based on the fairy tale of the same name by the famous Swedish writer Hans Christian Andersen, but the character of the Little Mermaid is presented in a new way, as is the final part of the story. Disney's Ariel is the fourth official Disney princess. She is the only princess who is not of human origin. A young, freedom-loving mermaid, 16 years old, she spends her days daydreaming, singing songs and looking for adventure on her scaly tail. Ariel's companions in games and adventures are the fish Flounder and the crab Sebastian - the latter, however, is not enthusiastic about adventures and looks after his ward more. Ariel falls in love with a man named Eric and risks everything for love.

Character design

The original design of the little mermaid Ariel was created by Disney studio animator Glen Keane. In one of his interviews, Keene claims that for the image of Ariel he was inspired by his wife, as well as a little by the appearance of the model Sherry Stoner and the young actress Alyssa Milano. Stoner, by the way, was the main model for the cartoon character. The studio's animators observed her movements and the movements of her hair in a special tank of water in order to draw Ariel. The Little Mermaid's facial features ( high forehead, large eyes, small mouth, narrow chin) ultimately subtly resemble Belle from Beauty and the Beast, as well as Alice from Alice in Wonderland.

Character voice

Young theater actress Jodi Benson was invited to voice the Little Mermaid Ariel. Moreover, the creators of the cartoon definitely wanted Benson not only to perform musical parts, but also to speak for the heroine of the cartoon. When we recorded the main musical theme cartoon “Part of your World”, Jodie asked to turn off the lights in the studio to feel as if she was deep underwater.

The little mermaid Ariel has a fragile physique. She has long straight hair of a fiery red color, usually flowing over her shoulders, pale skin, a small bright mouth and expressive Blue eyes sea ​​green color. Below her waist she has a mermaid tail.

Ariel's appearance

Underwater, the Little Mermaid costume is a lavender-colored bra, instead of legs there is a scaly green fish tail. When she first gets out on land, Ariel, for lack of anything better, dresses in a piece of canvas and is tied with twine instead of a belt. Once at Prince Eric's castle, she exchanges her canvas outfit for a fluffy pink dress with a wide hem, a pale pink petticoat and puffed sleeves that reveal her shoulders. White satin peeks through the slits in the sleeves. Also in the palace, the girl is given a pink nightgown with ruffles. For her first walk with the prince, Ariel dresses in a wide, long blue skirt, a blue shirt with loose sleeves, a dark blue, almost black lace-up corset and black shoes with low heels. Her head is decorated with a blue bow. The girl can also be seen in a long sparkling blue dress with a slit, which was given to her by her father, King Triton, before her wedding to Eric. The Little Mermaid wedding costume consists of a fluffy white satin dress with blue trim along the neckline and bottom of the corset and tight-fitting sleeves gathered into large puffs at the shoulders. On the girl’s head is a golden tiara with a transparent long veil. In the ears are white pearl earrings.

Little Mermaid Dresses

Ariel is a very energetic and determined young mermaid with a penchant for games and adventure. Together with her friend, the fish Flounder, the Little Mermaid explores the depths of the ocean with the true passion of a pioneer. For the most part, the girl is interested in sunken ships, since there you can find things from the human world. The Little Mermaid Ariel takes a variety of human objects into her collection. She is obsessed with everything human and especially longs to get into the human world - in this regard, the girl often rises to the surface, makes friends with Scuttle the seagull and watches passing ships. Ariel is impetuous, impulsive, but ready to take responsibility for her actions, which often lead to all sorts of misunderstandings and problems. Stubborn by nature, she is not content with the quiet joys of a collector. In order to achieve her goal (to get to land and reunite with Prince Eric, with whom she fell in love), the girl goes to the lair of the sea witch and enters into an agreement according to which she receives a pair of legs instead of a mermaid tail and a chance to build happiness with her lover in the human world.

Despite her adventurous spirit, the girl is compassionate, her heart is full of kindness and love for friends and family. In addition, Ariel has remarkable courage and dedication; she sacrifices everything for the sake of true love and saves her lover more than once.

In the cartoon "The Little Mermaid 2: Return to the Sea" Ariel has matured. She is the mother of little Melody. At the time of the events taking place in the cartoon, the Little Mermaid is approximately 28 years old. Ariel is still very attractive, wearing her red hair in a high updo or ponytail and wearing fluffy gold and white dresses, a crown and jewelry. Her movements are distinguished by sedateness, although sometimes she secretly misses the sea very much and allows herself to kick off her shoes and wander barefoot in the water.

Character of the Little Mermaid

Ariel has several superpowers:

Atlantean Power

Apparently, Ariel partially inherited the strength of the Atlanteans from her paternal ancestors. She is able to move a rather impressive underwater boulder blocking the entrance to her treasure grotto. In addition, Ariel effortlessly climbs onto Prince Eric's ship using her hands. And when the prince is drowning, the girl lifts his body, apparently by no means a light one, to the surface and even drags him ashore. In the third part, The Little Mermaid: The Beginning of the Story, Ariel is even able to break down a heavy door to free her friends. It is unknown whether she retained her remarkable powers in her human form, however, it is believed that of all the Disney princesses, Ariel is the physically strongest. Only Rapunzel with her frying pan can compete with her.

Atlantean Fortitude

In the final battle with Ursula in the original cartoon, the Little Mermaid falls into a giant whirlpool several miles deep. Such a fall would have killed an ordinary person, but there was not a scratch on Ariel. It is believed that the Little Mermaid retained this ability in her human form. This can be confirmed by the moment in the lair of the sea witch, when Ariel turned into a person at great depths, but was not crushed by the pressure and did not choke while Flounder and Sebastian pulled her to the surface. This ability of hers is briefly mentioned in the game Kingdom Hearts, where she can quickly recover from a blow from an opponent. This also includes resistance to extreme temperatures - both high and low. This ability primarily manifests itself in video games. Ariel swam without any visible consequences in icy water (Morgana's lair in the iceberg) and near underwater volcanoes (Ursula's lair in the volcanic area).

Underwater breathing, or the ability to breathe underwater

Like all mermaids, Ariel is able to breathe both on land and underwater.

Ariel in her underwater hiding place

Super fast swimming

Ariel swims much faster than people and even faster than some underwater creatures. She is also capable of jumping high out of the water, like dolphins.

Ability to speak with sea creatures

Ariel understands the language of fish and can speak to them. She retains this ability in her human form. This talent was also inherited by Ariel’s daughter, Melody.

Aquakinesis, or control of water

In her mermaid form, Ariel is able to control the water element on a small scale. This ability is actively exploited in computer games, in particular in the game “The Little Mermaid” from Sega. Aquakinesis is believed to be closely linked to Ariel's emotions - much like Elsa's freezing in Frozen.

Ariel and Flounder escape from a shark

Dexterity

This can be seen in Ariel's control of the carriage on her first walk with the prince, as well as in the second part of the cartoon "The Little Mermaid: Return to the Sea", when the little sister of the sea witch Ursula Morgana tries to steal baby Melody. Then Ariel snatches the prince's saber and, with a clear movement, cuts the rope to knock the witch into the water and prevent her from harming the child.

High adaptability

Which is confirmed by how quickly she learned to stand and walk on her newly acquired human legs. While an ordinary person has to learn to use his lower limbs for much longer than a few minutes. In addition, Ariel very quickly adopted human traditions and learned to use household items correctly. In any case, after the first incident, she no longer combed her hair with a fork in public and did not try to blow her smoking pipe in front of an astonished public.

Enchanting magical voice

Like the voices of the ancient Greek sirens, Ariel's voice and singing by all signs have magical properties. She awakened Prince Eric by singing when he was unconscious after a shipwreck. The witch Ursula used the hypnotic power of the mermaid's voice to bewitch the prince. Ariel herself never used her voice for dark purposes.

Singing Ariel

The Little Mermaid 1989

The Little Mermaid, or "The Little Mermaid" is a 1989 cartoon from Disney Studios. This is a revised fairy tale “The Little Mermaid” by Hans Christian Andersen about the most blatant misalliance: a mermaid in love with a man. The fairy tale ends tragically, but the creators of the cartoon decided that the ending of the literary source was too harsh, and adapted the script for the little ones, writing a happy ending.

Disney's Little Mermaid is the youngest of the seven daughters of King Triton, ruler of the Atlantic. Ariel is 16 years old. She is very interested in the world of people, and, despite her father’s strict prohibitions, she often surfaces.

Ariel and Sebastian

At the beginning of the cartoon, the little mermaid Ariel and her friend, the fish Flounder, are exploring a sunken ship in search of human things that Ariel passionately collects. There, the heroes are attacked by a shark, however, having avoided sharp teeth, they swim away with the prey (a fork and a smoking pipe). Having risen to the surface, the Little Mermaid turns to Scuttle, a familiar seagull, with a request to identify objects found under water. Scuttle says that a fork is a device for combing hair and creating hairstyles, and smoking pipe- musical instrument. The last item reminds Ariel that she was supposed to perform at a concert in honor of her father. She hurries home to the castle, where she receives a severe reprimand both for being late and for rising to the surface. King Triton strictly forbids his daughter to float up. However, Ariel, with the obstinacy characteristic of teenagers, does not want to obey her father. She goes to her secret refuge - a grotto, where a huge collection of things from the human world is kept. Her dreams of land are interrupted by a ship sailing above the little mermaid’s head. She rises to the surface and looks at the ship. There she sees Prince Eric, who is celebrating his birthday. Ariel falls hopelessly in love with a human man. Meanwhile, a terrible storm breaks out at sea and the ship sinks. The little mermaid saves her lover and pulls him ashore. Having awakened him with her enchanting singing, she disappears into the water.

Ariel sings

King Triton, having learned that his daughter is in love with a man, destroys Ariel's entire collection in a secret grotto. In desperation, the girl turns to the sea witch Ursula to help her. Ursula turns Ariel into a human with one condition: Prince Eric must give the girl a kiss of love within three days. If this does not happen, Ariel's soul will belong to the sea witch. In addition, the witch takes the girl’s wonderful voice as collateral, leaving her mute. The agreement is sealed with a signature.

Once ashore, the Little Mermaid, wrapped in a sail, meets her prince. Eric seems familiar with the girl's face, and he takes her to his castle to help and warm her up. The Little Mermaid begins a mission to seduce the prince. Eric takes Ariel for a walk around the kingdom, the girl's spontaneity and sweet disposition captivate him and he wants to kiss her, but this is prevented by the sea witch's henchmen - electric eels. They capsize the boat in which the Prince and the Little Mermaid were taking a romantic walk.

On the last day of her pact with the witch, Ariel wakes up to the news that Prince Eric is getting married. But not on her. The sea witch, taking the guise of a dark-haired young girl, Vanessa, decided to take matters into her own hands and hypnotized the prince using the voice of the Little Mermaid, enclosed in a nautilus shell. The ship with the guests and the bride and groom sets sail, leaving the grieving Ariel on the shore. Meanwhile, Scuttle looks out the porthole and sees that Vanessa is sea ​​witch, which Ariel hastens to report. The little mermaid jumps into the water to catch up with the ship and save the prince from the claws of the witch. The girl's friends (seagulls, seals, fish) are preventing the wedding. During the commotion, the shell amulet in which the little mermaid's voice was enclosed is broken. The besotted Prince Eric regains his sight and Ariel's voice returns, but it is too late. The sun sets and with its last ray the agreement with the sea witch comes into force. Ariel becomes a Mermaid again, and Ursula takes her with her into the depths of the sea. Her path is blocked by King Triton, who was informed about everything by the crab Sebastian. When Triton realizes that he is unable to influence the contract signed by his daughter's hand, he sacrifices himself for Ariel and offers himself in her place. The witch takes possession of the magical royal trident. However, Prince Eric is not ready to part with his barely found lover, even a mermaid, and tries to kill the witch with a harpoon. In the ensuing battle, the witch’s pets, electric eels, die; in her rage, she wants to destroy both Ariel and the prince, turning into a giant and creating a storm. However, Eric kills the sorceress by piercing her stomach with the sharp prow of a ship raised by a whirlpool from the bottom of the sea.

King Triton, realizing that his daughter is suffering from love for a mortal, turns her into a human. The lovers reunite and get married.

Ariel and Eric's wedding

The Little Mermaid 2: Return to the Sea

The continuation of the story about Ariel, “The Little Mermaid 2: Return to the Sea,” shows the events that occurred a year after the wedding of Ariel and Eric. The couple has a daughter, Melody. The baby's safety is threatened by the insane younger sister of the dead witch Ursula. So that little Melody is not in danger, Ariel and her husband decide to keep their daughter away from the sea and its inhabitants. For this purpose, they build a high wall on the shore and do not tell the growing Melody about her sea relatives. However, the voice of the sea turns out to be stronger, and the girl, having reached the age of 12, unable to overcome her love for the water element, finds herself in the clutches of the witch Morgana and her minions. Ariel is forced to temporarily transform back into a mermaid in order to find and save her daughter.

The cartoon “The Little Mermaid 2: Return to the Sea” is somewhat different in art from the canonical version. However, this part is the official continuation of the fairy tale “The Little Mermaid” from Disney.

Ariel, Melody's mother, in The Little Mermaid 2: Return to the Sea

The Little Mermaid: The Animated Series

The Little Mermaid is a prequel to the 1989 Disney film Ariel. It was released in 1992 and tells the story of events that take place a year before the story shown in the original Disney cartoon. Ariel is 15 years old and has not yet met Prince Eric. She lives carelessly in the sea and is looking for adventure on her mermaid's tail. When she gets into trouble, she usually gets away with it. Ariel's friends, Flounder the flounder and Sebastian the crab, accompany her on all her adventures.

The Little Mermaid: The Beginning of Ariel's Story

The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning is the prequel to Disney's 1989 fairy tale The Little Mermaid. Long before the events of the original cartoon, little Ariel and her sisters enjoy life and music in the company of their father, Triton, and their mother, Queen Athena. The mermaid people are happily resting in the lagoon, playing musical instruments and sings. King Triton is in love with his wife, as in his youth, and gives her a beautiful music box as a gift. However, the idyll is interrupted by the appearance of pirates. The mermaids flee, but in the chaos, Queen Athena dies under the keel of a pirate ship. King Triton is heartbroken. Mourning falls on the kingdom of Atlantica. The ruler prohibits music, dancing and fun as a sign of his endless sadness.

Little Ariel with her father in "The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning"

Ten years later, Ariel and her sisters live under the strict supervision of governess Marina del Rey and her assistant, Benjamin the manatee. Marina hates her job and longs for a promotion to advisor to King Triton. Ariel and her sisters are burdened by their sad and routine lifestyle, and she quarrels with her father over the lack of music in the life of the kingdom. One day, Ariel sees Flounder swimming somewhere stealthily. Following him, the Little Mermaid discovers an underground music club where fish are having fun as much as they can. To her surprise, the girl sees Sebastian, Triton’s royal advisor, at the club. Ariel does not talk about her discovery, but Marina del Rey at some point also discovers an underground club and tells everything to King Triton. The participants of the fun pastime are imprisoned, Ariel and her sisters are put under house arrest, and Marina del Rey receives the coveted post of adviser to Triton.

At some point, Ariel realizes that this cannot continue like this and frees her friends from prison. They float away to discreet place away from King Triton's palace. By chance, Ariel finds a music box that was once given to her mother by her father. She, along with Sebastian, wants to go back and remind her father that Athena would never allow the music to fade away in the kingdom. They get in the way of Marina, who does not want to lose her position. King Triton sees the malice of his adviser and repents that he did this to his old friends, daughters and inhabitants of the sea. Music returns to the kingdom, Sebastian the crab receives the position of court composer, Ariel, Flounder and the rest of the sea people rejoice and prosper.

The original concept for The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning was that Ariel and Sebastian would accompany Prince Eric in search of the white whale.

Ariel and sisters in "The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning"

Based on Andersen's fairy tale, the Soviet cartoon "The Little Mermaid" was created at the Soyuzmultfilm studio in 1968. Director: Ivan Aksenchuk. In our version of the fairy tale, an innovative technological method for making backgrounds at that time was used - “photo collage”, and the musical accompaniment included fragments of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor. In the 80s, the Soviet cartoon “The Little Mermaid” was released on video cassettes as part of a collection of cartoon fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen. At the beginning of the 2000s, the Soviet “Little Mermaid” was restored and released on DVD.

TV series "Once Upon a Time"

The Little Mermaid Ariel also appears repeatedly in the TV series Once Upon a Time. The role of the Little Mermaid was played by American TV star Joanna Garcia.

Joanna Garcia as Ariel, Once Upon a Time

The film "The Little Mermaid" with Chloë Grace Moretz

In 2017, the release of a full-length film about the little mermaid Ariel from the studios Universal Pictures and Working Title was announced. The title role will star young star Chloë Grace Moretz (“Kick-Ass,” “500 Days of Summer”). For some time, fans could see Sofia Coppola in the director's chair, who, however, abandoned the project due to creative differences with the producers. Her version of the famous fairy tale could become even darker than Andersen's. On main role predicted transgender Andrea Pejic. According to latest news, the project is currently helmed by Briton Joe Wright.

Film "The Little Mermaid" (Czechoslovakia)

The television film The Little Mermaid was filmed in Czechoslovakia in 1976. This is a film adaptation quite close to the original fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, directed by Karel Kahinya. The young actress Miroslava Shafrankova was cast in the role of the Little Mermaid. Her sister Libuše Šafrankova, known to viewers as Cinderella from Three Nuts for Cinderella, also starred in the Czech version of the famous fairy tale - in the role of the prince’s lady love. The film “The Little Mermaid” by Karel Kahini is distinguished by its original approach to filming, makeup and character costumes. The mermaids from the Czech film adaptation have multi-colored hair with fragments of human things stuck in it, and long flowing dresses that match the color of their hair.

The Little Mermaid: Drama

There is a modern South Korean interpretation of Andersen's famous fairy tale - the multi-part comedy drama "The Little Mermaid". According to the plot, Rusalka falls in love with a human young man and in order to find happiness on land, she needs to get rid of her tail, find an apartment and get a job. The South Korean version of Ariel has 100 days to do everything. The drama about The Little Mermaid has 10 episodes.

Drama "The Little Mermaid"

The Little Mermaid Ariel appears in a huge number of video games different formats. Starting from flash games, which are presented in variety on our resource, to games about the Little Mermaid for Sega consoles.

Game of the same name “The Little Mermaid”

An alternate version of the original cartoon, where the witch Ursula is alive and takes control of the ocean. Ariel, who was about to marry Prince Eric, is forced to become a mermaid again and go to sea to fight the witch. Most of the game takes place in underwater world, where the Little Mermaid can shoot bubbles at enemies and trap them in a bubble, throw them at each other, and look for treasure in secluded corners. In addition, the game has a feature where Ariel digs in the sand and finds pearls, shells or other treasures. Her old enemies - sharks and moray eels - have returned to the game as bosses. After Ursula is defeated, Ariel needs to get to land and become human again. Her father, King Triton, helps her in this.

The Little Mermaid series Kingdom Hearts

The Little Mermaid Ariel appears in the Kingdom Hearts series of games. She is positioned not as one of the seven princesses (her place is taken by Alice in Wonderland), but as one of two female warriors, along with Mulan. Ariel joins Donald and Goofy in the fight against their enemies.

Ariel in Kingdom Hearts

Disney Princess: Enchanted Journeys game

The first time in this game we meet Ariel, sitting on a stone next to the port, waiting for the blonde heroine of the game. The Little Mermaid convinces her that both the earth and the sea have lost their music, and takes her to the underwater kingdom to return the voices of the sea people and keep human treasures intact. They later escort the blue crabs to safety and head to the lagoon to lead the animal choir there.

The Little Mermaid Ariel at Disney Parks

The Little Mermaid Ariel is one of the permanent characters in the Disney Parks. In Disneyland Florida and Tokyo there is a special grotto where the Little Mermaid greets guests in her underwater form - with a fish tail. The character Ariel participates in Mickey Mouse parades and other Disneyland holiday and theme parades.

The Little Mermaid: Cartoon 1989 vs The Little Mermaid: Andersen's Tale

There are a number of fundamental differences between the book heroine (the fairy tale “The Little Mermaid”) and the cartoon one (“The Little Mermaid”, cartoon 1989).

• The original Little Mermaid had 5 sisters, Disney's Ariel had 6.
• Andersen's Little Mermaid did not have a name as such, she was just a little sea maiden. Disney Studios named their little mermaid "Ariel".
• The Little Mermaid of the Book is 15 years old, Ariel is 16.
• In the original story, the Little Mermaid has a grandmother with whom she constantly talks.
• In the book, mermaids are allowed to surface and observe people if they are over 15 years old. In the cartoon, the Little Mermaid Ariel, even at 16 years old, was not allowed to rise to the surface.
• The grandmother of the sea maiden said that despite the fact that mermaids live longer than people (sometimes 300 years), people do have a soul. So the main motivation of Andersen's Little Mermaid is to get immortal human soul. Not the love of a prince.
• In exchange for her voice in the fairy tale, the witch gives the Little Mermaid a potion that makes her human and allows her to dance beautifully. The Witch warns the Little Mermaid that she will never be able to return to the sea. Besides, the poor thing is not entitled to an immortal soul until she meets a man who loves her back and marries her. And at dawn of the first day, if her beloved marries someone else, the Little Mermaid will turn into sea foam. Disney immediately put a soul into his heroine, this is confirmed by the agreement with Ursula, who gave Ariel legs in exchange for her soul and voice.
• The cartoon Ariel had more interest in humanity than her book counterpart. She collected a collection of objects created by people. While in the fairy tale “The Little Mermaid” it was the Little Mermaid’s sisters who were keen on exploring sunken ships and searching for human items.
• When Andersen's Little Mermaid got legs, every step caused her unbearable pain - this was the price to pay for being human. Disney's Little Mermaid simply received legs and did not experience any discomfort while using her new limbs.

Little Mermaid Ariel

In 2008, the musical “The Little Mermaid” was released on Broadway; a year before that, the musical version premiered in Denver famous cartoon Disney, however, was soon closed due to a strike by Broadway workers. Several new compositions were added to the main songs of the Little Mermaid (Part of your World, Under the Sea, Kiss the Girl) from the cartoon. The role of Ariel in the musical "The Little Mermaid" was performed by Broadway actresses Sierra Boggess and Chelsea Morgan Stock. On opening night, the Little Mermaid's theme song was sung by Jodi Benson, who voiced Ariel in the original cartoon.

Musical The Little Mermaid

Little Mermaid Doll / Barbie Little Mermaid

A distinctive feature of the Little Mermaid doll is its color-changing hair. As a rule, under the influence of water from blonde hair turn pink or purple. There are several variations of the Barbie Little Mermaid doll with different hair colors. There are also models that can change not only the hair, but also the color of the tail. In cold water the tail takes on a pale pink tint, in hot water it turns bright purple. Barbie's Little Mermaid tail also varies. There are models in which the fabric tail is part of the costume and hides the legs. On sale you can find Little Mermaid dolls with a flexible tail that can bend and turn, but cannot transform into legs. These dolls come with a comb and a seahorse that can draw water and shoot a thin stream.

Criticism and public perception

“The Little Mermaid,” a 1989 cartoon, like other canonical films of the studio (Snow White, some cartoons about Mickey Mouse, etc.), gave rise to a number of asymmetrical views on its plot. For example, there is an opinion that in the kingdom of Atlantica, in Ariel’s homeland, cheerful fascism rules the show: some fish swim easily and freely, while others are actively exploited by the ruling class, harnessed to chariots (Triton’s dolphins and Sebastian the crab guppy fish) and used instead musical instruments.

The Little Mermaid herself is accused of pathological Plushkinism, as well as immature feelings for the handsome prince. The patriarchal retro structure of the fairy tale was also criticized. Main message children's cartoon, according to a number of critics, is this: be cute! And it doesn’t matter what you say or whether you say it at all - your appearance is with you...

Ariel the hipster

• Ariel the Little Mermaid is the only official Disney princess who is not of human descent.
• Ariel is the only Disney princess who gave birth to a child and became a mother.
• Unlike her sisters, Ariel the Little Mermaid does not wear hair accessories, with the exception of sea flowers.
• All of Ariel's sisters have names that start with the letter "A" and end with the same letter. Except Ariel.
• In Hebrew, the name Ariel means “lion of God,” and is the name of the Archangel Ariel.
• The Little Mermaid Ariel's pose near the end of the cartoon, when she sat on a boulder and sadly looked at her lover, was inspired by the Little Mermaid monument in Sweden.
• Despite the fact that Ariel and her mother Athena are strikingly similar in appearance, Ariel took after her father in character. This is especially noticeable in The Little Mermaid 2 when Ariel reprimands her daughter Melody for disobeying orders and being disobedient, just as King Triton once reprimanded Ariel herself.
• Ariel's daughter, Melody, is similar to Ariel, but her deepest desire is diametrically opposite. Ariel dreamed of becoming a human and living on land, and Melody wants to become a mermaid and swim under water.
• Outwardly, Melody looks like her father - the color of her eyes and hair.
• In "The Little Mermaid" last time used as a female villain until Rapunzel's debut in 2010.
• Ariel's Little Mermaid nightgown is reminiscent of Princess Anne's nightgown from the movie Roman Holiday.
• According to the book Disneystrology, Ariel's birthday is October 8th.
• Ariel is right-handed, as seen when she signs Ursula's contract.
• The Little Mermaid Ariel has become an Internet meme: she is often depicted with large hipster glasses with thick frames, tattoos and an outfit to match.
• Ariel is the first character to have her own musical (the second is Beauty and the Beast).
• The Little Mermaid Ariel is the only Disney character who knows sign language.

The first animated film “The Little Mermaid” was released in 1989. The main character of the picture is a young girl Ariel. Disney had been thinking about creating a cartoon since the very founding of the studio, even before the release of Snow White. Its head decided to create an interpretation of the story of Hans Christian Andersen in 1930. At that time it was technically impossible, so the picture was released only 59 years later.

Character Creation

The Little Mermaid's appearance and style were created by animator Glen Keane. He was inspired to create the image by his wife. Alyssa Milano was also involved in the creation of Ariel. Disney collaborated with model Sherry Stoner, who repeated the character's movements in reality, posing for the animators. Ariel was voiced by a theater actress who admitted that the main character of the cartoon is her favorite character. In the Russian dubbing, the girl was voiced by Svetlana Svetikova.

The main difficulty in creating the cartoon was that Ariel (Disney) had to be shown in completely different scenes - at sea and on land. Animators created 32 color models. Just look at the varied colors and shades of Ariel’s luxurious castle! Disney, or rather its staff artists, did a good job on the girl’s tail - a special shade was created especially for this, which was named after the main character. Red hair caused controversy among animators and studio executives - the latter wanted to see a blonde-haired little mermaid. The artists won: red harmonized much better with the color of the tail.

Character's character and appearance

At 16 years old, Ariel is very beautiful. Wears a chic and big green ponytail. The girl's character is mischievous and rebellious. Ariel is the most naughty of all the sisters, and she is the one who constantly gets involved in adventures. The girl lives all her life at sea, but she is irresistibly drawn upward, so she collects things that previously belonged to people. Friendliness, kindness, love for friends and family - this is all Ariel. Disney is a company that has always created good and kind cartoons, and this time the creators have given main character empathy: she constantly saves the inhabitants of the sea world who are in trouble.

The plot of the cartoon

The little mermaid Ariel lives in a large sea kingdom with her father Triton and six sisters. Her best friends are Sebastian the crab and Flounders the fish. Together with him, she studies the sunken ship. While trying to find an answer to the question of what the objects they found mean, Ariel remembers that she is supposed to participate in the choir in honor of Triton. He scolds his daughter for being late, and the girl floats off to her collection of human things.

Suddenly, she and Sebastian see a large ship that crashes. The little mermaid Ariel saves him, takes him ashore and sings a song. When he opens his eyes, she floats away. In order to become part of the human world, Ariel makes a deal with the sea witch Ursula - she gives her her voice.

Appearance in other cartoons

Ariel can be seen in the second part of the cartoon - “The Little Mermaid 2: Return to the Sea.” The plot tells about the events that occurred a year after the adventures of the first part. Eric and Ariel are happy and have a beautiful daughter, Melody. The parents decide not to tell the girl their story in order to protect her. But the naughty girl is still drawn to the sea. Under the influence of evil spells, Melody turns into a mermaid.

The next part, “The Little Mermaid: The Beginning of Ariel’s Story,” is a prequel to the first cartoon. It tells about a girl's childhood. She also appears in The House of Mouse as a guest in Mickey Mouse's house.

• About a thousand colors and backgrounds were used in the cartoon. Artists have drawn more than a million drawings. The directors required that each individual bubble be drawn by hand. Additional animators were invited for this purpose.
• For the first time in history, digital technologies were used (the wedding scene of Ariel and the prince).
• Live actors were filmed to assist the animators.
• In Andersen's original fairy tale, everything did not end so well - the prince married someone else, and the girl turned into sea foam. The writers found the story too tragic and rewrote the plot.
• 10 special effects specialists worked on the storm scene for a year.

Like other Disney cartoons, Ariel won the love of audiences around the world. to the globe. Until now, children watch this legendary cartoon with interest, created by the studio of a unique and brilliant animator.

Even if you saw the cartoon "The Little Mermaid" as a child and have watched it many times since then, some facts about it may not be known to you!
1. In the original fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, on which “The Little Mermaid” was based, the sea witch is a completely invisible character, she doesn’t even have a name!

2. Before creating the episode of the shipwreck and Ursula’s emergence from the depths of the sea, the artists carefully studied scenes from the cartoon “Pinocchio” with the participation of Monstro.

3. For the blue-green fin of the Little Mermaid, a new shade was specially created in Disney laboratories, named “Ariel” in her honor.

4. In the scene with the appearance of King Triton, Kermit, Mickey Mouse, Goofy and Donald Duck can be seen in the crowd.

6. Ariel's hair color was also a point of contention among the art team. Red was chosen in part because red and green colors go well together, and also because the popular film “Splash” was released, in which Daryl Hannah played a blonde mermaid.

7. In the first sketches, the witch Ursula was depicted as a scorpion fish, with a lot of thorns and thorns.

8. During the creation of the cartoon, producer Jeffrey Katzenberg wanted to cut the song “Part of Your World” from it, now he is very embarrassed about it.

9. A New Jersey patrolman, moved by the Little Mermaid's tears, called his daughter, with whom he had previously lost his relationship. He later wrote about this to director Ron Clements.

10. At the beginning of the cartoon, the colors were deliberately made muted and the sky cloudy; the directors wanted to leave bright colors to depict the underwater world.

11. Now about the names of Ariel's sisters: Atina - from Alan Menken's musical "Athina: The Evil Queen of the Galaxy", Alana - a nod from Howard Ashman to Alan Menken, Andrina - that was the name of one of the director's aerobics trainers.

12. Alan Menken had never written for the Disney studio before and considered working on “The Little Mermaid” just a test of the pen. He thought that the first pancake would come out lumpy and he would be fired.

13. The shark in the cartoon is called Glat, but this is not mentioned anywhere. The shark was originally supposed to appear one more time to be defeated by Flounder, but this scene was eventually scrapped.

14. When Flounder talks about Scuttle the seagull, he turns into a seagull for a few moments.

15. Sailors dancing on the deck of Prince Eric's ship are friendly caricatures of people from the team of cartoon creators. So, dancing on the dais is Razul Azadani, who worked with Ron Clements and John Musker in several projects (for example, he was a layout designer in “A Paper Novel”).

Ursula is the main antagonist of the 1989 Disney feature film The Little Mermaid. She is a sinister sea witch who "helps" unlucky sea creatures to achieve her own goals.

Character

By nature, Ursula is a very dark and sinister sorceress with a peculiar sense of humor. She is notorious among all the inhabitants of the seas and her mere mention makes everyone tremble. She is very vain, cunning and power-hungry, but has a skillful oratorical talent.

In order to achieve her goal, she manipulates the mermaids, appearing before them as virtue itself and enters into unbreakable witchcraft contracts with them, promising to “avoid all their misfortunes,” the essence of which in fact is to bring the sea witch closer to her main goal or simply to amuse her. Violating these contracts is fraught with dire consequences, but at the same time they are legal (this is how Triton could not destroy Ariel's contract).

Unlike many Disney villains, Ursula is very fond of her minions - Flotsam and Jetsam, whom she puts above all else. The witch takes care of them and even calls them “her little babies.” However, Ursula demands that etiquette be observed in her cave, as indicated by her remark to Ariel when they first meet.

Appearance description

Ursula appears as a plump woman with pale lavender-gray skin and short gray hair, whose lower body transitions from human to octopus-like. Despite her internal anger, she takes care of herself, uses homemade cosmetics and wears a variety of seashell jewelry, namely purple earrings and a large gold shell pendant. Her octopus part resembles black Evening Dress and, unusually, has only six tentacles.

Capabilities

Ursula is an experienced witch and her magical abilities, even without a trident, are very powerful. She is excellent at conjuring and brewing various potions, has the ability to change her own appearance, and when it comes to... physical strength- then she is second only to King Triton. She turns those who make deals with her and do not pay for them into polyp worms. She is also capable of releasing poisonous ink, which she used to get rid of the Malice that appeared in the animated series The Little Mermaid.

Filmography:

full-length cartoons

• Mermaid
• The Little Mermaid 2: Return to the Sea (cameo; mentioned)
• Mickey's Magical Christmas: In the Snowy Mouse House
• House of Mouse. House of Villains
• Descendants 2 (cameo; voice)

television programs

• The Little Mermaid: The Animated Series
• Hercules: The Animated Series
• House of Mouse
• Once upon a time, in a Fairytail

Ursula is one of the few (along with Scar, Jafar, Maleficent, etc.) whose death is shown on screen (she is impaled on the broken bow mast). So some villains died off-screen (for example, Ratigan or Gaston), and heroes or minor characters shown simply dead, without any injuries (for example, Mufasa or Meg).