Die kleine Seejungfrau

When I first saw this movie, I hated it. I was outraged by how the Prince chose someone else over her (the mermaid rescued the Prince from drowning, but ducked away when she saw the other human girl coming, and the other girl sat with him until he fully regained consciousness). He assumed that girl saved his life, and she apparently never had the grace to admit that someone else had done the dirty work of hauling him out of the ocean--she just happened to be hanging out sunbathing, waiting for him to wake up.

So, I was pretty mad at this movie, but then I read the Hans Christian Andersen story years later, when I'd experienced my own first love and loss. I gained a new appreciation for this movie, as it depicts a desperate love, and this mermaid is willing to give up everything to be close to him. The only thing that sucks is that the object of her obsession truly does not deserve it, and the chick he chooses over her does not deserve his love either; he fell in love with her only because he thought she had saved him, but the mermaid was unable to tell him that.

It's sad, and frustrating, but still a good movie overall.

If you grew up on bouncy, sanitized Disney videos and slick animation and not written fairy tales, this film may not be your cup of tea. Unlike Disney's happily-ever-after version, this one fairly faithfully recreates the fairy tale written by Hans Christian Anderson. Yes, inevitably, a little of the 70s creep into the artwork but that's not necessarily a bad thing since it gives this film a unique look and feel (which wasn't meant to be anime as we know it now). Like most fairy tales, it can be dark and sad and violent. It's the nature of the genre. But we still read them to our children and our children are still thrilled by them, as we were and as our parents were.

This adaptation is starkly beautiful and tragic. In the early to mid 70s, it aired on TV every Christmas along with other animated shorts like The Selfish Giant and The Happy Prince (two more tearjerkers). Even now, 30 years after I first saw it, it can reduce me to tears...but that doesn't stop me watching it.

In short, if you adore Disney's take on this story, then you'll probably be disappointed by this one. On the other hand, if you loved the fairy tale (or if you enjoyed The Selfish Giant or The Happy Prince animated shorts) then give this a try.

I'm not being corny--this is an actual line from the film, straight from the Sea Witch (her sister Sand Witch was on vacation) to goofball princess Marina.

There should be a special section in video stores for Brutal Truth Fairy Tales. As opposed to the dark Disney overlords, the producers of this piece stuck to the original story with a few turns of creative license here and there. That is, Marina, our little mermaid, dies at the end. But hey, it's not so bad--after all, she stays true to her love (however misguided). It also appears that she picked up an immortal soul, or at least the promise of one, somewhere along the way.

The Little Mermaid for Mature Audiences? Well, I can't help thinking that kids expecting Disney magic would be a little horrified by this version. The happy ending--I guess--might be a little too philosophical for kids expecting dancing crabs and evil doers who are more goofy than terrifying. But if you're an anime fan and you'd like to see the mermaid thing a little more like it was originally written, you probably would enjoy wasting 1.5 hours with this.

I really like this film it isn't as pretty as some Disney films, but it also had a lower budget. The music is terrible, but I love it, even Marina's song where I could never understand what she's saying! This film does have it's issues, the sound cuts out, and the picture is OK at best. It hasn't been treated the best post-production. I really wish there would be a better release with a cleaned up animation, a Japanese tract, a new dub, and the original English dub. And about the dubbing- In America it took a while to really get dubbing decent. It isn't this film exclusively, it's all movies of the period. I recommend this film if you find it anywhere, but don't spend too much the DVD set up is minor at best. Disney didn't perfect the Little Mermaid story they told one version of it. Don't get me wrong, I love Ariel, she just isn't the only fish in the sea.

Loved this movie as a kid and I still love it as an adult. Beautiful music too. Not too many goofy annoying characters. More mature and enjoyable. Looking for more movies similar to this one.