The Little Mermaid

Do you know when you fall in love with someone you’ve never spoken to? When there as good as warm biscuits on Sunday. Arielle is so undeniably good and pure on land that it is hard not to like her. Who doesn’t see that red head upside down on the cart, watching the clip-clop of the horse’s shoes, and go “Aww”. She gets to drive the carriage and she is bursting with joy, maybe because she can’t speak, but it is adorable and loveable all the same. However, this may be because she is seeing all of these new things for the first time, and in a time of curiosity we are all overcome with a childlike glow.  There is an innocence in discovery, and Arielle is seeing and touching all that she has ever dreamed of, all she had to do was trade her voice for legs, literally no big deal.

                And naïveté is also a calling card of an amazingly innocent soul. Who makes a deal with someone who looks like Ursula, and believes that they can actually succeed? Ursula literally oozes evil. Her voice is gritty and deep, the direct opposite to Ariel’s angelic and birdlike tone. She has sharp angular features, like any respectable villain, and a bulging form that is quite unlike Ariel’s ridiculously skinny and dainty frame. Ursula also has the shock white, short and unconventional hairstyle as opposed to Ariel’s red, flowing locks. Her look is complete with dangerously scarlet lips and matching nails. Ursula does not only look the part, but she is cunning and by default quite smart sadly. She has been plotting to attack King Triton’s throne for a while now, or at least up to twenty-five minutes into the film. And from the moment she sees Ariel save Prince Eric, she already has at least a three-part scheme. Villains have to be smart in order to be bad, and sometimes the princess has to be not so quick.

                Animals are also inherently seen as good and evil in the film. Eels are bad, but electric eels? They are downright evil, so evil that they are allied with the sea witch, who eats other sea creatures by the way. All other animals? Super helpful. They rush to aid Scuttle without any reason, and are automatically aligned with the side of good in the fight against evil. Eric’s dog Max also obviously has a heart of gold, Max can do no wrong, especially when he can sense evil like a hound and instantly doesn’t like the human Ursula. Flounder and Sebastian are also the much underappreciated but loyal sidekicks. Flounder isn’t the bravest fish in the sea but for Ariel he’ll literally steal a statue of Prince Eric and drag it into an abandoned ship. (How did he do that?) And as Sebastian watches Ariel sleep, even he can’t deny his love for the pure and happy girl.

                And how do you know that Ariel is really good? Because she wins and gets to sail off into the sunset, underneath a rainbow that her daddy literally put in the sky, in a beautiful white gown, and with both her voice and a pair of legs. And no matter how clever Ursula is, how she managed to get the royal Trident, almost managed to kill Ariel, or how point her teeth are she will always lose. Her supernatural thunderstorm will end, and we can sleep well knowing in the last scene that the sun is out again, and that means good has won.