Jim on Film
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For the introduction and first two parts of this column, please read Chronologically Through the Canon: Searching for New Insights into Old Favorites, Part One and Part Two.
Chronologically Through the Canon:
Searching for New Insights into Old Favorites
Part 3
The New Golden Age (1989-2002)
Like Cinderella so many years before, The Little Mermaid, from the moment its colors flash onto the screen, sets itself apart. It opens with breath-taking underwater visuals, sparkling underwater special effects, and that great Alan Menken score. When the sailors begin to sing, the dolphins splash through the water, and the title appears, The Little Mermaid feels different and special. It’s glorious, fresh, and original. In many ways, it’s like the opening of The Black Cauldron, except with the exceptional follow through.
Everything about The Little Mermaid seems touched with something magical and special. It’s a breath-taking film, filled with amazing detail and love, from the constant presence of special effects, such as the sparkling of the sun against the sea floor, the amazing amount of bubbles, and the return to multiplane effects, to the rich character animation.
But there are two elements that really help it reach for the stars. First of all are those wonderful Howard Ashman and Alan Menken songs, which are so good, both in the songs themselves and in the conception and staging of the scenes. There’s also the spectacular Alan Menken underscore. With The Black Cauldron and The Great Mouse Detective, there are strong orchestral moments, but The Little Mermaid has the first great underscore of the new generation of films.
The second element is in how it reaches out to its audience by portraying real emotions in real situations. The battle of wills between Ariel and Triton are so real, as is Ariel’s wish to live her own life and Triton’s desire to keep her from making mistakes. Surrounded by a story of far away in a time long ago, these characters are real human beings making real decisions.
In watching the sequence of the films, The Rescuers Down Under fits comfortably after The Little Mermaid. Amazingly, it is very different from The Rescuers, which speaks of the desire of the new generation to find their own style of storytelling.
First of all, the design of the film is quite different from that of the original. The two main characters still look the same, but that’s about it. Whereas the first film bears the marks of the Xerox process by having its broad human characters with sketchy ink lines, The Rescuers Down Under celebrates the beauty of the CAPS system, which allowed for drawings to be scanned into a computer, colored, and filmed. The lines are clearly defined, the colors are ethereal, and everything is bathed in shadow. Also unlike the original film, the humans are drawn with less caricature, and the animals move and respond within the limits of their original creation. A good point of comparison is the crocodiles in both films. Nero and Brutus from the original are very different in style from the very realistic crocodiles in the sequel.
In addition to the rich colors created in the CAPS system, The Rescuers Down Under is visually stunning, filling many of the scenes with unbelievable multiplane effects. The scene of Cody setting free and riding the great golden eagle Marahute stands proudly next to this generation’s other great achievements, such as Part of Your World from The Little Mermaid and The Circle of Life from The Lion King. Much of it has to do with the masterful animation of Marahute as supervised by Glen Keane. Marahute doesn’t have a pair of animated eyebrows, so her expressions are dependant upon the ability of the animator to tap into a real bird’s capability to convey emotion. Despite this limitation, she is very expressive. The majesty of this scene also goes to the conception of the scene and the emotional connection forming between the boy and the eagle. Bruce Broughton continues Alan Menken’s work on creating a powerful and moving score which is highlighted in this scene.