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 Post subject: The Little Mermaid [14795 CS] NTSC/LBX/CAV/THX/AC3 (1989)
PostPosted: 26 Jul 2012, 04:26 
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Little Mermaid, The (1989) [14795 CS]

Time to open the door for Disney Laserdisc reviews

The Movie:
Disney pretty much owes its existence as an animation powerhouse in this day and age to the formula established by their first feature animation film to use the CAPS animation system, The Little Mermaid. With a flowing score by the ever masterful Alan Menken and excellent songs in the style of extravagant broadway productions, it's easy to see why this film not only won over the female audiences as well as the rest of the family. The story seemed to take...a bit of a back seat to the music and technical animation though.
The story is one you've heard before, which is an adaptation of a Hans Christensen Anderson story about a daughter who has a strict father, and after disapproval is expressed regarding the man she loves, runs away and falls in with the wrong crowd on her way to being with the man she fell for. Trouble ensues in standard Disney fashion, with minimal violence and plenty of humor. Aside from the excellent villain Ursula, who takes advantage of our naive heroin in order to claim control of the sea in a rather dastardly plan, character design is fairly standard, with a few animal sidekicks and several unimportant supporting characters which seems to be fairly common in the majority of Disney films.
The film is pretty standard when it comes to Disney flicks, especially when you look at what came afterwards in its wake, which is why I view it as more of a stepping stone for Disney's production team. Something to merely "get their feet wet" and prove to the executives that bigger and grander features were something that could survive in that day and age. I hold it up highly only because the previous films of that decade are slightly well.....worse than this one. The Little Mermaid is what I like to call an important film, but not necessarily a great one.

Video:
Having first been exposed to this movie through an HDTV 720p encode(since I was a child in the days of VHS), I expected bright colors and a stellar clear image. I got one of those. The print utilized for this release was in pristine shape without any sign damage. That's where the good things end however, as they seem to have covered this film in bleh. The colors throughout the entire film seem muted from the way they appeared in the digital HD encode I viewed. Skin tones look awkwardly dark and Sebastian and many of the originally colorful sea creatures and land animals look dull and uninteresting. I supposed perhaps this was how the film originally appeared not having ever seen a print from the 89 or 97 theatrical releases, but I highly doubt it. If you're in it for a bright cheery look, I suggest you look elsewhere, as this release just looks dreary and boring.

Audio:
Originally released to theaters with a Dolby Stereo Surround track and then remixed into Dolby Digital for the 1997 theatrical rerelease, The Little Mermaid has a bright and cheery AC-3 track for this release on Laserdisc. Dialogue is well separated, never getting lost in between the flowing waters and screen filling musical numbers.
The front soundstage does an exceptional job of filling out the film's many musical numbers, especially those on a larger scale such as "Under the Sea" and "Kiss the Girl" and give these numbers a wonderful sense of atmosphere. Overall the most exciting feature of this 2 disc set is most certainly the fantastic remix into 5.1.

Extras:
Although not exactly the most exciting set of extras on Laserdisc Disney releases, there are a decent set of extras, which include the Theatrical Trailer from 1989, as well as a Disney Channel making of program, which is one of many produced for Disney's theatrical features throughout the late 80s and 90s. Also included is some concept art and character design still frames, a staple of Disney special editions. I probably wouldn't recommend you jumping up and snatching this set up specifically for the extras, but they provide a little extra bang for your buck.

Overall, this disc is really only for Disney Laserdisc completionists, such as myself, as a lackluster video presentation seems to really scar this disc. A modest side's worth of extras and an excellent 5.1 AC-3 track can't even save this disc from itself. A real shame, as I've been really impressed with other animated feature releases from Disney, as they've all been top notch, aside from a few exceptions (here's looking at you Pocahontas.) Still, the film is enjoyable and is still an important film for what it led to. Keep that in mind if you pick up this release, or any other release of this film on any other format.
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 Post subject: Re: The Little Mermaid [14795 CS] NTSC/LBX/CAV/THX/AC3 (1989
PostPosted: 01 Aug 2012, 21:35 
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i had this on vhs, and it has a different mix than the original 1990 vhs and ld release.
side note: it was shown in 70mm in some theatres, mono surround aka Dolby Stereo 6-Track Discrete


Last edited by elieb on 21 Nov 2013, 01:25, edited 1 time in total.
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 Post subject: Re: The Little Mermaid [14795 CS] NTSC/LBX/CAV/THX/AC3 (1989
PostPosted: 02 Aug 2012, 23:32 
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newtolaserelie wrote:
i had this on vhs, and it has a different mix than the original 1990 vhs and ld release.
ps. it was shown in 70mm in some theatres.

Yeah, but I'm willing to bet they didn't retool the 70mm audio mix in favor of using the Dolby Surround mix for the 5.1 master.
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 Post subject: Re: The Little Mermaid [14795 CS] NTSC/LBX/CAV/THX/AC3 (1989
PostPosted: 02 Aug 2012, 23:35 
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nope. didn't even use the original dolby stereo master (found on vhs and laserdisc), which has an echo when eric plays his fife. they remixed the ac-3 mix.
me? i prefer the original mix.
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 Post subject: Re: The Little Mermaid [14795 CS] NTSC/LBX/CAV/THX/AC3 (1989
PostPosted: 03 Aug 2021, 01:05 
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elieb wrote:
nope. didn't even use the original dolby stereo master (found on vhs and laserdisc), which has an echo when eric plays his fife. they remixed the ac-3 mix.
me? i prefer the original mix.


Are you saying this 98 Laserdisc Stereo Audio track option is a downmix of the remixed 5.1?
Or does the stereo track in Dolby Surround match the original theatrical?

Sorry was a little confused.

Also does this CAV laserdisc contain the awful version of end credits used on the VHS with that music video filling have of the screen? Hoping it was just on that VHS edition.
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