5 fun facts about Ariel’s story

Exactly 33 years ago, Disney brought to theaters for the first time ‘The Little Mermaid’, a film responsible for presenting the fearless Ariel, the young princess daughter of King Triton who seemed to not fit in with reality at sea and dreamed of leaving the depths of the ocean to discover everything the surface could offer.

In celebration of the debut anniversary of the animated feature film, we’ve separated below five curiosities about the characters, behind the scenes and everything that inspired the creation of the classic film that integrates the franchise of princesses from Casa do Mickey.

The story almost didn’t exist

Despite having hit theaters in 1989, ‘The Little Mermaid’ was close to not having its story started. That’s because, when john musker and Ron Clements present the idea to then-Disney executives, Michael Eisenberg and Jeffrey Katzenbergthe pair did not immediately agree to go ahead with the production.

The reason was clarified by musker in an interview given to Yahoo in 2016, where the director of the film said that the studio was developing a sequel to ‘Splash’ (1984). So, eisenberg and Katzenberg concluded that two films starring mermaids might not be as successful as that.

However, executives changed their minds when they read the first two pages written by clements with an overview of history. “They read this and said, ‘Oh, there might be something here. Disney makes fairy tales and this is a fairy tale we didn’t do,'” he recalled. musker🇧🇷

Úrsula is and is not an octopus

If you ever imagined that Ursula could be an octopus, know that you are not completely wrong! This is because the dark villain is, in fact, a cecaelia, a marine being existing in mythology that can also be called the ‘Octopus Mermaid’, since the upper part of the body is human, while the lower part has the same characteristics of an octopus. .

Also, a curiosity is that Ursula does not have eight tentacles like an octopus, but six, in addition to her two arms.

Inspired by reality

Showing that art imitates life, the actress Alyssa Milano told in an interview on the talk show of Wendy Williams, in 2013, that the animator Glen Keane was inspired by her to create Ariel’s physical characteristics.

Still, the actress revealed that she discovered the fact only when she was invited to present ‘The Making of the Little Mermaid’, where she saw that keane used photos of herself as a child to perfect the mermaid’s features.

Ariel and Hercules are cousins

The animation ‘The Little Mermaid’ was released in the late 80s, while ‘Hercules’ came out in 1997. But, despite almost a decade separating the two films, their characters have a strong connection.

That’s because Ariel’s father, King Triton, is the son of Poseidon. The Greek god of the seas is the brother of Zeus, who is the father of Hercules. So, technically, Ariel and Hercules are first cousins.

The songs are a separate event

Although ‘Part of Your World’ was almost cut from the film because it did not appeal to the public initially, as shown in the Disney+ documentary “Howard”, the song became one of the most remembered in the film.

In addition, the moment when the music appears in the animation, it brings several curious elements from the real world, such as a bust of what appears to be Abraham Lincoln and the painting ‘Penitent Magdalene’ by Georges de La Tour🇧🇷

Still showing that the songs are one of the great highlights of the film, ‘The Little Mermaid’ was not only nominated, but also took home the trophies for best original song (for “Under the Sea”) at the Oscars and the Golden Globe for best soundtrack. Remember the Portuguese version!