The road that will get me each rattling time I watch the 1989 animated model of The Little Mermaid isn’t one of many well-known ones — a lyric from “A part of Your World,” Ariel’s defiant “However Daddy, I really like him,” and even one in every of Sebastian’s quippy asides. It comes towards the top of the film, when Triton lastly realizes that Ariel might be happier on land, and makes use of his magical trident to provide her legs. Afterward, he turns to Sebastian and says, “I assume there’s only one downside left — how a lot I’m going to overlook her.”
That second has extra affect than another line within the film, as a result of it disrupts the standard “fortunately ever after” narrative. In contrast to different Disney fairy-tale endings, the top of The Little Mermaid is deeply bittersweet. Real love saves the day, and there’s a giant wedding ceremony. However in contrast to Cinderella escaping from her abusive stepmother or Magnificence and the Beast’s Belle reuniting together with her father, Ariel leaves behind her loving household for a brand new life — and she will by no means return to the best way issues have been.
The brand new 2023 live-action remake of The Little Mermaid retains that line intact, however shifts the ending round it a bit in a method that overwrites the unique film’s sequel, The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea. However because it seems, that isn’t a foul factor.
[Ed. note: This post contains spoilers for the 2023 Little Mermaid, and also for Return to the Sea.]
Triton is a strict, overprotective mum or dad, however like many dad and mom, he does what he does as a result of he believes he’s protecting his daughter secure. In contrast to many dad and mom, nonetheless, he realizes the error of his methods and takes the chance to rectify them. He has to let his daughter go as a way to give her an opportunity to be completely satisfied. However nonetheless, he’s unhappy! It’s shifting! It presents a risk that strict dads are able to development and recognizing that what they need is just not essentially what their daughters need!
The concept Ariel has to completely break with Triton to attain her desires is emphasised once more within the direct-to-VHS sequel, the place she makes the tough selection to chop off all contact with the undersea world to guard her daughter from Ursula’s vengeful sister. Although The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea is likely one of the higher Disney direct-to-video sequels, that period isn’t essentially identified for good films. However there’s a very poignant scene on this one, the place a grown-up Ariel walks to the seaside and dips her toes within the water, trying as much as the sky and sighing that she misses her father.
Whereas screenwriter David Magee and director Rob Marshall protect many issues from the 1989 animated film of their live-action model — together with giving the “I’m going to overlook her” line to Javier Bardem as Triton, who delivers it with as a lot tenderness and disappointment because it deserves — they make a wise option to tweak the ending so it isn’t as painful. And within the course of, they shut the door on any potential adaptation of the direct-to-VHS sequel.
Ariel and Eric nonetheless get married within the 2023 film model, however their wedding ceremony is far more low-key. The vital factor is that they head off on an extended sea journey collectively, indulging each of their wishes for exploration, and hoping to increase diplomatic relations for Eric’s small island nation. As they’re on a rowboat, about to move out to their ship, Triton emerges from the water and appears gravely at Ariel and Eric. Increasingly merpeople come out of the water, and Triton tells Ariel that they are going to at all times be right here for her.
It’s a small element, but it surely nonetheless adjustments the ending significantly. Ariel doesn’t have to decide on between worlds. She feels happier and extra comfy within the human world, however part of her will at all times be a mermaid. This time, although, as an alternative of a goodbye, the ending feels extra like a brand new chapter for Ariel and her relationship with the underwater world. Marshall and Magee sprinkle some fantasy battle between merpeople and people into this model, with out ever actually digging into it or resolving it. However that battle makes an ending the place Ariel doesn’t have to decide on between worlds really feel much more resonant.
There’s nonetheless a lot to dive into (ha) in a possible sequel. (Attainable sequels for these live-action remakes maintain getting introduced.) And it wouldn’t must deal with giving Ariel a child, or reducing her off from the mermaid world. Ariel and Eric’s relationship represents one thing new for each people and merpeople, and their seafaring quest will definitely take them to uncharted waters, each actually and figuratively. Return to the Sea won’t occur in live-action kind, however there’s plenty of ocean to discover on the market. This time, Ariel is aware of her father will at all times be there for her, now that he’s discovered to let her go.