The Little Mermaid (1989)
Animation, Family, Fantasy • 1h 23m
Directors: John Musker & Ron Clements
Cast: Jodi Benson, Samuel E. Wright, Pat Carroll, Christopher Daniel Barnes, Kenneth Mars, Buddy Hackett, Jason Marin, René Auberjonois, Paddi Edwards, Ben Wright, Edie McClurg, Will Ryan, Sherry Lynn, Mickie McGowan, Nancy Cartwright, Frank Welker, Hamilton Camp, Debbie Shapiro Gravitte, Robert Weil, Ed Gilbert, Charlie Adler, Jack Angel, Susan Boyd, Steve Bulen, Philip L. Clarke, Jennifer Darling, Trevor Allan Davies, Gail Farrell, Donny Gerrard, Willie J. Greene Jr., Linda Harmon, Walter S. Harrah, Phillip Ingram, Luana Jackman, William A. Kanady, Edie Lehmann Boddicker, Anne Lockhart, Melissa MacKay, Guy Maeda, Lynn Dolin Mann, Arnold Markussen, Bobbi Page
Best video release
Original Theatrical Version: Any of the Disney LaserDiscs or Disney Limited Issue DVD (caveat: Limited Issue DVD has compression issues)
Restored Versions: Disney Platinum Edition DVD or Disney Diamond Edition Blu-ray
3D Restored Version: Disney Diamond Edition 3D Blu-ray
The 3D Blu-ray has most of the grain kept
The Disney 4K Blu-ray, while improving slightly on resolution, has significant DNR applied; see Blu-ray
Updated 6 months ago
About the film
This colorful adventure tells the story of an impetuous mermaid princess named Ariel who falls in love with the very human Prince Eric and puts everything on the line for the chance to be with him. Memorable songs and characters -- including the villainous sea witch Ursula.
- Featured Lists
- National Film Registry
Year of Induction: 2022
- Alternative Titles
- Little Mermaid 1
Director: Richard Brooks
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Arrow 4K Blu-ray > Criterion 4K Blu-ray > Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray
1991 Orion LaserDisc vs 2024 Arrow 4K Blu-ray
4K restoration from safety preservation elements
Director: Elaine May
Cinématographe 4K Blu-ray > MoC > Olive Films. From nicolas:
The master is good but it’s not that big an upgrade from the Olive Films disc and Vinegar Syndrome’ encode has some blocky highlights. A shame that they didn’t hire David Mackenzie here.
Cinématographe has unnecessary noise gating not present on the previous releases.
Director: Sidney Lumet
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
1.85:1: Kino Lorber 4K / Capelight 4K
1.66:1: Criterion 4K but low pass filtered
Comparison between the 4Ks, Criterion on the AR choice
Other discs have unnecessary filtering and sound worse, the difference isn't substantial but audible
Director: Dennis Hopper
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Flicker Alley 4K confirmed for 2027 https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=24404584&postcount=1
MoC audio is better https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=225532&page=3
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Included in the Complete Kubrick box set with FiM encode of the same master from the Universal release without the filtering.
DTS:X mix on Universal 4K Blu-ray most closely approximates original surround mix
Criterion DVD and Universal 4K Blu-ray has additional features not found on the Criterion 4K Blu-ray
Director: Sam Peckinpah
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
WB 4K
Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab)
An undeniably significant improvement from the BD yet still severely flawed. See DFIC's review.
Directors: John Musker & Ron Clements
OG theatrical version: Disney Deluxe Edition LaserDisc
2004 restored version: Disney 4K Blu-ray
OG theatrical version - uncensored: Pre-1993 35mm scans
OG theatrical version - censored: 1993+ 35mm scans or Disney Deluxe Edition LaserDisc
OG theatrical version has a racially insensitive lyric in opening "Agrabah" song replaced for re-releases, available on OG soundtrack CD and pre-1993 35mm prints only
Every release since the 2004 restored version on the OG Disney DVD has the line "Come on, good kitty, just take off and go" replaced with "Take off, good kitty" due to the 1992 line being misheard as "Come on, good teenagers, take off your clothes" (an occurrence called a "mondegreen")
Directors: John Musker & Ron Clements
2D version: Disney 4K Blu-ray
3D version: Disney 3D Blu-ray
Disney+ 4K Streaming has Dolby Vision, while the 4K Blu-ray is HDR10
Directors: Ron Clements & John Musker
Directors: David Hand & Ben Sharpsteen & William Cottrell & Larry Morey & Perce Pearce & Wilfred Jackson
Mono track is on the included Blu-ray; 4K Blu-ray missing original mono. LaserDisc probably better
Director: Mike Judge
Video format: 4K Streaming
2014 Japan "Hayao Miyazaki Collection" Studio Ghibli Blu-ray
Japan Studio Ghibli 4K Blu-ray announced for a November 25, 2026 release
Japanese audio: 2014 Japan "Hayao Miyazaki Collection" Studio Ghibli Blu-ray/US GKIDS Blu-ray
English dub (Disney): 1998 US Disney VHS has better sounding vocals despite altered music and sound effects, the US Disney LaserDisc has limited audio, and 2003 DVD is a fake 5.1 upmix
Releases from 2010 onward have the original music and sound effects, but distorted vocals
English dub (Streamline): 1996 Japan remastered LaserDisc, available in Ghibli Ga Ippai Collection boxset
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
BD LPCM 5.1
The DTS-HD on the UHD has been dynamically compressed, has had its center channel boosted, and surrounds lowered (typical modern nearfield mix for soundbars). Very different from the BD and DVD tracks. The BD LPCM is basically just a lossless version of the DTS and AC3 from the original DVD (the AC3 actually being the superior mix on that particular release).
Video format: 4K Streaming
Director: Michael Bay
Video format: HD Streaming
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
4K possibly teased?
Directors: Bill Roberts & Paul Satterfield & Wilfred Jackson & Ben Sharpsteen & James Algar & T. Hee & Hamilton Luske & Samuel Armstrong & Jim Handley & Norman Ferguson & David Hand & Ford Beebe Jr.
Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)
1991 CAV LaserDisc includes an approximation of the original Fantasound mix in Dolby Surround using the surviving magnetic mixdown, using Stokowski's original mixing notes as a reference. Original aggressive pans and dynamic range are left in tact.
The 2000 DVD uses this same mix in discrete 5.0, but with some unnecessary dynamic range compression + a redub of all Deems Taylor audio with Corey Burton.
The 7.1 mix on the 2010 Blu-ray sounds poor, having been hit with excessive noise reduction, dynamic range compression, original aggressive pans no longer in tact, and the channel usage no longer resembles Stokowski's original intended sound design.
Director: Chris Columbus
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Disney 4K Blu-ray has encoding issues with bitrates dipping into 40mbps, and Kaleidescape has better encoding than Disney see caps
Old Fox Blu-ray master is stretched and sharpened
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
2014 "Hayao Miyazaki Collection" Studio Ghibli Japan Blu-ray or US Disney Blu-ray
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · lddb.com (opens in a new tab)
2014 "Hayao Miyazaki Collection" Studio Ghibli Japan Blu-ray
2014 "Hayao Miyazaki Collection" Studio Ghibli Japan Blu-ray
Comparisons: https://slow.pics/c/6JWnlfit
All sources are within margin of error. Comparisons: Japanese, English
Alternate Streamline English dub is available only on 1994 Fox LD.
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