Book vs. Movie: The Little Mermaid 

I love both adaptations of the Story. Personally think the book had a Beautiful bittersweet ending. It also gave us the message that sometimes we are not going to get the things we want no matter how many sacrifices we make.

Wish they kept the grandmother, her sisters going to see her, and her sisters trying to save her. Weirdly, I also like that she kissed the prince’s bride on the forehead before going. It would have been easy to blame the other woman, but she never did and turned out to be the bigger person.

Contrary to what many people believe, HC Andersen's Little Mermaid is not set in Denmark but in the Mediterranean (mentioned by name in the novel) and a very Oriental setting with its temples and mosques. And although HC Andersen was a Danish writer, Andersen was a strong orientalist and he wrote The Little Mermaid shortly after Andersen had visited the Mediterranean on vacation.

So the mermaid basically ends her life just to have a soul like a human. That’s dark and sad

You forgot the 1975 anime film adaptation of the story. It is more faithful to the original and Disney even bought some of its elements onto their own adaptations.

Great comparison! I also love that you included so many classic movie snippets. I wonder whether Ariel was named Ariel as reference to the daughters of the air, as Ariel is a name of an angel/air spirit. Eric is a reference to the Danish roots of Hans Christian Andersen; and so he's only adopted in this Caribbean Kingdom setting. They renamed the sisters with names from all different cultures and not only European names because in the remake, Triton isn't only a sea king, he's the god of the whole ocean and so the seven daughters are literally all seven seas (and different cultures of the world). I also wonder whether they switched the final climax scene as also in Andersen's story, it's the spotlight again on the Little Mermaid's decision to save her beloved prince a second time....

_Hans Christian Andersen_ of The Little Mermaid stories has a tragic ending... Disney change the story ending become a happy live and change the character's hair from Blonde to Red.

I think it's cool all different versions of this story before Disney are incredible and interesting and unique since even though it had different versions but play the same story is just awesome. I love this story.

All things considered, I’d have to say the biggest difference between story and film is the antagonist. They had to adapt it this way to make it more cinematic (and remove the stuff about souls and mortality to make it more family-friendly). In the story, the sea witch isn’t evil, she just charges a high price for magic that has nasty side effects. If anything, I’d say the antagonist that the little mermaid is fighting against is fate, or perhaps mortality.

Also Ursula used Ariel and others as pawns to rule the seas Most adaptaions before Disney's the Ses Witch is just a weird dark character though in the Readers Digest version she caused the storm

They changed the names for the sisters in the remake so they all end in ‘A’. Their names already ended in ‘A’. Of all reviews I’ve seen, this is the only channel to understand its Eric’s bday, not Ariel’s. Danke.

I read the orginal so sad i didn;t want tp the disney verison not think how disney makes the storoes happier

Disney's versions are very shallow when compared to the book.The book explains her fascination with humans much better,the prince looks identical to a statue the little mermaid is onsessed with,the main character has a character arc , and overall the story is way more imaginative .The lrince falls for the princess because she was the one that found him on the beach , and he thinks that she rescued him ... The opening of the final act it's a bit conviniened but I think that was on purpose.Not everything in life can be perfectly explained , and that plot point is meant to reflect that.The sisters in the book have way more barring on the plot, and the finale is meant to say that sometimes we don't get what we want in life, and that ok.If you want to achieve something,do it through your own hard work, don't rely on others to go places .In the book the prince was more of a means to an end than anything else,I also love how there isn't any central villain in the story and how it delicts love as something multifaceted and complex ... The live action remake took the flaws of the '89!film and magnified them , and also added flaws ... Unlike Disney's ( let's say Cinderella ) where Perrault's and Disney's versions are two vastly different variations of the same plot , and Disney's animated adaptations to a large extend replaced their source materials ( Snow White never got kissed awake by the prince, Cinderella's father never died,the blue fairy never brought Pinocchio to life etc ... ) Details specifically from Disney's versions have become cannon because he was a beyond of an exceptional storyteller ... Everything within the little mermaids leads directly to the climax, and Disney's '89 versions has flaws that arose from the changes to the source material ( for example: there was no need to turn the statue the Littlest had in her garden into Eric's statue.In the original tale she's infatuated with said statue,on her first day above water finds and saves the prince who looks identical to the object of her infatuation, and as she stalks him she becomes obsessed with him and when she learns of the concept of immortal souls and her inevitable death and non existence she she goes to the seawitch for help ... The differentiation of the littlest mermaid and the rest of her family is also way better dome in the book ( all of the mermaid sisters were infatuated with the human world until they got bored of it, unlike the littlest.Also the fact that she's the only one bothered by the fact that a mermaids existence is pretty much meaningless and empty ),I love the grandmother's chill attitude 😂😂😂😂 ... Point being the book it's objectively better than Disney's,there are also much better adaptations of the story being done before Disney's in both live action as well as animation.A good film ,but a very shallow adaptation of a great story

The Japanese anime from the 70s is one of the saddest movies I've ever seen.

I remember this movie and it's on Disney plus. I saw the new movie in theaters.

Ngl I kinda want a Little Mermaid movie that uses the original story's ending. I feel like you could do a nice retelling/new take on the narrative when using that ending.

This video was so comprehensive! Thanks for all the thought & research you put into this!! My favorite version is the live action, but the older I get, the more I appreciate the original as well!

I like the video clips you found of Andersen's version. I liked the original Andersen version personally. There's more courage, selflessness, and inner strength involved. I feel Disney's version is disappointing because this brat of a mermaid eventually gets what she wants. Triton apparently can change mermaids into humans without potions....that's the most disappointing.

Good to see you back.

I take every Disney adaptation with a grain of salt. Usually the life lessons are removed because no little girl wants to be told that they can't have something or that they are responsible for their actions. The 1975 Japanese animation adaptation of the story retains those lessons and values. The mermaid sacrificed her voice in an attempt to win the love of the Prince, but when he chose to marry another, she was offered the opportunity to undo her decision in exchange for his life. She instead chose to die at dawn on the day following his marriage. Her act of selflessness was not only a display of accountability, but of her love for the Prince. That in itself washes away the notion of her feelings being nothing more than blind infatuation. I think she probably would've taken his life had she not learned more about him. It's a shame that there aren't more adaptations like this. Unfortunately, society will only further evolve into a self-absorbed culture.

I'm curious of what cldve been if Walt actually made a fantasia version of the little mermaid with a true ending I wldve been impressed and gave him a metal for a first time to get a sad ending and not a happy one.

The interesting part is that Andersen wrote the story as a sort of love letter to a man he loved, but who had rejected him. Basically Andersen is the mermaid, trying to become a human woman in order to be with his love - but he's recognized that even then, it is not certain that he will love her back and thus his love will always be unfulfilled. Which is the whole bit when the little mermaid dies at the end.

NICE uss of other adaptations you missed Rankin Bass version

Do Peter Pan

I love the live action little mermaid. I love the fact Eric has wonderful songs. I love the way they improved kiss the girl and scuttles song. The live action movie has much more material and songs in it.

I don’t like this old little mermaid book ending I prefer the happy ending when got her prince he did recognise her and got her voice back