60 Fun Facts About The Little Mermaid

In The Little Mermaid, who is Ariel's best friend, a nervous yellow-and-blue fish?

Despite the name, he is drawn to resemble a royal angelfish rather than an actual flounder.

What are the names of Ursula's two green moray eel henchmen?

Both eels were voiced by the same actress, Paddi Edwards, who gave them their eerie whispering unison.

What breed of dog is Max, Prince Eric's loyal pet in the animated film?

Max was voiced, uncredited, by Frank Welker, the prolific animal-voice specialist behind Scooby-Doo's Fred and countless creatures.

Who plays Ariel in Disney's 2023 live-action remake?

She rose to fame as one half of the R&B duo Chloe x Halle before landing the role.

Which comedy star plays the sea witch Ursula in the 2023 live-action remake?

The animated Ursula was voiced by Pat Carroll for more than three decades, from the original film until her death in 2022.

How old is Ariel in Disney's animated film, as she famously reminds her father?

Her outburst 'I'm not a child anymore!' is the line that sets up her rebellion against King Triton.

Hans Christian Andersen, author of the original fairy tale, was from which country?

He wrote the tale in Danish under the title 'Den lille havfrue', which has also been rendered in English as 'The Little Sea Maid'.

In the direct-to-video sequel Return to the Sea, what is the name of Ariel and Eric's child?

That film made Ariel the first, and so far only, Disney Princess to become a mother.

The famous bronze Little Mermaid statue sits on the Langelinie promenade in which city?

At only 1.25 metres tall, the statue is regularly cited as one of the world's most underwhelming landmarks by first-time visitors.

What name does Ursula use when she disguises herself as a human to seduce Prince Eric?

The disguise runs on Ariel's stolen singing voice, kept in the seashell around Ursula's neck.

What is the title of Ursula's big villain song in the animated film?

The number was performed by Pat Carroll, who was chosen after names such as Bea Arthur, Joan Collins and Elaine Stritch were considered.

Which duo wrote and directed Disney's animated The Little Mermaid?

The same pair went on to direct Aladdin, Hercules, The Princess and the Frog and Moana.

Who wrote the lyrics to the animated film's songs, working with composer Alan Menken?

He also produced the film, and pushed for the songs to drive the story the way they would in a Broadway show.

Before the film's lyricist reworked him, Sebastian was originally conceived as what kind of character?

Making him Jamaican shifted the whole score toward calypso and reggae, which is how the film ended up with its most famous song.

Ursula's look was famously modelled on which real-life figure?

Divine, John Waters' muse from films like Pink Flamingos, died in 1988 before the film was released.

Animators studied footage of which person to work out how Ariel's hair should move underwater?

Weightless hair in orbit turned out to be a close match for hair drifting in water, and the team also filmed a live-action model in a swimming pool.

Who originated the role of Ariel in the Broadway stage adaptation?

Boggess later became Broadway's Christine in Love Never Dies and the 25th-anniversary Phantom of the Opera.

In the sequel Return to the Sea, how is the villain Morgana related to Ursula?

Pat Carroll returned to voice Morgana, meaning she played both villains of the franchise.

Which Oscar-winning actress voiced the villain Marina Del Rey in the prequel Ariel's Beginning?

Marina is a scheming governess who wants Sebastian's job as King Triton's right hand.

In the prequel Ariel's Beginning, what did a grieving King Triton ban from Atlantica after Athena's death?

Ariel breaks the ban when she follows a new fish friend to a secret underground club where Sebastian performs.

The 1992-94 animated TV series based on the film aired Saturday mornings on which US network?

It was a prequel set before the film, and brought back Jodi Benson, Samuel E. Wright, Kenneth Mars and Pat Carroll.

Which sculptor created the bronze Little Mermaid statue unveiled in 1913?

When the ballerina he asked to pose declined to model nude, he used his own wife Eline as the body model instead.

Carl Jacobsen, who commissioned the Little Mermaid statue, was the son of which company's founder?

Jacobsen was also the founder of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek art museum, filled with sculpture he collected.

In Andersen's original tale, at what age is a mermaid first allowed to swim up and see the world above?

Each of her older sisters gets her turn first, and the little mermaid must wait years listening to their reports of ships and cities.

In Andersen's tale, what happens to a mermaid when she dies?

That is the crux of the story: unlike humans, mermaids have no immortal soul, which is what the heroine truly wants.

Who directed the 2023 live-action remake?

Marshall is the musical specialist behind Chicago, Into the Woods and Mary Poppins Returns.

Alan Menken wrote the new songs for the 2023 remake with which Hamilton creator?

His additions included 'Wild Uncharted Waters' for Eric and a rap number for Scuttle called 'The Scuttlebutt'.

Jodi Benson, the original animated voice of Ariel, has a cameo in the 2023 remake as what?

She hands Ariel a fork during the tour of the kingdom, a wink to Scuttle's most famous mislabelled 'human stuff'.

Besides Ariel, Jodi Benson is best known for voicing which character in the Toy Story films?

She was named a Disney Legend in 2011 and voiced Ariel again among the princesses in Ralph Breaks the Internet.

Which song from the animated film won the Academy Award for Best Original Song?

The film picked up two Oscars that night; Alan Menken took the other for Best Original Score.

Who played Ursula in ABC's 2019 special The Little Mermaid Live!?

The special drew 9.01 million viewers and mixed live performances with the projected animated film.

Ursula was originally drawn with eight tentacles. How many does she have in the finished film?

The reduction was made because the extra limbs would have been too difficult and expensive to animate.

After a test screening in which a child spilled his popcorn, Jeffrey Katzenberg wanted to cut which song?

The songwriters privately nicknamed it 'Somewhere That's Wet' because it echoed their own 'Somewhere That's Green' from Little Shop of Horrors.

Disney farmed out most of the film's underwater bubble effects to a firm in which country?

Effects supervisor Mark Dindal estimated more than a million bubbles were drawn for the film.

Katzenberg passed on The Little Mermaid in the mid-1980s because Disney was developing a sequel to which film?

The Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah hit came from Disney's Touchstone label; a sequel was in development at the time but never made it to cinemas.

King Triton's crab court composer has a very long full name. Which of these is it?

His voice actor Samuel E. Wright even recorded two spin-off reggae albums in character, including 'Sebastian: Party Gras!'.

Ariel's body type and personality were partly modelled on which then-teenage TV actress?

She was starring in Who's the Boss? at the time; her later projects included Charmed.

How did the Broadway production make its performers appear to swim across the stage?

The footwear was nicknamed 'merblades', and the show's director Francesca Zambello was making her Broadway debut.

In 1964 the statue's head was sawn off and stolen by artists linked to which political art movement?

It was decapitated again in 1998, had an arm sawn off in 1984, and was blown off its base with explosives in 2003.

In 2010 Copenhagen's Little Mermaid statue left Denmark for the first time, for a World Expo in which city?

It sat in the Danish Pavilion from May to October while a video installation by Ai Weiwei took its place on the harbour promenade.

In Andersen's original tale, what does the sea witch take from the mermaid as payment for the potion?

There is no singing-voice-in-a-seashell here; the witch simply cuts it out, leaving the mermaid mute for good.

At the end of Andersen's tale, the mermaid refuses to kill the prince and is transformed into what?

These airy spirits can earn an immortal soul through three hundred years of good deeds, an ending P. L. Travers dismissed as 'blackmail'.

Which reggae star played Sebastian in the 2019 ABC special The Little Mermaid Live!?

John Stamos hammed it up as Chef Louis in the same broadcast, opposite Moana's Auli'i Cravalho as Ariel.

How does Prince Eric finally destroy the giant-sized Ursula in the animated film's climax?

Ursula's animator Ruben Aquino had made her tower over the ships in that final storm.

Which Disney film ends with a dedication to the lyricist 'who gave a mermaid her voice' and its hero 'his soul'?

He died of complications from AIDS in March 1991 at the age of 40, months before that film opened.

The 1980s Little Mermaid crew found story sketches for a shelved 1930s Disney project by which illustrator?

Walt Disney had planned an Andersen anthology feature after Snow White; the mermaid segment never got past development.

The Little Mermaid was the first Disney animated feature to earn Oscar nominations since which 1977 film?

It landed three nominations and won two, kicking off a run in which the next four Disney features all took home Oscars.

Its underwater scenes needed the most effects animation of any Disney feature since which 1940 film?

Computer imagery was also used for a few shots, including some of the wrecked ships in the final battle and Eric's carriage.

On which 1986 Broadway show did the lyricist first hear Jodi Benson, leading to her Ariel audition?

That show, about a teen beauty pageant, flopped after 48 performances, but it got the future voice of Ariel her audition.

In what year did Hans Christian Andersen first publish 'The Little Mermaid'?

It appeared in a collection of fairy tales for children; Andersen was influenced by the earlier mermaid novella 'Undine' but felt his own ending improved on it.

In the 2023 remake, Scuttle became a female bird of which diving species so she could appear underwater?

Gannets are spectacular divers, plunging from height to chase fish, which solved the problem of a bird who needs to visit Ariel below the waves.

According to Scuttle the seagull, what is the proper name for a fork?

He is equally confident that a smoking pipe is a 'snarfblatt', which he claims humans use to make music.

The Little Mermaid was Disney's first animated fairy tale since which 1959 film?

Its success launched the run of hits now called the Disney Renaissance.

Studio executives wanted Ariel to have hair of what colour before the animators won out?

Red contrasted better with her green tail and was easier to darken in shadow, and it set her apart from a rival studio mermaid.

The Little Mermaid's original script was written with which Golden Girls star in mind for Ursula?

Pat Carroll eventually voiced the sea witch, whose look was modelled on Divine.

Which supervising animator handled Ursula on the 1989 film?

Keane and Mark Henn drew Ariel, Marjoribanks Sebastian and Deja King Triton.

The 1989 film was the last Disney animated feature to use which cel-copying process, in use since 101 Dalmatians?

That made it a transitional film between the classic and Renaissance eras.

The Little Mermaid's 1997 theatrical reissue opened on the same day as which rival animated film?

The Don Bluth film came from Fox; the reissue still added $27.2 million to Disney's gross.

Roughly how much did The Little Mermaid gross worldwide across its releases?

It was the sixth-highest-grossing film of 1989 and Disney's first animated smash since The Jungle Book in 1967.

Who played Ursula in the 2016 Hollywood Bowl presentation The Little Mermaid in Concert?

Lea Michele sang Ariel and Cheech Marin played Chef Louis in the same show.