* As soon as "The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning" is released in all regions, I will be deleting anything that is available on the DVD ("Keep Oceans Clean" and the "Featurette" will remain).
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I've been wanting to do this for a long time, and these past two weeks I've had some spare time, and decided to spend it on this simple video.
Before anyone starts getting into me saying that these aren't references, then I'll clarify: Kevin Lima (director) has said himself that every detail in "Enchanted" is a reference to past Disney animation. These are most of the ones that I found (myself or otherwise- see annotations)
Going over the comparisons and/or references:
1) An instrumental version of "Part of Your World" plays as Giselle looks into the fish tank
2) The next one is one that I consider a comparison. It might not be, but looking at them side by side, they do look pretty similar.
3) At first, I thought that Edward swings Giselle around three times as a reference to the three times it's been used (TLM, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin)- but then I did the entire scene, and almost everything fit in simultaneously. I'm pretty convinced.
4) Pretty obvious. Most articles say that Giselle sings to her statue like Ariel does, but Ariel never sings to the statue, she just flirts.
5) It's not exactly shot-for-shot, but Ursula transforms into Vanessa, while the old hag turns into Narissa- old to new; not even Snow White did that before. Plus, the swirls in Narissa's transformation resemble those of Ursula's necklace, not to mention the thick yellow color scheme.
6) I caught this the first time I saw it, it's so obvious.
7) I'm not too sure about this one. I found this one myself, but you can be the judge of it.
8) Didn't catch this, but I wish I had!
9) Pretty obvious, as well. There were better shots to choose from for TLM, but all of them were closeups, and I didn't really think this one needed to be shown, since (like I said), it's pretty obvious.
10) I'm so proud to be the only one (as far as I know) to have found this. In all the scenes in Robert's apartment, a stuffed animal of a sheepdog sits on one of his couches. Who else could it be referring to?
11) It's not probably not specifically for Ursula, but just a reference to all the villains. If I remember correctly, The Queen (from Snow White), Lady Tremaine (from Cinderella) and Maleficent (from Sleeping Beauty) do it, as well.
12) Jodi Benson (the voice of Ariel), who has a small role (rather than a cameo like Paige O'Hara [Belle] and Judy Kuhn [Pocahontas]) as Robert's secretary. In case anyone was wondering, I got the behind-the-scenes footage of Jodi from the second disc of TLM's Platinum Edition.
13) I didn't notice this one the first time I saw it, but the troll wears four of the past princess' "peasant" clothes as a loincloth, and Ariel's two seashells as ear rings.
14) I didn't catch onto this the first time I saw it, but as far as I know, I'm the only one who did. I actually really like this one.
15) The amazing closing credits feature animated vectors/cutouts of many animated Disney films (even an upcoming one). This one refers to The Little Mermaid.
There were two scenes in the film that I feel are extremely similar to scenes in TLM, but did not include them:
- Giselle falls asleep on Robert's couch; I thought this was very similar to the scene were Ariel falls asleep while Sebastian explains how to get Eric to kiss her
- When Edward and Giselle leave on their date, the dialog between Robert and Morgan is EXTREMELY similar to the scene before the last in TLM, with Triton and Sebastian; both talk about how much they're going to miss "her".
So, all I have left to say is that I hope you all enjoyed watching this as much as I enjoyed making it. This is just one of the many reasons why I love Enchanted so much, but of course- The Little Mermaid will always hold that special place in my heart.
Resources:
"Created By: theCombuster" Font: ronaniron.deviantart.com/art/True-Love-s-Kiss-Font-76403453
Part of Your World Instrumental: always, Enchanted and The Little Mermaid belong to Disney- I'm just a big fan.
Not found by me:
Sitting on rock: ngsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=42900
Seashells: news/2007-11-22-enchanted-homage-side_N.htm