Customer Reviews

The Little Mermaid

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the familiar version of the Little Mermaid that Disney hasn't destroyed. In her search for love the little Russalka brings tragedy to all except the very selfish Princess. Set in the early Middle Ages the film is gorgeous and well acted. Viktoriya Dovikova is the Little Mermaid and sems almost unearthly. She is beautifully cast and brings warmth to her very tragic character as we really feel her longing and pain. This and the Czech Three Wishes For Cinderella are two wonderful fairy tales that are not well knwon in the West yet should be, though the first is not for children.

I'll never understand why people who love the original version of this tale bash the Disney movie. I don't agree at all that Disney "destroyed" the story; in fact, it's because of tragic tales like Andersen's that I'm glad happy endings are still around. Having said that, I do love this film. The little mermaid is a sweet ocean being looking for love in a land-prince who she saved from death in the sea. Of course, he thinks a spoiled princess is the one who saved him and completely dotes on her, totally unaware of the angelic mermaid's true worth..or the terrible price she'll have to pay if he doesn't return her love.

The casting in this film is superb: the prince is a gorgeous man with a noble look in his eyes that portrays his soul; the princess who claims to have saved him is a beautiful but cold-looking woman with a face like carved porcelain. The mermaid herself is innocence and purity incarnate: as a mermaid she has aqua hair which makes her pretty face look impish; as a human, she has golden hair which haloes her face and enhances her angelic look.

The story's great, too; while it has all the sentiments of the original tale, the writers added some very imaginative changes: for one thing, the sea-witch is actually a land-witch with a hilarious personality who aids the mermaid in her quest for love. One of my favorite changes is that the mermaid gives up her hair rather than her voice so she can actually talk to the prince (huzzah!). There's also a new character, a vagabond, who loves the mermaid and knows her secret. One of the biggest changes involves the ending (which I won't tell you :)

The film also examines the characters closely and changes their dimensions a bit: the prince, while still clueless, has a definitely noble heart which makes him less frusterating than in the original tale. The spoiled princess, although she is thoughtlessly selfish in many ways, her fondness and kind treatment of the mermaid make it hard to dislike her entirely. Even the mermaid has more than one dimension; although her human heart is nearly flawless, as a mermaid she would thoughtlessly sink ships with her sisters. In fact, she saved the prince from a shipwreck that she herself helped cause; only her unexpected love for him saved him from watery death. The character study in this film is one of the story's strongest points.

The one true flaw in the film was, sadly, the mer-costuming; while the mermaids were lovely and mystical from the waist-up, their tails really didn't deserve the name. It's a shame, too, because the underwater photography and choreography are some of the best I've ever seen. Sorry to nitpick, but the obvious fakeness of the fins rather took away from the affect of their appearances. Other than that, I recommend the film. Even small kids could probably enjoy it, if they're not bothered by brief tasteful nudity.

It's not exactly like Anderson's story, but the spirit is there and they found the most PERFECT girl to play the Mermaid. Those familiar with Disney will want to bury your head in the sand, because it's on a different planet. I also love that they rated this G even though it has Nudity and violence. God bless the 70's...

The little mermaid is a tale from Hans Christian Anderson. The story is told to a girl in a coach. All the people in the coach play a role in the story.
Nice are the russian (not translated) songs. The underwater scenes are done well, considered that there was no computersimulation in the seventies.
The movie has a slight more happy ending than the original story. The little mermaid doesn't die but lives for ever as a dream.
I like this version better than the Chzech version from the same period.

This movie is totally bizarre...the Russian-to-English translation is probably not spot on but it sure is pretty to watch! I especially love the brief but awesome underwater scenes.

When I first saw a video using clips from this version of the little mermaid on youtube, I felt like I just HAD to see this movie. Despite the oldness and the sure to be cheesy effects, I was sure that I'd found a version of the little mermaid closer to Andersen's than Disney's.

So I ordered it and waited anxiously for it to come in. When it arrived, I must say I was a little stunned by the fact that the box was not in English. The dvd shown here says, in plain english "The little mermaid"; whereas not one word on the cover I got my dvd in was readable since it was all in what I can only assume is Russian. Thankfully the movie itself has an english dubbing, so I could understand to some extent what was going on.

It DID seem HOWEVER, as if much of the dubbing was overly simplfied. It seemed to me that the characters were saying a heck of a lot more than they felt the need to translate which was very annoying, since I was trying to follow the story and sort out, "okay, stupid guy, okay, good guy, okay, vilian" you know? Which is hard when you're only half sure what they mean to say even when it's in plain English. I saw a few clips on youtube of another version of dubbing of this film which seems preferable to the one on my dvd copy. In that version the songs are even translated, in this one they are not. Which was a real shame because there was this one song I really, really liked but it was only in Russian so I'm only vaguely aware of what it was about, though it seemed like an adorable little song.

-as for the movie itself-

What I liked: The little mermaid really looks like the little mermaid as Andersen himself might have dreamed her up. The actress they found to play her is very pretty. I think I would have liked it better if she had had blonde hair the whole time instead of green hair at first which she traded into the witch, but she looked like the little mermaid either way. The twist of having her be one of the same people in the carriage at the beginning of the story was also charming in a 'wizard of oz' sort of way. The addition of a man who really cares about the little mermaid unlike the dopey prince was a sweet plot-twist, and his ending seemed even more tradgic than that of the mermaid. The prince really is such an idiot in this version; he is so gullable he should be spoofed on saturday night live or something. LOL. I mean, you honestly believe the princess's horse was eaten by a shark when she raced down the cliffs into the water to rescue you? Seriously? Is that a joke? Anyway, moving on, there were a few other charming aspects of the movie, moments that were funny without making the characters seem like morons, though they were few and far between in some cases. And the song when the mermaid's being shown around the kingdom is the best part of the whole film; it's a pretty-sounding song, and the scene itself is rather adorable. The mermaid is handed different flowers, one made of wood, one of metal, one that is either paper or real (I'm not sure which it was), and the bit where she sees herself in the mirror and touches it like, "Is that really me?" was quite charming.

What I didn't like: This movie would have gotten four stars from me if only it had done one thing I was hoping so hard for it to do at the end. I wanted so, so, so badly for the guy in the coach who was protrayed by the same actor as the guy who gave up his life for the mermaid was, to be revealed as Hans Christian Andersen telling the story. I mean, he LOOKS sort of Andersen-ish (is that even a word?) and it IS his story, he's the one telling it, so why couldn't couldn't someone have at least said, "Oh, lovely story Mr. Andersen"? You know, or something like that. But, no, alas, it fades out. To me, he IS Andersen, the character can't be anyone else. But if it had really been him in the movie, I would have given the film an extra star just for that. The plot was too fast-paced, it made fox fantasy films seem like a turtle crawling along in comparison. And the witch's song was so dull and I really had no idea what it was even in there for. I honestly would have even taken, "Poor unfortunate souls" over that (not the jonas brother one, though!) any day.

Well that's it. That's what I think. Do I recomend the movie? Meh. Maybe if you're a fairytale freak like myself (I'm glad to have a copy of nearly any mermaid flick out there) you'd like it. Or if you speak Russian and are missing hearing your native tongue it might be endearing to you. Otherwise, as good as it looks, it's not that great. Trust me. Polar Bear King from the 1990s was better, at least that plot made SOME sense. THAT one I'd recomend in a heartbeat. If you want a more acurate version of the little mermaid, try "faerie tale theater" the mermaid in that, though very likable in her own way, is not quite so endearing as the green-haired/blonde imp in this one, but I swear the storyline is closer to Andersen's than this one or the disney film is.

On the whole I personally agree alot with "ceebcorry2"'s review. Unfortunately I dare say that, to a very minor extent, yes, Disney did in a way destroy the true meaning of the story by giving it a happy ending...but I will love Ariel 'till death, because it was she who gave life to the love I have for mermaids and this story. As for the Rusalochka version...well...I expected better. I do agree that the characters are very well put to give life to the characters. The Prince is handsome, true, and The Little Mermaid does have that unearthly mystical touch...but I'm very disappointed in how the story was completely disfigured from Hans Christian Andersen's original text! I didn't quite fancy the mermaids causing the Prince's shipwreck, nor the green hair exchange instead of the voice. As for the costuming...well, I agree 100% with the above-mentioned review...the fish-tails are extremely fake; but when one conciders how the movie was taken a while ago when effects weren't at their best, I suppose they would have to do. As for the scenery, though quite green and blue with very few (if any) colourful plantation, was not bad. Personally I am hoping one day I'll become a movie-maker (producer/director etc...), and am hoping in making the best (so far) adaptation of the original story in cinemas. I have already finished a great part of the costume designs ...we'll see in future...

Movie has English subtitle. The plot is different from Disney's version. Has sad ending.