How The Little Mermaid Creative Team Chose Where To Add New Songs
This piece contains minor plot details for "The Little Mermaid," which will be familiar to anyone who has seen the original movie. But here's a warning about it nonetheless!
1989's "The Little Mermaid" is truly one of the defining animated films in Disney's long, storied history. It's a classic that resonates to this day, which is why it's getting a live-action remake from director Rob Marshall later this month. A big part of what helps make the original such an enduring classic is the music. The remake does have some new songs in it, and our new, modern Prince Eric even gets to sing one. As for how the filmmakers chose where and when to add those new songs? It all came down to character.
/Film's own Jenna Busch recently attended a press conference with the filmmakers behind the live-action "The Little Mermaid." In discussing the new songs, returning composer Alan Menken described it as a "group process" between himself, Marshall, writers David Magee and John DeLuca, and producer/songwriter Lin-Manuel Miranda. Speaking specifically about Eric's song, Menken had the following to say:
"We went through how the story's being adapted by David, and how the structure is, and where are the potential spots. So it's simply as simple as that. And those decisions are made, first of all, by character, by moment, but also by the sequence of a score and what's needed at a certain moment. So, we chose the moment when Prince Eric, he's been told, 'Don't go back out there, you can't,' and he just thinks about this girl. It's a love song to her and it's a love song to the sea. And to his unchartered water, so his life ahead of him. It ends up being a really important theme throughout the movie."
It's not just Eric who gets to take the musical spotlight this time around. Halle Baily's Ariel also gets more than "Part of Your World" in the remake.
Adding to an absolute classic
Collaboration was key in all of this. Creating new songs that can live alongside songs as iconic as "Kiss the Girl" is no easy task. Speaking a bit further about how they approached giving Ariel another song in the film, DeLuca has this to say:
"It's surprising when you think about it, in the animated film, Ariel had one song. A series of reprises, but one song. The great thing about working with Alan is that he's so open to looking at this ... He knew this was a different genre, we're doing a live-action film. How are we going to approach this? We said, 'Can we find another place for Ariel?'"
Getting around Ariel not technically being able to sing after she arrives on land was another challenge, but that's certainly part of where movie magic comes into play. After all, we are dealing with a movie about a mermaid and talking fish. Certainly, there's a way to get a mute girl to sing a bit more. DeLuca further elaborated:
"The challenging thing was that, of course, she had lost her voice. But we realized, obviously in film, you can create something where you're hearing the internal thoughts through music, through song. That was sort of the key for us to find this piece for her. Also, it accomplished a lot for us too, because it's a montage of all her time on land until she meets the Prince for the first time. So, it helped us in so many ways. It was wonderful to have that collaboration."
"The Little Mermaid" splashes into theaters on May 26, 2023.