The Little Mermaid (1989 film/My Version)

The Little Mermaid is a 1989 American animated musical comedy romance fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation, Carolco Pictures and Amblin Entertainment. It was first released on November 17, 1989 by Walt Disney Pictures, but returned to theaters on November 14, 1997. The 28th animated feature in the Disney Animated Canon and the first to be released during the Disney Renaissance, the film is loosely based upon the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale of the same name. It was written and directed by Ron Clements and John Musker and it also marked the 35th anniversary of Disneyland one year after it was released.

The story centers a young mermaid named Ariel, who is captivated by the world upon the surface. When she falls in love with a human prince named Eric, she makes a deal with a villainous sea witch named Ursula to become human, herself, and must earn his love before the agreed time runs out.

The Little Mermaid was an unmitigated success for the studio, being praised for its animation, storytelling, and music by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken. The movie grossed over $100 million at the US box office upon its initial release, and won two Academy Awards for Best Song ("Under the Sea") and Best Original Music Score. It is credited as the film to have started the historic Disney Renaissance, an era that had breathed life back into the animated feature film medium after a string of competent, but only inexpensive successful animated films such as The Aristocats, The Rescuers, and The Great Mouse Detective.

Following the success of The Little Mermaid, it spawned two direct-to-video sequels (The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea and The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning) and an animated television series that ran from 1992 to 1994. A decade after the film's release, Ariel would be inaugurated into the Disney Princess media line, while Ursula would appear as a staple character in the Disney Villains franchise. in 2007, a stage adaptation of the film made its Broadway debut. A live-action reimagining based on the 1989 animation, and featuring the music of Alan Menken and Lin-Manuel Miranda, was released on May 26, 2023.

In 2022, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry, by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

With a budget of $40 million, the film grossed in 1989 +$211 million at the box-office. Adjusted for the inflation, as of 2023 the film grossed $550 million ca..