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Around these mismatched romancers, writer-directors John Musker and Ron Clements have assembled enough entertaining creatures to stock a theme park. Sebastian the crab (voiced by Samuel E. Wright) is a Caribbean Jiminy Cricket, fussing avuncularly over Ariel but bound to break into calypso croon. Louis the French chef (Rene Auberjonois) brings sadistic elan to his dicing, flaying and serving of les poissons. Ursula (Pat Carroll) the sea witch is a fat, shimmying squid with malefic revenge in mind -- the sort of Disney horror queen who has given kids nightmares for a half-century. All these characters are given witty, hummable pop songs by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken (the Little Shop of Horrors team), a reminder that the Hollywood cartoon has become the last, best refuge of the Broadway musical.
The film's vocal, musical and painterly talents mesh ecstatically in the big water-ballet production number Under the Sea. As Sebastian limns the aquatic virtues, a Noah's aquarium of sea creatures animates a joyous Busby Berkeley palette. If ever a cartoon earned a standing ovation in mid-film, this would be it. But the whole movie is canny magic. For 82 minutes, The Little Mermaid reclaims the movie house as a dream palace and the big screen as a window into enchantment. Live-action filmmakers, see this and try to top it. Go on and try.