Movie Musings: Disney and More

From The Little Mermaid to Moana

I have written often in this blog about how “big hit” Disney movies which achieve great fame for its participants, are often connected by those participants (i.e., directors, writers and voice actors) to many other great movies…and the trial often leads right to Broadway. The Little Mermaid (1989) is one such movie hit. In an earlier blog we talked about Ben Wright (voice of Grimsby). Here are some more interesting “Mermaid” connections…

Jodi Benson, who provided the voice for Ariel in The Little Mermaid (1989), also provided the voice of Barbie in Toy Story 2 (1999), Toy Story 3 (2010), and Hawaiian Vacation (Toy Story Toon Shorts (2011)). She was also the voice of Weebo in Flubber (1997), Lady in the direct-to-video sequel, Lady and the Tramp 2: Scamp’s Adventure (2001), and Anita in the direct-to-video sequel, 101 Dalmatians 2: Patch’s London Adventure (2003). She reprised the role of Ariel for the direct-to-video sequels, The Little Mermaid 2: Return to the Sea (2000) and The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning (2008). Besides those, she played Sam, Patrick Dempsey's secretary in Enchanted (2007). Before lending her voice to “Mermaid” Benson had previously starred in a Broadway show entitled Smile, featuring the lyrics of Howard Ashman, who would ultimately go on to write the lyrics for “Mermaid,” as well as recommend her for the role of Ariel. She received a Tony Award Nomination for originating the role of Polly Baker on Broadway in the musical, Crazy For You. In 1989 (the same year as “Mermaid”) she appeared in another Broadway musical entitled Welcome to the Club, opposite Samuel E. Wright.   

Samuel E. Wright voiced Sebastian in The Little Mermaid (1989), and Kron in Dinosaur (2000) and received a Tony Award Nomination for originating role of Mufasa in The Lion King on Broadway in 1997. He reprised his role of Sebastian for both of the “Mermaid” direct-to-video sequels.

John Musker and Ron Clements co-wrote and co-directed “Mermaid” and a number of the studio’s other treasured films. They wrote and directed The Great Mouse Detective (1986) with Burny Mattinson and David Michener and they made additional story contributions to The Black Cauldron (1985). Since then, they have written and directed Aladdin (1992), Hercules (1997), Treasure Planet (2002), and The Princess and the Frog (2009), and received 2 Best Animated Feature Academy Award Nominations for “Planet” and “Princess/Frog.” 

The same team has a brand new animated movie-musical in the works for the studio, entitled Moana (2016), which will be released on November 23, 2016. It’s a story a young teenager who teams up with a mythological being, Maui, for a sea expedition. The film will feature the music and lyrics of Tony-Award-Winner Lin Manuel-Miranda (of Broadway’s In the Heights and Hamilton) as well as the voice talents of newcomer Auli’i Cravalho as Moana and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as Maui.