Original hand painted production animation cels of Ariel and Sebastian on a lithographic background from "The Little Mermaid," 1989, Walt Disney Studios; With Walt Disney Certificate; Disney seal lower right; Production numbers in ink bottom right; Size - Ariel & Sebastian: 4 3/4 x 5 1/4", Image 7 x 13"; Unframed.
"The Little Mermaid," is an American animated musical fantasy film and the 28th film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. It was produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures to theaters on November 17, 1989. The film was based on the Danish fairy tale of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen, which tells the story of a beautiful mermaid princess who dreams of becoming human. The film was written, directed, and produced by Ron Clements and John Musker; with music by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman. The voice cast includes: Jodi Benson, Christopher Daniel Barnes, Pat Carroll, Samuel E. Wright, Jason Marin, Kenneth Mars, Buddy Hackett, and René Auberjonois.
There was more money and resources dedicated by the Walt Disney Studios to "The Little Mermaid" than any other Disney animated film in decades. Aside from its main animation facility in Glendale, California; Disney opened a satellite feature animation facility in Lake Buena Vista, Florida that was within the Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park at Walt Disney World. Their first projects were to produce an entire Roger Rabbit cartoon short, "Roller Coaster Rabbit," and to contribute ink and paint support to "The Little Mermaid." Another first for Disney films of recent years, was the filming of live actors and actresses for motion reference material for the animators. Broadway actress Jodi Benson (who was predominantly a stage actress when she was cast) was chosen to play Ariel, and Sherri Lynn Stoner, a former member of Los Angeles' Groundlings improvisation comedy group, acted out Ariel's key scenes.
The Little Mermaid's supervising animators included Glen Keane and Mark Henn on Ariel, Duncan Marjoribanks on Sebastian, Andreas Deja on King Triton, and Ruben Aquino on Ursula. Originally, Keane had been asked to work on Ursula, as he had established a reputation for drawing large powerful figures, such as the bear in "The Fox and the Hound," 1981 and Professor Ratigan in "The Great Mouse Detective," 1986. Keane however, was assigned as one of the two lead artists on the petite Ariel and oversaw the "Part of Your World" musical number. He jokingly stated that his wife looks exactly like Ariel "without the fins." The character's body type and personality were based upon that of Alyssa Milano, who was starring on TV's "Who's the Boss?". The effect of Ariel's hair underwater was based on footage of Sally Ride when she was in space; and scenes of Sherri Lynn Stoner in a swimming pool were used in animating Ariel's swimming. A challenge in animating Ariel were the colors required to show her in various changing environments, both under the sea and on land. By the end of the film, the animators required a total of 32-color models; not including costume changes. The sea-green color of her fin was a hue specially mixed by the Disney paint lab, and the color was named "Ariel" after the character.
Sebastian is a red Jamaican crab and is one of the major characters of the film. He is the "distinguished" court composer for King Triton, and is regularly asked to watch over his youngest daughter, Princess Ariel. Sebastian was voiced by Samuel E. Wright and Sebastian's line "Teenagers, they think they know everything. You give them an inch, they swim all over you!" was ad-libbed by Wright. Sebastian was animated by Duncan Marjoribanks, Tom Sito, and Will Finn; and the animators drew inspiration for the character from the American entertainer Sammy Davis Jr.
This is an absolutely beautiful cel of Ariel and Sebastian. Ariel is eyes open, smiling, and holding Sebastian in her hands. The cels are from the scene when Ariel as just been transformed into a human, gaining her legs after signing a contract with Ursula the Sea Witch, and sacrificing her voice for her quest for true love.
Sebastian's dialog for this cel setup is below:
"And she's only got three days. Just look at her. On legs. On human legs! My nerves are shot. This is a catastrophe! What her father say? I'll tell you what her father'd say, he'd say he's gonna kill himself a crab, that's what her father'd say! I'm gonna march meself straight home right now and tell him just like I shoulda done de minute - (Ariel grabs him.)... and don't you shake your head at me, young lady. Maybe there's still time. If we could get that witch to give you back your voice, you could go hone with all the normal fish, and just be... just be... just be miserable for the rest of your life. All right, all right. I'll try to help you find that prince. Boy. What a soft-shell I'm turning out to be."
A wonderful piece of animation art from the last Walt Disney feature film that utilized hand painted cels, and from a great pivotal scene in the film. A wonderful addition to any animation art collection!
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