Ursula the Sea Witch is a fictional character and the main antagonist from Walt Disney Pictures' 28th animated film The Little Mermaid (1989). She is voiced by Pat Carroll, who also provides her vocals for all the canonical animated media. Ursula is based on the "Sea witch/sorceress" character in Hans Christian Andersen's story "The Little Mermaid". In the original story the sea witch is a neutral enabler, but for Disney's adaptation, the character was modified into a full-fledged antagonist and plays a larger role in the overall story.

Development

The design of Ursula was based upon drag performer Divine.Pat Carroll was not Clements and Musker's first choice to voice Ursula; the original script had been written with Bea Arthur of the Disney-owned TV series The Golden Girls in mind. After Arthur turned the part down, actresses such as Nancy Marchand, Nancy Wilson, Roseanne Barr, Charlotte Rae, and Elaine Stritch were considered for the part. Stritch was eventually cast as Ursula, but clashed with Howard Ashman's style of music production and was replaced by Carroll. Caroll described the role as "part Shakespearean actress, with all the flair, flamboyance and theatricality, and part used-car salesman with a touch of con artist. Ruben Aquino served as the supervising animator for Ursula. Originally, Glen 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 and Professor Ratigan in The Great Mouse Detective.

"The Little Mermaid" is a fairy tale.

The Little Mermaid may also refer to:

Film, television, theatre

The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea is a 2000 Disney animated feature film and direct-to-video sequel to the 1989 animated film The Little Mermaid. Directed by Jim Kammerud and Brian Smith, the story takes place over a decade after the original film, and focuses on Ariel and Eric's daughter Melody, a human princess who longs to swim in the ocean despite her parents' law that the sea is forbidden to her. This sequel stars the voices of Jodi Benson as Ariel, Tara Charendoff as Melody and Pat Carroll as Morgana, the film's new villain. It is the last film in the chronology of Walt Disney's version of The Little Mermaid. It's followed by a prequel, The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning, a 2008 direct-to-video animated feature.

Plot

Ariel and Eric celebrate the birth of their newborn daughter Melody on a ship at sea. Ariel's father King Triton presents Melody with a magic locket. The party is interrupted by Morgana, sister of the deceased Ursula, who threatens to cause Melody harm, using her as leverage to get Triton's trident. Ariel and Eric work together to foil Morgana's plan.

The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning is a 2008 Disney animated fantasy feature film, and the direct-to-video prequel to the 1989 film The Little Mermaid. Directed by Peggy Holmes, the film's story is set before the events of the 1989 film and the 2000 sequel, where all music has been banned from the underwater kingdom of Atlantica by King Triton, and his youngest daughter Ariel attempts to challenge this law. The film features the voices of Jodi Benson, Samuel E. Wright, Sally Field, and Jim Cummings. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released the film on August 26, 2008. The film contradicts certain events of the television series, implying that it is an independent installment of Disney's The Little Mermaid franchise.

Plot

King Triton and his wife, Queen Athena, rule over the underwater kingdom of Atlantica, which is filled with music and laughter. They have seven young daughters, the youngest of whom is Ariel. The merfolk are shown relaxing in a lagoon above water, and Triton gives Athena a music box. Suddenly, a pirate ship approaches. Everyone escapes except Athena, who is crushed by the ship when she tries to save the music box. Devastated by the death of his wife, Triton throws the music box away and bans music from the kingdom.

"The Little Mermaid" (Danish: Den lille havfrue) is a fairy tale by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen about a young mermaid willing to give up her life in the sea and her identity as a mermaid to gain a human soul.

The tale was first published in 1837 and has been adapted to various media, including musical theatre and an animated film.

Summary

The Little Mermaid dwells in an underwater kingdom with her father (the sea king or mer-king), her dowager grandmother, and her five older sisters, each of whom had been born one year apart. When a mermaid turns 15, she is permitted to swim to the surface for the first time to glimpse the world above, and when the sisters become old enough, each of them visits the upper world one at a time every year. As each returns, the Little Mermaid listens longingly to their various descriptions of the world inhabited by human beings.

When the Little Mermaid's turn comes, she rises up to the surface, watches a birthday celebration being held on a ship in honor of a handsome prince, and falls in love with him from a safe distance. A violent storm hits, and the Little Mermaid saves the prince from drowning. She delivers him unconscious to the shore near a temple. Here, she waits until a young girl from the temple and her companions find him. To her dismay, the prince never sees the Little Mermaid or even realizes that it was she who had originally saved his life.

The Little Mermaid: Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack is the soundtrack to the 1989 Disney animated feature film, The Little Mermaid. It contains the songs from the film written by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, as well as the film's score composed by Alan Menken. The score was orchestrated by Thomas Pasatieri. The album received the Academy Award for Best Original Score and Best Original Song (for "Under the Sea"), and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score.

The soundtrack was first released by Walt Disney Records on October 13, 1989 on both CD and cassette tape. On November 22, 1994 the album was included in a four-disc box set entitled The Music Behind the Magic: The Musical Artistry of Alan Menken, Howard Ashman & Tim Rice. The box set included work tapes and demos intertwined into the finished original soundtrack. The soundtrack (without the demos and work tapes) was re-released with different artwork, on October 14, 1997 and it was released internationally on October 31, 2000 in a double pack with The Little Mermaid II soundtrack. On October 3, 2006, a new two-disc special edition version of the soundtrack was released to correspond with the two-disc Platinum Edition DVD release of The Little Mermaid. The first disc remains identical to the original release, yet with remastered audio, while the newly added second disc is composed of various newly recorded version of the film's songs by different artists, such as Ashley Tisdale, Raven-Symoné, The Jonas Brothers, and Jessica Simpson. It also included two music videos, as well as new cover art.The Legacy Collection: The Little Mermaid was released as a two-disc album on November 24, 2014, to coincide with the film's twenty-fifth anniversary.

The Little Mermaid is an action game developed by Capcom for the NES and Game Boy. It is a single player side-scrolling action game where you control Ariel on a quest to defeat the evil Ursula, the sea witch.

Gameplay

The game begins underwater, where Ariel can shoot bubbles to trap her foes and throw them. She can also dig through sand to find treasure and pick up sea shells to break open treasure chests. Treasure chests contain power-ups to increase her bubbles' power and range. Ariel can collect icons scattered throughout the levels to restore health, gain extra lives, or increase the range/power of her bubbles. The gameplay is similar to other Capcom games such as Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers and DuckTales.

When a stage begins, Ariel descends from the top of the screen to the recommended starting point in the NES version, but just starts out in the recommended position in the Game Boy version. The featured SFX are different in both versions. The start of the stage's BGM can be heard only once in the NES version; although the whole BGM can be repeated in the Game Boy version. The stage backgrounds were more restricted in the Game Boy version than in the NES version. When you lose a heart, the heart turns into a heart frame in the NES version, but disappears in the Game Boy version. The key scales of the Boss BGM are different in both versions. The BGM speed in the NES version is much faster than in the Game Boy version.