Is There a Moral to Disney's "The Little Mermaid"?

At the risk of sounding completely creepy discussing a Disney princess movie that’s older than I am, this has really bothered me for the past couple of years: What exactly is the moral of “The Little Mermaid”?

I was born in the very beginning of the Disney Renaissance, and I grew up watching and rewatching and watching again classics such as “The Lion King,” “Aladdin,” and later installment “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.”  Hell, even “Beauty and the Beast” is pretty awesome since its male protagonist is a werewolf, and Detective Lenny Briscow from beloved crime drama “Law and Order” sings the best musical number as a CANDLE (RIP Jerry Orbach).  But I’m sorry, everything about “The Little Mermaid” makes no sense to me, for several reasons:

What Can Your 21 Minute Comedy Do for You?

Chevy Chase geeking out on NBC's "Community"

The half hour comedy is probably the hardest endeavor for modern day television.   With only 21 minutes (can’t forget about those commercials now, can we), writers have to have some solid character development, great storylines, and most importantly, some really funny ideas to keep audiences even somewhat interested.  In the even larger scheme of things, seasons of these comedies need to stay fresh so that viewers don’t feel like they’re watching the same thing every time.  You’ve got sitcoms with laugh tracks, screwball workplace comedies, and of course, the animated raunch-fest.  There are millions of different kinds of comedies, while only a few really succeed long-term. Putting aside the classics like MASH and Happy Days, let’s look for a second at two shows that are on right now: How I Met Your Mother and Community.  They represent vastly different stages in a comedy’s life and how show creators can either completely fail or brilliantly prevail.

Are 30 Second TV Spots Enough?

There were plenty of summer blockbuster spots during the broadcast of the Super Bowl on Fox, but which ones were the best? Perhaps even more importantly, was there enough time in the teasers to make a valid judgment call?

These questions also play into the recent overwhelming trend of reboots, sequels and superhero movies.  About half of the trailers fit into one of those categories, and most of them, in my opinion, looked pretty weak.  While not even dignifying Justin Bieber with commentary on his “movie,” there were some spots that looked just as bad.  For instance, it seems like children will have slim pickings for decent animated movies this year.  I really wasn’t impressed with the first Kung Fu Panda anyway, so having them come back for another is a perfect example of a studio milking a somewhat successful film for all its worth (also, it has possibly the worst subtitle for a movie ever— “The Kaboom of Doom”? Really Dreamworks?).  Rio looks equally as bad; it’s sad to see Jesse Eisenberg come off The Social Network to have this probable dud being one of his next projects.  And I’m tired of seeing George Lopez try and be funny during commercials when I’m trying to watch Conan, so I don’t think listening to his voice for an hour and a half will change my opinion of him.