CUTE `LITTLE MERMAID' RESURFACES.

Byline: Jay Boyar The Orlando Sentinel 

Back in theaters today - for 17 days only - is ``The Little Mermaid,'' the fun-and-fin-filled feature-length Disney cartoon that revitalized the studio's animation department.

The 1989 classic tells the story of Ariel, 16-year-old mermaid princess whose keen interest in the surface world becomes an obsession when she falls in love with a human prince.

This doesn't sit well with her father, an aquatic monarch called Triton. So the sea king dispatches a crab named Sebastian to keep an eye on the royal daughter.

``Teen-agers!'' crabs the crab to his king. ``They think they know everything! You give them an inch and they swim all over you!''

In adapting this animated film from Hans Christian Andersen's sad and beautiful fairy tale, writer/directors John Musker and Ron Clements came up with a bright and perky movie.

Sebastian (the voice of Samuel E. Wright) may not appear in Andersen's story, but with his pessimistic nature and musical flair, he's a great character. And he also has such marvelous songs as the Oscar-winning `Under the Sea,'' with its lively calypso rhythms, and the romantic ``Kiss the Girl.''

Ariel (Jodi Benson) is sympathetic and, in her little bikini top, rather sexy. But her big Bambi eyes are a bit much. (Frankly, they were a bit much on Bambi.) As for the prince (Christopher Daniel Barnes) and King Triton (Kenneth Mars), they're stock characters.

A total success is the evil sea witch, Ursula (Pat Carroll). Although somewhat similar to other Disney villains, her slimy octopus tentacles and garish Tammy Faye makeup suggest a flamboyant creepiness all her own.

Ursula also has one of the film's better songs. ``Poor Souls,'' her playfully macabre ditty, may remind you of the music in ``Little Shop of Horrors'' (1986). As a matter of fact, all the songs in the Oscar-winning score were written by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, the team from ``Little Shop of Horrors'' that went on to make ``Aladdin'' and ``Beauty and the Beast'' for the Mouse.

``The Little Mermaid'' was the first traditional fairy-tale film released by Disney since ``Sleeping Beauty,'' 30 years earlier. And thanks largely to the undersea setting, it has a distinctive fish-and-foam look. As Sebastian says:

``Darling, it's better, down where it's wetter, take it from me.''

THE FACTS

The film: ``The Little Mermaid'' (G).

The stars: Rene Auberjonois, Buddy Hackett, Jodi Benson, and Pat Carroll.

Behind the scenes: Written and directed by John Musker and Ron Clements. Release by Walt Disney Pictures.

Running time: One hour and 22 minutes.

Playing: Citywide.

Our rating: Four Stars.

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Photo

Photo: Ariel the mermaid and Sebastian the crab revived the tradition of Disney animated films with the success of 1989's ``The Little Mermaid,'' which is being re-released in theaters.