MovieChat Forums > FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992) Discussion > Similarities with Little Mermaid etc...

Similarities with Little Mermaid etc...

posted 14 years ago by snorlaxjen
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I was 10 when this came out, and i remember at the time thinking it was like the little memaid (disney) - obviously she's not a mermaid(!) but the way it is animated, little mannerisms, and looks that Crysta has (her sad looks)

Watched it recently, 18 years on - and I still notice them! :)

Theres a big lizard at the start of the movie that sings and almost eats the human (zak) - it's face looks exactly like flotsum/jetsum in TLM

Crysta's fascinaction with humans is like Ariels

The Evil Hexxus is similar to Ursula, after singing the acid rain song, when coming up as a large puff of smoke with a deep voice. At the end when he becomes bigger and stronger, is like how Ursula becomes larger and stronger at the end too...

When Zac/Crysta swim in the water, Crysta has the same mannerisms as Ariel in the water.. when the camera angle spins before they kiss, it's like the spinning in the 'Kiss the girl' (TLM) sequence..

The way the fairies all flock together (they look like fireflies) to the big tree, looks like the opening of TLM where the mermaids swim in to hear the concert ..

There's also similarities with Aladdin of course, with Robin Williams and also Crysta's father is the same actor/character look of Jasmine's father.

I just think that most animated movies borrow animation styles etc from other successful animated movies - either to get a sense of familiarity or just have a success like it's predecessors

sidenote - if it's set in Australia, and Zak has an Australian driving licence, why does he sound American (and says don't have a cow!)

However, all that being said, still a good kids movie ! Brings back loads of memories for me! :)

[–] Definition00 14 years ago

I just watched this for the first time in like 15 years and the similarities were striking. It really seems, that 20th Century Fox wanted to capture some of the success from The Little Mermaid and Aladin (even thought this came out the same year so this could be inaccurate).

But in the first few scenes of the movie, Crysta seemed to be very Ariel-ish. She looked like her, was animated like her, spoke like her etc. She flies above the canopy, she's fascinated with the world beyond. Just like Ariel isn't allowed to go up to the surface, neither is Crysta.

The bat seems at several times to just be a reincarnation of Genie from Robin Williams, when he rambles on and references modern things. And Crysta's dad looks like the Sultan.

[–] Adrie_Rse 14 years ago

"It really seems, that 20th Century Fox wanted to capture some of the success from The Little Mermaid and Aladin (even thought this came out the same year so this could be inaccurate)."

Yes, it is very inaccurate, considering "FernGully" was released first in April of 1992 and "Aladdin" wasn't released until late November.

I'm not sure why the character of Crysta's father and Jasmine's father look so alike, but I doubt Twentieth Century Fox and Disney were copying character designs, so I'm just going to leave it at that.

Batty can't be a "reincarnation" of the Genie because FernGully did come out first. But I don't feel comfortable saying that the Genie was a rip-off of Batty because, honestly, Robin Williams' comedic characters are all very similar. It's just the voice actor's style, not an attempt at plagiarism or copying success.

I think this whole theory is a little far-reaching in total. I mean, yes, Hexxus grows large at the end like Ursula, but that's the character design, due to pollution, he grows large. It's silly to say that no other movie should be able to have a super-sized complex. Even more silly is to say that just because fairies all gather together in a tree, that that's reminiscent of the mermaids all congregating for Tritan's big concert.

Basically, I think you guys are thinking about this too hard. FernGully couldn't have copied off of Aladdin, as it was released several months prior, and it wasn't he first or last movie in the 90's to have a character longing for more, looking to go outside of her own world or was fascinated with a mythical creature (which just happened to be humans.)

I just re-watched this movie today and was struck by how Crysta did sound like Ariel and how much the father looked like the Sultan, but I think the most that I can chalk this up to is a bunch of coincidences. :)