Poor Unfortunate Souls · 6:48pm Jul 15th, 2014

Honestly, I have no idea why people like this song, or how this ieven works, so lets get right into it and talk about why this is the worst Disney Vilian Song I think I've ever heard.

The Musical Aspect

Okay, I will admit I like the first part of it musically. The slow beginning, the sultry tone, it actually sounds like someone trying to convince someone else. It is pleasing to the ear, although a little slow and lacking much orchestral accompaniment, which is odd since once she starts to sing again in the song, I despise it. I think it mainly goes to the voice. The voice is okay in the first part, but then it turns into almost a shrill mocking speaking voice instead of a singing voice. The musical accompaniment adds energy, but I can't get past the fact that she is pretty much speaking and mocking the whole thing she is doing! So yeah, a weak song in my opinion, but that is not why I despise this song.

The Scene

As some of you might know, I have attempted to write a scheming manipulative character recently, so it became horrendously apparent that Ariel wouldn't, nor should not take the deal. During the whole sequence she smiles twice! That is bad. Ursula never convinces her that she is any sort of good woman, nor shows much kindness in her worries. She plays herself up at the beginning, attempting to win Ariel over to possibly befriend her, not to like the deal! Why is this such a catastrophic problem?

Well when presented with the deal, Ursula never lets her speak until she gets to voice her worry about her family, and that is it. Ursula doesn't convince her that her family is why she has lost so much or anything like that, it transitions to the real price, which is bad tactics. You don't lay on bad part after bad part, you have to offer real incentive, an actual reason to say yes. It almost feels like Ariel is one of those HiE characters who says "F*** my world, this is so much better even though I have experienced none of it!"

The ending even sounds like Ursula is straight up insulting her, like she has already signed the contract and that we're done here. She says she has her now, and all I can think about is the fact that Ariel looks straight up terrified at that point. She isn't hopeful, she isn't happy, she is scared of Ursula. In fact, I bet she signed just so she could get the heck out of there, which is bad because she knows if she fails she will be around this woman for the rest of her life. This is never addressed and that is just wrong.

Overall, this song and the scene that accompanies it make absolutely no sense, which is an extra special sin seeing as it is the crux for the rest of the

Story

This scene sets up the rest of the movie! If this deal fails we don't get the rest of the movie, we just watch Ariel moping, with possibly Ursula attempting to convince Ariel to take the deal again. Since I can't believe in the deal, or the fact that Ariel has any reason to trust Ursula, something you need to make this big commitment seeing as it is literally love or DEATH This is so bad that it is on the same levels of complete stupidity as the parents at the beginning of Frozen. Without the script telling her to, Ariel shouldn't have taken the deal, and the movie would have had to find a different route to go.

Final Thoughts

This movie is still good, and I'm with Nostalgia Critic that some of the best parts come from her on land. However, this scene, when examined by itself is terrible, and when examined with the rest of the movie, is a criminal sin. So instead of dwelling on this, why don't you meet me under the sea?