Not undermining or taking anything away from the animated version I enjoyed as well; this version I found myself enjoying much more and I thought it was a masterpiece of true beauty mainly; because of the absence of prejudice amoung the obvious ethic and cultural diversity. There were not groups of "A people" they were one. It is unfortunate that life does not imitate Art, this version of the little mermaid (while perhaps not popular to some because of this reason) is precisely the reason I found it such a beautiful piece of work!