Disney "downsizes" mermaid in cartoon short

[Guest MarvinisaLunatic]

Article, with pic of Original Mermaid

 

Something strange is abreast with Knickknack, the critically acclaimed 1989 short that precedes Disney/Pixar's Finding Nemo at theaters nationwide.

 

In the 1989 Knickknack short, this little mermaid wore starfish as pasties. 

 

The short follows the hapless attempts of a lonely snow-globe snowman to escape his domain and join a plastic Miami beach bunny. The movie was released on a G-rated 1996 video collection called Tiny Toy Stories. But in that version, the Miami beauty and a mermaid who appears at the end of the short were more well-endowed than they are today.

 

"In the original, the girls have breasts the size of large grapefruit," says animation fan Raymond Tucker of Greensboro, N.C. "In the new version, the breasts just aren't there."

 

Though Disney and Pixar aren't talking, fans say the reduction reduces the humor of the short.

 

Paul Poroshin, 23, an animation buff from Old Bridge, N.J., suspects the women were deflated to make the short more politically correct.

 

"It can be argued that this breast removal does nothing to the story or that it's just some sexual male thing, but to me it's all about intent and the vision of an artist," Poroshin says. "The snowman is after a large-breasted girl. His facial expressions tell it all, especially when, in the end, he dunks in the fish tank and gets trapped again."

 

Ok, well I can understand this from a movie/cartoon buff perspective, but I must say I find it amusing that they have nothing better to do than criticize Disney for making a mermaid's breasts smaller for a showing before a cartoon that was mass marketed, mainly to kids (but arguably adults like it as well, but its still a kids movie). This really shouldn't be such a shock to anyone anyway, and I think that there would probably be more of an outrage from parents who took their kids to see the movie if the mermaid was left untouched...

[Guest caboose]

The world has gone mad.