The heart of the story itself is beyond words (maybe because the first 30-40 minutes of the film use maybe a dozen words in all).

But here are some of the thoughts buzzing in my head...

1. Cross Charlie Chaplin, 2001 A Space Odyssey, and the all around magic of your favorite Pixar film. Then start multiplying. That's just a taste.

2. Best Love Story.... Ever.

3. Wave at Wall*E!

4. Pixar's latest entry shows why, in the world of movies, (not just animated movies... *all* movies), the best of the rest of the movie houses are still just the rest.

5. Cockroaches can be CUTE? Cockroaches CAN be cute.

6. And the Oscar for Best Picture goes to....

So just go see it, already.
Take your sweetheart, if you've got one, and keep your hand nearest her free. You just might find yourself wanting to reach over and hold her hand.

A few weeks ago, we went to the first public showing of Disney's newest broadway-bound show - The Little Mermaid.
If you'r not familiar with the process of getting a show to Broadway, Being the first preview in the "out of town tryouts" in Denver, the show is not yet "complete" or at its peak... the actors are still figuring out the roles, and the show itself is likely to be tweaked before both the official opening night in Denver, and then probably even more before it actually officially opens on Broadway (in November)

So give some leeway for all that as you read this review. I have left off a star because there is definitely some work to do - but from what we saw, I think it's likely they'll reach that 5th star by opening night. (Maybe not quite as awesome as Beauty and the Beast or the Lion King on Broadway, but still pretty darn awesome).

That said, here are my notes on the show:

The downs:
--A few of the numbers didn’t quite flow—but I guess that’s the sort of thing these tryouts exist to figure out.
--Triton, Ariel's father, was bland bland bland -- not sure if it was the writing or the actor (probably some of both)
--Sebastian was pretty weak in the first act. (just the actor. The role was well-written.)

The middlings:
-Ariels’ sisters had a number (at the spot in the movie when they are all sitting around deciding Ariel must be in love…). Some of the sisters were a hoot, and their voices were great… but the number jsut didn't quite seem to fit into the flow.
-"Under the Sea" was neat, but not as showstoppingly awesome as it should have been.
-Some of the old songs from the movie were performed a little too exactly like the movie, and just didn’t feel like the actors or the show has made them their own yet.
- Flounder (played by a kid) was good, but hasn’t quite found his niche..

The good:
-Costumes were imaginative and well-executed.
(the mermaids had their tails sticking out behind them, with matching skirts covering their legs. Tough to describe, but it really worked; to make the swimming/gliding effects, most of the undersea characters were on shoes with wheels (think like those “Heelies” sneakers. It worked really well. )
-Sets were fairly simple, but in the same way a Vera Wang dress is simple… they were just incredible (they have these shims of a plasticy watery-looking substance they’d bring up and down that really worked well – Apparently they actually worked with 3M to develop a new material just for the show to have all the properties they wanted. And the ship was this whimsical thing that came down from above, as the water moved down… very cool.)
-The actors playing Ariel and Ursula were incredible. So were Eric, Grimsby, Carlotta, Flotsam & Jetsam, & Scuttle…. And Sebastian warmed up by the second half (and may have had some mike adjustments) and then was awesome.
-Additions to the story and some of the new songs and edits of existing songs were really good. (Eric got fleshed out a little more, the search for the Voice became a singing contest to try to find the girl… And in this version, he chooses Ariel anyway *before* he knows she is the voice (even after he hears the voice coming from somewhere else, he decides to stick with Ariel.)
-Scuttle and his backup gulls were hilarious.
-Kiss the Girl was every bit as showstoppingly awesome as it should have been.
-The cast was largely race-neutral in a way that really worked. (the sisters were a mix, Triton was black, they have 2 flounders thay play alternate nights, and one’s very black and one’s very white.)
The Little Mermaid is not one of my husband's favorite Disney movies anyway, so he was just kind of eh. But allowing for it being their first performance for an audience, it was pretty awesome. I’ll have to see it again someday, maybe when it goes on tour, or if we ever make it to New York, to see how they tweak it.

I think most of you ladies will agree with me that these days, a lady has got to kiss a lot of frogs before she finds her Prince. (I had my small share...)   And to think, Disney announced just a couple years ago that they were dumping the old-fashioned hand-drawn style animation for good, in favor of digital methods.  Maybe Disney really is going to get back to its old magical ways now that Eisner's gone?  The following is from CNN.com....

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AP) -- The Walt Disney Co. has started production on an animated musical fairy tale called "The Frog Princess," which will be set in New Orleans and feature the Walt Disney Studio's first black princess.

The company unveiled the plans at its annual shareholders' meeting in New Orleans.

John Lasseter, chief creative officer for Disney and the Disney-owned unit Pixar Animation Studios, said the movie would return to the classic hand-drawn animation process, instead of using computer animation that has become the industry standard. He called the film "an American fairy tale."

"The film's New Orleans setting and strong princess character give the film lots of excitement and texture," Walt Disney Studios Chairman Dick Cook said.

The movie will be scored by Randy Newman, who also wrote the music for Disney's "Toy Story," "A Bug's Life," "Toy Story 2," "Monsters, Inc." and "Cars."

Newman performed a song from the score for the shareholders.

John Musker and Ron Clements, who co-directed "The Little Mermaid," "Aladdin," and "Hercules" will co-direct the movie. The pair also wrote the story for the film.

Disney said its new animated princess -- Maddy -- will be added to its collection of animated princesses used at the company's theme parks and on consumer products.

The film is set for release in 2009.

Last time I saw this movie in the theater, it was 13 years ago with over a dozen dorm-mates, all piled into my Puke green '79 Chrysler Newport... and it was every bit as great as I remember it on the big screen.. and even better with the 3-D. I was a little worried, as I sometimes have trouble with 3-D movies. (I'm also one of those people who could rarely see the image in those posters everyone used to have in the 90's, where 3D images were supposed to "pop" out if you just looked at it right)... But I had no troubles at all with this, and it looked amazing. And the story and animation themselves were of course as good as ever. Worth even the extra 1.50 they tacked on to the regular movie price.... (though I'm taking a star off for the extra cost - movies are expensive enough!)