National Film Vault
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FILM NOTES
Walt Disney Animation Studios released Lilo & Stitch in June 2002, a film that marked a deliberate return to smaller, character-driven storytelling after the studio's ambitious late-nineties epics. The promotional trailer drew on Disney's legacy by featuring cameos from beloved animated heroines, a clever marketing strategy that connected the irreverent new film to the studio's classic canon.
This cell, titled Ariel, captures the Little Mermaid in a sustained moment from that trailer sequence — reclining on a rock against an open blue sky, red hair fanned outward, her tail just visible at the frame's edge, expression caught between wonder and song. Three frames from the same continuous shot offer a rare, unhurried look at one of Disney's most recognized figures.