All Music Guide - William Ruhlmann No small part of the reversal of fortune enjoyed by the animated-film division of the Walt Disney company starting in the late 1980s and continuing through the '90s and into the 2000s was the decision to make movie musicals using proven writing and performing talents from the worlds of musical theater and, particularly, adult contemporary pop. The renaissance really started in 1989 with show music writers Alan Menken and Howard Ashman's music for The Little Mermaid, which resulted not only in a box-office hit, but also a multi-platinum soundtrack. An important next step occurred with Menken and Ashman's Beauty and the Beast 1991 -- the title song sung by Celine Dion ...