Here's some videos I found on YouTube to inspire the animators (including myself).
The master Glen Keene at work, giving a lecture at CalArts. More Parts on YouTube.
Here's a lip-sync test by a guy who worked on that "Pyrats" film.
This kind of level of work I think is obtainable. By the way this is not from "The Little Mermaid", some colleges make you animate a known character to test your drawing skills.
This is of course an expert level of quality using a very simple character. It's Tony White's Film "Endangered Species".
To inspire me into creating a new idea for the ending, I decided to watch some Tom and Jerry cartoons. I felt that this type of humour was perfect was big, funny but not gross. Specific cartoons are like "Bowling Alley Cat" and "Mouse Trouble".