Tirades of Truth: The Little Mermaid - Ariel's Beginning

Ok, so let's take a look at the sequel to The Little Mermaid 2 (LM2), The Little Mermaid - Ariel's Beginning. Now you can read about the first horrible sequel HERE. I don't want to bring it up too often, but unfortunately I think I will have to.

This movie takes place before the first movie and tries to explain a few things about Atlantica and Ariel's early years. It's kind of funny that in all 3 movies Ariel looks the same.

So the movie starts off and Ariel looks to be around 4-5 years old and we see Ariel's mom for the first time. The mer-people hang out on the surface, which if you watched the first movie is forbidden. Well, it doesn't take long into the flashback to see why King Triton doesn't like humans and thinks the surface is dangerous. Ariel's mom is killed by pirates. This is when I knew I was in for a good movie. The fact that they were willing to just put it out there in the first 5 minutes...amazing.

Actually, I knew I was in for a better movie when I saw the animation. As we all know the LM2 animation was just pitiful. Right away you can see a difference. Let's take a look at an actual screen shot from the LM2.

That's the actual artwork...it just sucks. So here are some shots from Ariel's Beginning;
See a difference? I can. The animation in this movie is great for a non-theatrical release. The best movie I can compare it to is Tarzan. The way the computer generated backgrounds are used are identical in this release. Watch this clip from Tarzan, pay attention to the tree scenes and the fluid motion used.


Now watch this clip (around minute 7) for the swimming effect used with Ariel as she swims. It really is beautiful.

Some other things that I noticed was the songs were much better. The first song we hear is the villain's. Marina Del Ray performs a song worthy to match Ursula's Poor Unfortunate Souls. It's funny, catchy, and everything that LM2 couldn't do.

A little fun fact, when she is trying on the different outfits at the end of the song, one of the outfits is an early design for Ursula. Nice huh?

Ariel's main song can't compare with anything from the original, but it does hold it's own. I Remember is about her mom and Jodi Benson does an excellent job of creating a powerful song and beautiful atmosphere for the movie. The last few notes rank up there with Part of Your World.


Like Ariel, Sebastian gets a new song. Now it definitely doesn't come close to Kiss the Girl or Under the Sea, but like Marina Del Ray's it is catchy. And they do a wonderful job of "hamming" up Sebastian's personality within the song.


The other thing that I noticed right away and loved was the little tribute to the original movie. After Ariel saves Eric, she sings a little bit and the classic "rock scene" was born. Now in the sequel, Melody walks on the rock, but that was it for the tribute.

In this movie, they go for it all. After Sebastian is jailed (watch the movie it's worth it), Marina takes over his job. So she is singing around the ocean and where does she go? Except in this version, the water splashes down on her and a seagull (maybe Scuttle) comes near her and she yells at it. Any movie that throws that in is a winner.

Finally, Ariel's sisters get some air time. Now they were barely in the original, forgotten in the sequel, but are a pretty big part here. The writers did a nice job of giving each one their own little personalities and quirks. It must have been hard to balance 6 other mermaids, but the writers made it seem effortless.

Now it is not all roses. There are some things that bother me about this movie. Enough to ruin it? No, but they do stick out. Why does Flounder seem all tough in this movie, but by the time the original rolls around he is a "scared little guppy"? He does some things that are totally out of character for him, like the way he taunts the guard fish when he is being chased. No fear. Or in the end with the eels. No fear.

Marina Del Ray is a good character. She was a welcomed change of pace from Ursula and Morgana. No magic, just jealousy and greed. I would have liked it someway if the writers could have had her somehow be connected to Ursula. I mean in the original Ursula talks about her time in the palace. What happened? What did she do? If you are going to do a prequel, answer all the questions. You let us know why King Triton hates humans in the first 5 minutes, but you can't explain Ursula?

Finally, the guards. In the original and sequel, we had the mermen with helmets. In this one they are swordfish. Why? I know it's a little thing, but still was it necessary to make that switch? For me it opens another question, why did Triton dump the swordfish guards?

These are all minor complaints and pale in comparison to the movie as a whole. Superior artwork, kid friendly storyline, and catchy songs makes this movie a winner. In fact, I might go as far as to say to show this one first to your young child first. There isn't much in there to scare them and they will enjoy the bright colors and songs.

Now I just have to see Cinderella 3, which I have heard is the best dvd movie ever released.

Tirades of Truth: The Little Mermaid 2 - Return to the Sea

I've said it before, when you have a little girl you tend to watch things you normally wouldn't. My wife and I actually saw The Little Mermaid together when it was re-released in 1997. It wasn't a bad film. I had never seen it before and was pleasantly surprised at how good it was.

So when our little daughter wanted to watch a Disney movie, she was drawn to Ariel...better than Pocahontas. Now Disney has been known to "beat a dead horse" so to speak when it comes to making money. So I guess it shouldn't surprise anyone when they released The Little Mermaid 2.

I thought the opening shots were nice as they somewhat mirrored the original's opening. Then I saw it. The animation was horrible. Literally, within one minute I can't stop thinking of how bad the animation is. I mean it's no secret that the original Little Mermaid literally saved Disney's animation department. Not only that it ushered in a new era in Disney classics like Aladdin, The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, and tons more. All of those can be traced back to the success of The Little Mermaid. So you would think that the sequel would have gotten better animation.

The next thing I picked up on right away was the voice actors. Prince Eric was no longer voiced by the same actor. If I can tell right away... not good. It's funny though because the original Price Eric was voiced by Christopher Barnes (Greg Brady in the Brady Bunch movies, voice of Spider Man the Animated Series) didn't do this sequel, but then did the 2 Cinderella dvd sequels as the Prince.

The songs were less than memorable too. The original had tons of classics; Part of Your World, Kiss the Girl, and Under the Sea. This one, nothing. The opening song is a sign of things to come. Ariel's singing voice is soo high now. By the way, my wife informed me that she is singing high to harmonize with Melody.

So that is already two strikes against the movie and I haven't gotten to the story. The plot is pretty much a re-hash of the original, with the roles reversed. Ariel's daughter, Melody, now wants to be apart of the sea. So she makes a deal with Morgana, Ursula's sister (how convenient) to become a mermaid in exchange for King Triton's trident. It's pretty predictable down to the ending.

The extra characters are a lot worse too. With the original you had some pretty memorable "side kicks" for Ariel. Now, you are treated to some very annoying side kicks. Tip and Dash are horrible and you find yourself actually rooting against them at times. And can they be anymore cliche? A fat slow gentle walrus and a wise cracking rude penguin? So original.

Melody is a brat as well. Yes, I understand that Ariel disobeyed her father in the original, but Melody is tons worse. In the final act, Ariel shows up to stop Melody from giving Morgana the trident. Melody is surprised her mom is a mermaid. So to get back at her she doesn't listen to Ariel and gives the trident to Morgana...just horrible.

Finally, as a self-proclaimed comic nerd, continuity is important to me. In the original movie Ariel had a grotto that held all of her "treasures" and King Triton destroys it. Yet, go back to the video For a Moment and at the 1:20 mark, there is Ariel back in the grotto. And to make it worse it looks like it did before Triton blew it up. Did they go back in and fix it?

There is another scene in the same video where Ariel goes back to the anchor that the shark gets caught in. Remember she had to swim through it to pull Flounder out, now (1:29 mark) it's only big enough for her to put her hand through it. Could it be a different anchor? Yes, but we all know it's not supposed to be.

One final note about the animation, just watch the end of that video again and look at Ariel's animation at the end of the song. Look at her neck!!! It looks longer than freakin' foot! I guess that one video sums up how bad this movie is.

I know this video isn't meant for adults, but we have to watch it too. Throw us something. This is a bad bad bad movie. Bad animation, bad characters, bad music.

So what about The Little Mermaid's third movie Ariel's Beginnings? I will get that one later.