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The Little Mermaid - Ariel's Beginning

Walt Disney once said, “I've never believed in doing sequels. I didn't want to waste the time I have doing a sequel; I'd rather be using that time doing something new and different.” Fortunately, The Little Mermaid 3: Ariel’s Beginning was announced to be the last direct-to-video production from Disney due to questionable quality and the diluting of intellectual properties. The movie itself is not horrible, but it does not recapture all of the magic of the original.

The basic premise of the movie shows events that happened before the first; why music is so important in Atlantica. It also shows why King Triton has no wife in the first. There is no real interaction with the human world, so most of the visuals are aquatic. The original voices of Jodi Benson and Samuel E. Wright are joined by Sally Field for an interesting ensemble.

The other sisters and King Triton are fleshed out better with the movie. The death of Ariel’s mother is a little obscure. One quickly finds out that she gets crushed by a pirate ship. Although the movie is animated and fantasy, I find it quite unlikely for a ship to crush one mermaid, while all the others got away. She even had the cliché slow motion death. Our villainess, Marina Del Rey, is nowhere near as evil as Ursula. She really is that type of woman who wants to work her way up the ladder.

The music from Ariel’s Beginning is weaker than the original movie, but the songs composed by James Dooley and written by Jeanine Tesori are decent. The clear standout is “I Remember,” which surprisingly uses a lot of “la’s” to bring a very Broadway-style performance. The song captures that adventurous spirit of Ariel.

The visuals suffer from a lack of spirit. The colors are all there, but there’s something bland about it. As for bonuses, it’s a little thin, but, for a child, the games aren’t too bad. The best, for a Disney fan, is “Splashdown,” which follows the behind the scenes production. There is also a look at the Broadway version of Mermaid that shows some backstage magic.

The movie, in a sense, is trying to capture younger viewers that may not have seen The Little Mermaid in theaters more than 10 years ago. While most of the direct-to-video movies have been lackluster, this one has a small glimmer of interest.

Written by: Michael Pascua

Reviewers Rating: 7.5
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