Could this movie even compare to the original?
Why am I reviewing this movie? I enjoy the Disney movies. I'm not ashamed to admit it. The original Little Mermaid is a good movie. Award winning songs and good animation. The only reason I watched this movie was because my five year old daughter really likes the Little Mermaid. So it was a given that the movie would be shown in our house. There was also a Little Mermaid comic so I figure there's a tiny reason this can go here.
I'll start off right away and say what most would expect, it's not in the same league as the original. It's also not a bad movie. I never saw the second movie. It just seemed...wrong. There was a trailer at the beginning for a re-release of it so I'm sure I may end up seeing it someday.
Here's what it's about:
See how it all started for one of Disney's most beloved characters in the all-new movie, THE LITTLE MERMAID: ARIEL'S BEGINNING. Imagine a time long before Ariel met Prince Eric and walked on land -- a time when music was banned from the underwater kingdom of Atlantica. Torn between family duty and her love of music, Ariel must make the most difficult choice of her life. With the help of her friends, Sebastian and Flounder and her six amusing sisters, will the young mermaid be able to restore music, friendship and love to the kingdom? An all-star cast returns, including Jodi Benson (Ariel) and Samuel E. Wright (Sebastian) -- plus meet the deliciously wicked villain Marina Del Rey -- in a marvelous musical adventure teeming with surprises, breathtaking animation and all-new songs.
What's interesting is we get to find out why Ariel's mom, Queen Athena, isn't in the picture. Not the happiest part of the movie but at least we finally get an explanation. We also see why King Triton is a little grumpy all the time. So the premise is Ariel's mom loved music and singing. After she was gone, King Triton banned music in all of Atlantica. Ten years later, Ariel stumbles across an underground nightclub and remembers music. It's touching.
How was the music. Some of it was okay. Jodi Benson is an amazing vocalist. She can turn an okay song into something a little more...magical. The music numbers in the club were well-done. Things were a little slow up until this point. The first song by Marina Del Rey was a little trippy.
The best part of the movie was the animation and colors. Even though it was on a standard DVD, it looked really good on my high-def television. During the slower parts of the movie, I could just allow myself to get lost in the colors.
The story itself was decent. Ariel was true to character. She was stubborn and not afraid to stand up to her father for what she believed in. The band member characters were funny at times. The "villain" was a little too similar to Ursala. Often she looked just like her with her facial expressions and even used some electric eels to do her dirty work later. That was a little disappointing. My daughter knew it wasn't her because Marina was a mermaid but I could see a couple times she must have been wondering why they looked so similar.
Special features? There's really nothing special about them. More previews. There were a couple deleted scenes that were unfinished. They were in storyboard form with, what seemed to be, finished audio. The scenes weren't spectacular. Just some minor changes that were made in the script. I thought seeing the storyboards was kind of neat, seeing the artist's sketches and all. There was also a Disney Backstage look at the Broadway production of The Little Mermaid. Then there's a typical DVD 'game' that involves clicking on Ariel's sisters' scapbooks to find out more information about them.
Overall it was an okay movie. Should you buy the DVD? Only if you have a little one or you, yourself are really into the Disney movies. It's worth watching but may not be a necessary addition to your library. It has the feel of the original movie but can't quite reach the same level. It's a worthy sequel, or I should say prequel. It's curious that the movie was changed from its original conception of The Little Mermaid III. Check out the trailer for that on youtube if you haven't seen it. That looked dark and spooky. That's the movie I wanted to see. I give this a 3 out of 5. My daughter would probably give it maybe a 4.