La sirenita II: Regreso al mar

I LOVE how bad this movie is.

Ariel's all grown up. She has a daughter. So far so good.

But then Ursula's wonky sister MORGANA shoots up like a jack-in-the-box and whizzes back and forth across the screen while Sebastian declares: "OH NO! IT'S URSULA'S CRAZY SISTER MORGANA!" Cute little Flounder has been replaced with an obese, nasal lump of lubber. A walrus and a penguin follow Melody around.

It's basically the first film all over again. Only two differences: it's her wanting to go from human to mermaid.

Oh, and it's total rubbish. Don't miss it!

I loved The Little Mermaid, it's one of my all time favorite Disney movies, I grew up with it and I still watch it every once in a while. I just showed it to my 5 year old cousin for the first time since it was recently released on DVD, so she wanted to see the second one when we were at the video store and we just watched it and we over all had a good time. While I wasn't that impressed, it was better than most Disney sequels that are normally lame and predictable.

Ariel and Eric have had a daughter, Melody. Mel is now becoming a teenager and cannot understand why she has such a great love for the sea, but Ariel forbids Mel from going to the sea not knowing when the right time would be to tell Mel about all her family history. But Mel has had it and wants to be a mermaid when Morgana, the evil sister of Ursela, grants Mel's wish, she can stay a mermaid if she steals her grandfather's trident so Morgana can become leader of the sea.

Over all, I would recommend this for a family afternoon, it was a charming cartoon to watch. The Little Mermaid will always be the best, but The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea was a nice follow up that you very rarely see in today's Disney sequels. Again, what freaks me out though is typically they change the voices again and again for the characters, but I think I had a better time excepting it for this film.

5/10

Remember the Little Mermaid? The movie that made you believe in Disney again every time you saw it (no matter how awful their current movies were?) If you liked the Little Mermaid in the least bit, do not walk within viewing distance of this movie. I loved the Little Mermaid when it was the first movie I ever saw, I love it now; this movie, which had me excited in the beginning, left me feeling that it was better off never made. Everything in it, from character development, to voices, plot, lame side-kicks, lame villains, general stupidity, everything down to the more cutesy way things were colored and drawn, and the score. The original had a sort of mature feel that also appealed to kids that not a lot of Disney movies generally have, and this movie ended up as a drop in a sea of terrible Disney sequels.

Very few Disney sequels ever come close to the quality of the original, and this is probably why so many of them come directly to video. This film is no exception. The story is okay, but the characters are boring, and you learn to hate Melody after a few really, really stupid moves on her part.

It's not as bad as The Return of the Jafar, but not close to as good as The Lion King II: Simba's Pride or Aladdin and the King of Thieves or even Pocahontas II. Of course, none of these compare to the quality of Toy Story 2, which notably went to theaters and is actually better than the first one.

You can really afford to miss this film.

If you seen Disney's other "Made for home video sequel" movies, then you know what I am talking about. Movies such as "Pocahontas II: Journey to the New World," "The Lion King II: Simba's Pride," "The Return of Jafar," etc. The problem with "Made for home video sequel" movies is that it doesn't put too much effort into creating a new and original story. Instead, it relies only on the old characters and a typical & overdone storyline to carry the movie.

There are also a new bunch of generic characters. You have the new henchmen (a shark voiced by Clancy Brown and a couple of devil rays that I guess are suppose to imitate the Flotsam & Jetsam characters) for the villain (Morgana), and your new comedic sidekicks (Tip & Dash) for Ariel's daughter (Melody). I liked Morgana's character and how she relates herself to Ursula, but I didn't care for the Tip & Dash characters. They tired to make them similar to the Timon & Pumbaa characters, but it just doesn't work! They aren't that funny and you feel as though that these two characters were just thrown into the movie because the writers felt that they needed to fill in the gap for your generic storyline where there must always be new comedic characters. With a generic storyline, there must always be the need for romance with the main character. When you watch this movie, you get a sense that they wanted to add a romantic character for Melody, but instead they hinted at it, which really stands out as a sore thumb!

The conclusion of the movie is not thrilling at all. It tries to imitate the final battle of the original, but it's just not exciting. I felt as though the writers spent an all-nighter, rushing themselves in trying to figure out how to conclude this movie with a final battle sequence all in one night!

It may seem as though that I hated this movie, but I didn't! I was just disappointed with this movie. One thing that is for sure, this sequel isn't nearly as good as the original. Still I give this movie a (B-) because if you loved the original "The Little Mermaid," you still enjoy watching the old characters in this sequel.

6 out of 10