The Little Mermaid 2: Return to the Sea

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

I highly recommend the stunning original, and the inspirational TV series, but I don't recommend this, I'm sorry.

The animation was a lot of the time very flat and too garish, especially in the scenes with Morgana. Speaking of Morgana, never have I seen such a bland villainess. Ursula scared me so much, as I repeatedly watched the Little Mermaid. Morgana was just a wannabe, which is always ill-advised Disney. Why didn't they recreate the Evil Manta, who after Ursula, was the most convincing of the villains in the TV series? The characters were a mixed bag. Ariel was alright, though rather childish,but Melody was annoying at times. (I did think the story, on a parallel with the original, was rather unoriginal and rushed despite some effective scenes) Sebastian was the best character here, but he was also ruined to some extent. So was Scuttle and Flounder. Scuttle wasn't funny, whereas Flounder put me off with his nasal tone, since when did Flounder have a nasal tone of voice? Tip and Dash were also uninspired, and Undertow wasn't mean enough. And the flying bat creatures? They weren't even scary, they were nothing like flotsam and Jetsam, who were scary! Even the chef wasn't funny. Him chasing Sebastian was badly underplayed, really unfunny.

However, there were some positives. Kenneth Mars does a great job as King Triton, the only character I cared for completely, but you don't see him that much. The songs weren't bad but nowhere near as good as the original, and I love Jodi Benson's voice, though "For a moment" sounded a little like the song featured in the episode "wish upon a starfish" or the beginning of it did anyway. The beginning wasn't bad either, in fact the beginning was one of the better scenes of the movie. Some aspects of the story worked nicely, but I wish they showed less of Tip and Dash. The climax with Morgana was the highlight of the film, with some really colourful segments.

In conclusion, a sometimes colourful, but hugely disappointing sequel to one of Disney's finest. Mind you, the Cinderella and Jungle Book sequels were worse. My sister will probably hate me when she reads this. 5/10, maybe too harsh? Bethany Cox

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.

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

While watching this entry in Disney's endless parade of DTV (direct to video) sequels, I didn't know whether to laugh, cry, or vomit when I saw what they had done to the movie that first got me interested in Disney movies. I just don't know where to start badmouthing this one.

While watching the movie, I saw that Ariel had developed a non-existent personality. What have they done to her?? I know she's grown up, and I know she's no longer the focus of the story, but that's no excuse to make her dull as dishwater. However, maybe good old Ariel might have been a better protagonist than the one we were given. There was something about her daughter, Melody, that didn't sit right with me at all. Maybe it was her many attempts to try to sound "cool" without ever once failing to sound annoying. "What's shakin'??" Ariel would never, NEVER have said that! Nor would Sebastian, Flounder, or Scuttle acted the way they did in this movie. It's as if they took their humorous parts from the original movie and overemphasized it. I was especially mad that Scuttle wasn't only dumb; it was as if he had received a lobotamy! What was up with him? This isn't the Scuttle that introduced us to the dinglehopper and the snarfblat!! I'd be surprised if this Scuttle knew his beak from his...well, let's move on. The villains were lame! Using Ursula's sister as the villain was an uninspired choice, but she was my favorite of the baddies. Undertow was completely uneccessary. Or maybe he was, seeing as how Cloak and Dagger NEVER SPOKE! Cloak and Dagger were a sorry attempt at redoing Flotsam and Jetsam. F&J were eerie; they sent chills up your spine everytime they spoke or slithered around. C&D were...well, they were there. And speaking of ineffectual duos, let's discuss Tip and Dash. What exactly was their purpose in the movie, other than comic relief that was sorely missing comedy? There are so many other flaws in characters, but I don't want to go into that right now.

Art direction, design, etc. was sorely lacking as it is in all DTV Disney films. The characters looked kinda like their original counterparts, but the coloring was way too bright and garrish. It's as if they threw away the subtle coloring scheme used for "Little Mermaid" (including ariel, the color they invented for Ariel's fins) and traded them for happy little pastels, taking away any depth or realism the look might have had.

Voices, voices, voices. Most of the original cast came back for this one (thank goodness), but the performances didn't seem to have that energy from the first movie. As for the new voices, Tara Charendoff's Melody was rather annoying. She's just great as Bubbles on "Powerpuff Girls", but that doesn't seem to translate well here. Maybe it was just the stupid lines fed to her. Prince Eric's new voice would be okay if it wasn't friggin' Yakko Warner from "Animaniacs"! Don't get me wrong; Rob Paulsen was wonderful on "Animaniacs", but he sounds nothing like the original Prince Eric. (Compliment or criticism? You decide.)

Well, I suppose I should wrap this up now; I'm sure I'm over the word limit and that this is the longest review I've ever written. I'm not really sure why I'm wasting this much space on a movie that's such a waste of space. I suppose I had to defend the honor of the original "Little Mermaid", but the movie can prove itself. I say that we burn all copies of DTV sequels, especially this one and the upcoming "Hunchback II", which looks like it will be another tragically horrible treatment of a Disney classic.