The Little Mermaid II - Return to the Sea

Starring:Jodi Benson, Samuel E. Wright, Tara Strong, Pat Carroll, Buddy Hackett, Kenneth Mars, Max Casella, Stephen Furst, Rob Paulsen, Clancy Brown, Cam Clarke, Rene Auberjonois, Kay E. Kuter, Edie McClurg, Frank Welker, Justin Schulte, Blake McIver Ewing, Emily Hart, Marcus Toji
Director: Brian Smith (XV), Jim Kammerud
Studio: Walt Disney Video
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
Ariel and her husband, Prince Eric, have a little problem with their daughter, Melody, in the sequel to Disney's landmark The Little Mermaid. Melody is threatened by Morgana, the evil sister of the sea witch Ursula (both voiced by Pat Carroll). Before you can say "Briar Rose," Melody's parents decide to keep their daughter's roots a secret, forbidding her to learn about the ocean while Morgana is around. Now the budding teenager secretly frolics in the sea with Ariel's old friends, Sebastian and Scuttle. When she learns the truth from Morgana, Melody becomes an unknowing pawn in her scheme--and Mom has to take to the sea again to help.

Amazon.com

Ariel and her husband, Prince Eric, have a little problem with their daughter, Melody, in the sequel to Disney's landmark The Little Mermaid. Melody is threatened by Morgana, the evil sister of the sea witch Ursula (both voiced by Pat Carroll). Before you can say "Briar Rose," Melody's parents decide to keep their daughter's roots a secret, forbidding her to learn about the ocean while Morgana is around. Now the budding teenager secretly frolics in the sea with Ariel's old friends, Sebastian and Scuttle. When she learns the truth from Morgana, Melody becomes an unknowing pawn in her scheme--and Mom has to take to the sea again to help.

As with Disney's other made-for-video sequels, The Little Mermaid II looks and sounds wonderful (and reunites much of the same vocal talent). Four- to nine-year-olds who grew up with the original will certainly enjoy seeing the friends again. A new set of artists has come up with four catchy tunes and some fun new characters, including Tip and Dash, a pensive penguin and his blubbery walrus friend. Yet, where Beauty and the Beast had a deliberate Christmas-themed sequel, and Pocahontas told the tale of her historical trip to England, the plot here is very forced. It is pretty much a rehash of the first film with different characters. Tip and Dash are a reincarnation of Timon and Pumbaa, and Morgana is exactly like her sister, except thinner. Besides the stellar music, this unneeded sequel also misses another important aspect of the original--heart. --Doug Thomas

Customer Reviews:

Little Mermaid - perfect gift!.......2007-04-02

Ordered the VHS for my Nephew for Christmas. He was so excited, as he loves the original Little Mermaid.
Story is a nice continuation of the first (for kids).

Very very happy customer.......2007-03-23

I was very very happy with this product/it is a wonderful addition to my Disney movie collection!
Thank you

It's Probably What you Expect -- An In-Depth Review (SPOILER).......2007-03-07

"The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea". Well, just by looking at that title, it's not exactly difficult to tell what sort of sequel it will be. Not just, "The Little Mermaid II", but they added a little hint for you: RETURN TO -- as in, a rerun of -- THE SEA.

Therefore, it's what you would expect from Disney. First off -- technicalities. They've taken some shortcuts and used CAPS animation, so it lacks that old-fashioned Disney look from the original Little Mermaid and the "classics". It doesn't look too bad or too cheesy, though. The colors are only a tiny bit more neon than before, and it's only a bit overly-smoothed. It's not as bad as many would make it seem.

The voices are, with the exception of Eric, kept, and they sound great. My only pet peeve is Melody's voice. Technically, I am YOUNGER than the character, and much younger than her voice actress Tara Strong, but I solemnly promise that I do not sound that much like a hyperactive six-year-old. But, really, what can you expect from the voice of Bubbles from the Powerpuff Girls?

The story, if you haven't gathered it yet, is simple: Ariel is grown up. Eric is grown up. They've had a baby girl named Melody, who inherits her mother's contempt of boundaries. Apparently, Ursula the Sea Witch has a younger sister named Morgana, who conveniently shows up at Melody's christening (Sleeping Beauty, anyone?). She attempts to ransom Melody for King Triton's trident, fails, and is (sort of) banished from the kingdom. Ariel decides it's too dangerous for Melody to know anything about the world of merpeople -- including King Triton, Melody's grandfather -- and hides it from her daughter.

It might be nice to mention here that only King Triton or his ancestors/descendents can remove the triton from its holster-like thingie, which is where it is stored when not in his hands.

Melody, however, longs to go in the sea or even be a mermaid (though is not sure they even exist.) When she finds a mysterious golden seashell "locket" -- which, in perfect Disney fashion, is roughly four or five times the size of a normal locket, to get the point across to the younger audiences -- she has an angsty teenage fit at her mother, Ariel, and makes up her mind to run away. Or, technically, rows away in an absolutely tiny rowboat.

Morgana seizes the chance to use a descendent of King Triton, lures Melody into her trust by using Ursula's bottled magic (?) to transform her into a mermaid, and weepily convinces Melody to "recover [her] lost trident". Melody, not knowing any better and only wanting to "belong" as a mermaid, captures the trident with the help of a talkative penguin, "Tip", and a blubbery walrus, "Dash".

Of course, Ariel and Eric are frantic during all of this, searching here on the land AND sea (coincidentally the name of the finale song), which, in effect, causes Ariel to be turned into a mermaid for the purpose of searching underwater for her daughter. If you think about it, Ariel is acting as a sort of tour guide through the original film: her grotto and "Under the Sea" rock are featured during a little musical "duet" she sings with Melody.

Naturally, Ariel and her re-united pal Flounder arrive at Morgana's lair -- strangely made of ice and above water, as opposed to Ursula's bony underwater lair -- at the exact moment that Melody arrives with the trident. Mother and daughter go through the traditional you're-a-mermaid-deal before Morgana reminds Melody that she is still waiting for her trident. Ariel rebukes this and begs Melody to not give the trident to Morgana. Melody, with a new bargaining chip, rubs it in her mother's face that she never told her about merpeople and -- with a dramatic "too late, Mom!" -- hands over the trident.

The obvious happens: Morgana gains command over all the seas, Melody is locked away with Flounder in a quickly-made ocean prison cell to await the loss of her fins and underwater breathing, King Triton's sea-army and Eric's land-army come to defeat Morgana and fail, and ultimately, Melody escapes with the help of Tip, Dash, and Flounder to reclaim the trident and give it to her newly-reintroduced grandfather, Triton.

It could've stopped there, but didn't. After the climatic battle, the first thing King Triton says to his granddaughter is that he'll give her a choice -- come to Atlantica and live as a mermaid with him, or stay with her mother and father on the land. She invents a new option: break down the (literal) wall between merpeople and human people once and for all. Voila! The End! Complete with an exeptionally good-looking teenage mer-boy and a trident-created rainbow!

Though it took a few cues from it's prequel, it was a pretty entertaining story, once you've sprinkled in a few songs:

"Down to the Sea" -- opening scene, Jodi Benson, mostly. Sweet and catchy. Almost as good as one of the originals.
"For a Moment" -- Tara Strong and Jodi Benson. Beautiful song, period.
"Tip and Dash" -- Tara Strong, Max Casella, and Stephen Furst. I'm sorry to say that this song simply ANNOYED me. It does succeed in getting stuck in your head, however, which may be the point.
"Here on the Land and Sea" -- finale, chorus. This is also a catchy song, though not especially moving. A good, solid, happy-ending song.

Characters...what can I say? Ariel has lost her characterizing feistyness, but, unless you refuse to accept a "new" Ariel, it probably won't bother you. She's more motherly than I thought the teenage Ariel could be, but that makes sense, as she is...oh, thirty- or forty-something now. Eric, I'm sorry to say, was a bit wimpy until he brought out his army. And he was my favorite Disney Prince. Tip and Dash, well, I never felt sorry for them or cheered them on. I didn't really dislike Melody until she started using too much out-of-date slang ("Hey, fellas! What's kickin'?") and was selfish and didn't think about consequences. Sebastian...good ol' Sebastian. He stayed just the same. Same with Scuttle. Flounder, on the other hand, has turned into a beady-eyed, deep-voiced obese yellow-and-blue father fish. Morgana was actually very hateable, and I loved her sharp-witted anchovy of a shark, Undertoe. Her pet stingrays, supposedly a replacement for Flotsam and Jetsam, didn't impress me nor scare me. What was really scary about them? They just laughed in this hissy way reminiscint of a toddler or a bat.

Overall, however cynical I may have been, it is a good -- not excellent, but very good -- sequel to the original. It's less epic than the first, certainly, but as the original was based on a long-known fairytale and Return to the Sea was based on the Disney adaption of the long-known fairytale, it's hard to compare them. Kids won't really care about the little characterization flaws or annoying dialogue, and it is, after all, marketed toward kids.

Excellent movie. .......2007-02-18

This is a good movie. Unlike Ariel Ariel's thirteen year old Melody dreams of being a mermaid like Ariel, dreamed of being human. But in the upcoming Ariel movie,The Little Mermaid 3 ARIEL'S MELODY Ariel is pregnant with Melody at the begining of the movie. How come Melody is thirteen in here? I like this movie and I like the fact that it doesn't have Melody in her late-teens like Ariel was. Melody goes to Morganna{Ursala's sister} with her need{want} like Ariel goes to Ursala. The two movies are a little simualar and both very good. The little Mermaid 2 has quite a few songs in it here are all the ones I can remember: DOWN TO THE SEA, FOR A MOMENT, DIP AND DASH and HERE ON THE LAND AND SEA. ENJOY THIS MOVIE.

P.S THE LITTLE MERMAID 3 IS COMING OUT IN NOVEMBER!

P.P.S I HOPE YOU LIKE THIS MOVIE!

P.P.S.S . I think this is just as good as the first little mermaid one. Hope you do to!

Walt Disney is Rolling Over in his Grave.......2007-02-08

Of course a straight-to-video sequel is not going to be as polished or professional as the orignal, but even my dog could have written a better set of dialogue to go with the plot to Little Mermaid II.

The music stinks. I understand that for straight-to-video movies they aren't going to hire the big guns to come in and compose an Oscar worthy score, but really, a child could have written better music and more imaginative lyrics. Even children aren't going to take the songs seriously, they are that bad.

The wall thing was stupid, Ariel was almost senile wondering around the castle not knowing where the heck her brat is! Flounder is old and fat, and Prince Eric is a drain on society.
Melody is an ungrateful brat and if my daughter were like her, I would smack her silly. There are far better teenage girl role models who do not fit in that are way more pleasant than she is.
Then we also have the cheap token Timon and Pumbaa pair with the penguin and the walrus.
This movie is for Disney to make some quick cash, and for parents to get rid of having their kids underfoot for 75 minutes (though it might not even be good enough to do that)
It might be worth renting if you get severely drunk before watching it.

The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea [Region 2]

Average customer rating:

The Power of Music and Scripting

The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea [Region 2]
Starring: Jodi Benson , Samuel E. Wright , Tara Strong , Pat Carroll , and Buddy Hackett
Director: Jim Kammerud , and Brian Smith (XV)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Customer Reviews:

The Power of Music and Scripting.......2006-10-03

"The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea" met my expectations for a direct-to-video film. It did not exceed them nor did they fall short. The 1989 original THE LITTLE MERMAID is a very formidable film, making the artistic success for a sequel a great challenge. To its credit "The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea" did unfold in a different direction than I had anticipated. The story was not innovative but some of the particular plot situations were well thought out. In any story you have conflict and resolution and those are the aspects that I liked about this film. Some of the dramatics did rely on prior events, which took place in the original. That was thematically important to the overall story. One weakness of this film was the lack of character development. Character development was one of the strong points of THE LITTLE MERMAID. I watched "The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea" twice trying to determine if the film digressed in such a way to bolster my contention of this. What did the "The Little Mermaid" achieve in roughly the same amount of time that this film didn't? And then it struck me that it was the music or more specifically the songs in the original that advanced the story line and defined the characters. That was the brilliance of lyricist Howard Ashman. He and composer Alan Menken developed songs in the original that in several minutes clearly defined Ariel's reckless but innocent curiosity about the humans above and her yearning to discover that world. Every song in the original bolstered the characters, advanced the plot or enhanced the significance of a scene in addition to being very melodic and well written. So in THE LITTLE MERMAID we were given a substantial amount of information and entertainment in a minimum amount of time. There is not a single frame of wasted footage in that film. "The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea" does not have the advantage of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman compositions. The instrumental score is very good but the new songs feel superficial. The animation especially during the underwater scenes is good. Morgana is not as menacing as her sister Ursula was in the original. Other than Ursula I believe all the main characters are back. Melody, Ariel's daughter gets to mingle with the old characters as well as meet new ones. I thought that was significant seeing that the scriptwriters were determined not to have Melody just copy what Ariel did in the original. It would have been a very good sequel for theatrical release. If that was done, there would have been a bigger budget and the various shortcomings could have been corrected. I liked "The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea" but I did not feel it was as good as Disney's other direct-to-video, "Pocahontas II." However, I believe that "The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea" will have a definite audience with younger family members and there are actually some nostalgic moments that will no doubt attract teens and up who loved the original. I highly recommend this movie.

Average customer rating:

Little Mermaid - perfect gift!
Very very happy customer
It's Probably What you Expect -- An In-Depth Review (SPOILER)
Excellent movie.
Walt Disney is Rolling Over in his Grave

( L ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Family Films | Kids & Family | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Animation | Genres | DVD | Video
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Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

Little Mermaid - perfect gift!.......2007-04-02

Ordered the VHS for my Nephew for Christmas. He was so excited, as he loves the original Little Mermaid.
Story is a nice continuation of the first (for kids).

Very very happy customer.......2007-03-23

I was very very happy with this product/it is a wonderful addition to my Disney movie collection!
Thank you

It's Probably What you Expect -- An In-Depth Review (SPOILER).......2007-03-07

Excellent movie. .......2007-02-18

Walt Disney is Rolling Over in his Grave.......2007-02-08

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