Protraph Lack of good storyline.

ScoobyWell Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

SincereFinest disgusting, overrated, pointless

Aedonerre I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.

Riley Nelson *MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!*But it all goes downhill just after the introduction. Now, the original Little Mermaid is a great Disney film and it even informed audiences of the characters' current situations due to events we heard about, but never actually saw on screen (like how Ursula mentioned that she was kicked out of the palace for God knows what). When this movie was announced back in 2008, I was really excited to see if Disney would finally reveal all of these events. But, unfortunately, The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning does none of that. It's just an extremely awkward story with terrible songs (except "I Remember" was decent enough), a lame villain, and annoying slang and dialogue.The good - The animation and art are beautiful. The backgrounds of the sea, night club, and Atlantica look amazing. The colors also look less sloppy and rushed like they were in The Little Mermaid II. - Sebastian's character was pretty solid. I liked how even though he was a sour stick-in-the-mud, he still had a rebellious side of going against the ban on music. That was pretty awesome to see. - I really liked the first couple of minutes where Ariel's mother, Athena, is shown. So far, so good. But then the scene where she dies and we're supposed to feel sorry for her is just plain stupid. One minute, Athena saves one of her daughters from an approaching pirate ship and that's good, but then the next she goes after a music box that she could have just left behind, right? And then the ship CRASHES RIGHT INTO THE SIDE OF THE COVE, obviously killing her. My question is...what happened to the pirates after this?The bad - I really hated Triton's character in this movie. Which is a shame because he is actually one of my favorite Disney characters. But in this, he is unable to control his own feelings of loss and this inability causes him to make life miserable for his children by allowing no music in the kingdom. Doesn't this guy know that two wrongs don't make a right? I understand that he lost his wife, but that's no excuse to make the lives of others just as bad by not giving them the choice to do what they want. And what does music have to do with this? It was HUMANS that killed his wife, and they were never mentioned again after Athena's death. - It was dumb how the movie was mostly just Ariel and Triton bickering. They did this in the first movie, but even then they still were shown to have a loving relationship. Here, they don't have one at all. - The villain, Marina Del Rey, was boring. All she wanted was a stupid job while the better villain Ursula wanted to rule the entire ocean. I wanted Ursula as the main villain here, telling the story of why she was thrown out. That would have made more sense. - The dialogue was also very annoying. The band members say things like "Let it happen!" and "Bad little self". The original movie didn't include any of this, so why does this one? - The background music was okay, but the songs were lifeless. Marina's song sounded so rushed and using "Shake Senora" was unnecessary. "I Remember" was decent enough though.So, in conclusion, while this movie wasn't the worst of the Disney direct-to-video sequels (that would be Hunchback II), it's definitely not nearly as good as The Little Mermaid.3/10

daves_train This is terrible and it follows in line of terrible Disney sequels and prequels. Don't get me wrong, I maybe a guy but I like the old movie with likable characters, catchy music, and an actually complex villain but did they really need to do this? The only good part I would say about it is the beginning when they show the mermaids having fun when suddenly pirates attack (Captain Hook?). And it shows how Ariel's mom was killed {at least they keep the whole killing mom thing that Disney likes to do} and why Triton banned music but when the movie starts it is all over.I won't bore you with details so I will just show you the things that tick me off about it. First of all the new villain seems really boring and just seems whiny and annoying and not really threatening. This next complain doesn't tick me off but it's just weird, why does Ariel ask why they don't have music and Triton throws a temper tantrum, wouldn't Ariel kind of guess because of the fact that her mother died? (in case anyone tries to fight against that, wouldn't Trition tell her because of the mother dying? It just doesn't make sense to me.).The villain doesn't even appear in the next film so why is she in this film? I hate that when they think that we don't catch that. What happens in jail? Does she become a good person, die, what? Now for the moment that angered me the most, when near the end...(Spoilers!!! just in case you didn't see it before.) When Ariel "dies" and it turns out she was just knocked out for a little bit. Was this supposed to be tension? Why would you do that if we know that in the next movie she's all better and singing with fish(and sleeping with the fish?). They do this once in a while in prequels and it irritates me to no end because they think that they are being clever by adding unneeded tension.So in conclusion this movie is a bomb, granted the voice work is solid and the animation looks nice but the predictable ending and boring plot don't make it worth it. Again I am not feeding the troll because I liked the first film but skip this one and watch the first one.

ridiculionius I really despise Disney sequels, normally. With the exception of The Lion King 1 1/2 and Aladdin and the King of Thieves, they are all unoriginal and badly animated, riddled with recycled plots and, in the case of the second Cinderella and Tarzan, given the look and feel of a cartoon miniseries *shudder*. While I do like The Little Mermaid, it was never one of my favourite movies - it's first sequel made me gag, but this one (while definitely not as good as the original) was not only enjoyable, but something that I would honestly watch again with a smile on my face.The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning is (obviously, from the title) a prequel, telling the story of everybody's favourite red-headed mermaid approximately one year before the events chronicled in the original film. We are told through a sad little prologue about the death of Athena, wife of King Triton and mother to Ariel and her sisters. After her tragic death, Triton is heartbroken and bans music from the kingdom, as it reminds him too much of his queen and only serves to re-open old wounds. In his sorrow, he grows cold and distant from his daughters, leaving them in the care of Marina Del Ray, their governess, and her assistant Benjamin, who is (presumably) a manatee. But Marina wants the crab Sebastian's position as Chief of Staff, and will do anything to get it. Meanwhile, rebellious Ariel is desperate for a bit of fun and games, and when she encounters Flounder, a little fish with an ear for music, she is drawn into a magical world of musical speakeasies and aquatic bands - determined to bring music back to her kingdom and her family, Ariel will stop at nothing to get her melodious fix.While the plot seems cheesy and juvenile (which it kind of is), Disney manages to pull it off, making it not only cheesy and juvenile, but touching, funny, and moderately smart. Marina Del Ray is a marvel - not encompassing the same sultry, strangely seductive evil as Ursula from the original, she instead channels Morgana from the first sequel, bearing the same manic determination and obvious crazy that makes her endearing as well as hilarious and cruel (while not particularly evil), something Morgana failed to do. She has an awful, garish taste in clothes that makes her fun to watch, and her voice has real personality, which makes her lines fun to hear.Although not as well animated as the original (it's wonderful animation, don't get me wrong - just not as good), and definitely not as well developed, Ariel's Beginning will have me coming back for more - if you hated Return to the Sea but love the original Little Mermaid, I guarantee you'll like it, if not love it. If nothing else, it's fun to see the characters come alive again.

jenkinsr628 I find this film to be better than the other two and i think that marina del ray is amazing and much better than Ursula and Morgana!I think that Ariel is beautiful in this version and is so much prettier than when she was in the 1st and 2nd film. If you have not seen this version of Little Mermaid well you've just gotta get it as it is brilliant with,better animatian,better plots and magnificent, dazzling animation including never before seen in the other films 3d effects and the director of this film was also known to be a dancer so if you wonder why the dancing is so crazy that its brilliant its because the director who not only did a fabulous job on the film but made her dancing background shine in this all new amazing film!If you have not got this version on DVD well you've just gotta get it as my DVD of it was 10/10 for me and my brothers DVD he said was also 10/10 for him and my friends said the same!!!! JCJ