The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning (2008) (V)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Peggy Holmes

Writers:

Robert Reece (writer)
Evan Spiliotopoulos (writer)

Release Date:

26 August 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Family | Fantasy

Tagline:

Every Story Has a Beginning, But Only One Begins Under the Sea

Plot:

The plot explores the story of Athena, Ariel's mother, through the narration of Ariel. |

Plot Keywords:

Dance | Sequel | Direct To Video Sequel To Theatrical Movie | Music Box | No Opening Credits

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Jodi Benson	...	Ariel (voice)
Samuel E. Wright	...	Sebastian (voice)
Jim Cummings	...	King Triton / Shelbow (voice)
Sally Field	...	Marina Del Ray (voice)
Parker Goris	...	Flounder (voice)
Tara Strong	...	Adella / Andrina (voice)
Jennifer Hale	...	Alana (voice)
Grey DeLisle	...	Aquata / Arista (voice)
Jeff Bennett	...	Benjamin / Guards (voice)
Kari Wahlgren	...	Attina (voice)
Lorelei Hill Butters	...	Queen Athena (voice)
Kevin Michael Richardson	...	Cheeks / Ray Ray (voice)
Rob Paulsen	...	Ink Spot / Swifty (voice)

Also Known As:

The Little Mermaid III (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

Argentina:70 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:G | Argentina:Atp | South Korea:All | Singapore:G

Company:

DisneyToon Studios

Goofs:

Continuity: In 1992 Disney started TV series based on "The Little Mermaid" movie. In season 1 episode 11 called "The Little Mermaid: The Evil Manta (#1.9)" (1992) Ariel remembers how she first met Flounder, and the scene is quite different than the scene shown in this movie. In the series she met him when she was still a child, wearing pony tail. Flounder is left all alone and he gets scared from Ariel, but she quickly calms him down and become his friend.

Quotes:

Queen Athena: Oh the waves roll low,/and the waves roll high;/and so/it goes/under a bright blue, endless sky;/Waves try to measure/the days that we treasure;/wave hello, and wave goodbye

Movie Connections:

References The Great Escape (1963)

Soundtrack:

I Will Sing

Wonderful and beautiful animation, not so interesting story

Ever since Disney's "sequels" department has been under new management, there has been a HUGE upgrade in quality. There have only been two animated releases so far, Cinderella III and The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning. I am not sure if any more sequels are in production.

Consistent between both films is the very high quality animation. TLM:AB keeps CGI to a minimum and much effort has been made to keep the characters close to the original character models (and in many cases, character models have heavily improved over the original). This is probably as good as it will get without the original team of animators.

What saves this film is the fantastic hand-drawn animation in the age of ugly CGI and lazy flash-drawn cartoons. I would go as far as to say that the animation here is on-par or higher than the original 1989 release (the original was plagued with off-model animation). Unfortunately, the story is only so-so. The plot is very weak but effort has been made to develop all of the sisters' personalities, which I really appreciate (they are believable sister to sister relationships). I think Disney recognised that without Alan Menken, the music for TLM would not have charm or beauty. Disney did the right thing for this film by keeping songs short and to a minimum.

This film highly deserves a chance to be seen by many, unlike the rushed and horrible Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea.