Film Review #72: The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning

Mercifully, the Disney Sequel nightmare is over.  There will be no more of these nightmares haunting my dreams anymore.  This has been an especially strenuous time for me, with both familial and outside issues preventing me from working on this site much (a friend was posting most of the Kingdom Hearts stuff), and with so many horrid films to watch, I needed some time to relax.  Luckily, the last of these wretched Disney Sequels isn't as bad as it could have been.  Nevertheless, the film is severely weaker than the original, as several missed opportunities could have made this film work.

Plot: After the tragic death of Queen Athena, King Triton outlaws music in his kingdom, as it reminded him too much of his wife.  Naturally, Ariel doesn't seem to like listening to this rule and goes out to try and recall what drove music out of Atlantica.  After encountering an underground music bar, where her father's advisor Sebastian plays at, Ariel instantly falls in love with the medium and invites her sisters to come along.

This angers the mermaid's governess, Marina, who schemes to dethrone Sebastian as Triton's majordomo and keep the kingdom free of all of this music.

What's Bad?: Marina is one of the weaker Disney Villains.  I believe that the only villain that could have worked here, if the story required one, was Ursula.  It would give Ursula rhyme and reason to hate Triton for banishing her, and it would give her reason to target Ariel as revenge.  But what we got was an underdeveloped and uninteresting subplot villain.

What's Good?: Pretty much everything else is pretty spot on.  We get an in depth look at why Triton hates humans and it also gives him a fair reason to ban music from his kingdom.

Ariel is still a good character and the rest of the cast is also pretty decent.

Overall: Despite striking out badly with the villain, the film manages to be a worthy sequel to one of the most cherished Disney films of all time (unlike that other abomination).  It's not complex and there's really no serious perfection in it, but the film is not as disgusting to watch as other films can be.  Passable.

Final Grade: C+

PIXAR'S UP NEXT BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!