webberrules The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning is the prequel to Disney's The Little Mermaid as well as the final direct-to-video sequel made by DisneyToon Studios.To critique, I will start with the bad and say the good afterwards to redeem the bad.The Bad: 1. Fairly inconsistent continuity, with Ariel's sisters arranged a little differently by age compared to the original film. 2. Flounder was really annoying, unlike in the original film where he was a likable and awesome character. 3. Marina Del Rey is a very hypocritical villain, therefore making her weak, because she was singing a song twice during the time music was banned in Atlantica, where she was as well.The Mixed: 1. The soundtrack has some pretty bad songs like Jump in the Line (Shake, Shake, Shake, Senora), which is no Under the Sea. 2. Just One Mistake sung by Marina Del Rey, who sung it under the music ban of Atlantica, being physically there while singing it, which makes her a hypocrite. 3. However, the soundtrack has some good songs like Athena's Song, which had a heartwarming feel to it. 4. I Remember, since we get to hear Ariel's beautiful voice and it made me feel genuinely emotional during the course of the song, becoming the next Part of Your World, the best song in the original The Little Mermaid. But I still think the original The Little Mermaid soundtrack is superior.The Good: 1. The animation, especially by the standards of direct to video Disney sequels, is really good. 2. It also has a deep and enthralling story about Ariel's past, especially with her mother, Athena, involved, which we did not see in the original film, has a lot of heartwarming and genuinely sad moments, as well as a fresh story. 3. We get to know a little more about Ariel's sisters, since they did not have a lot of screen time in the original The Little Mermaid. 4. The voice acting is singular, with Jodi Benson reprising the role of Ariel, and did a good job, as well as Samuel E. Wright reprising Sebastian, which are the only stars from the original to return to this film with other voices include Sally Field (Marina Del Rey), Jim Cummings (King Triton and Shellbow), Kari Wahlgren (Attina), Jennifer Hale (Alana), Grey DeLisle (Aquata and Arista), Tara Strong (Adella and Adrina), Jeff Bennett (Benjamin and swordfish guards), Andrea Robinson and Lorelei Hill Butters (Queen Athena, singing and speaking voice respectively), Rob Paulsen (Ink Spot and Swifty) and Kevin Michael Richardson (Cheeks and Ray-Ray), all do a pretty good job in this film, except Parker Goris, who voiced Flounder, who has a really annoying voice. This might come as a shock to many of you people, but I think that the voice acting here is much better than the English-language versions of Japanese animation, especially Studio Ghibli. Why? Because since this is an American animated film, where English is the original language, being a direct to video film keeps it true to its identity. Also, dubbed versions are highly institutionalised versions of any movie, which is a bad thing, since the original version, which is true to its identity, with subtitles, gives any movie, theatrical and direct to video, has international cohesion to it, which is a good thing. But I digress. The voice acting in this film is really good, that is the major point. 5. We get to reunite with the main protagonist we all know and love called Ariel, which is why this film is superior to The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, since Melody was a terrible character, as well as a highly infantilised version of Ariel, both in terms of appearance and personality.Now, since I reviewed a direct-to-video Disney sequel, some people might think I am beating a dead horse on the subject. I think that haters who review the sequels are beating a dead horse since they still lambaste them, but DisneyToon Stuidos stopped making them seven years ago.Overall, this is a pretty good prequel. It is not the best prequel I have ever seen, but it is not the worst one either.

SnakesOnAnAfricanPlain Judge it compared to the original and it looks awful. For a direct to video film, and compared to the sequel, it's pretty darn good. The best thing about it, is that it doesn't go for bigger action. Had it done, it would lesson the impact of the adventure in the original. This does mean that the villain isn't particularly awful, nor is the adventure THAT exciting. What it does do is present a solid prequel. It adds some layers, with the death of Ariel's mother, and gives us a plot that doesn't effect/change the original. Characters are also able to learn valuable lessons, without contradicting their future selves. The film also has a great character in a softly spoken manatee. It makes a nice change to see an engaging Disney character that isn't obnoxious and loud. Can be watched before or after the original.

Kristine The Little Mermaid is one of Disney's most lovable classics, it's one of my personal favorites, so I did want to see the sequel, which was pretty average. Normally most Disney sequels are lame or a waste of time, but it seems as if Disney is finally getting something right because The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning is a very sweet movie and was a nice prequel for Ariel to see what her life was like before she met Prince Eric and we learn a little bit about her family and how she came to meet Flounder. This is definitely a must see for the kids, it has fun music, cute characters, and a charming story that anyone could fall in love with. I liked that they chose a different story rather than continuing her life with Eric, I just like the "they lived happily ever after" and that's it, so this was a nice idea to get to know Ariel's sisters and mother.In this Disney prequel, we explore Ariel's life before she became human, met Eric, met Ursela. Her father is heart broken after her mother is killed by a ship, he forbids music since it reminds him of her and her beautiful voice. Ariel and her sisters grow up in a very boring world with no music or life at all, but Ariel is thirsty for fun, to spice up her life. She comes along with friends who are also trying to make life a little more fun. But a mermaid named Marina is trying to take over the girls and their lives so she can eventually control the kingdom.The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning is a fun Disney sequel and was a pleasure to watch. The songs are a lot of fun and the story just charms it's way into your heart. This isn't my favorite Disney sequel, but it was a huge improvement over the second Little Mermaid. I would recommend this for the family or kids, it's a charming film and of course who could resist Sebastian and his fun crazy life under the sea? He, Ariel, and Flounder bring life to this story and I'm sure you'll enjoy it as well.6/10

djepic1 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.