Reviews for The Little Mermaid 2: Return to the Sea

It's very obvious that the folks at Disney came up with this "great idea" for a Little Mermaid sequel and then realized, "Hey! We need a plot." The plot is basically lifted right from the script of the original, with a lovely "tribute" to Sleeping Beauty in the opening. But it's still a cute and enjoyable movie. The basic gist of it is that Ursula's sister Morgana, in an attempt to gain rule of the ocean, threatens Ariel and Eric's newborn daughter Melody, forcing them to keep her mermaid heritage a secret. Twelve years later, Melody encounters Morgana, who offers her the chance to become a mermaid in return for stealing King Triton's trident. Of course, Melody doesn't know she's stealing from her own grandfather. It's Ariel to the rescue, and of course all ends happily.

Some scenes that will cause you to flashback to the original:
    Melody ponders why her mother forbids her to swim in the ocean, saying "What could be bad about something so wonderful?" I for one, am reminded of Ariel's "I just don't see how a world that makes such wonderful things could be bad."

    While swiming with Sebastian and Scuttle, Melody suddenly remembers that she's supposed to be at her twelfth birthday party, crying "The party!" One word, folks: "MUSIC!!!"

    Ariel is furious when she learns Melody has been swimming in the ocean, echoing her own father's fury when he learned she'd gone up to the surface.

    Morgana (voiced by Pat Carrol, the voice of Ursula) has two henchmen, manta rays, who try to drown Eric toward the end of the movie, just as Flotsam and Jetsam did at the end of the original. Sebastian, however, saves Eric by pinching the rays...just like he did one of the eels in the original.

The movie's not bad, though, and there are some great moments, such as:

    Ariel and Melody share a very tender "mother/daughter" moment as Melody prepares for the party, worrying that everyone thinks she's strange, and almost confides her love of the sea to her mother.
    There's a very sweet moment between Ariel and Eric when Ariel decides to don fins once again in order to rescue Melody. Just before Triton restores her fins, Eric hugs her and whispers, "Bring her home." Awww!

    Also cute is the final scene, after the Sea Wall is knocked down and land and sea are joined again. Eric picks Ariel up and runs into the ocean with her. You kinda have to see it to understand, but it's just really cute and sweet.

Overall, a cute, but unneccessary, sequel.

Naturally when sequels come along you don't expect much, especially direct-to-video, but even still, Little Mermaid 2 is by far the worst animated Disney movie I've seen.

The plot is so incredibly lame and predictable, Ariel's little girl, Melody wants to venture out to the sea. Ariel won't let her and can't tell her of the mer-people because Ursula's sister, Morgana is wreaking vengeance for her death. When Melody finds a family heirloom on the ocean floor, she sets out on her own and, naturally, Morgana tricks her into stealing Neptune's triton for her by saying she's the good guy.

It doesn't stop there. The terrible songs, the bad animation, a duo of a penguin and walrus directly ripped-off of Timon and Pumbaa, the unbeleivable fact that Melody would want to be a mermaid. I better stop my ranting and save it up for when Hunchback 2 gets released.

I was never especially fond of the original Little Mermaid, but I do agree it is one of Disney's better movies. Now here comes the obvious sequel. And why wouldn't they? Disney has been making sequels before. None of them have been any good, except for Toy Story 2, but The Little Mermaid 2 is different from all the other sequels. It is horrible! It is so horrible, in fact, that it makes Return of Jafar look like Simba's Pride! Why Disney continues to make these dreadful sequels just for money is beyond me. But enough of that.