The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning (2008)

The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning (Dir: Peggy Holmes, 2008). 

The third and to date final movie of Disney’s animated Little Mermaid franchise. As its title would suggest Ariel’s Beginning is a prequel to the original The Little Mermaid (Ron Clements & John Musker, 1989). 

Following the death of his wife Queen Athena, King Triton bans all music from Atlantica. Ariel and pals set about showing him the error of his ways and returning music and happiness to the kingdom. Yes, the plot really is that silly. 

The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning was to be the last of  Disney's animated made for video sequels, a line of movies that began 14 years earlier with Aladdin follow-up The Return of Jafar (Toby Shelton, Tad Stones & Alan Zaslove, 1994). Yet while these movies brought in the big bucks, their lower quality animation and storytelling had a detrimental effect on the public perception of Disney animation, possibly contributing to the disappointing box office returns of the studio’s product in the early 2000s. 

Considering its made for video origins, Ariel’s Beginning is a visually pleasing film. The superior animation in these later DisneyToon Studios productions is generally believed to be due to the hiring of Walt Disney Animation Studios staff, laid off when that studio dropped traditional animation in favour of CGI. Unfortunately the quality does not to extend to the storytelling which is decidedly puerile. Aimed squarely at the youngest of mermaid obsessives with misplaced references to movies such as The Great Escape (John Sturges, 1963) and The Shawshank Redemption (Frank Darabont, 1994) that will sail over little ones heads. The movie also suffers, as do many prequels, from the fact that we know the story’s outcome before it has begun. 

Returning as the voice of Ariel is Jodi Benson. While her performance is undoubtedly the movie’s highlight it is a shame that no-one thought to write her any decent new songs. The movie as a whole suffers from an overall lack of original tunes, ironic considering its subject. The few that are included are instantly forgettable and the feature’s most prominent musical number, a version of Harry Belafonte’s Jump in the Line, is seemingly included solely for audience recognition, at the expense of new material. 

With its impressive visuals and its abysmal storytelling The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning showcases the best and worst of DisneyToon Studios output simultaneously. I personally found it a chore to watch. The most undemanding of very young mermaid fans may disagree.