)I, too, have seen Ariel's Beginning. I watched it early because I know for a fact I'm getting the DVD for my birthday. TLM, being a movie that came out the year I was born, is very special to me. It is also (I believe) the first Disney movie I saw in theaters. I think my parents just took me to the dang theater so the pretty colors would make me fall asleep.
I shall have my thoughts in chronological order.
I loved the opening. Lorelei Butters is an awesome actress. I could say the same thing for Jim Cummings if he hadn't been in every single other animated project in history. The scene with the lagoon was well-animated, I was impressed.
Everyone says Athena looks exactly like Ariel. She doesn't. She really doesn't. I look more like my mom than Ariel looks like hers. I thought the thing with the pirates was okay. We didn't need much background on Ariel's mom because we already knew (obviously) that she had died. I thought the pirate ship shots were a good, artistic choice. Very mysterious. I liked it.
There's one bit of confusion: how old is Ariel supposed to be when Athena dies? I would guess in the 2-5 years old range. I can remember things when I was five, so why wouldn't Ariel remember Athena? Another thing I didn't like was Ariel tickling....what's-her-face. I got two hours of sleep and I forgot who it was. It just seems so un-Ariel-like. You know what I mean? She could've gotten her yucks in some other way if that's what the creators wanted.
I really, really like Jeanine Tesori, especially Thoroughly Modern Millie. It's a great Broadway musical. Marina Del Ray actually reminds me of Mrs. Meers from that musical. She wasn't much of an imposing villain, either, compared to Ursula. But then again, who is? Hehehe.
Oh God, Benjamin was just incredible. While I think Jeff Bennett has gotten as overused as Jim Cummings, it actually took me a while to realize that it was actually Jeff Bennett doing Benjamin's voice. "That's it! Three names!" "We're going on....seven minutes." "French!" Hehehe. And him at the end....Oh lord, I was in tears.
Onto Marina herself. As I said, a good villainess. Of course, nowhere near as good as Ursula, but maybe better than Morgana, and outside TLM, she's better than, say, Zira or even Jafar, maybe. That could be argued, but I'm not here to argue the point unless someone challenges me to.
I really liked the mersisters. I think the nasally-voiced one is my favorite.
I also like "Jump in the Line", but part of me wishes they had done all-original songs. Hey, it WAS a good choice, so I'm not arguing that. What the heck was with the 'I Will Sing'? Who was supposed to be singing that? Seemed shoe-horned to me. If they would've had a character sing it, I would've liked it better.I thought the Marina-Missile was kind of funny. Hahaha. The 'fake death' thing was, like, a little overdone...But hey.
Hmm....
Yeah, that should wrap it up.
9.75/10.
