The Little Mermaid:Ariel's Beginning Discussion Thread Vol.3

[MerXAN]

It's weird when Marina dips her nails in liquid. Well, that's impossible 'cause she's underwater!

[Siren]

I finally bought it today. It was between that and the 2 disc TNBC, I'll get that one next week for $25. Money is so tight lately. Once I watch it, I'll post a review. Not sure if I will watch it tonight, as my family decided to have a Jeff Dunham night...

[Ariel'sprince]

You know what's weird about the DVD? no music clip,almost every Disney DVD has one,thought my favorite was the Ever Ever After from Enchanted and the only one I liked.

[Atlantica]

What did you think of the film Ariel's Prince? You havnt posted your review yet, have you ?

Also, I'm glad that Ariel's Beginning didnt have some lame song by one of Disney's tweenage pop people. No worries to people who like them and their music, its just that I dont personally.

The Cinderella 3 song was AWFUL and totally and utterly out of place.

[Siren]

It will be a while before Jeff Dunham night starts, so I watched it.

Other than the beginning of the Catfish Club scene, the animation was very good for a sequel. Certainly not within the exact same as the original movie, but far better than others. Though the lightening on Ariel's hair in the Catfish Club was too yellow/white.

Marina was kinda pathetic. Not because of Sally Field. Her voice work was good for the part she was given, but as a villain, Marina really sucks. She just wants the job of royal counsel? That's kinda like saying I want to go up to assistant manager, but not manager. Her power-hungry fell flat. Now I had a smidgen of hope that maybe she wanted Triton's affection, which would make her a better villain, but no, she just wanted a better job. A job that really, doesn't give her THAT much power. It gave her a bigger wardrobe. Whoop-di-do. And she wasn't crazy enough to see her setting her eels to not only kill Sebastian but Ariel too. Not to mention BE there when it happens. At least if she just sent the eels, she could claim they weren't her's.
I liked Benjamin. He played a great straight man and how he finished her sentences and answered her questions was very funny.

I felt Flounder was TOTALLY out of character. Whoever wrote him as being a brave be-bopping fish needs to be shot. Even when we saw a bit of the Flounder we know, all of a sudden he would do a 180. It was very very inconsistent.
Sebastian was in character till the fight between him and Marina. I felt how he fought was not really in character. It was too...Rafiki.

I heard Tigger too. That was creepy.

I still agree with my original statement...Athena died for an idiotic reason. However, Ariel risked her life for the music box for an entirely different reason. For her father. Without that box to remind him, he would be a miserable bastard for the rest of his life. So saving it was in turn, saving her father, her family, her kingdom, and herself.

And the end, I don't get at all. The end of TLM3 is an opening to the beginning of TLM 1, with Triton's daughters concert and Ariel's first performance in Atlantica, right? They made it SO important to Ariel to bring music back to Atlantica. Back to Triton and her sisters. Back to herself. To sing was so important to her mother's memory. And yet, we open with TLM 1 and Ariel skips the concert and goes searching for human stuff. HUGE inconstancy and plot hole. I think the ideas mentioned here by Disney Duster or myself would have made opening to TLM 1 far more consistent and make sense.

Almost forgot to mention some of the best characters in the movie! Ariel's sisters! Great work on them! I really liked seeing actual personalities from them. And I am so like Aquata its scary. I have no grace either when it comes to dancing.

The music was okay. Athena and Ariel's songs were pretty, but for a movie all about music, there was very little in it.

Also, an observation....I think the animators had a LOT of fun with Ariel's hair. It seemed to move far more in this movie than the original. I guess when I think about it, when animators have to animate hair, the motion is all pretty generic. Hair moves certain ways depending on the movement of the person, but gravity always gives it weight. Where as underwater, there is more fluidity to movement and little to no gravity, so the hair can move more dramatically and I think the animators took full use of that fact. Which was kinda cool.

It was better than TLM2, but could have been much much better. 7/10 Which for me puts it above Cinderella 2 but below Lion King 2.

[totallyminnie86]

I usually hate most DTV (I'm still so old school, whenever I read that I'm always thinking of the Disney music videos instead ) sequels, but this was actually... decent. I didn't really have huge expectations, but overall I was mildly pleased with it. Its not a bad movie, and in no way can it compare to the original, but no one ever expected that. I think its quite a bit better than TLM2.. still though, the story wasn't very strong and wasn't thought out too well, and I would've liked to have seen them leave poor Flounder alone, That being said though, the animation was better than most DTVs. Some of the piano pieces throughout it are nice, and I was quite relieved they didn't add any disney channel related pop junk. At least it was a mild effort at traditional Disney, that gives me hope. Also, on a sidenote.. am I wrong, or is this the last of the DTVs for now? I thought I'd read somewhere that they *finally* were going to stop producing them, or was that just someone's wishful thinking?

[Vermin Friends]

And the end, I don't get at all. The end of TLM3 is an opening to the beginning of TLM 1, with Triton's daughters concert and Ariel's first performance in Atlantica, right? They made it SO important to Ariel to bring music back to Atlantica. Back to Triton and her sisters. Back to herself. To sing was so important to her mother's memory. And yet, we open with TLM 1 and Ariel skips the concert and goes searching for human stuff. HUGE inconstancy and plot hole. I think the ideas mentioned here by Disney Duster or myself would have made opening to TLM 1 far more consistent and make sense.

The only person who said that TLM picks up right where TLM3 leaves off is Jodi Benson who, I believe, said that in order to describe the term "prequel" for those who didn't know what it meant (since it is targeted at younger audiences).

Ariel is 16 in TLM, but she's 15 in TLM3, according to the DVD game.

[totallyminnie86]

Ok, so it is only a year's difference. I was wondering about that. You'd think after all that happening when she was 15, Triton would've learned to not be so harsh the following year

[Siren]

And the end, I don't get at all. The end of TLM3 is an opening to the beginning of TLM 1, with Triton's daughters concert and Ariel's first performance in Atlantica, right? They made it SO important to Ariel to bring music back to Atlantica. Back to Triton and her sisters. Back to herself. To sing was so important to her mother's memory. And yet, we open with TLM 1 and Ariel skips the concert and goes searching for human stuff. HUGE inconstancy and plot hole. I think the ideas mentioned here by Disney Duster or myself would have made opening to TLM 1 far more consistent and make sense.

The only person who said that TLM picks up right where TLM3 leaves off is Jodi Benson who, I believe, said that in order to describe the term "prequel" for those who didn't know what it meant (since it is targeted at younger audiences).

Ariel is 16 in TLM, but she's 15 in TLM3, according to the DVD game.

There is no telling how much time passes from when we first see Ariel older to the end of the movie itself. I doubt it was a few days. I think what Jodi Benson said made sense. That TLM3 ends where TLM1 starts. Do you really think an entire year passed and Ariel didn't preform once for Atlantica? In the original movie, they say it was Ariel's debut performance. I doubt she went through an entire year of being 15 and didn't have a concert. It seems her sisters had done concerts before. Which also puts in a plot hole there too. Her sisters were pretty young to have a concert when Athena was alive, but in TLM1 they may a point to say Ariel's "musical debut, our 7th little sister, we're presenting here to you...". I think Ariel was very close to her 16th birthday by the end of TLM3.

[Atlantis]

I think a whole year couldve passed without Ariel performing once for the city of Atlantica. They could have had a performance for each sister every 2 months to sort of reintroduce them to everyone since it looked like Triton didnt let them mingle with anyone outside of the royal family and their servants after Athena died. And Ariels birthday could have occured shortly before she was suppose to perform.

Thats gives her enough time to get interested in the human world to the point where it becomes more important then music. And enough time to have subtle changes around the palace (like the sisters living arrangements.) In AB they all get ready in their cramped room that all 6 have to share to the scene of them in the original where they all go to mingle with one another and look at themselves in the mirrors.

[PrincePhillipFan]

Well, I finished watching Ariel's Beginning tonight, and I have mixed feelings about the film. While it was nowhere being bad, I would say that I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought. Pretty much, Siren's review of the film is how I felt as well. Beautiful animation, kind of lackluster songs (although I did enjoy Sally Field singing Just One Mistake), and the annoyance of Flounder being completey out of character and Triton's new voice. The story I felt could have been worked on a bit better as well. I thought often the story wore a bit thin, and often kept thinking to myself that it would have been better suited to an episode of the series rather than its own film.

However, there were a few elements of the film that I did enjoy. While Marina might not have been all that of a menacing villain, I agree with Disney's Divinity in saying that she's probably my favorite original character to come from a sequel. She had many moments that made me giggle (especially her Part Of Your World spoof and the Just One Mistake reprise). I also have to say that I absolutely adored Benjamin. I really enjoyed his personality as Marina's ever suffering sidekick, and being the most level headed one of the pair. I especially loved at the end his line "That's my girl!" and that look he gives her.

Also, I was really happy to see how much they expanded on Ariel's sisters, and giving each one a rather distinct personality. Especially seeing Attina as the one who tries to hold the family together and feeling it's her responsibility to. My only quibble was with Adella. Her being boy crazy was funny for about the first 10 to 15 minutes of the film, but the jokes about it throughout the rest of them film started to just really wear thin for me.

Overall, I would say that this is probably one of Disney Toon Studios better efforts, especially in terms of animation. However, I can't say I enjoyed it as much as Cinderella 3, so I think it falls somewhere in the middle for me in terms of the sequels.

[Elladorine]

Forgive me if this has already been addressed (long thread to sort through here, lol). . . but anyone know why Kenneth Mars didn't reprise his role as Triton for this film?

[jeremy88]

Forgive me if this has already been addressed (long thread to sort through here, lol). . . but anyone know why Kenneth Mars didn't reprise his role as Triton for this film?

He read the screenplay...

Just kidding. I really don't know why, I wish he would have returned. According to his IMDB profile he hasn't done anything since a Hannah Montana episode in 2007 and has no upcoming projects. Maybe he's retired?

[Siren]

I agree, he probably saw the script. Or maybe it simply wasn't worth it to him. Like Rick Moranis turned down voicing his character for a Ghostbusters game simply because he "didn't need the money".

[Elladorine]

He read the screenplay...

I'd agree with you but he did all those sequels to Land Before Time.

I momentarily panicked that maybe I'd missed his passing, but I checked his imdb page and wiki page and saw that's still around. Whew!

So perhaps you guys are right in saying that maybe he retired or just doesn't need the money?

[Siren]

He has voiced Triton for Kingdom Hearts 2, so its not like he's lost love for the character. That was in 2005. He hasn't done anything since 2007. Perhaps he has not been feeling well to do voice work. I much rather think its because he read the script, but its a possibility all the same.

[Ariel'sprince]

What did you think of the film Ariel's Prince? You havnt posted your review yet, have you ?

Also, I'm glad that Ariel's Beginning didnt have some lame song by one of Disney's tweenage pop people. No worries to people who like them and their music, its just that I dont personally.

The Cinderella 3 song was AWFUL and totally and utterly out of place.

I did actually anyway it's my favorite sequel now,I really loved but if it's supposed to be one year before she met Eric then it whouldn't make much sense and it doesn't make sense that she didn't had music almost her entire life but I love it .
And I"m also glad there isn't a clip but it's weird they didn't made one.
Yeah,the Cinderella III clip was awful,thought they didn't took a song from the film and ruined it like they usually do.
They one I liked again was Ever Ever After but that's an actual song from the movie.

[Disney's Divinity]

He has voiced Triton for Kingdom Hearts 2, so its not like he's lost love for the character. That was in 2005. He hasn't done anything since 2007. Perhaps he has not been feeling well to do voice work. I much rather think its because he read the script, but its a possibility all the same.

Well, if he did both the TV series and Return to the Sea, surely he wouldn't dislike this more than either of those. There's two possibe reasons: 1. That he's sick/retired/busy/etc. or 2. Maybe Disney's trying to replace these actors before they die, because they'll have to eventually. It's hard to imagine Pat Carroll, Jodi Benson, Samuel Wright and Kenneth Mars having to be replaced in the end, but people probably thought the same about Cinderella and the other classics as well.

When I first heard Jim Cummings voicing Triton in the previews, I assumed it was because Marina was Ursula, and they used a different actor for her so that viewers wouldn't know she'd turn into Ursula and that it would be strange if Triton had the same voice when Ursula did not. Of course, I was wrong, so he's probably just retired or busy.

[yukitora]

I liked this movie, simply because it was a rather slow paced, easy, calm film. Fine for the younglings.

But if they really wanted to reconnect to the films initial audience, they really have to be more ambitious. Whether it'd be through a more epic storyline (such as Cinderella III's plot), or if not, more emotionally involved. Children DO understand emotions, (I sure did when I first saw TLK!), it's a shame that directors like Peggy Holmes aren't giving children enough credit. If they could show Mufasa's corpse, why couldn't they sure Athena's? Sure the film had emotion, it had tons of it, but rarely were followed up by active actions, which would've made a stronger impact. Instead most of the time any emotion quickly fizzled up and disappeared.

My favourite part happened to be when Marina, in a fit of rage snatched the key off Benjamin, and released her eels. More of this needed to happen, instead of saying "I'm so disappointed in you! *self reflection*"

[Mason_Ireton]

The sequel does seem very interesting, judgin by the plot, I might put it on my rent list.