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Nearly two decades ago, girls everywhere (myself included) fell in love with Disney’s The Little Mermaid—the story of a headstrong young mermaid named Ariel (Jodi Benson), who longed for life on land. Now, the third Little Mermaid movie, Ariel’s Beginning, tells the story of Ariel’s life before she met her prince.
When Ariel and her six sisters were young, their lives were filled with love, happiness, and music. But after their mother, Queen Athena (Lorelei Hill Butters), died while saving her daughters from a passing ship, their heartbroken father, King Triton (Jim Cummings), banned music from the kingdom of Atlantica forever.
Ten years later, already headstrong young Ariel meets Flounder (Parker Goris), a mischievous little fish. One night, Ariel sneaks out of the palace and follows her new friend to a secret underground club, where she rediscovers her love of music. But when her governess, Marina (Sally Field), tracks Ariel to the club—and finds her arch nemesis, Sebastian (Samuel E. Wright), performing there—she sees it as her big chance to get Sebastian out of the picture and take over his job as the king’s right-hand, er, crab.
Since I’m a long-time fan of The Little Mermaid, I was a bit nervous about watching Ariel’s Beginning. After all, sequels are rarely as magical as the original—and that’s certainly the case here. The music isn’t as memorable as it was in the original, and some of the characters and subplots seem out of place. For instance, Marina, the unstable nanny, makes a pretty weak villain. And her devoted sidekick, Benjamin—who appears to be a puffy, green mix of Barney the dinosaur and Dr. Phil—has the personality of oatmeal (and not the yummy brown sugar and cinnamon kind, either). Their entire storyline, in fact, seems rather unnecessary—almost like an afterthought—since the real story is about Ariel and her defiant love of music.
At the same time, though, there’s still plenty to love about Ariel’s Beginning. Many of the old characters (and a few of the original voices) are back—and they’re still the same adorable characters from the original movie. Ariel is still lovably stubborn, Flounder is still fun and flighty, and Sebastian is still nervous and high-strung. There are a few fun new characters, too—like the high-spirited band from the Catfish Club. And though the story is often quite sad (it is, after all, a story about overcoming grief), there’s still plenty of music (as well as plenty of laughs) to keep things light.
So while The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning isn’t quite as magical or as delightful as Ariel’s first adventure, it’s still an enjoyable prequel. If nothing else, at least it provides a chance for fans to revisit some old friends and make a return trip to the kingdom under the sea.
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