The Little Mermaid is one of Disney's most lovable classics, it's one of my personal favorites, so I did want to see the sequel, which was pretty average. Normally most Disney sequels are lame or a waste of time, but it seems as if Disney is finally getting something right because The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning is a very sweet movie and was a nice prequel for Ariel to see what her life was like before she met Prince Eric and we learn a little bit about her family and how she came to meet Flounder. This is definitely a must see for the kids, it has fun music, cute characters, and a charming story that anyone could fall in love with. I liked that they chose a different story rather than continuing her life with Eric, I just like the "they lived happily ever after" and that's it, so this was a nice idea to get to know Ariel's sisters and mother.In this Disney prequel, we explore Ariel's life before she became human, met Eric, met Ursela. Her father is heart broken after her mother is killed by a ship, he forbids music since it reminds him of her and her beautiful voice. Ariel and her sisters grow up in a very boring world with no music or life at all, but Ariel is thirsty for fun, to spice up her life. She comes along with friends who are also trying to make life a little more fun. But a mermaid named Marina is trying to take over the girls and their lives so she can eventually control the kingdom.The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning is a fun Disney sequel and was a pleasure to watch. The songs are a lot of fun and the story just charms it's way into your heart. This isn't my favorite Disney sequel, but it was a huge improvement over the second Little Mermaid. I would recommend this for the family or kids, it's a charming film and of course who could resist Sebastian and his fun crazy life under the sea? He, Ariel, and Flounder bring life to this story and I'm sure you'll enjoy it as well.9/10

As much as I love The Little Mermaid but I can't understand why the sequences are wrong. Here we go back to when Ariel was a baby(hence the title of Ariel's Beginning)and we get to learn WHY Trition didn't want Ariel to see the human world. You see Ariel's mother died by humans and since that day Triton cannot stand humans.Overall the animation was great but this movie is all over the place as like I said before its out of sequence.There's NO Eric and there's not much to say about it its just not as good as the 1st movie. Bottom line i'll give this movie a miss if I were you. 2/10

This is terrible and it follows in line of terrible Disney sequels and prequels. Don't get me wrong, I maybe a guy but I like the old movie with likable characters, catchy music, and an actually complex villain but did they really need to do this? The only good part I would say about it is the beginning when they show the mermaids having fun when suddenly pirates attack (Captain Hook?). And it shows how Ariel's mom was killed {at least they keep the whole killing mom thing that Disney likes to do} and why Triton banned music but when the movie starts it is all over.I won't bore you with details so I will just show you the things that tick me off about it. First of all the new villain seems really boring and just seems whiny and annoying and not really threatening. This next complain doesn't tick me off but it's just weird, why does Ariel ask why they don't have music and Triton throws a temper tantrum, wouldn't Ariel kind of guess because of the fact that her mother died? (in case anyone tries to fight against that, wouldn't Trition tell her because of the mother dying? It just doesn't make sense to me.).The villain doesn't even appear in the next film so why is she in this film? I hate that when they think that we don't catch that. What happens in jail? Does she become a good person, die, what? Now for the moment that angered me the most, when near the end...(Spoilers!!! just in case you didn't see it before.) When Ariel "dies" and it turns out she was just knocked out for a little bit. Was this supposed to be tension? Why would you do that if we know that in the next movie she's all better and singing with fish(and sleeping with the fish?). They do this once in a while in prequels and it irritates me to no end because they think that they are being clever by adding unneeded tension.So in conclusion this movie is a bomb, granted the voice work is solid and the animation looks nice but the predictable ending and boring plot don't make it worth it. Again I am not feeding the troll because I liked the first film but skip this one and watch the first one.

This movie was remarkably refreshing and entertaining. The overall appearance of the film was pleasant. I really enjoyed the character design and animation; the film was very true to the original designs portrayed in the first Little Mermaid, and included just enough of modern 3d animation techniques to give additional depth to the 2d creations without spoiling its 2d nature. The story had a solid plot that supported other Little Mermaid films, as well as giving the viewer a touching glimpse of Ariel's mother and a deeper understanding of King Triton's character. The songs, while not as moving or masterful as Menken and Ashman's work on the first Little Mermaid film, were decent and fit in well with the overall theme of the movie. The movie flowed easily between the musical numbers and non-musical moments.This is definitely one of those "Movie #3"s that rises well above the awful direction (plot, character, music, etc) that most sequels seem to follow.