The Little Mermaid – Ariel’s Beginning
The Little Mermaid - Ariel's Beginning
Manufacturer: Walt Disney Video
Every story has a beginning but only one begins under the sea…now for the first time ever discover the story you never knew in The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning, an all-new motion picture only on Disney DVD. Long ago, in a kingdom where music is outlawed, King Triton’s youngest daughter, Ariel, discovers her love for music in a secret, underground music club. Torn with the choice of whether to hide her passion or share it with her father and risk losing everything, Ariel sets off on a daring adventure to restore music to Atlantica.
Amazon.com:
A prequel to The Little Mermaid, The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning is good family entertainment that deserves a spot in every Disney collection--even if the film isn't quite as striking as the original. It's hard to imagine the underwater world of Atlantica without music, but following the death of Ariel's mother Queen Athena, King Triton (Jim Cummings) outlaws music because of the painful memories it evokes. Ariel (Jodi Benson) and her six sisters are unhappy with their boring daily routine, unfeeling governess Marina Del Ray (Sally Field), and superficial relationship with their father; but only Ariel has the courage to confront their father with a desire for a more fulfilling life. A chance meeting with Flounder (Parker Goris) leads Ariel to the underground Catfish music club where the Caribbean jazz is hot and the starred soloist is none other the King's Chief of Staff Sebastian (Samuel Wright). Suddenly, a whole new world full of promise and excitement opens up for Ariel and her sisters, but things get ugly when Marina tells King Triton about the club and his fury erupts. Can the power of music, combined with Ariel's heartfelt pleas, convince King Triton to pardon all the underground music lovers and reconsider his ban on music? Ariel's Beginning is a wholesome story about love, family, and the power of music that's nicely animated and features a host of good music--the only things missing from the first movie are Ariel's innocent sense of wonder and the extreme catchiness of the original songs. Bonus features include two deleted scenes, four sing-along songs with on-screen lyrics; a mermaid discovery game in which viewers learn about Ariel and her six sisters; a quiz that matches viewers with the character most like themselves; an interview with director Peggy Holmes, and a look at the Broadway production of The Little Mermaid Under the Sea. (Ages 3 and older) --Tami Horiuchi
Lowest Used Price: USD 2.50
Lowest New Price: USD 8.78
- Animated
- Color
- DVD
- NTSC
- Jodi Benson
- Samuel E. Wright
- Jim Cummings
- Sally Field
- Parker Goris
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Brand: Buena Vista Home Video
Number Of Discs: 1
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2008-08-26
Subtitled: English
Subtitled: Spanish
Subtitled: French
Original Language: English
I love Ariel... but this film doesn't express her.....
The Animation is gorgeous!!!!!!!
But I hate the story line! The film does not introduce Ariel's life properly, It does not include the "main" concepts of the story of Ariel's life as a child. However, in the film we do see Ariel's mother for the first time,(who looks just like Ariel) and how she died, but that is it!!!
then the plot starts out as music being forbidden from Atlantica "forever", *YAWN*
The film is mostly centered around music, which if you ask me; is really lame!
The animated Series provided more information than this film did, and in the series Ariel met Flounder when she was very young, not when she was 15!
I only wish this film included the "Key Concepts" of the beloved story, such as...
How Ariel became infatuated with the human world
and How Ursula Was banished from Atlantica.
WHERE'S THAT?! WELL, IT'S NOT IN THIS MOVIE!!!!!! if I ever work for Disney Animation, I will make a better version of the "REAL" story of Ariel's life!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DVD Purchase
Bought for our 2yr olkd grandaughter who loves Ariel.She is VERY happy with the dvd as well as all things Little Mermaid. I had great difficulty finding the DVD in local stores.
Should've Let it Go by Now
The Little Mermaid and the sequel were made years ago, so why did they just decide to do another one out of the blue? It is just not that great either. It doesn't stick to the first two at all. I think Disney could have given us a great back story on the original characters but blew their chance. This plot was stupid, the music was awful, and I think Disney should have left well enough alone and not made this. If you are a purist and want sequels to stick to the original closely, don't get this.
Ariel's Beginning - A rare gem of a DTV release
After recently seeing the original film and its rushed-looking, mediocre-written sequel, I wasn't sure what to expect with this film.
I was blown away - this is one of the best Disney Direct-to-Video sequel/prequels I've ever seen!
The story starts with Ariel's childhood, and the sad death of her mother which drove King Triton into emotional trauma, unable to deal with his daughters as they grew up, banning music from Atlantica because the reminders of his wife were too painful. The story then jumps ahead to Ariel at 14 years old (two years before the original movie), and the now-silently miserable kingdom of Atlantica, with sharks working as anti-music security guards, arresting anyone who so much as dares to whistle.
The daughters of Triton are being mostly raised by their nasty governess Marina Del Rey, who covets Sebastian's position in the Royal Court, and is looking for any opportunity to seize it from him. She is helped by a soft-spoken and kind-hearted narwhal (I think he's a narwhal) named Benjamin.
While being punished for breaking the rules, Ariel meets a fish named Flounder, and later at night follows him to an underground club where inhabitants of Atlantica play music and dance until all hours - including a performance by Sebastian of Harry Belafonte's "Jump in the Line" (which some moviegoers will remember from "Beetlejuice"), which is so lively that you can't help wanting to sing and dance along!
But secrets have a way of being exposed, leading to a quest by Ariel, Flounder, and Sebastian to find a special item that once belonged to her mother, in hopes of bringing change to Atlantica.
The animation is well done, shaded with depth in a similar style to the first movie, and makes this a worthy entry in Disney's "The Little Mermaid" saga. (By comparison, the animation in LM2 is well drawn, but the rest of it is poorly colored and looks rushed). I wasn't sure what to expect with this movie, but it surpassed my expectations! Well worth buying!
Disappointed
After watching Little Mermaid 2, I was quite excited for this sequel. The story line is a bit depressing. Not only does her mother die (this is Disney afterall) but then the whole story is about how her father is a real downer afterwards. There's not enough time and too many sisters to really get a good handle on who is who. The music is good. If my daughter chooses to watch it again I think it will be for the music. I'm glad I didn't pay full price. I think this one will be a dust collector.
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