Product Details

• Actors: Jodi Benson, Samuel E. Wright, Jim Cummings, Sally Field, Parker Goris
• Directors: Peggy Holmes
• Writers: Evan Spiliotopoulos, Robert Reece
• Producers: Kendra Halland, Mary Thorne
• Format: Animated, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), English (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Walt Disney Video
• DVD Release Date: August 26, 2008
• Run Time: 70 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (80 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000XUOIQO
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,055 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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  #33 in	Movies & TV > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Fantasy Adventures
  #40 in	Movies & TV > Animation > Science Fiction
  #43 in	Movies & TV > Kids & Family > Fantasy

Editorial Reviews

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

Product Description
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.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning - Review of the DVD!, August 17, 2008

By	Dave "Davelandweb" (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

I'm not sure why a number of people have chosen to review or bash a movie that they've never seen, but I for one found this movie to be very well done. Is it worthy of a big screen release? Not necessarily; it is a low-key story, but nonetheless, a VAST improvement over some of Disney's previous direct-to-dvd movies. The story is a prequel to "The Little Mermaid (Two-Disc Platinum Edition)," and explains how King Triton banned music in his kingdom when his wife was killed. We learn how Sebastian became the music conductor for King Triton, and how Ariel & Flounder met. Naturally, it is the full-of-life Ariel who helps bring music back to her father's life. Although the villain is not as fun and nasty as the legendary Ursula, Marina Del Rey (ably voiced by Sally Field) is plenty of fun as the evil governess for King Triton's daughter. Not content to be a governess, she plots to usurp Sebastian's position, even if it means getting rid of Ariel. The one odd character in the movie is Marina's sidekick, Benjamin. His style of animation looks like something out of Barney. It is particularly jarring since the animation on this film is SOOOO good! It does not look like your typical straight-to-dvd release; in fact, I would go so far as to say that it is on par with the original feature. Jodi Benson returns as the voice of Ariel. In both singing and acting, she is fantastic and totally believeable as the songstress under the sea. As Sebastian, Samuel E. Wright returns...who else could voice this classic animated character? There are seven musical numbers in the film, and the fact that it was directed by a choreographer (Peggy Holmes) is a plus. The movement of the characters in the film AND the dance numbers is fantastic.

Extras are also great. 2 backstage Disney featurettes: "Splashdance" is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the movie, hosted by director Peggy Holmes. "The Little Mermaid: Under the Sea and Behind The Scenes On Broadway" gives a backstage look at the Broadway musical production, featuring interviews with the cast. There are 2 deleted scenes (shown in storyboard form), "Music & More" (where viewers can directly access the musical numbers AND watch them karaoke-style with the words on the screen), and the game "Mermaid Discovery Vanity Game," where you can learn about each of King Triton's daughters by clicking on the personal items on their vanity/makeup tables.

Overall, a wonderful DVD for children of all ages. Definitely a quality production!

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pleasing but really pretty average, August 27, 2008

By	A. Gammill (West Point, MS United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

In the long-standing tradition of direct-to-video sequels, ARIEL'S BEGINNING continues the story of a beloved character without really adding anything new. The music is OK, but doesn't come close to the brilliant exuberance of the original (it's telling that the most inspired musical number, "Jump in the Line," was NOT written for the movie). Likewise, the animation is well-done, but pales in comparison to the theatrically-released original.

Still, young children may find enough to like about the antics of Ariel and her sisters. As sequels go, it nowhere near as awful as The Hunchback of Notre Dame II, but falls short of even the studio's less-celebrated theatrical releases like Home on the Range.

A brief behind-the-scenes peak at Broadway's "The Little Mermaid", a couple of deleted scenes, a profile of the film's director, and the requisite DVD game round out the bonus features.

If you're a completist, or have young children who love The Little Mermaid, this is not a bad addition to your Disney DVD collection.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gorgeous Visuals, Mild Story, Continuity Give and Take, August 31, 2008

By	Monty Moonlight (TX) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This is a big summer for me, because my two tippy-top favorite Disney girls, Ariel and Tink (despite the fact that I really go for the Alice and Wendy performers the most at the theme parks), are getting very special DVD releases; direct-to-video prequels, to be specific. The first is out now, sometimes referred to as The Little Mermaid 3, but released as "The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning".

The plot of this all new, thankfully traditionally animated feature (unlike the upcoming Tinker Bell CGI movie, though that one still looks good), involves King Triton's tragic loss of Ariel's mother, Queen Athena (And yes, we do see Athena in the film, and she looks more like Ariel than one would probably have imagined), and the way the entire kingdom is soon forced to suffer as he does. King Triton places a ban on all music in the kingdom of Atlantica, because music reminds him of his lost beloved, and this results in ten years of boredom and misery for Triton's subjects and his own seven lovely daughters. After that flashback, narrated by Sebastian the crab, we catch up with Triton and his family sometime during Ariel's fifteenth year, when an encounter with a new fish friend named Flounder leads her to discover a secret, underground club in which music is played and celebrated nightly. Ariel's curious and excitable sisters soon join her on her visits to the secret club, and this is their undoing. For their governess, the scheming Marina Del Ray, is out to get Sebastian's job, and that means she's out to get Sebastian, who just happens to be the illegal, musical nightclub proprietor and head entertainer. It's a rather simple plot about how music was brought back to the kingdom of Atlantica, which isn't a spoiler if you've seen the original film at all, with a mild villain thrown in for a little danger. Marina does turn out to be a threat, but the real hurdle for the heroes in the film is Triton and his anti-music agenda.

"The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning" is definitely a film that walks the line of great and disappointing probably more than any Disney sequel. It's beautifully animated for the most part, with my only real complaint being a few scenes of some significant music box figures done in CGI that looks unfinished in close-ups. The plot is not too shabby, but probably too simple to meet most adult viewers' hopes and expectations (yes, there are tons of adult Disney fanatics out there, like myself). Disney tends to aim its direct-to-video films more squarely at kids than its usually MUCH better bigscreen outings or even its animated TV shows. I consider this to be part of the problem with Disney's line of direct to video releases. Also, the villain of a Disney film is often the best aspect for most folks, and in this case, Sally Field's Marina Del Ray is a good character played beautifully, but not all that important as a villain and certainly not very imposing. She has a creepy pack of electric eels to increase her danger quotient though. Of course, she also has a comedic sidekick, a manatee named Benjamin (who seems to not require much oxygen), who I found a bit annoying really but others seem to enjoy.

The biggest problem with the story and the film itself though, for hardcore Little Mermaid fans anyway, is probably that it is hard to buy as a precursor to the original, classic Disney masterpiece. And don't get me started on how annoying it is that the direct-to-video prequel and sequel present Ariel's life as having 10 years of misery and deprivation in her childhood years and ten years of misery and deprivation at the start of her marriage. I know Anderson's mermaid was a tragic character, but this is the most internationally beloved Disney princess of them all! That's beside the point though. As I was saying, it is a bit hard to buy these events as having led up to the original film, and I consider the Disney animated TV series, which I suppose is no longer considered canon (though it is to me), to be a much better prequelization. Something that increases that feeling is the problem "Ariel's Beginning" had with character continuity. First, there's the issue of voices, most noticeably, King Triton's (though Ariel's sisters sound totally different from in the theatrical film too). Jim Cummings has taken over as the voice of King Triton after years of Kenneth Mars playing the role. Now, Jim Cummings is a Disney treasure, but he doesn't sound like Triton much at all, and it just doesn't work for me. In fact, of the two biggest complaints I've read about the characterizations in "Ariel's Beginning", that's one of them. The other is the character of Flounder. He is a completely different character in this film. Flounder, the cowardly "guppy" of the classic film and TV series, is presented here as a Baloo/King Louie wannabe with a rebellious streak. The saddest part is that the one scene in which he really acts just like the original Flounder can be found in the deleted scenes section.

But let's talk about chicks, man. Specifically, Ariel, the girl of my dreams, and her six hottie sisters. Ariel is voiced perfectly here by her original voice actress, Jodi Benson, whose voice is still straight from Heaven. And, thankfully, Ariel is totally in character in this movie. Her sisters finally get some decent screen time too, and I gotta tell ya, the exposure we get to Ariel's sisters here is one of the biggest strong points of "Ariel's Beginning". I came away from it absolutely adoring Arista.

Not a hot female, but also reprising his role perfectly here is the great Samuel E. Wright, who voices Sebastian the crab. Mr. Wright actually performs the most memorable song in the film, which unfortunately is not one of the new, original songs written for the film, but instead is the well-known "Jump in the Line". This song is performed twice in the film in two different ways, and it's the best musical aspect aside from Ariel singing "I Remember". Sadly, the original songs here are not very memorable. This is usually a problem with direct-to-video animated films that attempt to be musicals, and a prime example of a mistake frequently made is the villain's song here, "Just One Mistake", which attempts to emulate the song sang by Ursula in the first film but instead is just all over the place and fails to establish a catchy tune.

So, when all is said and done, "Ariel's Beginning" is a visually impressive, mildly entertaining new story about Ariel and her friends that unfortunately holds to very little character/story continuity and feels more like it takes place in a parallel universe rather than in the same one as the original film (and totally, disappointingly disregards the TV series; I hate it when they do that!). Honestly, though I still need to rewatch and review it (haven't seen it in a while), I'd be just as comfortable tossing "The Little Mermaid 2" into that parallel universe too. I don't care to see Ariel having another 10 years of sadness, nor do I care to see her married to anyone other than me, or with a kid I didn't sire. *ahem*

Folks who simply don't feel we need new stories about the Disney princesses shouldn't bother to watch or review this film, but for those of us who do, we would love to see more if they had this level of visual quality but were just written better. Of course, it is said that this is to be the last of the Disney direct-to-video prequels and sequels (we'll see about that), the Tink movie being more of a Fairy franchise thing like the Barbie DVDs, but the real problem was never the concept of making such films, it was just how much work, heart, talent, and of course money was put into them. "Bambi 2", despite the uninspired title, remains the best of the Disney animated sequels (aside from "Rescuers Down Under", of course) and is really an outstanding film with only the flaw of some all-too-modern sounding songs. "Ariel's Beginning" was one of the ones that came close to that level. Visually, it is beautiful. As a stand alone film, it's pretty good/enjoyable. Good enough for me to give it four stars. It just disregards too much of what has already been established as part of Ariel's universe, and writing down for a younger audience is never really a good thing. If they didn't have to do it for the bigscreen films, why do it for the direct-to-video ones? Is it worth a purchase though? Yes, unless you just hate Disney sequels. It's a good film that looks gorgeous on DVD (it's anamorphic widescreen, by the way). The continuity issues may make you mad, they may not, but it's a good film, and truly the real highlight is getting to know Ariel's sisters better. The DVD includes a couple of deleted scenes, song selections, a short behind-the-scenes featurette with the director, Peggy Holmes, a personality match game (I got Ariel, no cheating!) that is part of a bigger interactive experience that teaches you more about Ariel and her sisters by letting you explore their individual vanities, and the best extra is a behind the scenes look at the new "The Little Mermaid" Broadway musical, which I'm DYING to see. A couple of the sisters in that one are cuties too. If you're a fan of Ariel the Little Mermaid, yeah, it's a must purchase. I just so badly wish that Disney's "The Little Mermaid" TV series would get a complete DVD release too.