Sixteen years ago, The Little Mermaid splashed its way into the
hearts of millions of viewers, becoming one of the most beloved Disney
films ever made. Eleven years later, Hans Christian Andersen rolled over
in his grave. (Not for the first time…)
They had to do it, didn’t they? It seems Disney has gotten desperate.
Apparently running out of ideas, they are resorting to a constant stream
of remakes and direct-to-video sequels, hoping to cash in on the
popularity of the earlier, high-quality films. There are exceptions to
the low-quality rule, of course. The Aladdin and Lion King sequels were decent; Toy Story 2, The Rescuers Down Under and Fantasia 2000 were exemplary. But The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea has little hope of being counted among such prestigious company.
The basic plot of the film is an exact reversal of the first. Melody
(Tara Charendoff), daughter of the mermaid-turned-human Ariel (Jodi
Benson), adores the sea but is forbidden from going near it. The
justifications are different; while King Triton (Kenneth Mars) harbored
an inherent distrust of humans, Ariel loves the sea’s inhabitants but
fears that Melody will get kidnapped if she ventures anywhere near the
water. Melody is headstrong like her mother, and predictably she
disobeys the edict. But Ariel’s attitude is so bothersome that it
poisons the film from the start. When the ceremonious unveiling of the
infant princess – accompanied by a rather shrill and jarring song
containing too many random snippets of dialogue – is cut short by the
arrival of Morgana (Pat Caroll) – sister of the late sea witch Ursula
(also Pat Caroll) – who tries to snatch the infant, Ariel is so spooked
that she declares the sea off-limits until Morgana is found (which
nobody seems to take much trouble to do in the intervening years). For
some reason, this means that Ariel can’t go near the sea either and that
none of her relatives can visit. She cuts herself and her daughter off
from their heritage – even tossing away the locket her father gave
Melody as a reminder of her connection to the kingdom of Atlantica – and
she never offers Melody any word of explanation as to why she must stay
within the castle walls, let alone a word of warning to watch out for a
skinny half-octopus woman who hangs around with two manta rays and a
pygmy shark (Clancy Brown).
In addition to the obvious cloning
of the first film – Morgana gives Melody fins, for crying out loud! –
the filmmakers are most definitely borrowing heavily from Sleeping Beauty.
Artistically speaking, that is a haunting film, but it terms of plot,
it has always gotten on my nerves. The logic seems to me incredibly
faulty. Why couldn’t Aurora’s parents just keep a close eye on her and,
when she got old enough to understand, warn her not to touch a spinning
spindle? Or if they were going to go through with keeping her in
cognito, why in the world didn’t they wait one more day to take her back
to the castle? Similarly, why didn’t Ariel just tell Melody what was
going on? How can she think she’s protecting her well if her daughter
lacks all the pertinent information? And, recalling her own recent
headstrong ways, how can she think that Melody will accept blanket
prohibitions that come with no explanations and no opportunity for
discussion? Then again, if she is so absolutely determined to keep
Melody away from the sea, then why don’t they move to a nice castle
several hundred miles inland? If the situation is that desperate, then
surely a move wouldn’t be out of order. At any rate, Morgana’s sudden
appearance within the first ten minutes of the movie, right in the
middle of a presentation celebration to which she was not invited,
carries strong echoes of Maleficent, except that the Sleeping Beauty
opening was elegant and the villain’s grand entrance chilling. This
opening is cloying, and Morgana just looks silly and out of place when
she shows up using her tentacles as water skis. As in Sleeping Beauty,
the parents’ insistence on keeping the princess in the dark leads to
disaster. At least Ariel finally admits that she screwed up.
The animation is decent. Certainly it would be appropriate for a high-quality Saturday morning cartoon. I loved the Little Mermaid
television series, but whatever they did right in that instance they
failed to do here. Of course, that entire series was a prequel, which
allowed the creators to place Ariel and her friends in all sorts of
innocent undersea adventures that could resolve themselves in the course
of half an hour. As films go, the artistry lacks something. Then again,
there simply is not a worthwhile enough story to merit the care that
went into each frame of the original. It mimics the original to a
groan-worthy degree, taking side trips that feel entirely unnecessary.
We get all these hints of a backstory with the whiny Morgana, who is
endlessly bitter toward her favored sister Ursula, but it serves little
purpose. We are offered glimpses of Melody’s human peers, who all seem
to be snobby, pig-faced jerks, aside from a very cute fellow who just
appears to be a first-class wimp. We get similarly brief peeks at the
pre-teen merfolk, all of whom seem friendly and attractive. (One bears a
slight resemblance to Aaron Carter.) The lesson: humans bad, merfolk
good? The walrus and penguin comic relief duo Tip (Max Casella) and Dash
(Stephen Furst) fail to perform their humorous duties effectively. They
don’t seem to belong in the film at all, and the song they sing as they
promise to escort Melody on her adventure seems like a theme song to a
television series where they would be more appropriately placed – though
I suspect if such a series were in place, it would not outlast a
season. More effective is Undertow, Morgana’s tough-talking shark
sidekick who spends most of the movie in an unnaturally small state
thanks to Triton’s trident, though the funniest character is still
Sebastian (Samuel E. Wright), whose current thankless task is looking
our for Melody’s welfare.
Which brings me to another point.
Many of the characters in this film are not human, yet it seems as
though they are being afforded life spans that are comparable to that of
a human. Twelve years later – at least 13 years after the conclusion of
the first film – Max (Frank Welker) the dog still romps around with a
puppyish energy, though common sense indicates that he must be at least
15 years old. Sebastian complains that he is getting too old for such a
stressful job and a now deep-voiced Flounder (Cam Clarke) is twice as
big and has a brood of half a dozen fry, so at least some passage of
time is acknowledged, but I would think that by this time Flounder,
Sebastian and Scuttle (Buddy Hackett) would have gone to their great
reward – especially considering the fact that the youth of Disney films
tend to grow up unnaturally quickly. Similarly, Morgana spends 12 long
years trying to change Undertow back to his former self and is no
further along when we meet her again than on her first attempt. If I
were him, I would’ve given up on her at that point and gone groveling to
King Triton.
Additionally, the dialogue is anachronistic and
much sloppier overall than in the first film. I notice that on imdb no
one has bothered to list any memorable quotes from the film, most likely
because there aren’t any. Many lines simply come across as corny and
cliched, while others are cringe-worthy for their use of nineties
dialogue. When Melody explained to Sebastian that she was “just kickin’
it,” a communal groan resounded throughout my living room. Such phrases
continued to mar what was supposed to be a period film. I disapprove of
compromised dialogue in the name of pandering to children. There’s also a
lack of continuity. We’ve just celebrated Melody’s 12th birthday, but
Ariel sympathizes to her, “I know how hard it is being a teenager.”
Okay, so maybe she was just skipping a year, but still. And Melody,
aghast when she learns of the secret her mother has hidden from her all
this time, angrily asks her how she could do this to her. “You know how
much I love the sea!” she shouts. How is Ariel supposed to know that
when Melody has never told her? Earlier, Melody confided in Sebastian
and Scuttle that she could never tell her mother about her love of the
sea.
It’s interesting that this mediocre film managed to snag
almost all the original voice cast. Even Max is played by the same
person. Only Eric (Rob Paulsen), Grimsby (Kay E. Kuter) and Flounder are
different. So that’s one bright spot, or is it a dim one? With a cast
that proved so solid before, this film simply does not hold water. It’s a
shame, because if they’d put more effort into the script – and the
songs, which fail to be memorable – this could have been another
classic.
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