Genre: Childrens/Animated/Adventure
Age range: 4+ years
Runtime: Approx. 77 minutes
Studio: Walt Disney Home Entertainment
The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning - Summary
In The Little Mermaid, Ariel won the hearts of children and adults alike with her unwavering sense of adventure and her magical love story. Ariel's Beginning provides a glimpse into Ariel's life before she ever explored the human world and fell in love with Prince Eric.
When Ariel was very young, she and her sisters lived happily with their father and their beautiful mother. Theirs was an existence filled with music, love and laughter -- until one day when tragedy struck and their mother was taken from them. No one took her loss harder than their grief stricken father. Unable to bear the memories of his beloved wife and her love of music, King Triton forbid music of any kind. He distanced himself from all that had once brought him joy, including his daughters.
Years later, now that the girls are grown, Ariel has begun to want more out of life for herself and her family. Can the youngest mermaid of seven sisters help her father find joy again and restore music and laughter to Atlantica? With the help of her friends, Sebastian and Flounder, she determines to try, no matter what the cost.
The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning - Guide Review for Parents
Curious about how Tritan became king, where Ursula came from, or how Ariel became obsessed with human stuff? Well, you won't find the answers to any of those questions in this DVD. The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning is about par for the Disney direct to DVD sequel course. Yes, the story is pretty good, the characters are familiar, and the animation is great; but there is nothing spectacular about it. In fact, it doesn't even answer the aforementioned questions one might ask about Ariel's beginning.
Of course, kids will still enjoy the colorful animation, and I will say that there were some excellent musical scenes. Parents should know, though, that the story involving Ariel's mother may be sad or disturbing to young kids. The movie shows how happy the family was and how the children loved their mother. She is then taken from them in an accident involving a ship, and King Triton is devastated. The story also involves a couple of instances in which Ariel disobeys her father, and includes one character whose ambition leads to a plot to kill Ariel and others (the plot fails). Also, one of Ariel's sisters is very boy crazy, even talking about kissing a boy and eventually doing so (a brief, animated kiss on the lips).
The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning - Bonus Features
- Deleted Scenes
- Disney Song Selection: The words to the music appear on the screen so that viewers can sing along
- Mermaid Discovery Vanity Game: Click on scrapbooks to discover secrets about King Triton's daughters. Find out which sister you are most like.
- Splashdance: Behind-the-scenes featurette about animation director Peggy Holmes
- The Little Mermaid: Under the Sea and Behind the Scenes on Broadway
