The Little Mermaid

Post by **Daniel** » September 2nd, 2008, 2:15 pm

Nice review, I think I actually agree with it fully! Although I don't see Marina as a Morgana clone.

Post by **EricJ** » September 2nd, 2008, 2:57 pm

Once Upon A Dream wrote:Because I liked it and I think it's my favorite sequel.
I think that Ariel's Beginning and Cinderella III are the beast sequels/cheapquels and Cinderella II,Mulan II and Lion King 1 1/2 were good.

...Maybe we should've had a Beast sequel by now!

Seriously, it keeps being compared to Cindy III not just because of the number, but because even Disney's own execs consider the Cindy II TV-scraps the one they "just shouldn't have made", went all-out to make C3 the "classy" sequel by borrowing the cruise-ship show, and that one turned out to be...not too bad.

Haven't yet gotten to see Toon Studios' other "do-over" of a II they know their reputation's still hurtin' from, and given that it's last out of the gate (except for the Tinkerbell movies), sounds like we should be open to accept their apology.
They still owe us for Bambi II, but we can shake hands and forget the whole thing.

Post by **Ben** » September 2nd, 2008, 4:31 pm

Daniel wrote:Nice review, I think I actually agree with it fully! Although I don't see Marina as a Morgana clone.

Thanks Dan. Hopefully I made a valid argument for my opinions. I saw Marina as essentially a Morgana-design, crossed with Yzma. If you mixed those two together, you'd basically get Marina, but check her shape against Morgana, and they didn't exactly stray too far.

EricJ wrote:...Maybe we should've had a Beast sequel by now!

We did - two of 'em!

Post by **JustinWilliams** » September 2nd, 2008, 6:57 pm

lol 3/10? hahaha!

Post by **Daniel** » September 2nd, 2008, 7:21 pm

All things considered, I think that's fair!

Post by **JustinWilliams** » September 2nd, 2008, 7:46 pm

I don't! I've never said it was brilliant - i've always said it was flawed, 'a cracked mirror which still reflects an image', but 3! Still laughing! I guess it was prompted by the pre discussion here. Ultimate Disney has a cool video from the DVD premiere. Thier review from back on August 25th shared my opinion that '...plenty would argue that a movie like this isn't meant to be enjoyed in the same way that its theatrical predecessor is. ' and point out it could be better or worse, 'Production values on this prequel are about as high as ever' but we both agree it's not brilliant but worth it if not just to see new animation from the studio. I'll not contribute to this strand of the forum anymore because repetition is boring. I hope on a realistic re-watch of it, people will watch it as a new tale not the original feature! Buy the Special Edition if you want to enjoy the original film!

;p

Post by **Jens** » September 3rd, 2008, 1:32 pm

As I said on UD, I agree with your review a whole 100% Ben. Never thought I'd say this, but we have the same opinion on this! This film had a lot of potential, but it's just too bad they didn't use it...

Post by **Ben** » September 3rd, 2008, 2:01 pm

Thanks Dan, Jens.

Seems a well worded, properly considered opinion can even make sense to those who were predisposed not to agree.

I love it when people get so caught up in something they're not willing or able to see reason, but Justin can't seem to grasp what I'm saying: I didn't want to watch this on the same level as the feature, but I <I>was</I> expecting something better than this. With all the potential there in the characters and story elements, not to mention how good DisneyToon had gotten - they just seemed to throw that out and go for something adequate, not special.

As Walt said, the worst thing you can do is be mediocre.

September 3rd, 2008, 2:34 pm

Sorry Ben,but not only I really disagree with you and think your review is awful (3/10??? if you said that on Return On The Sea I think it should be lower but this movie is great),I also hated what you said about Jodi Benson.
Her voice is amazing,I dislike Thumbelina but I loved the songs just becuase of Jodi,I think she's one my favorite voice actors,and I Remember is a beautiful song with lots of heart in it.
If you didn't liked the movie then fine,but don't say that on Jodi.

Post by **Ben** » September 3rd, 2008, 4:41 pm

I didn't say anything against Jodi. She's great! But in this one moment she sounded shrill and over the top...which wasn't helped by a very poor song that tried to pack in the emotion of a four or five minute ballad into less than two.

GeorgeC · Post by **GeorgeC** » September 3rd, 2008, 5:41 pm

Jodi Benson is one of my favorite Disney voices, too, but I have to say that she has been done a great disservice by a lot of the Disney work over the years.

There is no doubt The Little Mermaid was the best thing she's done so far but blame the rest on bad scripts and direction. She does pop up in the most unusual places, though. She voiced for Toy Story 2 (Barbie) and is reprising her role in Toy Story 3. She was also the lead female voice for Pirates of Dark Water and the voice of Aquagirl (Aquaman's daughter) in two episodes of Batman Beyond. Yes, the Batman Beyond role was stunt-casting!

A lot of Disney people wanted Benson to be the voice for Belle but the producers wanted to go in a different direction and that's why Paige O'Hara got it. Nothing against Paige, either, because she was great as Belle! Again, later Beauty & the Beast spin-off hairballs were the result of the merchandizing/franchising mediocrity that permeates a lot of modern Disney work. I certainly don't blame the actors for this -- they need to work to eat, too!

There's no question the music in later Disney films has been hurt by the untimely loss of Howard Ashman. Disney just hasn't been able to find another lyricist in our times of his calibre. Those paths haven't crossed quite yet!

Post by **Dacey** » September 3rd, 2008, 5:42 pm

She also sounded like she's getting too old to still be voicing Ariel, IMHO.

GeorgeC · Post by **GeorgeC** » September 3rd, 2008, 5:53 pm

I really wouldn't say that.

If anything, women's voices tend to hold up better than men's as long as they don't smoke or drink a lot.

I've encountered more than my fair share of women in their 30s and 40s who STILL sound like teenage girls! Heck, Disney still uses Kathryn Beaumont (the original voice of Alice) on occasion and she's in her mid-60s.

Jodi's in her early 50s now and frankly doesn't sound bad at all... It's not her vocal performance, it's the director of the film that I think is at fault. Disney cast a really weird choice to direct the film. They chose a dance choreographer over animation veterans!

Take about a slap in the face to established talent...

September 4th, 2008, 3:59 pm

Ben wrote:I didn't say anything against Jodi. She's great! But in this one moment she sounded shrill and over the top...which wasn't helped by a very poor song that tried to pack in the emotion of a four or five minute ballad into less than two.

Well,I"m glad you like her

but shrill? when? I don't think she sounded shrill,and I think I Remember was beautiful,thought too bad Part Of Your World wasn't in that movie.

Wendy's Jane wrote:She also sounded like she's getting too old to still be voicing Ariel, IMHO.

The last time she sang Part Of Your World she sounded like when she first sang it,I don't think she sounds old,Paige Ohara might sounds old but no Jodi,and Scott Weinger sounds very different in the series,cheapquels,Kingdom Hearts and etc. then in Aladdin.

Post by **Daniel** » September 5th, 2008, 8:13 pm

Ariel's Beginning outsells What Happens in Vegas. Heh, not surprising to me.