The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea (5/10)
In what's probably not a controversial opinion, I think this film is weaker than the first. In what might be controversial, I'll say that despite that, the film does a lot of things better than the original.
To be clear, neither of the films are "good," and you can see my earlier review of the first film as to why I'm not fond of it. This one, however...what bugs me is that the film touches on a number of aspects that hint at potential character development, but never follows through on them. Maybe I'm expecting too much from a film that's meant for kids, and one that's under 90 minutes at that, but still?
Anyway, I'll get one thing out of the way first - the songs suck. Really suck. I can't remember the lyrics of a single one, only that they're all sacharine to at least some extent. I may have given Ariel flak for her life decisions in the first film, but she could at least sing, damn it.
Now with that said, I'll get to the main thoughts I have with the film, and most of them are going to center on their protagonist and antagonist.
-Melody: I'll say it, Melody is a better protagonist than Ariel. She's younger, so the decisions she makes are easier to forgive, plus, while Ariel already knew that Ursula was a seawitch in the first film, here, Melody being tricked by Morgana works much better in that a) Melody's already upset with her parents, and has good cause to be, b) Melody has never heard of Morgana, so she's going in blind, and c) Morgana's 'terms' are far more reasonable than Ursula's. Also, frankly, I find Melody's dilemma more compelling - here's a girl who, despite being human, knows that there's something 'wrong' with her, given that she can talk to aquatic life, and that everyone at court knows she's a weirdo, including kids, who don't hesitate to be cruel about it. It actually brings me to my point about what I was saying about the film never following through on character development, because there's a lot you could do here that the film doesn't go into, for whatever reason. But as a point of comparison, Ariel's actions in the first film are her pursing 'true wuv' with a man she's never even talked to, whereas Melody's character arc is finding out her true origin, who/what she really is, etc. That isn't a particuarly original character arc, but it's a more compelling one.
-Morgana: Morgana probably epitomizes wasted potential in this film. There's a certain clumsiness to her introduction, for as soon as she turns up, Sebastian exclaims "Ursula's crazy sister!" Um, yes, Ursula had a sister all this time and, what, you didn't know? You mean the first film made no mention of it? Aw, pish-posh. Also doesn't help that Morgana's goals are the same as Ursula's (get the trident, rule the Seven Seas). On a surface level, Morgana's just an Ursula knock-off. However, all that said...okay, I'll say it, Morgana is simply a more interesting version of Ursula. Not a deep character, but we learn that Morgana has always been overshadowed by Ursula, was neglected by her own mother, and there's the sense, however slight, that Morgana is trying to eclipse her sister rather than really following her own ambitions. You could even draw parallels to Melody here, in that she too feels out of place in her world, has a strained relationship with her parents, and here, finally, she's found someone who can tell her the truth. Except despite all this, Morgana at the end is "nah, I'm evil," and is defeated by being encased in ice. No redemption, no gravitas, she meets the same fate as her sister, happy ending.
There's other examples of this - for instance, Melody makes friends with a seal and penguin (what a penguin is doing in the Arctic Circle, I've no idea) who are shunned by their fellows, so again, you've got a whole 'band of misfits' going on, but again, there's no real chutzpah here. And the gravitas from the prior film is also reduced since Triton can now turn Ariel into a mermaid and back into a human within a period of 1-2 days, so again, lack of gravitas. So in the end, you have a film that raises numerous potential plot and character points, and fails (or refuses) to do anything interesting with them.
So, yeah. A letdown. Also, Sam asked me about the direct-to-video Disney films, so as short as the list is (and really, I don't have much desire to expand it), here's the rankings as they currently stand:
4) Peter Pan: Return to Neverland
3) The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea
2) Aladdin: The Return of Jaffar
1) The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride
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