Sounds a little cheesy--a little “if you give up your dreams, you die,”* doesn’t it? It’s actually kinda sweet. The loss of a parent or spouse impacts everyone involved, and can weigh heavily for years, so we can sympathize with King Triton’s despair and resulting actions. As well, while losing music isn’t the end of the world, it would be an unnatural loss in any society (even those societies under the sea). And of course, we know Ariel’s personality (someone’s got to nail that girl’s fins to the floor!), so we can believe her disobedience and campaign to bring back music is within the scope of her character.
Even with these praises, I might be missing the point of a direct-to-DVD Disney movie. Essentially, is it a good movie to throw in for the kids? Yes. The animation is just as gorgeous as the first movie, the colors as vibrant, the fish as imaginative. The voice acting is good, with Jodi Benson returning as Ariel and Samuel E. Wright returning as Sebastian. Song-wise, don’t expect anything of the epic caliber of “Kiss the Girl” or “Part of Your World.” However, the majority of the music is in the Jamaican-style we loved in “Under the Sea,” and won’t rot your brain like the songs in many other direct-to-DVD Disney movies.
That is, except the songs from the sorta-evil new villain that didn’t need to be added. I can’t justly leave her out of this review. The mermaids’ keeper, Marina Del Ray (yes, that's her name), is a disgruntled employee who dreams of climbing the corporate ladder, sings terrible songs, and has an adorable manatee sidekick who isn’t evil but doesn’t stop her evil actions. Marina and her manatee also participate in activities that don’t work under the sea, such as a manicure that includes dipping her nails in a dish of water. (Hello???) Even worse than her songs, if that is possible, is the fact that she is entirely not needed. The real trial of the movie is the world without music, and she has no part in this. She’s not really bad until the very end, and even then, she just gets in the way. The real villainy is how she slows down the plot.
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