The loveliness of the animation in the film is directly inverse to the terribleness of the songs in it. The songs are bland, forced, and (this is the best I can say for them:) easily forgotten. Of course, the songs that made it into the film, bad as they are, are nothing compared to the horror that is “Gonna Get My Wish,” the thankfully deleted but unfortunately-now-an-extra song on the bonus features.
In fact, the extras on this “Special Edition” DVD are all pretty bad. You’ve got the obligatory Disney Direct-to-DVD game and storybook. What I thought might have promise was the old Silly Symphonies cartoon Merbabies. However, no. The not-cute nameless multitudes of merbabies are born from the sea foam, splash around, have an underwater circus, an underwater showgirls performance, then float to the surface again and… explode. That’s right, the bubbles explode at the surface, and the babies along with them. Yikes. Still, you never get too attached, since they look like the aquatic version of the Mohawk babies riding carrots at CakeWrecks.
So, if I’m not giving this quite the recommendation I did for Ariel’s Beginning, then who do I suggest this movie for? I could see a little girl getting a few rounds of enjoyment out of this movie, though she’ll have to be too young to question character depth, and she’ll have to be the kind of kid who generally gets a kick out of Disney direct-to-DVD releases. So, does your daughter have all the Princess DVDs? Why not throw this one in the mix too? But does she prefer to stick to the original movies? Then don’t put yourself or her through The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea.
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