Probably for Temple Matthews who written basically a remake with few changes that just make it worse. SPOILERS: It's much similar to the original. Melody, Ariel's new baby daughter is threatened by Ursula's sister, Morgana. Morgana escapes, but keeps her promise to take Melody away from them. (Ursula had a sister?!) And she's not flashy a villain as Ursula was either. This is where similarity is. Melody is kept from the sea until Morgana is captured, but she doesn't know a thing about it, because everyone kept it secret. A wall surrounds the palace to keep her in and Morgana out. She goes under the wall day to day to have a swim and talk with Sebastian, who is not as funny or fun anymore. She finds a seashell with her name on it and runs away from home and to look for answers and finds Morgana. Here is a similarity; Morgana tricks Melody, making her happy by turning her into a mermaid. Meanwhile, Eric, Melody and King Triton look for her. To stay a mermaid she needs to steal the trident from Triton. So Melody does, because she does not know King Triton is her grandfather. She makes friends with a penguin and a walrus and here is where it is awful. The penguins who live with them in an icy ocean, hate them because they are cowards. So they try to prove they are heroes and fail. That does not suit the little mermaid. And the dialogue during those conversations between the penguins and those two characters is ear-bleeding. you know why? Because the first had a great story. This one is not and is not magical. It is just an example of how bad many sequels are.
Melody finds them and they help to take her to Atlantica to prove themselves. After taking the trident, Ariel finds Melody with Morgana. Melody is angry at her mother for keeping her from the sea so she gives the trident to Morgana, then she shows her true colours once she grabs it. Poor Ariel and Melody are in her custody. The penguin and the walrus begin to prove themselves when they fight Morgana's shark friend. Sorry I did not mention him earlier. Both have fulfilled their courage in the end (predictably). Eric, King Triton and his soldiers arrive but are forced to bow down before Morgana by the power of the trident. Melody takes it, throws it to Triton and he ices Morgana (literally). Then Ariel apologises to Melody and thinks it is all her fault. It was not! Ariel did the right thing to protect Melody, but they never say so. Triton offers Melody to live in sea or land. She in fact has a "better idea". She uses the trident to vaporize the wall so humans and mer-folk can be together. Then everyone sings an awful song. THE END.
Whoevers seen it and likes this obviously hasn't seen the original. I don't dislike this because I am a teenager. I liked it when I was very little. Then as I grew older I began to see what is bad about this film. Young, young kids will enjoy it, but it is likely that when they are in primary school, they will forget about it. Normally I would think I over-judged a film and it was better than I remember when I watched it again, but not this one. Only much worse. Story is no exception. If you thought, by reading this that the story is good, read more of this comment and you will know the other bad points: Well, you know the story now. I'm sorry for spoiling it for you, assuming you read it but I had to point out some bad parts of it. One of the worst things that taken a step backwards is the animation. Colour is awful. The original had beautiful colour. Watching this almost made me want to go blind. Even the illustrations and landscape design were not good. The original had beautiful, magical colouring and beautiful underwater landscape design and for land as well, making it a joy to watch.
The music is good at times, but for this kind of movie it is unbearable. Compared to the first movie, its crap. Songs are not well composed and you wouldn't hear many good voices. Tara Strong is a great voice-actor, who even displayed Mel Blanc-style talents, but she cannot sing a tune. She at times either sang too high or did not keep track for the melody in the song. So much for having "Melody" as a name.And the music is not at all beautiful or moving. Little Mermaid 1 won an Oscar for it and it truly deserved it. This one deserved a razzie award for worst musical score in a sequel if it would exist.
I did not like the voices. Several people who played characters from the first, are here too. Jodi Benson is a great singer, but now that she is older, no offence to her, her voice is too deep and not so beautiful anymore. Most disappointing is that she and others from the first cast were part of this. If I was chosen for this film, just by reading the script, I can tell it would be a bad sequel. The characters are different now. Ariel is more wiser now, yet annoying. They overdid her character, making her too mature. In sequels you are not meant to change the characters unless it is for a special reasons. She was sixteen in the first. There is little chance she changes. That is the stage when you become the person you are going to be for the rest of your life. Screenwriters should think of that. They should think of the character.
Well, I suppose that is it for me. I hope you find my comment useful, because I am sure a lot of you will agree with my point of view.
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