I highly recommend the stunning original, and the inspirational TV series, but I don't recommend this, I'm sorry.
The animation was a lot of the time very flat and too garish, especially in the scenes with Morgana. Speaking of Morgana, never have I seen such a bland villainess. Ursula scared me so much, as I repeatedly watched the Little Mermaid. Morgana was just a wannabe, which is always ill-advised Disney. Why didn't they recreate the Evil Manta, who after Ursula, was the most convincing of the villains in the TV series? The characters were a mixed bag. Ariel was alright, though rather childish,but Melody was annoying at times. (I did think the story, on a parallel with the original, was rather unoriginal and rushed despite some effective scenes) Sebastian was the best character here, but he was also ruined to some extent. So was Scuttle and Flounder. Scuttle wasn't funny, whereas Flounder put me off with his nasal tone, since when did Flounder have a nasal tone of voice? Tip and Dash were also uninspired, and Undertow wasn't mean enough. And the flying bat creatures? They weren't even scary, they were nothing like flotsam and Jetsam, who were scary! Even the chef wasn't funny. Him chasing Sebastian was badly underplayed, really unfunny.
However, there were some positives. Kenneth Mars does a great job as King Triton, the only character I cared for completely, but you don't see him that much. The songs weren't bad but nowhere near as good as the original, and I love Jodi Benson's voice, though "For a moment" sounded a little like the song featured in the episode "wish upon a starfish" or the beginning of it did anyway. The beginning wasn't bad either, in fact the beginning was one of the better scenes of the movie. Some aspects of the story worked nicely, but I wish they showed less of Tip and Dash. The climax with Morgana was the highlight of the film, with some really colourful segments.
In conclusion, a sometimes colourful, but hugely disappointing sequel to one of Disney's finest. Mind you, the Cinderella and Jungle Book sequels were worse. My sister will probably hate me when she reads this. 5/10, maybe too harsh? Bethany Cox
