The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning

The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning (also known by the working title, Walt Disney Pictures: The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning, The Little Mermaid III: Ariel's Beginning or The Little Mermaid 3: Ariel's Beginning) is a 2008 animated direct-to-video musical fantasy comedy-drama adventure film produced by Disneytoon Studios, with the animation production being done by Toon City Animation, Inc. and DisneyToon Studios Australia This film is the prequel to Disney's 1989 animated feature film The Little Mermaid, the third installment in The Little Mermaid trilogy, and the last direct-to-video sequel after John Lasseter took over as chairman for the Disney Animation Division. It is also the first in the chronology of the story running through the series and it is based on the fairy tale The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen and The Little Mermaid animated television series which ran for three seasons.

Directed by Peggy Holmes (in her feature directorial debut), the film's story is set before the events of the original film, when Ariel is still young, and when all music has been banned from the underwater kingdom of Atlantica by King Triton after being heartbroken at his wife's death, and Ariel attempts to challenge this law. Jodi Benson and Samuel E. Wright (in his final film role) reprise their roles as Ariel and Sebastian respectively, while Sally Field voices the film's new villainess, Marina Del Rey. Jim Cummings takes over the role as King Triton, replacing Kenneth Mars, who had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

The film was released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on August 26, 2008. Though critical reception was improved over its predecessor, the film received mostly negative reviews that criticized the score, while the animation, screenplay, and voice performances were praised.

Plot
Many years before the events of the original film and its sequel, King Triton and his wife, Queen Athena, rule over the underwater kingdom of Atlantica, filled with music and laughter. They have seven young daughters: Attina, Alana, Adella, Aquata, Arista, Andrina, and the youngest of whom is Ariel. One day, while the merpeople relax in a lagoon above the surface, King Triton gifts Queen Athena a music box. However, the merfolk flee at the approach of a pirate ship. Everyone escapes except Queen Athena, who, while trying to recover the music box, is killed when the ship crashes into the lagoon. Devastated by his wife's death, Triton, having become bitter of music, throws the music box away and permanently bans music from Atlantica.

Ten years later, Ariel and her sisters live under a strict routine maintained by their evil governess, Marina Del Rey and her kindly assistant, Benjamin the manatee. Marina hates being the girls' governess and longs to be King Triton's attaché, a job currently filled by Sebastian the crab. Ariel is frustrated by their current lifestyle, which brings her into arguments with her father. One day, Ariel encounters Flounder, a young tropical fish whom she later follows to an underground music club. She is overjoyed by the presence of music and is shocked when she sees Sebastian performing there. When her presence is revealed, the entire band stops playing and hides, believing Ariel will tell her father about them. Ariel sings a song explaining her love of music and the remembrance of her mother and is then accepted as a member of the club after swearing an oath of secrecy.

Ariel returns to the palace and her sisters confront her over her disappearance, she explains where she was and the following night the girls go to the club to have fun. Marina finds them and she later reports their activities to King Triton, who destroys the club with his trident. Sebastian, Flounder, and the band are sent to prison, while Marina is given Sebastian's position, which means she will change the rules of Atlantica the next morning. The girls are confined to the palace as punishment. Ariel angrily retorts that this is not what her mother would have wanted.

That night, Ariel frees her friends and leaves Atlantica. Sebastian leads them to a deserted place far away from the palace where Ariel finds Queen Athena's music box, as Sebastian hoped. Ariel, Flounder, and Sebastian decide to return to Atlantica, stop Marina and Benjamin from changing the laws, and bring the music box to King Triton, hoping that it will change his mind, as he has not remembered how to be happy after Queen Athena's death. Meanwhile, King Triton is informed that Ariel is missing and he orders his guards to find her. Marina, wanting to retain her position, releases her electric eels to hunt down and eliminate Ariel and Sebastian.

Ariel and her friends are confronted by Marina on their way back and a struggle ensues. Ariel's friends defeat Marina's eels, just as King Triton arrives. Marina barrels toward Sebastian and tries to kill him, but Ariel blocks her way, getting hit in the process, and falls, apparently dead. King Triton witnesses this and blames himself. He, having a change of heart and making his bitterness of music go away, sings to Ariel and she revives; the two of them reconcile. After that, music is soon restored to Atlantica after ten years, Marina and Benjamin are imprisoned in the dungeon by King Triton as punishment for their crimes, Sebastian is appointed Atlantica's first official court composer, and everyone celebrates.

Voice cast

 * Jodi Benson as Ariel, the adventurous and headstrong mermaid of Atlantica.
 * Samuel E. Wright as Sebastian, a red Caribbean crab with a Jamaican accent who serves as King Triton's advisor and court composer. This was Wright's final film role before his death from prostate cancer in 2021.
 * Jim Cummings as King Triton, Ariel's strict and overprotective father and the ruler of Atlantica who is prejudiced towards humans. Cummings replaces Kenneth Mars, who was battling cancer.
 * Cummings also voices Shelbow, a member of the Catfish Club Band.
 * Sally Field as Marina Del Rey.
 * Parker Goris as Flounder, a yellow tropical fish who is Ariel's best friend.
 * Kari Wahlgren as Attina, the eldest sister who keeps the others in order and is always following her father's words.
 * Tara Strong (previously the voice of Melody, the daughter of Ariel, in Return to the Sea) as:
 * Adella, the third eldest sister who dreams of falling in love with a boy.
 * Andrina, the second youngest sister who is sarcastic and likes to joke around.
 * Jennifer Hale as Alana, the second eldest sister who is interested in beauty, fashion and is very cautious with her appearance.
 * Grey DeLisle as:
 * Aquata, the middle sister who is tough, but shy and can't dance.
 * Arista, the third youngest sister who is very quirky and often "borrows" other people's things. She joins the band at the end of the movie.
 * Jeff Bennett as Benjamin, Marina's mild-mannered manatee sidekick.
 * Bennett also voices the Swordfish Guards who patrol the palace.
 * Lorelei Hill Butters as Queen Athena
 * Andrea Robinson as Queen Athena's singing voice
 * Rob Paulsen (previously the voice of Prince Eric in Return to the Sea) as Ink Spot and Swifty, members of the Catfish Club Band.
 * Kevin Michael Richardson as Cheeks and Ray-Ray, members of the Catfish Club Band.

Production
The film's working title was The Little Mermaid III, and it was originally scheduled for a mid-2007 release. When John Lasseter took over Disney Animation, more resources were spent on completing Cinderella III: A Twist in Time, and attention only returned to Ariel's Beginning in July 2006 after the wrap-up of Cinderella III.

A teaser trailer and musical preview of the film (an alternate version of "Jump in the Line") were attached to the Platinum Edition DVD of The Little Mermaid, which was released in October 2006. At the time, the working title The Little Mermaid III was still being used.

Like The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, this film uses digital ink and paint with the use of the Toon Boom Harmony software.

Soundtrack
The score to the film was composed by James Dooley, who recorded the score with a 72-piece ensemble of the Hollywood Studio Symphony, as well as a big band, at the Sony Scoring Stage. The film features new songs written by Jeanine Tesori, along with covers of previously recorded calypso songs that were arranged by Dooley. No soundtrack has been released yet for the film.

Release
The film was released on Region 1 DVD in the United States on August 26, 2008, and on Region 2 DVD in the United Kingdom and Europe on September 22, 2008. The DVD contains special features including deleted scenes, a production featurette hosted by the director, games and activities, and a featurette hosted by Sierra Boggess (who played Ariel on Broadway) about the Broadway musical.

On December 16, 2008, the film was released in a "The Little Mermaid Trilogy" boxed set that includes The Little Mermaid (Platinum Edition) and The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea. On November 19, 2013, it was released on Blu-ray as a 2-movie collection alongside the sequel.

In 2019, the film was released on Disney+.

Censorship in the United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, the word "spastic" was cut from an interactive game in the extra features of the DVD and Blu-Ray releases by the BBFC to achieve a "U" rating. An uncut version was available rated "12".

The word appears uncensored in all versions of the full-length feature.

Reception
The DVD became the top-selling DVD for the week ending August 31, selling 980,237 copies.

On the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, 33% of 6 critic reviews are positive. The new villain, Marina Del Rey, was criticized as a poor follow-up to Ursula. The animation quality of the film has been praised as being "impressive" for a direct-to-video and comparable to that of the original film. A mildly negative review has described that in the film "goofiness often gets buried too often underneath a blah story that's much too run-of-the-mill to allow the emotional oomph of the characters' plights to truly impact". The music has also been criticized as being unmemorable, with one review stating that "to label this a musical would be false advertising".