**The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning** is surprisingly not bad?? FIRST TIME WATCH 

Marina's tail matching her outfits and the jail uniform lmao, fashion queen

"Why don't you just lock us in jail?" Ariel comparing herself to the prisoners while confined to her actual palace has the same energy as Gal Gadot singing Imagine at the start of the pandemic.

Fun fact: Ariel is actually 15 in this movie. I know this because I had this movie on DVD when I was younger, and on the bonus features you got to explore all of the sisters' vanities, which gave you a little character bio. Attina (red-orange one) is 21, Alana (light pink one) is 20, Aquata (blue one) is 19, Arista (your fave, dark red one) is 18, Adella (yellow one) is 17, Andrina (dark pink one) is 16, and Ariel is 15.

Ariel must've been a pain to raise. First she demands music and feels like a prisoner without it. Then when she gets music she *once again* feels like a prisoner to the ocean and wants to escape to land.😭Next she's gonna complain to Eric that she wants to explore space and feels like a prisoner on land.

Fun Fact: This was the last of Disney's Direct to DVD sequels, and while I can't say they went out with a bang, I still had fun with this. I just wish the villain was Ursula again, like if this was her villain origin, instead of someone that looks like a mermaid version of her.

While Marina Del Ray isn’t as much of a threat as Ursula or Morgana, she’s such a fun character and way more memorable than Morgana ever was

For a prequel it is pretty good. I like that it explains why Triton hates humans. However, this movie still has a forgettable villain though. Also why do 99% of the Disney moms always die?😭

Now we wait for Sophia to review Cinderella III: A Twist in Time. For a true direct to video masterpiece. Or Lion King II.

If King Triton has depression in this movie, then it can be that music reminds him of his wife and her death hurt him so deeply that he banned music. Just a thought.

Personally, I like the 3rd one better than the sequel. Idk why but I can't hate anything that has Ariel in it. This is my favorite prequel and it's actual entertaining to me.

Time for my trivia comment! Ariel was originally written to be more modern but Jodi Benson said no to the script and had them rewrite her to be more in character. This is the first time King Triton is voiced by Jim Cummings, better known as Winnie the Pooh. His original voice actor Kenneth Mars passed in 2005. The reason Sebastian and Ariel (only returning VA) might sound off is because this movie was released in 2008. The first film came out in 1989 so they were recorded 20 years apart. This is also the final time Sam Wright ever voiced Sebastian in an official Disney release prior to his passing. Queen Athena (Ariel's mom) was actually modeled off of adult Ariel in TLM2. In the select scenes that are on model but mostly promo art you can definitely tell. The animation for this film is probably tied with Cinderella 3 and Lion King 1 and a half for best direct to video Disney sequel. It's a shame and a relief that we never got any more direct to video sequels. I remember getting this for my birthday because it released like a week after I turned 15. This film has 2.5 new songs. I counted Athena's lullaby as a half because it's so short but Ariel's song in the first half is nice. The whole movie hits different for me now since my mom passed in 2013. The way Ariel laid into Triton with the "I may not remember much about my mother but I know she wouldn't have wanted this" GUUUUUUURL it's a good thing they're underwater for that burn. Anyway I hope you're looking forward to the live action film and maybe you'll do a review with a spoiler timestamp when you do?

Ariel: But why?! King Triton: Because music killed my wife!

Even though it was a missed opportunity to have Ursula as the main villain so we could see how she got banished, I actually enjoyed Marina mostly because she was voiced by Sally Field and this was such a different character than what I'm used to Sally playing 😂 I'm so used to her playing the loving mom type characters like in Steel Magnolias, Not Without My Daughter and Mrs Doubtfire so this was a fun change! Overall, this was a fun movie. I really enjoyed Flounder and Sebastian's roles in it and it had pretty nice animation. I will say though, not just with Flounder but I feel like Sebastian's role also seemed kind of inconsistent to how he was in the first movie. In this, he was more rebellious against the King's rules while in the first movie, he's kind of a kiss ass 😂

I remember when I first watched this and I ended up watching it for a week straight 🤣. It may not be the best to some people, but I liked how we get to see Ariel’s mom and more of her sister’s personalities since we didn’t in the first movie

I have such a soft spot in my heart for all of the Little Mermaid movies, but especially this prequel. I love how we get to explore the personalities of her sisters. I also adore the villain! There's something about Marina Del Rey, but I love her. But Benjamin... *he's my favorite* for sure. I will always defend this movie.

Baby Ariel is so cute, I want to adopt her 🥺

Do mermaids give birth to live young or do they lay eggs? 🤔 If Mermaids lay eggs, then it would explain why Ariel just has so many sisters all seemingly the same age. 5:50 "Is it so much to ask you to just *walk* with your family?" My god, I figured it out! The reason Ariel is so obsessed with humans in the first movie is because she wants to actually walk! Mermaids don't have legs!, they can't walk!

As a child I thought the Shake Senora song was a Little Mermaid Original. I'm embarrassed

Marina del Rey sounds like a cross between Marina Diamandis and Lana del Rey and I'm here for that

Yessss! This one is exponentially greater than tLM2. The animation is so much better and Marina Del Ray is a really fun villain.

For me, the second film was superior to the third. However, for the _Cinderella_ films, the third is superior to the second.

I like this one because it explains everything that happened in the first movie like how Ariel’s Mother died and that’s why her Dad hates humans and why Ariel is so rebellious and thats why her Dad is always concerned about her. I also like you get to see more of Ariel’s sisters personalities and how they interact with each other because in first one you barely get to see it. I thought it was very good prequel and animation was better here than in the second one and I hope you liked it Sophia and can’t wait what you react to next 😉😊😄😃😃

Honestly, I loved seeing the relationships between Ariel and her sisters. It’s such a cute and realistic dynamic and I love it lol

Not the best movie ever, but when my sister and I discovered it, we were obsessed! I still love Ariel’s sisters. The blue one, Aquata was my favorite.

icl i kinda wish this movie had ursula and gave some of her backstory in it cos i’m pretty sure they said she used to live in the palace?? like the bald woman is fine but ursula being the villain would have made more sense to me

YOOOO that thumbnail picture to the right is WILD lmao 😂

I remember hating this when I 1st saw it. I didn't like that the mom looked too much like Ariel and the banning music thing was dumb. I'm honestly surprised Disney hasn't tried to make another 12 Dancing Princesses adaptation or marketed Ariel's sisters. They could've sold a ton of dolls

This is probably one of my favorite disney lower budget sequels. I really liked how it looked and it gave the sisters a more noticeable personality. It's not perfect but is good enough.

I surprisedly liked this movie it added to the original story it doesn't compare but its pretty decent 🤷🏽‍♀️

Kenneth Mars, the regular voice of Triton, was sadly in declining health by the time this movie was in production. Definitely missed him because he brought such a dignity and a warmth to Triton (as well as his other big animated role Grandpa Longneck in the Land Before Time franchise). Fun to hear Jim Cummings as Triton but it’s still not quite the same.

if they wanted to bring ursula into this they could easily have made it so that shes a royal advisor and manipulating triton into making the kingdom into such a gloomy sight, with triton being too scarred and in mourning to fully understand or acknowledge whats going on behind his back past his wife's death. then you have ariel and co expose her, thus leading to her being kicked out of the palace and letting ursula fester her anger towards the royal family. could still keep a lot of the story beats but the villain part would probably have been a bit more enjoyable.

Well now I want Sophia to do a bunch of sequel movie watches, like all the Swan Princess sequels (maybe not ALL of them, I'm sure the ones that are about her daughter are not worth it at all. The one where they get their daughter is an absolute trip though.). I remember the Cinderella ones also being varying degrees of fabulously wild.

If you wanted more with Ariel's sisters, I'd suggest looking into the Little Mermaid Broadway musical. They have a much larger part and get their whole own song with Flounder called "She's in Love" which is an absolute bop!

I'm not someone that likes prequels. But there's a few that end up okay to me and this is one of them. I do wish that Marina turned out to be Ursula. The excuse they could have gone with for why Ariel doesn't recognize her by first movie events is because Marina changes her name to Ursula and all the magic she gets into changes her appearance. I feel they could have done that. Also I'm just going to say it, the way Ariel's mother died is... laughably awkward with the editing. They either needed to edit that scene differently or make her death happen by something else. Like a harpoon being shot but the scene cuts away so you don't actually see the impale. Or she got caught in a net cast down to catch other fish. Something.

Hell yeahhh!! Surprisingly a sequel! I grew up watching this movie a tooon more than the original.

the sisters are my favorite part of the movie and Arista is THE BEST. i love how unique each one of them was. while the plot of the movie is nice and definitely better than the 2nd movie, i wish they focused more on them and their dynamic with Ariel.

One thing I was confused about in this film was the whole morning walk thing. How on earth would Mer people know about the concept of walking if they don't have legs and get by swimming? Overall, it was a pretty solid sequel , and I'm glad Ariel's sisters had gotten more screen time. The animation was surprisingly good too for a direct to video film.

this is my LOVE marina isn't as great a villian as ursula but she is such a mood regardless

I believe this is Sally Field’s first voice over role. She did a fabulous job as Marina Del Rey, and I was obsessed with her as a kid.

It was confirmed in the original by the creators that Ariel is actually a spitting image of *Triton* - they both have red hair and are the most similar in personality, which is why they clash. This movie completely upended that, and lazily made the Queen identical to Ariel which was lazy. As said before, Ariel shares her red hair and obstinate, rebellious personality with Triton.

this explains why triton loves ariel so much, she is the spitting image of athena

You can tell that TLM2 was a good concept but so-so execution while this one they learned from those mistake and adjusted nicely.

I just have to say that I love your hair omg, it literally looks so good. The cut, the colour, the shine, the way it's sweeping off to the side. Chef's kiss

16:50 I was just chilling drinking my juice and Sebastian's silly little girl scream almost made me spit it all out 💀😭.

In the Prequel Ariel is 15 a year before she met Eric.

11:38 reminds me of when Ursula said “And don’t underestimate the importance of BAWDEE LANGUAGE! HA!” and shook her butt. Ariel always makes enemies with big booty women!

Actually i always assumed if Athena (ariel mother) hadnt gone back for the music box, she likely would have survived so triton cant stand music because it also played a factor why his wife is dead.

I too have a soft spot for the prequel. I personally prefer the little mermaid series as it has better told origins. Ariel’s beginning is underwater footloose. I am also impressed with the animation as you could tell there was a lot of effort put into it when making it.

I wonder why they made king triton so young in the begging and just a few years later he has full white hair, I know that he’s stressed, but like damn son, they should have given him the Reed richards grey side hair

I had to rewind the part where he said "a princess doesn't tickle another princess with seaweed" and where it cut off it sounded like ariel said "I thought we effed."

This, along with A Twist in Time were my absolute favorite Disney direct to DVD sequels/prequels. I especially loved Ariel’s beginning. Gave her much more depth. Even now, it’s a pretty enjoyable watch for me. I loved how they portrayed the sisters too. I’m pretty biased, as Ariel is my favorite princess and TLM is probably my all-time favorite disney movie, but this was a classic for me when I was little. The animation is so pretty too.

I loved this movie as a kid

OMG YESSS GIRL PLEASE DO THE LIVE ACTION ONCE IT COMES OUT

I think this one is my favorite of the three bc we got to learn more about the sisters and the animation looks a lot smoother 😊

If you want to see more with Ariels sisters, they're in few episodes of the tv show. I dunno how often, but I definitely remember at least 2 episodes that had a sister as like, a main character.

Each of Triton's daughters is associated with one of the seven seas based on their personalities and hair colors.

This does add an interesting context to Triton finding out about Ariel’s fascination (and love) for humans.

i love the part where he opened the music box and colours come back to atlantica. shows how the power of music turns a grey and dull everything to a joyful light and happy city❤i actually don’t think i could survive without music

Marina Del Ray walked so Lana Del Rey could run

Alternate title: "Footloose: Underwater" (which is funny because the girl in "Footloose" is named Ariel, and the red-haired mermaid is also named Ariel). "Ursula hired the wrong electric eels then!"

As far as direct to video cheap movies, this was a good TV special. The animation starts to get better compared to like Hunchback 2 with much fewer people and can barely be compared to it's source. I almost wish they kept going with them but I guess live action reworks are more profitable and can be shown in theaters.

The blonde sister is Arista! She's always been my fave sister, glad you like her too! Also, in the tv series, the way Ariel and Flounder met was so much cuter and more true to their personalities.

I LOVED this movie as kid, I was so so invested in any little mermaid content as a kid lol. I'm glad you liked it!

I'm so happy u reacted to this movie!! I was hoping that u were since I saw your reaction on the second one :) Loved this movie as a kid but I rarely meet people who have seen it. Also I love your hair!!❤

I don't know if you've seen this but there was a video called Sebastian's Caribbean Jamboree which had Sebastian interacting with his voice actor and singing Caribbean inspired songs. One of them being the Banana Boat Song (Day-O). That's right. Sebastian has now officially sang two Harry Belafonte songs that were made popular in Beetlejuice. 😂

The hate on this movie feels so forced, like yes we know it’s not as good as the original but some of us only had the sequels to watch growing up so there’s just so much nostalgia for me personally when I watch this movie.

I just watched Ponyo, which happens to be my favorite little mermaid movie.

The sound effects @13:09 I CANT BREA-

I don't care what anyone says, Marina was one of my favourite Disney villains as a kid, she was so much fun to watch 😂

Little Mermaid 3: Finloose

18:55 idk if anyone covered this but the reason they look different if they are a different type of eel. These are electric eels while Flotsam and Jetsam are moray eels. No idea why Ursula chose moray over electric though. Maybe an intelligents thing.

I'm glad that this was the final straight-to-DVD sequel from Disney. Thank goodness John Lasseter put an end to them. If ONLY current Disney had someone to end the live-action remakes no matter how much money they continue to make worldwide. I REAAALLLY wish that Disney got someone other than Jim Cummings as King Triton for this film. Every time I heard him, I only heard his singing voice for Chief Powhattan and Scar. I even thought of Pete from 'Goof Troop' & 'A Goofy Movie' which had been his main character for going on 4 decades.

This movie is literally “singing killed my grandma” before the movie trolls

I remember watching this movie on vhs. What a throwback 😂

I had this DVD (with the special features) as a kid and I lived on that shit! Especially the special features with exploring the sisters' vanities and the personality quizzes. But this is the first time I've watched it as an adult, and it's been _years._ It's kinda trippy to rewatch it now

Aaahhh, glad you decided to give it a chance! I never thought about comparing it to the original, honestly, and won't, since the TV series came out along with the sequel much later. It's not supposed to be a replacement, just something to keep the franchise alive I think the best way of thinking about this like a "very special episode." I thought it was gonna be as bad as the second film, but I was pleasantly surprised. Marina Del Ray had a realistic goal compared to Ursula or Morgana, imo Maybe they also didn't wanna do Ursula again cause Morgana

21:17 That SCREEECH I was laughing so hard.

Triton sounding like pete is what gets meeeee

Ugh the expressions in this movie, the stretch and squish animation style, SOOOOO GOOD!

I love how after you commmented on the transitions of the movie and then you changed YOUR transitions

The fact that I own Cinderella 3 and Little Mermaid 3 in DVD makes me happy 😂

I recently found your channel like two days ago and I luv it here! You’re so chill and comforting haha, hope you have an amazing day :)

I actually prefer this one over the Little Mermaid 2

YESS the first time I saw it AS A CHILD just so surprised by how good the story was.

20:50 reminds me of when buddy throws a ton of snowballs super fast in Elf

Wow that was fast i didnt actually expect a reaction to this movie yet! I will definitly say its infinitly better than "Return to the Sea", unfourtunatly i don't have time to watch the vid rn so hopefully you had fun reacting.

I absolutely love the yellow manatee dude! I need there to be a plush of him

The movie gives us 12 dancing princesses vibes honestly. This is actually a fun movie though! I think you might enjoy the Barbie version of 12 dancing princesses too.

The little mermaid Ariel’s beginning it’s my favorite movie from all 3

I absolutely loved this movie as a kid thanks for reacting to it and I love your videos and your hair is gorgeous ❤

Man, I remember hearing a lot of rumors surrounding the film's plot when it hadn't even had an official teaser yet. Queen Athena was supposed to have either been captured by the pirates or left Atlantica altogether for 'reasons' (per the sources from years ago). Ursula was going to be given a backstory that resulted in her banishment and I imagine the film would've revolved around her rivalry with Triton. All in all, I feel the final product is....fine as a cookie-cutter prequel. None of the Disney sequels ever lived up to the original, anyway (EXCEPT for Cinderella 3: A Twist in Time).

If you ever get the chance to find a way to look at the special features on the DVD of this, it gives a good detailed background of all of her sisters, as well as Ariel, which is how I found out canonically. She is 12 years old in the movie which takes place Four years before the original movie with her being 16.

I remember being obsessed (and I mean, absolutely *obsessed)* with the extra game feature thing in the DVD where you could explore all 7 sisters' vanity mirrors and find out their favourite colours, music genres, dairies pages, etc. then take a quiz to find out who you're most like 🥲💜

You have to do the cinderella sequels now!! They're soo good. Especially cinderella III

Honestly one of the most underrated princess movies

Hii Sophia! School finally ends in 2 days (tomorrow and the last day of school are final exam days :(( and I'm packing up to spend the summer in Korea! I haven't seen my extended family in 4 yrs. Now I'm finally packing my suitcase 3 days before I leave while watching ur very entertaining video (and my Asian mom is yelling at me for procrastinating on packing so much 😅) You made this experience a lot more enjoyable :)

First time coming across your videos but your hair is STUNNING omg

Just as how Cinderella got a mini-stories movie (Cinderella 2) The little mermaid also got mini-stories that i vaguely remember being okay. I think they were straight to DVD and thus very few even know they exist.😂😂😂😂😂 Cinderella 3: A twist in time is still one of the best sequels ever.

Yo this movie showed how strong asf ariel is especially when she’s being protective and also how amazing the voice actors were!! They were so committed yet it was a prequel!! Loved it so much, especially flounder!! That kid went so hard for his role!

I would watch this movie on Blue-Ray and the extra features had a quiz on which sister you are, and I played it so often I knew exactly which option lead to each sister. I love all of The Little Mermaid sequels! They slayed!