Disney movies seem to be known for bad sequels and even worse prequels. Ever seen the prequels for Beauty and the Beast, Lion King or Tarzan? No one has because they are garbage. 

The Little Mermaid; Ariel’s Beginning is a prime example of Disney trying to make a buck or two. It also went straight to DVD; surprise, surprise.

The film tells the story of Ariel before she wanted to trade in her fins for a set of legs and her dream man.

The movie introduces you to Ariel’s mother and allows for the audience to get to know Ariel’s six sisters better.

The movie focuses on the death of Ariel’s mother and how music was banned from Atlantica due to the painful memories it caused Ariel’s father, King Triton, to relive because his wife had loved music and singing.

As Ariel fights to bring back music to the kingdom they all learn the lesson of the importance of family, and yadda, yadda, yadda.

This movie does not compare in any way, to the original Little Mermaid though.

For some reason, they introduce new characters including a questionable manatee and evil assistant who actually just looks like Susan Sarandon with a fin and purple hair. This character in no way replaces the true Little Mermaid villain, Ursula.

This movie does step it up a notch with a few key 3D scenes, which are far from the Little Mermaid days of the past.

What brings it back down to a level of garbage that can be expected in a Disney prequel is the lack of memorable music this 77-minute tale includes.

Overall, I’d say pass on this one. It’ll be over an hour of your life you’ll never get back; unless you care to see what I believe is an uncanny resemblance of Susan Sarandon to an evil mermaid, than knock your socks off.