Why do you hate TLM 2? I always thought it was alright. I never cared much for TLM 3.
There are soooo many reasons. Also, want to preface with I understand there's a sizeable TLM 2 fandom that's developed in recent years and def am not looking to ruffle any feathers! Everyone can like with they like and dislike what they dislike and have their own opinion...but I'm going to start with listing what I admired about the film, before I go into why I really can't stand it.
Jodi Benson's voice acting! I didn't like her performance at all in the third film, but in this movie, her singing was laced with a beacon of motherly light that was so incredible. From the ethereal humming in the first scene, where she's in the shadowed room and gently singing her devotion to her small child, there was something special in the air. Her unreal harmonies in For a Moment are some of the best vocals of all time.
Kenneth Mars reprising his role felt so in character and he was such a delight. Sebastian's voice was too but Kenneth just had this regal strength to him and he had all the weight and emotional impact of Triton from the original film, but with this underbelly of softness that was exposed and he was so tender and loving...his character seemed to be the most in line with what would've organically transpired from the first film. Everyone else is wildly out of character (aside from maybe Sebastian and Scuttle and Flounder, but that was because the writers just made them do exactly what they did in the first movie down to giving Sebastian the same plot device lol)
Flounder was cute. Not much to go into here but he did make me giggle lol
Ariel getting her feet wet was such a powerful moment. Taking off her heels and immersing a part of her back into that world where gravity was different and she was young and things felt almost weightless is such a vibe. I also admired her transition back to a mermaid for similar reasons- releasing her from that mom bun and that terrible dress, her being able to plunge back into the sea, being able to re-connect with her roots.
Okay, so the reasons why I can't stand it and, overall, dislike it:
I came to this movie as an Ariel fan and...we were done dirty tbh? They totally changed her temperament, her personality, her motives- in a way that wasn't just "oh she grew up and developed" but like...that's not her and this movie's cheap writing tried to make her into someone she wasn't so that the story could go down the way that it did. Most of the people who love this movie love it because of Melody, which is fine, but like...as someone who came for Ariel, the fact that she wasn't a main character was lowkey disrespectful? It think it also contributes to this idea that once you "grow up" or just age or have children, you can no longer be the main character and you have to be delegated the background so that the next generation can have their moment. More on this in another bullet. But yeah, nothing of the original Ariel was here- none of her passion and spirit and love. None of her quirks and hobbies and interests. It was just "protect Melody!"
The walrus and the penguin...I'm not a fan of Timon and Pumba type of characters and the fact that they took up so much of the runtime genuinely made this unwatchable to me. Like, we couldn't get more of Ariel, but they could be forced down our throats???
Morgana was uncompelling to me. I don't really like her design or her sidekick or her backstory. Just...eh.
The absence of Howard Ashman was really felt. Now, growing up, I have to admit I don't think too much about him and would frankly get irritated when people kept bringing him up over, and over, and over again as the sole credit to The Little Mermaid's success. I felt it discounted the director's talents, those of Glen Keane and Andreas Deja's, as well as Jodi and Pat's, and just the other members of the creative team without which this franchise never would've found legs. BUT in recent years, I was beginning to ask myself why I feel Ariel so rarely retains that original energy about her from the first film. For instance, there's none of Ariel in this sequel movie to me and even less of her in the third, and I wondered why that was. For the original three princesses, the reason the characterizations are flawed in the sequels and spin-offs is due to the lack of input and involvement from Adriana, Ilene, and Mary- but since Jodi was involved in everything Ariel had anything to do in, why did the character not always live up to who she was in the original? And I honestly think the missing piece was Howard. Regardless of anyone's personal politics or beliefs are, The Little Mermaid is THE LGBTQIA+ fairytale. It was written by a gay man and adapted by another gay man (Howard Ashman) and so much of the character of the original mermaid and Ariel carries the experience of a closeted gay person. This simply can't be adapted by a straight person and still have its artistic integrity intact (which is why I'm admittedly uncomfortable about the live action remake...there isn't a single person involved that is anything but straight, from what I've seen, and the lack of diversity in the cast with Eric, Ursula, and even Triton being white is another red flag for me considering they said they wanted to set this film in the Caribbean but the film features a majority white cast). They took Ariel from who she was in the original movie, written and adapted by a gay man with that characterization and created in the 1980s, and they essentially made her into like a WASPy suburban mother and I just...that's not my Ariel.
Overall, it's uninspired. It's literally just a next generation story with no creativity to it in my opinion. Also, as I mentioned, the characters themselves have so many places to go without needing to give birth to a kid who just relives the original movie all over again but with younger characters.
The animation wasn't expressive. I understand it's going to be a downgrade but...yikes. They went from Glen Keane's iconic animation (I honestly think his work on The Little Mermaid is solely what launched him into being a legend; like yes, his other work is great and deserves its flowers, but the fact that he did the Part of Your World sequence was probably the highlight of his career) to something that felt Rugrats level.
I was just so frustrated with the stealing of a trident and ugh in general the plotpoints annoy me and not in a way that's suspenseful but just in a "I hate that this is happening"
In the original film, what made Ariel and King Triton's relationship so potent was that it mirrored that of a homophobic, intolerant parent and a gay teen. Also, before anyone contradicts me, as I've mentioned before, it's meant to be queer-coded...someone once reblogged my post, disagreeing, and saying that while Ariel and Eric's love was forbidden and even considered illegal and they were from different species, they were still different sexes and thus could never be queer-coded and I think this person is missing the "coded" part of that definition lol but anyway, Ariel and Triton's dynamic had layers and was so raw and real. Ariel and Melody's relationship is literally just a "don't worry, I felt different too at your age, sweetie! It's not easy for anyone to be a teenager" and the entire plot of the film is centered around timing. Where Ariel left Atlantica after Triton destroyed her collection, invaded her personal space, attacked her, and essentially told her he'd never accept her, the plot of this sequel is only propelled by Ariel not catching Melody to tell her in time about her mermaid heritage. Literally, if she came into Melody's room a few minutes earlier, that entire thing never would've happened lol and that's the other part of it- throughout the film, Ariel is willing to talk to Melody multiple times??? So like...whereas Ariel had no resources, but still showed love for Triton, Melody didn't really have that. Look at the difference between how apologetic Ariel was when Triton appeared near the end of the film and how she attacked Ursula for taking the trident. Melody ignored Ariel when she tried to talk to her and handed the trident over to Morgana lol
The entire thing is aged/watered down. The original was a theatrical release, where the mandate was to write from 8 to 80 as a demographic. The direct to video release had a Pre-K to 12 audience and...yeah
The setting being weird and cold and icy did nothing for me. Like the original film made the underwater scenes look like that- apart from Under the Sea which purposely was bright and colorful and vibrant- because they wanted us to understand why Ariel, a mermaid that had always been in the dark, cold ocean, would be so infatuated by the warm kingdom of Prince Eric. To go back to the sea but make the entire thing grey and icy with a bland sky didn't make me want to go to the ocean lol
