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The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning

Play trailer Poster for The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning G 2008 1h 17m Kids & Family Fantasy Animation Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
33% Tomatometer 6 Reviews 57% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
In this animated film, a grief-stricken King Triton (Jim Cummings) outlaws music in the wake of the death of his wife, Athena (Lorelei Hill Butters). When Flounder (Parker Goris) discovers that the irrepressible Sebastian (Samuel E. Wright) has been singing at an illegal undersea speakeasy in defiance of the king's decree, Ariel (Jodi Benson) struggles to sneak out without getting caught by the royal court's maniacal nanny, Marina Del Ray (Sally Field).
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The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning

Critics Reviews

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David Nusair Reel Film Reviews 02/25/2014
1.5/4
An extremely slight improvement over its immediate predecessor... Go to Full Review Tim Brayton Antagony & Ecstasy 06/21/2013
5/10
"A prequel to The Little Mermaid where the emotional battleground is largely identical to that movie" didn't inspire anybody's best work. Who could have guessed? Go to Full Review Louise Keller Urban Cinefile 12/19/2008
It's a beautifully told, charming story with lyrical songs and fabulous dance routines Go to Full Review Rory L. Aronsky Film Threat 09/23/2008
2.5/5
Should Disney continue with other straight-to-DVD sequels or prequels like this one, "Bambi II"....needs to be required viewing. A close relationship between characters, as with Bambi and his father, works. An insufferable Flounder does not. Go to Full Review Kevin Carr 7M Pictures 08/28/2008
2.5/5
for young girls and die-hard Little Mermaid fans, it works Go to Full Review David Cornelius DVDTalk.com 08/27/2008
3/5
Perfectly watchable yet not entirely memorable. Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Nate R @greatnate88 1d I can not give this movie a full 1 star, i was so very excited when i saw the movie trailer, but was extremely disappointed with this version when i finally got to see it, while i understand when this movie was made while the Disney company was under new management, and new crew of animation staff workers, but that is still not a good enough reason for this being such a flop of an installment for this movie series, whoever wrote this storyline seemed to not know anything about the first two movies nor the animated series that followed the first movie-- there were several mistakes in this version that missed completely from the first movie, so my overall opinion for this movie as a whole, the story nah forget it they missed the mark, the animation was very blah, the songs forgettable, the colors much darker then the first movie, in a nutshell this is a very boring third installment, i can not even see young kids even liking this version. See more diogo13 T @Tua_mera 1d A cute origin story, but one that lacks the grandeur and memorable songs of the original film. It serves to satisfy the longing for the deep sea and understand Triton's relationship with his daughters, but it's nothing more than a mediocre adventure. See more Emerson H @movielover9 Aug 2 It’s not a very good movie, and I don’t think I can count it as canon. But it was still quite entertaining, I liked the green manatee guy ( I forgot his name), overall, a 5.5/10 See more Samuel G @RT40782160 Jul 15 SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GREAT! See more Lyla R. @LylaRaine Jan 28 Loved this movie. I have red hair and blue eyes like her. See more SL G @SpideyFan 08/01/2025 SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BAD! See more Read all reviews
The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning

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Cast & Crew

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Peggy Holmes

Director

Jodi Benson

Ariel

Samuel E. Wright

Sebastian

Jim Cummings

King Triton

Sally Field

Marina Del Rey

Parker Goris

Flounder

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The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning

The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning (2008) The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning (2008) The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning (2008) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis In this animated film, a grief-stricken King Triton (Jim Cummings) outlaws music in the wake of the death of his wife, Athena (Lorelei Hill Butters). When Flounder (Parker Goris) discovers that the irrepressible Sebastian (Samuel E. Wright) has been singing at an illegal undersea speakeasy in defiance of the king's decree, Ariel (Jodi Benson) struggles to sneak out without getting caught by the royal court's maniacal nanny, Marina Del Ray (Sally Field).
Director
Peggy Holmes
Producer
Kendra Halland
Screenwriter
Robert Reece, Evan Spiliotopoulos
Production Co
DisneyToon Studios
Rating
G
Genre
Kids & Family, Fantasy, Animation
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
May 21, 2017
Runtime
1h 17m
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