The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea is a 2000 Disney animated film and direct-to-video sequel to the animated film, The Little Mermaid. Directed by Jim Kammerud and Brian Smith, the story takes place over a decade after the original film, and centers around Ariel, Eric, and their new daughter Melody, a princess who longs to swim in the ocean despite her parents' law that the sea is forbidden to her.
Plot[]
Set two years after the events of the first film, a celebration for Eric and Ariel's new-born daughter, Melody on a ship at sea. Ariel's father presents Melody with a magic locket. But the party is interrupted by Ursula's sister, Morgana, who threatens to cause Melody harm, using her as leverage to get Triton's trident. Ariel and Eric work together to foil Morgana's plan.
Fearing Morgana and remembering Ursula, Ariel decides to withhold all knowledge of the sea world from Melody. The locket is tossed into the ocean and a massive wall is built to separate the royal castle from the sea.
Twelve years later, Melody remains unaware of her mother, Ariel's mermaid heritage and is banned from ever going into the sea. But she has been sneaking out of the castle regularly to swim and one day finds her locket.
Seeing her name on the locket, Melody confronts her mother in an explosive argument. Angry at her mother's refusal to answer her questions, Melody takes a boat and sails away from home. Her parents soon learn that she is gone, and Triton decides to use his magic to transform Ariel back into a mermaid to search for Melody.
With some help from Eric, she gets onto the front of the ship, as Ariel lifts her arms up as she lifts her head and closes her eyes ready for the transformation. Triton then shoots Ariel with his triton. Ariel is shown with the magic at her feet her mouth open and her dress skirt being see threw as it also becomes yellow. She then starts to float up into the air, as her dress lifts up, she closes her mouth and raises her arms as the golden light grows brighter and spreads across her entire body.
We then cut to Ariel's face, as her transformation starts, and she is also smiling. Her hair which is short and in a bun starts to unravel as her hair grows and Ariel moves her face to the right. As her hair continues to grow Ariel moves her face to the left. Her hair grows to full length as her hair passes in front of her dress as Ariel moves her face to the front as her left earring is gone. Her hair then lowers and straightens as Ariel is now wearing her seashell bra. Ariel looks down and smiles as she is a mermaid again. We zoom out as we see Ariel in her beautiful mermaid form as the lights dim Ariel dives into the water for the first time in 12 years.
Melody is lured to Morgana’s lair by her henchmen, and Morgana uses the remains of Ursula's magic to temporarily transform Melody into a mermaid. Morgana says that the transformation will be permanent if Melody can get hold of the trident, which she claims was stolen by Triton. With the help of Tip and Dash. Seeing the Melody missing, Ariel decides to change into a mermaid again. With Triton's magic, Ariel is turned back into a mermaid. Melody successfully returns to Morgana with the trident. Ariel tries to stop Melody, but before she can explain that Morgana is evil, Melody, refusing to listen to her mother, gives the trident to Morgana. With the trident in her grip, Morgana reveals her true intentions. She grabs Melody then puts her in an ice prison. Morgana then goes to the surface, while Melody is locked in the prison by herself, as the sunsets.
We see Melody with her hands on the glass with her face trying to find a way out, then Melody starts to turn to the right, as her facial expression becomes more confused as the sunsets. Afterwards, Melody then jerks in pain and crotches down before straightening and clenching her chest with her arms in massive pain as she screams. We cut to Melody's face with her eyes and mouth squinting as she lifts her head up as her hair starts to become less straight and unbalance. Melody with her head up then opens her eyes and mouth as bubbles come out of her mouth. Her hair when this happens undoes and is wavy like she was when she was a human.
We then cut to Melody's tail were it starts turning around and lifts up as a green swirl wraps around it. Her tail then goes down as she lifts up the green swirl becoming even bigger as her tail splits apart into two as her left foot turns two afoot along with her pantaloons. Her other foot turns back to normal as well as the green swirl disappears with Melody kicking around.
The light goes around her tail and she gets her legs back. She tries to yell for help but then starts to choke after the transformation finishes. While trying to hold her breath, Melody tries to look for an exit. She then starts to bang on the wall. She then stops and begins to drown. Tip and Dash then come in and barely save her.
Morgana uses the trident's magic to lord over the ocean, rising to the surface to gloat. Scuttle, Triton, Sebastian, and Eric arrive, and a battle ensues against Morgana and her minions. Melody manages to grab the trident by climbing up the cliff on which Morgana is standing. Morgana grabs Melody's foot and pulls her upside down, Melody stabs one of Morgana's tentacles to get free and throw the trident to King Triton. Morgana then throws Melody off the cliff without anyone noticing. She then falls into the water. Triton uses his trident to encase Morgana in a block of ice, which sinks underwater. While this is happening, Melody starts to swim back to the surface. Just before she makes it, the water then freezes over and she is trapped. She then starts to bang on the ice to have someone save her, but no one hears. Melody is no longer able to hold her breath, so she begins to both drown and freeze in the water. As she is falling, is rescued once again by Tip and Dash.
Melody reunites with her family, and Triton offers his granddaughter the option of becoming a mermaid permanently. Instead, she uses the trident to disintegrate the wall separating her home from the sea. Melody giggles.
Voice Cast[]
- Tara Charendoff as Melody
- Jodi Benson as Ariel
- Samuel E. Wright as Sebastian
- Pat Carroll as Morgana
- Buddy Hackett as Scuttle
- Kenneth Mars as King Triton
- Max Casella as Tip
- Stephen Furst as Dash
- Rob Paulsen as Prince Eric
- Clancy Brown as Undertow
- Cam Clarke as Flounder
- Rene Auberjonois as Chef Louis
- Kay E. Kuter as Grimsby
- Edie McClurg as Carlotta
Additional Voice Cast[]
- Frank Welker as Max
- Justin Schulte as Alex
- Blake Ewing as Boy #1
- Emily Hart as Mergirl #1
- Marcus Toji as Merboy #2
Uncredited[]
- Dee Bradley Baker as Cloak and Dagger
- Rodger Bumpass as Penguin #3
- Tress MacNeille as Mother Penguin and Baby Penguin
- Diane Michelle as Girl #1
- Will Ryan as The Seahorse Herald
Release[]
The film was released direct-to-video on September 19, 2000. On November 6, 2006, the film was bundled together with the original film in the Region 2 release. The Little Mermaid II was re-released on a special edition DVD with a deleted song, "Gonna Get My Wish," and a new game was released on December 16, 2008. Also, it was released as part of The Little Mermaid Trilogy, which includes all three Little Mermaid films, was released on the same day.[1] The film was released on Blu-ray in a 2-Movie Collection with The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning on November 19, 2013.
Soundtrack[]
Trivia[]
- Rodger Bumpass, the voice of Penguin #3, is best known as the voice of Squidward Tentacles on the Nickelodeon show SpongeBob SquarePants.