MovieChat Forums > The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea (2000) Discussion > Ariel as a mother: Slightly disturbing

Ariel as a mother: Slightly disturbing

posted 17 years ago by vvendettakat
35 replies | jump to latest

They totally change the character! I know that she is, at the youngest, 28, and she had to grow up, but she is totally different. I think it just ruins the first movie to see the protagonist who was young and happy and innocent turn into a MOTHER! It is just indescribeably weird to me. And plus, if Eric and Ariel have a daughter, that means that you have to think about the fact that they had sex. That would be obvious, since they got married, and that happens with married people, but my GOD you don't have to think about that in the first movie. They get married and that's the end of it and you don't have to think about what follows. This movie kind of puts it rightout there. I know I'm raving, but this movie was just so contradictory to the character of Ariel that it is disgusting.

[–] EmeraldLilly 17 years ago

Personally, I found the movie cute. BUT, I'm so sick of Disney sequels. The only reason that they make them is for the money to real in. As long as people continue to have kids, they'll keep making the movies because they're trying to reintroduce the movie and then the kids will see it, be like 'mommy, I want to see the little mermaid 1, 2, and 3!'. Then, parents will be buying the movies for their kids. It's all about profit. It's the people who grew up with the REAL characters like myself that hate the sequals, but the little kids of todays world love them because they don't understand the whole... I don't know how to describe it. Does anyone else agree with what I'm trying to say?

http://www.fanfiction.net/~emeraldlilly

[–] atomicseasoning 17 years ago

Yeah You're probably right about most of the Disney sequels these days, although imho most Disney animation is better than some cartoons that have been produced within the past 15 yrs or so.

Anyway speaking of sequels, funny enough I recently found the entry I'd made in a diary I'd kept as a young teen back in 1990, and in it I gave an account of my initial reaction to first seeing TLM in a local theater. I'd written about how the movie was "so cool and colorful...Ariel & Eric were the perfect couple...there were parts I wish to watch over & over..." etc. [blah blah blah]. Then there was one line where I swear I'd written "...I wish they'd make a sequel to show more of their life on land...", which was long before Disney began churning out sequels straight to video in the latter 90s.

Obviously I'd definitely wanted a sequel, and the part of the story where Ariel & Eric became parents I would've definitely agreed with, however the rest of the plotline to LM2...I dunno. (The original is better, though it was interesting they continued the storyline at all.)

[–] atomicseasoning 17 years ago

I thought about what would come next after I first saw the movie, at the age of 14. (I even have evidence, in an old diary entry I made in Feb. 1990 where I speculated a sequel even then!)

The general idea of Ariel as a mother isn't apalling at all, only natural given the era it was set in, and the fact that royalty attempt to have heirs as soon as possible after marriage. Actually I'm surprised that they didn't have any more children after Melody, especially a son, but I guess Disney didn't want to complicate the story any farther with many sibs for Melody.

What I found sad about TLM 2 was that Arel had to give up the sea for over a decade, but I guess that some might say that was what she deserved after putting her family at risk in the original film.

Motherhood and totally giving up contact with your birth family & homeland would be quite the adjustment, even if one's marriage is good. Though it's not unprecedented, read literature set in the 1800s with pioneers, immigrants, or Mrs. Mike which is about a young 16 yr old girl from Boston who meets and marries a Canadian mounty while visiting her uncle in Canada...and ends up moving to nearly Alaska when her new husband gets transferred right after their wedding, all in less than 6 months time.

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] dangerousmermaid 15 years ago

I agree with the OP.

But I have points to add:
1. Not all parents are neurotic. Mine were free spirited people, like your typical Ariel and Eric, and they're not neurotic and overprotective. Sure, they want the best for me, but they let me run free and make my own mistakes. Plus they do that thing that some parents are now doing where they try to act more like your friend. Why would it have been so wrong to have Ariel stick to her roots?
2. Yeah... instead of this shambles there should have been a "Little Mermaid 1.5" where we see their life on land, Ariel learning about the world and falling more in love with Eric.
3. Whats the freekin deal with Morgana anyway? Sure, the sea can be dangerous, but its not as big a threat as Maleficent put on Aurora's life; and its not like there arent a gajillion other evils in the world and under the sea. Big FREEKIN deal. So you dont have bodyguards in fantasy land?

It was stupid and was probably written by a bored employee dictating what their kid, who just watched the film, acted out with their figurines...........

To me, this film does NOT exist.

We tried so hard to create a society that was equal...

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] ElectricalSphere 15 years ago

Oh my God, Melody better than Ariel? Are you sure :-)? Ariel is one of the best Disney characters if not the best.
She was very off-character in LMII and there were huge plot-holes. They should have invested more time in this sequel because it's the follow up to a Disney classic. I think the movie is just okay and Melody wasn't as likeable as Ariel.

Why was Ariel a spoiled brat? Sure she was rebellious but just because she wanted to be a human and she wanted to be with Eric.

[–] gina_blue_september29 14 years ago

I don't mind that Ariel was a mother, it was how she acted that bothered me. I mean, sure you have to grow up a bit when you have a kid, but I don't think Ariel would have grown up to be a "NO!" person. Or strictly a no person, you know? IDK That's just my opinion. I don't think she would have really been like that.

Will Scarlett has stolen my heart.

[–] cheedo 14 years ago

My GOD too.

Lots of girls were married and having kids even younger than that irl back then. It's weird but who cares?

"Rawr, I'm a dinosaur!" No. Rawr, you're an idiot.

[–] MeLlamoJimena 14 years ago

I understand why you feel Ariel’s change of personality frustrating. Like you said, she is a completely different character in this sequel. However, from a subjective standpoint, I have to disagree. I didn’t have any problems with seeing Ariel as a mother. I thought she was a fine mother figure and it actually enhanced her character. In fact, she was a better mom to Melody than Triton was a father to her. In fact, I prefer this Ariel and the lovable, wise Ariel in the series than the whiny, bratty Ariel in the first flick.

A notion that I liked about her character in the sequel, is her longing to the sea. In the first film, she was so eager to get out of the sea and never seemed to concern or to care at all about her sea environment, which actually was her home for her first sixteen years! She just married Eric and lived happily ever after with him and that’s it. No question if she would ever miss the sea.

[–] otness_e 14 years ago

Have you ever watched Malcolm in the Middle? I'm asking because in order for me to actually believe that Ariel is whiny and bratty in the first flick, she'd have to act exactly like Francis from that show, if not worse, and the ending scene from that film would be an almost exact duplicate of Francis's final scene in the entire series, where he bascially argues with his mom about his faked unemployment and gleefully taunts her by shouting "You just can't stand that your son is still a free spirit!" before leaving for work. Change the line above with from "your son" to "your daughter" (for obvious reasons) and she'll be an exact clone of Francis, and thus fully deserving of your description of Ariel in the first film.

I'm really serious about this, because how Francis acted as well as how Dr. Weil and Kefka Palazzo acted is truly the only way I could truly perceive that sort of nature you described Ariel as having.

[–] rosepetals334 14 years ago

i know its very shocking, it was for me too. but that's what happens when you have kids its part of "growing up" and moving on :(

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]