Personally I really enjoyed the sequel. Melody is a really fun character and it is interesting to see her perspective as the daughter of a mermaid and a human. It may have not been well received but it is a fun movie.
I think the reason for Ariel being the only Disney princess to have a child is pretty simple. Ariel herself has no reason to want to be a mermaid again and they can't call it the second "Little Mermaid" movie unless there is a mermaid, so by making Melody want to be and eventually become a mermaid just allows the branding to stay the same.
That "Ariel has no reason to be a mermaid again" is completely true and sad at the same time. If not for Melody, she would not want to go back even just for awhile to revisit her old home and her dad. Oh well, what can we do. This is partly a reality to some people who already has their own family. And death will be the only reason for them to come back.
@@kdfever1732 I wouldn't say she had no reason to be a mermaid again. But even in real life people leave home to start their own families which means that they aren't going to live in their childhood homes after that. Doesn't mean that they don't visit to see their parents, it just changes somewhat. You could even see when she stepped into the water by the wall earlier in the film, and when Triton turned Ariel back into a mermaid that she was very happy. She had a look on her face that said it had been so long since she had swam in the ocean and yet it fit her like a glove. She had made a life for herself and her family on land, but you could tell she still missed being in the sea. It was where she was born and where a part of her will always belong.
I think they made her have a child because it made a lot of sense to the plot. In the first movie, one of the main aspects presented is her struggles with her father. We see it from her perspective as the child. (and I think it's the only Disney princess movie where they address this so clearly) Then it was clever to give it continuity by reversing the roles and making her the parent to a child, and how she manages the feelings her daughter has, which were the same she had back when she was younger. It's beautiful to see some form of very light generational trauma being represented plus it adds a lot of depth to the storyline. Not to mention how cool and fan servicy it is to see what the child of Ariel and Eric would look like, and also how we empathized much more with Melody wanting to be a mermaid than with Ariel wanting to be a boring human.
@Aurora More shots at Ariel and her hunger for new experiences and adventures and cabrònes misinterpreting her rebellious spirit as "being a boring human". How predictable. It's like we didn't see the same film if you think that of Ariel.
Nothing boring about being human. Even at the time period being loyalty, they had more fashion variations than just bras, weird artefacts, arts, music, etc. For a sea creature the land was an unknown world they couldn't explore. In the prequel when it showed the mermaids they didn't have many artefacts or entertaining stuff. Ariel was bored most of the time.
What I especially loved about the sequel is that Ariel as a parent is basically committing the same mistakes with Melody, as her father did with her. This is very realistic detail, that rarely gets acknowledged in children's movies. Usually, when cycle of abuse/grief/misunderstanding/miscommunication is broken by protagonist, it's implied, that it's broken forever. While in reality it's not about not making any mistakes as a parent, it's about owning to and learning from them as quickly, as possible.
The difference I think, in the second movie with her daughter, (while the original will of course live on much longer) was that in this movie, there was more severe consequences for her actions and she eventually owned up to her mistakes and even apologized to her parents and grandfather. Which the original little mermaid never did. She just got her father to turn her into a human after Erik killed the sea witch. I honestly, even as an adult without kids, and no plans for kids, disliked the lack of moral in the movie. The original was pretty much "act like a brat, rebel from your parents, get yourself in trouble, risk other people's safety, never apologize for your bad actions, and get what you wanted in the end".
@@ChrisPotato1822 There were severe consequences in the first movie because Ariel almost got killed and she was front and center when her father was turned into a sea worm, or whatever he was turned into. She realized what she had done wrong and wanted to change him back. I think the only reason why it seems like there wasn't was the fact that they cut out the scene where Ariel did apologize to her father. The scene was a little bit different in the first draft, because Ursula was holding Eric under water until he got ahold of the triton and took her out. Then Triton was turned back, Ariel got her voice back, and then apologized to her father. In the final scene it felt like they cut their interaction out and we see Ariel sitting on a rock looking at Eric on the shore. She wasn't begging her father to change her back into a human, but rather she was heartbroken because she was trying to accept that she could never be with him ever again. Then Triton made the decision to let his daughter go because he knew that she truly loved Eric, and it took Ariel completely by surprise. If it was me in that situation I would have never thought I deserved it because I never want to hurt my parents like that.
Melody's whole gimic was that she was the first child 'born of sea and shore'. The other disney couples are mostly one royal and one commoner but this was a royal marriage between mermaids and humans and her birth was a big deal. A more cynical approach would be that having Ariel become a mother makes her look older and less relatable to young girls.
The cynical approach is true, but if you think about. Disney movies don't just appeal to young girls, it also appeals to girls and boys of all ages. Yea Melody started out as a Princess and as a product of a royal marriage. But it's not easy for royalty children either as was portrayed for Melody in the movie. And honestly the movie was a life lesson to learn from the mistakes of your parents, not repeat. Which Ariel quickly learned when she realized that she was doing, Albeit slightly too late but still.
What's wrong with Young Girls watching a character that they love grow-up & live her life from childhood to adulthood? If anything it shows them the wonders that life has to offer as they get older, and if done correctly(emphasis on "IF" & "CORRECTLY"), the character can serve as a positive role model for the young girls as they get older, going from child to teen to adult & even to parent, there is nothing wrong with little girls finding a Mother as someone relatable if they learn that the mother originally started out as someone who was more like the little girls are currently.
@@skurvay3429 true, but I have and still do get sad to see childhood role models grow and change. It almost always makes me feel like “oh, so that’s gonna happen to me?” So I’m sure Disney wants to avoid that. But it is good to see her having a life
@@omnisexualidiot3750 Despite the fact that it's all a cartoon, nobody truly lives forever(or stays exactly the same forever either), eventually children grow-up, and later have children of their own, and being able to see these beloved characters grow-up & have children who have great adventures of their own, it just means that the magic continues on even into the next generations, and Real World children can come to realize that their parents once started out as what they are now, which can make children feel more comfortable around & feel more relatable to their parents, and realize that they can take their time & work towards becoming as great as their parents, which can make a family only become stronger & come together better. Also if Disney wanted to 'Avoid' that whole “oh, so that’s gonna happen to me?” feeling, then explain the Disney's Descendants Franchise, which literally focuses on the offspring of famous Disney Characters(many of which are from the Disney Princess line).
I never knew the Little Mermaid 2 was considered a fairly poor film. My sister and I absolutely loved this film and since we were young it was nice to have a Disney Princess our age. We used to drown in the bathtub pretending we were mermaids lol!
I did'nt know that Little Mermaid 2 was not accepted very well, personally I enjoyed it not just because Ariel is my fave Disney princess but because it showed something beyond "they live happily ever after". The life after the fairytale, raising a child, and learning that what your parents told you when you were young was not bad at all. I loved it and I hope people will soon see the value in it too.
One thing I like about Melody is that she actually looks like a fusion of her parents. Most Disney children where you see the parents are usually just a clone of one of their parents, including Ariel. Edit: So this comment kinda blew up and a lot of people think I was implying that everyone is a mixed of their parents (looks-wise), this is not the case. Genetics are very complicated and there's even a chance that you won't look like either of your parents. I was stating that Disney has a habit of making kids look exactly like one parent or the other. Maybe it's just the easier way to design a character that's not important to the story but I wish they were more creative about it.
Actually, genetics is a lot more complicated. While it is rare for a child to be the spitting image of one particular parent, it is not unheard of. In some families certain traits are more dominant than others, and can show up with greater frequency. And it's completely random what genes you get from each parent.
@@leshyaedawnfire Genetics are so cool! I learned a lot about them in Biology class in Freshman year of high school and it helped solve certain genetic traits about myself you see, I'm adopted and both my birth parents had dark brown hair and dark brown eyes and out I pop with light brown hair and blue eyes so somewhere in my family history there must've been someone with these traits because blue eyes are recessive but it's not impossible for me to have it. it was just very low since brown eyes tend to be the most dominant trait out of all the different colors like green or blue. sorry bout going into a rant I just loved learning about genetics
I really think it emphasizes character development through Ariel. The first movie is strongly based on her desires of becoming human and her relationship with her father whereas in the second one she is now taking on the parental role and finding out how to raise a child who wants to be part of a different world. But also wanting to protect the thing she loves most from where she encountered the most evil which is what her dad was doing for her as well. I think it's a great story to show the maturity that Ariel went through when converting over to be human. From child to adult.
I actually really liked the sequel, I just wished that Melody got an original story. It was literally the copy and paste of her mother's story except instead of wanting to be human, she wanted to be a mermaid. I wish that Disney gave Melody her own unique story. Maybe then it would have gotten more positive reviews. Even so, Melody is underrated in my opinion and I just wish that Disney gave more princesses kids of their own because they deserve a second chance. Edit: HOW DID I GET SO MANY LIKES OMG TY-
It's a shame the other princesses don't have kids of their own. Not to say that EVERY couple NEEDS to have children as some agree they don't want kids. Still though it was something I never really thought about in terms of Disney Princesses having kids afterwards. But it's probably why I never watched the movie because it was a copy of her mother's story, and it would have been better to do something different for Melody 🙁.
Yeah would have been nice, like heres my take on a sequel Melody is born with the ability to breathe underwater, when she discovers the ability she goes hunting for the reason why and in doing so discovers her mother's heritage and becomes angry that her parents never told her and then have Morgana come in and take advantage of Melody's anger. Then the rest of the story where am I going to get the trident, turns melody into a mermaid he plays out roughly similar
I must've been an odd fan because I really LIKED that she had a daughter that was very 'similar' to her. I think also cause I was drawn to the ocean as a kid, I really liked the idea of a 'human girl getting a mermaid fin' and splashing around the ocean making friends and exploring.
Same, the only reason that i didnt like Melody as much was because she didnt LISTEN to her mother and Ariel is my absolte favorite. But now that i have a teen daughter i can see how impatient they are.
@@gripi8 my problem was with Ariel becoming her dad. They could have done the plot so much better, I think that's where they failed. A villian out of nowhere that isn't even that scary. I mean, after defeating Ursula, who would find her weaker sister threatening? Even Ursula wasn't all that powerful without the Trident. The problem is that it didn't logically make sense for the characters to pick the choices they did.
As a child I originally loved the little mermaid. However, I never really understood Ariel wanting to come live among human beings. So when I saw the sequel I fell in love with Melody’s song and feelings about wanting to be a mermaid. So the sequel made me feel so good about myself. As a grown up I also love the family’s dynamics (Ursula and Morgana/ Ariel’s entire family). It also made me realise that even princesses grow up. The Little Mermaid and its sequel are true gems for me. (Ps sorry for my english; not a native speaker)
People don't understand that the way we feel about the ocean is the way this sea creatures felt about the land. An unknown world with weird artefacts. The mermaids didn't had much fashion options, artefacts or entertainment. Ariel was bored most of the time showed in the prequel.
I dunno why it wasn't well received. I liked it and saw nothing wrong with it ... aside from Ursula's sister appearing out of nowhere. And I kinda always wanted to see the Disney princesses grown with children. Kinda funny how fans love to draw art of pregnant princesses or draw what their child(ren) would look like ... but then get upset when Disney actually gives them kids?
It takes away from what you are about to create in your own imagination and Disney often ruins the main character by making them a parent. They are terrible at writing good parents
I loved the second movie. I know a lot of people thought Ariel changed for the worse but she really didn't. She grew out of her rebel teen phase and when the life of her baby was threatened she gave up her family to protect her daughter. She basically showed that deep down she is Triton's daughter. She ached for the ocean but no sacrifice was too much to keep her daughter safe. She was a good mom.
@@Imsexysryurnot Ariel was the real villain because in the first film, Ariel fell for man she knew nothing about and all she knew was that he was a prince. Then she went to Ursula, a loan shark witch that everyone warn warned her about, and through song and dance she told Ariel that she scammed mermaids for a living but Ariel didn't care. That is what made Ariel the perfect target: she's the youngest, she was in love, naive and her father would sacrifice anything for her. True her father acted harsh and strict but Ariel is only 16, know nothing of the surface and it was thinking straight and that almost cost her life, family, friends and Eric. In the second film, Ariel looked like she's in her 20's(due to her being married at 16) and she was being welcomed to motherhood. But then, Ursula's sister came and threatened her family. But in reality, Ursula's sister wasn't a threat, she didn't know no magic, her Megalodon was turned into a piranha and her stingrays just had a creepy look and smile. Ariel must've had PTSD from her encounter with Ursula in the past, so she asked a wall to be built which was foolish( the foolish built walls but the wise built bridges) and she hid her mermaid heritage and family from Melody. All Melody wanted to know was about her family, but all she knew was her father's side but not her mother's. That is what made Melody the best target for Ursula''s sister: a little girl whose looking for answers that a mother who is too paranoid to give. It took Melody making the same mistake her mother just for Ariel to come clean. In conclusion: Not the best daughter, mother or princess in my opinion. 👎
@@taraungoogle8482 Ariel was more of a victim in the first film. She was young and naive, and her father was very strict. If you watched the prequel, he banned music in the kingdom due to grief over his wife's death and even got mad at Ariel for singing. He also limited her mobility and forbade her from going up to the surface. The second film could have been done better though, as it somewhat removed a lot of Ariel's characteristics (being adventurous & curious) and instead gave her some of the qualities of her father, which is why she completely hid her daughter's mermaid heritage from her.
I remember watching this as a kid and ADORING IT. My mom couldn’t find the movie again (I think we went to Redbox or family video to rent it) and I somehow convinced myself it wasn’t an actual movie. My sisters and mom don’t remember the movie (even though I remember watching it with them). When I saw this it was like a wave of memories were unlocked. Great movie, wish I could see it again for the first time.
I did like Melody as a character, and I absolutely loved Ariel and Eric’s husband/wife duo relationship moments throughout the movie. If they had given a more original plot line plus take out those goshdarn annoying penguin and walrus comic relief characters, it would’ve been a super good movie!
@@thelittlestarlight6221 interesting! I thought they were really annoying, but usually I’m fine with those kinds of characters in Disney! So idk maybe they felt out of place for me
Titanic tip and daring dash are absolutely awesome characters and desver to be apart of the movie. They are melody animal sidekicks just like Flounder and scuttle are Ariel animal sidekicks and Sebastian is king triton animal sidekick.
I loved Return to the Sea and was kind of disappointed to find it wasn't the start of princesses and their children, and shocked when I found out just how many people didn't like it.
@@therealxireen1833 no lie I hate that franchise... like they bring characters back to life and have some of them marry others that I just can’t see actually being together let alone have children like maleficent and hades... but I guess it’s good for young kids for me tho it actually mead my stomach turn ever time my little sister would put one of the movies on
I actually really liked the sequel! And the opening song where Ariel sings, "You're my beautiful Melody" got me so bad I kept it in my mind for years. I now have a little Melody myself
Same, I loved the movie and loved mermaids as a little girl. Now an adult with my own daughter the opening song brings me to tears every time I play the second movie for my toddler, who loves it just as much as I loved the first film
Me too! This is actually a Disney sequel I love next to lion king 2. I would watch this one on repeat! And I still sing Ariel’s coming! In my head to this day! Lol I love that opening song! And adventures/explorers songs lol love it!
I personally really liked Little mermaid 2 and watched it sooo many times. Not sure why it wasn't liked by others. I know the story wasn't "original". But it was cool how it reminded them not to make decisions from fear and to be true to their roots. And also why is it bad that Melody wanted to go to the sea? It was a part of her after all and showed how much kids actually take after their parents. True life lesson in my opinion
One thing no reviewer ever takes into consideration is that we don't go to sequels to see something original. We go to see more of what we liked in the first one!
@@DannyJane. but I think for a sequel the story has to be different if it's going to be shown to the same generation you would need an extra 5 to 10 years if you want a second movie that is the same as the first one because then it's using the nostalgia effect, and the "My child is watching basically an updated version of what I watched as a kid...effect". that is why the live action remakes work (to some extent). but in stead the little mermaid 2 was only made 11 years after the original. the original was never that movie the critics watched 100 times till the VHS didn't work anymore (a common habit very young children have).
@@BouncyAnimation That's only part of it, Reel. Think about the originals of series that you liked. Think about what it was you loved about them. Was it the plot? The characters? One specific character? The place the story happened in? If you can specify what you liked best then THAT's what you're going to want to see more of in a sequel. I lost interest in the second Star Wars trilogy because the characters I liked best all DIED! Why would I want to see the sequels when everything I liked about the original wasn't going to be there? ( I did go--Family pressures, you know, but it wasn't much fun).
That's so weird, I really liked Little Mermaid 2! I thought it was interesting and cute to see Ariel have a baby who ended up being rebellious in her own way!
@@MoonShadow31690 originally not a princess ruin the last 5-10 years she’s gotten the fancy “limited edition princess” Barbie upgrade so that means Disney sees her as an honorary Princess like Mulan.
@@anitam1049 why? Do you not believe Quasi deserves someone to love him in return? Or is the Beast from Belle ey la Bete the only one that deserves to be loved despite his outer appearance? Both are, in the end, the hero that protects the girl. Beast was in between Gaston & Bell when he launched, & Quasi kept Esmeralda’s unconscious body from dying at the hands of Claude.
I love this this sequel. I love seeing Ariel as a motherly character. To me it makes complete sense, she lost her mother at very young age and wanted to have a child of her own.
And she got all that Karma from how she acted as a teen towards her father. Being able to understand why he did what he did and the rules he made were to keep her safe the same way she is doing with her daughter.
I loved the sequel, such a bummer to see it got bad reviews. I think Disney never did it again, not only because it wasn’t a success, but maybe also because it keeps their princesses young. The thought of them becoming mothers ages them, keeping them in the time where they came out, keeps them young and able to use for all generations.
What’s upsetting is all the “critics” that rated this back then was adults. If you ask the children (which are now us now) how we liked the movie, I assure you that the sequel would have continued. It was a beautiful story and as a little girl I watched 1 & 2 all day everyday. Now the show was questionable but nonetheless melony deserves her flowers💯💯💯💯
My thoughts exactly! Thinking back to during the time when the movie was released, I'm assuming by "top critics" they really meant either bitter old men grossed out by pregnancy/children or overprotective parents over-reacting about the sexual implications of a Disney character in a movie for children. Overall, it's sad and Melody is pitiful for the unoriginal storyline (even if it is Ariel's karma) and the ostracization.
As someone who went to school for animation, this doesn’t make sense. I could tell a crappy animated movie from a masterpiece as a kid. The classics like the Lion King and The Little Mermaid & Pocahontas are rated well because as an art form, they were brilliant and well done. Most Disney sequels got bad reviews because they had crappy animation, writing and music.
Jungle book, Peter Pan, Pocahontas, and Mulan are all Disney classics that had direct sequels. Wendy even had a daughter in her sequel. Even if Windy is not a Disney princess it is worth noting.
@@Carlitiable Well, Pocahontas is, but that comes with a whole host of baggage and controversy now... Like, it happened, but it really shouldn't have...
The sequel was just fine. Ariel’s story continued, as she had to deal with the fallout of protecting her child, and not telling her the truth about her heritage. So she could now understand what her own father felt. It was cute and not offensive and better than so many straight to video Disney sequels. It was nice to see Ariel have a family and how very much she loved them.
I was so sad to hear that the second "Little Mermaid" had gotten such bad reviews. It really makes me upset because Ariel is one of my favorite princesses. Not just cause she's a mermaid, but because she had a child. I'm also *incredibly mad* at Melissa De La Cruz, the author of the Descendants books that coincide with the movies, because of the fact that she didn't mention Melody AT ALL. Instead, Melissa talks about Ariel's niece, Arabella, and not Melody at all.
@@melsnailsasmr I think it may be because of them all thinking Arial having a child was the reason for the bad reviews so she didn't get mentioned but thats just what i think lol.
She's not the standard. And as much as I wanna explain, an Atlantean woman isn't what a woman should be or wanna be. They try to sell and make you think that's how they are or can be. I'd go to unplugem's channel and type atlantis specifically and dogan. You'll know what theu actually are.
I don't think it was Melody as a character or Ariel having a kid. It didn't capture the feel of the first one, the songs were crap compared to the original however by l better then Ariel Beginnings, the fact that they went with "Ursula's crazy sister" that existed all the sudden, and the art style was pretty bad and it was one of the first films that had a major change to the art style.
7:00 as a matter of fact, yes, there ARE direct sequels of some other Disney princesses Pocahontas 2: Pocahontas travelled to London to negotiate for peace with the British gov Mulan 2: Mulan and Shang are about to get married and then they faced differences while also received orders to protect 3 princesses to travel to another country for political marriage Unless you wouldn't count them as real "royal-blood" princesses, then I couldn't recall other princesses having a direct sequel
true! but Pocahontas did not end up with a "prince" in the end of the movie, so it's natural that having children was not the thing for the sequel. Mulan had a warrior life story, so also would not be a good fit. Sequels with others with kids maybe just would not be so interesting + after not best reviews for the Little Mermaid 2 there was no point.
I hated Melody's story. It wasn't actually Melody I had an issue with, it was Ariel keeping her away from the sea. It bothered me to see Ariel, my favorite disney princess, suddenly acting somewhat similar to her father rather than just being open with her daughter and exploring things together, which felt like it would have been more IC to me.
Eric acted like he was letting Ariel do the parenting more than he was. He'd make a few hidden snarky comments, but when he encouraged Ariel to go home to help hunt Melody, that was the only scene I had respect with. And one question hit me was did they know Sebastian was there with Melody? And yeah, the issue with Ariel's attitude...that was a poor concept.
It's because of her instinct as a parent. There are things that we understand as a child in a different way of how our parents see these things. She became a mother, unlike on the first movie she was only a teen who see no harm in life.
It makes sense because of her experience with Ursula. Her original intentions weren’t to keep Melody away from the sea, she only did that because Morgana attacked when Ariel first tried to introduce her to The mermaid civilization. She wanted to keep her away from the danger, not the sea itself.
@@sierraalice8072 i agree ariels opening song is about how proud she is that she can share her world with Melody, but once Morgana came to the picture and threaten to take Melody away, she had to do what any new parent would do and that's to shield her away from danger. it's also the same with Triton, he didn't want any of them to interact with humans because humans killed their mom/ his wife. He's scared of what would happen.
I really loved both movies. It was fun to me to see her daughter go back to the sea and learn about her roots. Maybe I related because of the discovering roots part.
I actually really liked the sequel and was really eye opening for me as a child. It was basically the first DIsney movie where I immediately saw the parent in a positive light, cause she was Ariel and I loved Ariel. So often the parent is the "bad guy" for lack of a better phrase that we want to rebel against because they're portrayed as unreasonable and/or unyielding. In this one I was able to understand more of the parents side and sympathise with how hard it is to protect your child from things YOU know are bad without being overbearing and pushing your kid away. I thought it was so well done, the song Ariel and Melody sing about their different experiences back in the sea is amazing.
In Greek, the phrase “they lived happily ever after” is delivered as “ζήσανε αυτοί καλά κι εμείς καλύτερα” which translates to “they lived well and we lived better”. With “they” referring to the storyline characters and “we” to the audience.
In the Egyptian Arabic dialect it goes like this : و عاشوا في تبات و نبات و خلفوا صبيان و بنات. Which translates to: And they lived in stability and prosperity and they had boys and girls.
I was still little when Little Mermaid 3 happened. I remember really liking it. I remember feeling a little sad that Ariel had grown up, but I definitely liked seeing how wonderful Ariel's family was.
To use your term Disney Classic, there is another. Return to Neverland. Wendy’s daughter, Jane, is introduced, and, after not believing Wendy’s stories about Neverland, ends up traveling there with Peter. Peter had gone to get Wendy but didn’t realise that she was now a grown woman with a child!
Actually, it was Captain Hook that kidnapped Jane. He thought she was Wendy and kidnapped her to lure out Peter Pan to kill him(which actually worked, thinking about it now).
@@AmyoftheFlowerField bruh I watch that literally millions of times of that movie when I was little and when you said that Jane got kidnapped by Captain Hook, I finally remember them all lmao it just came back to me in a second 😂
The only difference is that Jane is a character in Barrie's play, so it made sense that Disney would feature her in a sequel. Whereas Melody is an original character.
The generation that mainly watched the original little mermaid were 11 years older when the sequel came out. That is 11 years of growth and most people change at least a little in that amount of time. They probably thought they could reconnect with Ariel like they did before and that she would be the center of the film. However, the film focused heavily on Melody in an effort to get younger audiences to connect to the older disney princess. I will admit - I enjoyed the movie both as a child and now as an adult. As a child, I could relate with Melody and her desire to follow her heart. When I got older and started wanting kids of my own one day, I started to understand Ariel and appreciate how they portrayed her as a mother who just wanted to protect her daughter. Could she have done a different approach to keep Melody safe? Yes, but mothers are not perfect, sometimes we do what we think is best before learning that what we are doing doesn't work (advice varies so much and each child is unique - needing their own approach), and Disney understood this when they made Ariel react the way she did. As for Eric - he was always a bit on the quiet side but even more so with Melody around - most likely because he doesn't understand what his daughter is going through and is giving the reigns to someone more qualified. He has had everything handed to him on a silver platter since the day he was born, so the word no isn't something he was probably ever told. Since Ariel had restrictions growing up because of her father, it was only natural for her to step into that role. Plus, if Eric is running a country - he probably has 100s of things on his mindaside from his daughter while Ariel has more time to focus on her daughter since she has less on her shoulders. For what it's worth, even if it was rated bad - it is realistic in terms of family life in that situation. For those of you who have not rewatched and you are now adults, please rewatch and see if Ariel resonates with you more now.
I personally loved ariel being a parent. It makes me now go back and watch now that i will become a parent myself. To show the love of parents from that perspective should happen much more in IPs like that.
I loved the sequel as a child, actually related to melody quite a bit. And my own daughter who is four actually prefers the sequel for the very same reason, melody is closer to her age. But I will say, Ariel becomes a shadow of herself, and that is a pity. They did something very similar with the lion king sequel, where Simba became someone very different from who he was in the original. That was the mistake in my opinion. No one wants to see the protagonist become an antagonist.
Growing up I loved the second one more than any film including the first one, I think I saw the second one first, I got the tape at an garage sale and I watched it so much some of the colour wore off and became white noise?visually when played, I think people relate way more to wanting to become a mermaid than the other way around, who would wanna be a human when you can be a mermaid? Plus I relate more to the shy awkward Melody than the bold and confident Ariel
Simba didn’t turn into an antagonist. The whole point was he was so determined to be just like Mufasa who he thought was a perfect ruler. He became so overprotective of Kiara he tended to snarl at her she wasn’t allowed to go anywhere without someone with her and Kiara was fed up with being treated like a cub as an adult. Simba simply made a mistake and he owns up to it in the end by apologizing to Kovu and accepting whoever wanted to rejoin Pride Rock from Zira’s pride.
Always had a crush on Eric I’d have his babies 😂 I thought the sequel was alright - they had all (at least most) of the original voice characters. Morgana was a hoot “ooo… what you gonna do? Throw the crab at me? Ahahha” I literally died when I heard that. The penguin and walrus actually brought the film down for me.. they were definitely not needed!
Umm…😬 “Kappa” is a name of one of “Yokai” (monster) in Japan. It’s a fantasy character that’s like half turtle and half human. We do have a story based on a mermaid, and it’s called人魚 “Nin-gyo” (human-fish). We have an ancient story about a woman who ate the flesh of a mermaid and gained an eternal life.🧜♀️
Lion King 2 is also a beautiful movie. I disagree that it was mostly about Kovu. I think it was a well balance story about him as well as Kiara. "We are one"
I liked the movie. Melody was so cute. However, I always thought people just had a hard time dealing with the fact that Ariel was the mean parent who "didn't understand" her kid. I always figured having Ariel or any Princess grow up and turn into their child's mean authority figure didn't work well with our thoughts on the Princesses. At that time the stories were always about a mean authority figure ruining the life of the beloved main characters.
I hate that Ariel turned her back on her family and also somehow turned into her father: forbidding her daughter from swimming in the ocean. Sixteen year old Ariel would not like 30 year old Ariel.
@@sallyjrwjrw6766 Ariel had a good reason, tho - she didn’t want Morgana to kidnap her young daughter. Triton just held prejudice towards all humans after what happened to his wife.
It wasn’t a direct sequel, but Tangled’s whole story got a continuation in the animated show “Tangled: The Series” which, in my opinion, is FANTASTIC. The music is great, and I think making it a show really gave the writers room to expand on world & character building.
Absolutely! Tangled Series is one of the best animated series ever. And I don't think I'd like it any other way. Sure, Rapunzel and Eugene don't have children but we know how they'll handle them, if they did. 🤭
You're wrong about Ariel having the only real sequel as a Disney princess! Mulan, even though not a princess herself in the movie, is referred to as a Disney princess. She got a sequel. I watched it only once as a 14 year old (am now 32) and all I remember is Mulan and Li Shang bickering continuously (and him almost dying) and a lot of political stuff with three princesses to be married off and falling for Chien-Po, Ling and Yao on the way. It is one of the worst sequels of all the horrible Disney sequels ever. But it's out there. There's also a Pocahontas 2. Pocahontas 2 was, in a way, refreshing as all the other Disney princesses do get their happy ever after with their original love interest and Pocahontas doesn't end up with John Smith but with John Rolfe. Which of course is a reference to the real Pocahontas (who was about 10 or 11 when she saved John Smith from getting killed by her father, and yes even though she was just a child she did fall in love with him and after he goes back to England wounded she does believe him dead for a while and in real life she did end up marrying John Rolfe after being baptized and taking on the Christian name Rebecca and had an important political value to the peace with her tribe, she did go to England to meet the king where she found out her first love was still alive, and when she and John Rolfe decided to go back she died on the way, she had one son). I also loved to see the cultural difficulties that Pocahontas faced as she had to adapt to a society that was extremely different from her own.
I actually like the sequel more than the other movies. I watched it like everyday. I loved melody. She actually looked like a fusion of her parents, had her own great personality and was very relatable for me when I was a kid. Like her, I wanted to be a mermaid and was obsessed with the water. I just wish they'd bring her back.
I loved the name too & want that name for my daughter. Can you imagine a generation of girls named Melody because their mothers loved the little mermaid💜
I have to say Return to the Sea was one of the only sequels I really enjoyed watching. I don't know why people don't like the idea of a princess having a child. I liked Melody's character. I also liked seeing Ariel and Melody's mother/daughter relationship. It was also fun seeing how Ariel and Eric's relationship had matured. I think it also has a good message Ariel was a mom and could still fight and have adventures.
One of the kids who was there when it came out- I loved that Ariel had a daughter and I loved her story. I had no idea it wasn’t liked by critics when released. That blows my mind. 🤯
I loved Melody and still think she should be included in the lineup. She is the daughter who took on her father's love for the ocean and her mother's sense of adventure and exploring the unknown. Why did everyone hate a 12 year old shy girl who wants to be a mermaid? Ariel did all she could to protect her and Melody. Melody felt like she was being kept out of her heritage and her peers were bullies! Melody took charge and went out looking for her own answers. She fell for a trick, but only because she was younger than any other princess. After that, she snagged the trident and saved her grandfather, who let her break down the wall! Now that's my kind of princess!!
You want to know a Disney sequel that you forgot? How about Peter Pan and the Return to Neverland? Wendy might not be a Disney "princess" but she does have offspring--TWO of them! There's her daughter Jane and her young son Danny!
I never considered for a moment that Ariel might've been the only one who had a child, from my perspective it's silly to think that the other princesses never did just because we never saw them included in a movie (for the few that had sequels). Also, while Descendants is super cheesy and honestly I wish they'd executed it way differently for a variety of reasons), since Disney gave it the official green light and therefore made it canon, it's pretty solid evidence that at the characters' bloodlines DID continue.
As a child I loved the sequel! Now that I’m a mom myself, it’s interesting seeing a teen mom in a child’s cartoon but at least she was married first lol. And that’s technically the age a lot of people started families hundreds of years ago.
Personally, I think Ariel having a kid works tremendously well from a narrative perspective: Ariel was a difficult, irrational child to her father, and now she's getting a taste of her own medicine via her equally difficult daughter. And as far as I can tell, none of the other princesses were as stubborn as she is with respect to their parents. It's karma at it's finest. (Also, I've always imagined an off-screen moment where Ariel apologises to her father about being such a difficult kid).
I see it much more the other way around. Her father did not connect with her as a teen, or really understood her. He was emotionally abusive and did not explain anything to her. And when children grow up and become parents, without further reflection and processing, they tend to repeat their parents mistakes. This is not about karma. This is about avoiding your child running off into danger, if you really would have connected and worked out things together. And they both had to learn that. If melody is smart, she’ll do different 🙂
@@Skadivore I agree. Ariel wasn't being a problematic or stubborn teen or whatnot. The father just was too strict and emotionally abusive as well as emotionally just absent. This "oh stubborn/problematic teen" statement is quickly made because people really love blaming the kids instead of the parents. As a child of narcissists, I know this too well sadly.
The sequel was my movie growing up. I think even if it was similar to Ariel's story, elements feel different. For one, Melody is motivated by adventure and breaking free from her sheltered world. She is 12 and the story is less about love and desire to "become human/mermaid", it is more about Melody growing into a calling and becoming more confident in her identity. Melody struggles with fitting in, Ariel struggles with reckless ambition. The mother-daughter relationship differs from the father-daughter relationship, Ariel's concerns are about shelthering her daughter from making similar mistakes (Melody's story is Tangled esq), while Tritdent's concerns is a core prejudice against his daughters interests/above land people, coloured by previous crimes against sea people. I really enjoy actually getting to explore the underwater world, and the finale where Melody is able to kick butt because she is human is such a great scene.
I really liked the sequel myself. I really related to Melody when I was little, especially people around her thinking she was odd and wanting to go somewhere where she could be herself. The story had similar elements, but I honestly thought the sequel was a bit more interesting and complex. I wish more of the princesses had children, not because they’re “supposed to”, but so there would be more opportunity to explore family dynamics and other things like that. Not that they all should have kids, but seeing a few more would be nice.
I liked Melody! It wasn't the best movie ever, sure, but it was enjoyable and I liked how Melody had traits from both her parents (especially as she had Erics thick dark eyebrows!) I'd love to see more Disney Princesses with kids if they kept the same fusion formula just to see what they came up with (not like Lady and the Tramp, where the girl pups just look exactly like Lady and the boy like Tramp!) I also LOVED the Cinderella sequels, some of the best by far. Giving Ugly Sister Anastasia Tremaine and the Prince a personality was amazing (especially the Prince, he was hysterically funny! I'd absolutely watch a sequel about a child from him and Cinders!)
If they actually took the time and made the sequels look good then we wouldn't have these kinds of conversations. I remember how weird they made the animations and how annoyed I was with their dialog. The stories were great but some didn't really click. And I also didn't like the idea of them going back to the story and not foward. Like Cinderella 3 and Tarzan 2. I thought, "oh it's going to be about her kids." But no. Good movies but still disappointed ☹️ Lady and the Tramp 2 and Peter Pan 2 was good. It didn't have a princess movie but it had a true sequel.
For those who don't know...Esmerelda (Hunchback of Notre Dame) was announced as an offical Princess. She had Zephyer (aka her son) with Phoebus. So not the only Princess with a child.
I loved this film, if they had to do it again I’d like Anna to get a child because how exhausted her and kristoff and even Olaf would be is comedy gold
I watched the little mermaid 2 before watching the first little mermaid so it holds a special place in my heart and I kinda see it as the original TLM and the original one as the prequel that just adds to the story somehow
Ariel may be the only Disney PRINCESS to have a child, but she's NOT the only Disney character to have a child. Simba and Nala have children (Kion and Kiara) Lady and the Tramp have puppies, even in the first movie. Wendy Darling had children (Jane and Daniel). Even Esmeralda and Phoebus in Hunchback II have a son. It HAS been shown that Disney CAN, in fact, give us creative, emotional stories with the children of original characters (the Lion King 2 being one of the better examples of this.) And as for The Little Mermaid 2....I don't think it was that "people didn't like MELODY as a character or the idea of Ariel and Eric having a child"....so much as they basically just copy/pasted the SAME villain (with the SAME voice actress) from the original Little Mermaid, but made her whiny, pathetic and pointless, rather than giving us a GOOD villain....like Zira) and HOW Ariel and Eric choose to deal with the problem that arose at the start of the film with Morgana. Morgana threatens to avenge her sister, and Ariel, RATHER THAN telling her daughter THE TRUTH about her heritage (on her mother's side) or finding a better way of dealing with the danger, she LIES to her daughter for TWELVE YEARS....forces her to stay away from the ocean and then, EVEN when she's caught, she gets ANGRY at her daughter for calling her out, rather than telling Melody the truth, which results in Melody running straight to Morgana. Had Ariel just trusted her daughter, it would have been a much better story.
The funny part with the second argument of why Disney thought showing the child of the main characters wouldn't sell well, is that most children and teens, even young adults of a fandom ADORE creating the possible mixtures of their ship in a film, book, cartoon or anime in the form of a child and imagine "how would their kids look like". And in this movie that was done so well. About the sequels with next generation trope, except Lion King 2 we also have Peter Pan 2 with Wendy's children and it was actually interesting to see her daughter being a realist and practical considering she was growing up during the Great War. And we also had the Hunchback of Notre Dame sequel where we see Esmeralda's and Phoebus' son too. (Yes none of them are actual princesses but still)
Honestly, Hunchback II is a terrible movie for a slew of reasons, but Zephyr (Phoebus and Esmeralda's kid) is an annoying tag-along with no real development and only exists to be cooed over, then used as a hostage. You could cut him out entirely, and the plot would improve. Melody actually had an arc and characterization, so she's more enjoyable to watch, which shows that just because you *can* add a kid character doesn't mean you *should*.
I liked the Disney sequels, the little mermaid, lady and the tramp and the lion king. Because it was the next generation of older Disney characters. And that the interesting plot was that the kid wanted the life one of their parents wanted out of. So I really liked that. Mulan 2 does not exist, it can't hurt you...
I feel as though, yes they were trying to expand but it's also from a story point of view. If you think about it, Ariel dreamed of being human, therefor she really wouldn't have a reason to return to the sea willingly. This is a mermaid movie though and for it to remain as a mermaid movie they need someone who would want to be or is a mermaid. So without breaking Ariel's story-line they needed another protagonist but if they kept the dreams of being human it would just be another Ariel story that just so happened to be in the same world and that would be boring. So to keep it more of the little mermaid story and relatable to Ariel they gave her a child that was just like her and made it the opposite with the saying like mother, like daughter coming to mind.
Exactly, it's a life lesson that a lot of children can be more like their parents then they think. And we sometimes make the same mistakes are parents made, it's not always avoidable. But seeing the story like this with those lessons, can help us realize we should be careful not to make those mistakes.
I always thought Melody was adorable :) I wouldn't mind a true third movie where she is older or even a series where it's her going on her own adventures.
As a child, I LOVED this movie. It didn’t even cross my mind people would dislike it, since I know a lot of people my age who like it as well, but we watched it as young children when this movie was new. I think it was neat to have a character that was much like us after watching the first movie, someone who wanted to be a mermaid.
Descendents has every kid that belongs to a Disney Princess and Villain so there's that but yeah, I guess they thought the other princesses having kids wouldn't be interesting enough for people after The Little Mermaid 2, but it would've been great if it happened!
Fun fact: In Hungarian instead of "and they lived happily ever after" we say "és boldogan éltek míg meg nem haltak" which means "and they lived happily until they died" which is basically the same thing. Maybe a bit darker by mentioning death, tho I think it's completely normalized, so it doesn't sound weird, I just realized as I was translating it like, oh yeah we say that.
Love this! In Greek we say 'zisane afti kala ki emis kalitera'' meaning '' and they lived well, and/but we lived better'' , bringing some hope to the reader about his/her own life I guess lol
"'Til death do we part" is a standard part of English-spoken wedding vows in North America, which in essence means the same. "Happily ever after" tends to bring a connotation of eternity, which is probably why it's relegated to fairy tales. I don't think the mention of death being at the end of life is particularly morbid, but maybe I'm just more practical minded than a lot of Anglophones. It SHOULD be normal, instead of raising our children with a background thought of a fairy tale never ending story, a happily ever after that never ends. That's life: 'til death do we part.
@@zofilep3612 In German it's "Und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind, dann leben sie noch heute" which means "And if they didn't die, they're still alive today"! :D
@@melooo9689 or "Und sie lebten glücklich bis ans Ende ihrer Tage" which means "and they lived happily until the end of their days", also implying death. It seems common among a lot of languages.
Funny how the German Version of „and they lived happily ever after” just mean “and if they didn’t die, they are still living today” I personally think the reason is, that Ariel has a major storyline about the relationship to her father and so they want to show us how she is handling this situations as a parent now. And just turning the story around is easier. It reminds me of the lady and the tramp, where they turn the story around in the second movie.
I liked the second one a lot. Mostly because I liked the family dynamics and wished that I could have that with my parents. I also loved Melody and how she looked like a kid, where Ariel always looks a grown teen/young adult.
I liked the movie actually. I wish they had done more showing their families. The only thing that was super weird was Ursula’s sister, which contradicts the mythology as well.
Personally I do not understand why the second movie was disliked so much. I really enjoyed it and thought Melody was a very good character. Mulan had a sequel and so did Pocahontas. As for others having children the descendant’s series does really well giving those original characters children.
I'm still holding out for a sequel where Pocahontas has her son, Thomas, cause the real Pocahontas has a son with John Rolph. But they might not do that since it ends with Pocahontas dying. And since the real Pocahontas was much younger than her Disney counterpart and died at age 22... they'd have to storyline Pocahontas dying and maybe make her son the story's main character on a mission to find out why his mom died or if someone killed her. It might be too dark for Disney, but they'd had death in their movies before, and it wouldn't be too far-fetched to believe John Radcliff poisoned Pocahontas... either by getting out of prison or having someone on the outside do it for him.
@@DinosaurNick i mean i think it’s also bc now it’s a different time era and since we know that pocahontas was an actual figure with a really intense history it would probably be considered disrespectful to make a sequel ab her
@@DinosaurNick nope I really wish we’d FINALLY get Pocahontas Smith, but sadly I don’t think it’ll ever happen unfortunately. I’m actually working on my rewrite for Pocahontas along with a mini series if you’re interested!
Some of the origins of the princess stories are quiet dark. Take Sleeping Beauty who indeed had a child under nefarious circumstances. Not sure how Disney could fit a child into the reworked family friendly version. All of the original fairytales were very dark and because changes had to be made, left many princesses childless with happy endings.
@@FacelessMusic2dayAgreed. People want original stories too, not prequels/sequels. Something fresh. Combination of animation and acting is not always up to par..every studio has its moments
My theory is that most if not all of the princesses had kids, we just haven’t seen those events. I think the mistake Disney made was just thinking of the sequels with additional revenue as the main focus instead of adding additional classics. I thought The Little Mermaid II was lackluster, but I really liked the idea of continuing the story, and seeing what “happily ever after” means for these characters.
Like why did they do that they literally made a part 2 of like every Disney princess movie and the only one who had a kid was Ariel Cinderella actually had a part 2 and 3 still NO kid!
I loved the sequel! I always wanted to be a mermaid and I thought it was so cool to have a movie where the main character also wanted to be a mermaid but actually got to be one
I love the Little Mermaid but the second movie is my favorite. They did a great job in genetics with her but it also continued the storyline that flowed together. The movie also seemed more relaxed because it had a character who wasnt very girly or princess like. It showed the main character being rebellious in a way that was shown in a way of her starting to learn more about herself. It showed to listen to that little voice to find your calling.
One that had a direct sequel that was released around this time was Pocahontas. I consider her a Disney Princess, and I am pretty sure Disney does as well. Her sequel takes place after the events of the first movie. It was a straight to VHS release. It was called, Pocahontas: Journey to the New World.
Personally I really enjoyed the sequel. Melody is a really fun character and it is interesting to see her perspective as the daughter of a mermaid and a human. It may have not been well received but it is a fun movie.
Agreed. I loved that it portrayed a younger princess throughout the story giving young girls someone to relate to more.
Agreed
Why wasn’t it well received anyway?
Same
@@leahowlett5525 it's just, not as good as the original.
I think the reason for Ariel being the only Disney princess to have a child is pretty simple. Ariel herself has no reason to want to be a mermaid again and they can't call it the second "Little Mermaid" movie unless there is a mermaid, so by making Melody want to be and eventually become a mermaid just allows the branding to stay the same.
Thank you for offering more insight than the video did.
to me, no matter how grown Ariel is, she will always be the little mermaid lol
That "Ariel has no reason to be a mermaid again" is completely true and sad at the same time. If not for Melody, she would not want to go back even just for awhile to revisit her old home and her dad. Oh well, what can we do. This is partly a reality to some people who already has their own family. And death will be the only reason for them to come back.
that and she's the hottest out of the bunch.
@@kdfever1732 I wouldn't say she had no reason to be a mermaid again. But even in real life people leave home to start their own families which means that they aren't going to live in their childhood homes after that. Doesn't mean that they don't visit to see their parents, it just changes somewhat. You could even see when she stepped into the water by the wall earlier in the film, and when Triton turned Ariel back into a mermaid that she was very happy. She had a look on her face that said it had been so long since she had swam in the ocean and yet it fit her like a glove. She had made a life for herself and her family on land, but you could tell she still missed being in the sea. It was where she was born and where a part of her will always belong.
I think they made her have a child because it made a lot of sense to the plot. In the first movie, one of the main aspects presented is her struggles with her father. We see it from her perspective as the child. (and I think it's the only Disney princess movie where they address this so clearly) Then it was clever to give it continuity by reversing the roles and making her the parent to a child, and how she manages the feelings her daughter has, which were the same she had back when she was younger. It's beautiful to see some form of very light generational trauma being represented plus it adds a lot of depth to the storyline. Not to mention how cool and fan servicy it is to see what the child of Ariel and Eric would look like, and also how we empathized much more with Melody wanting to be a mermaid than with Ariel wanting to be a boring human.
Interesting theory! I haven’t thought of that.
Nice observation
Thank you! I thought I was the only one that thought like that. Ariel deserved to feel what her father felt in the first movie.
@Aurora More shots at Ariel and her hunger for new experiences and adventures and cabrònes misinterpreting her rebellious spirit as "being a boring human". How predictable. It's like we didn't see the same film if you think that of Ariel.
Nothing boring about being human. Even at the time period being loyalty, they had more fashion variations than just bras, weird artefacts, arts, music, etc. For a sea creature the land was an unknown world they couldn't explore. In the prequel when it showed the mermaids they didn't have many artefacts or entertaining stuff. Ariel was bored most of the time.
What I especially loved about the sequel is that Ariel as a parent is basically committing the same mistakes with Melody, as her father did with her. This is very realistic detail, that rarely gets acknowledged in children's movies. Usually, when cycle of abuse/grief/misunderstanding/miscommunication is broken by protagonist, it's implied, that it's broken forever. While in reality it's not about not making any mistakes as a parent, it's about owning to and learning from them as quickly, as possible.
EXACTLY OMGG
The difference I think, in the second movie with her daughter, (while the original will of course live on much longer) was that in this movie, there was more severe consequences for her actions and she eventually owned up to her mistakes and even apologized to her parents and grandfather.
Which the original little mermaid never did. She just got her father to turn her into a human after Erik killed the sea witch. I honestly, even as an adult without kids, and no plans for kids, disliked the lack of moral in the movie.
The original was pretty much "act like a brat, rebel from your parents, get yourself in trouble, risk other people's safety, never apologize for your bad actions, and get what you wanted in the end".
@@ChrisPotato1822 & in your quotes this one is..
@@maiamiimaiam4343 Pardon? I can't decipher what you're trying to say.
@@ChrisPotato1822 There were severe consequences in the first movie because Ariel almost got killed and she was front and center when her father was turned into a sea worm, or whatever he was turned into. She realized what she had done wrong and wanted to change him back. I think the only reason why it seems like there wasn't was the fact that they cut out the scene where Ariel did apologize to her father. The scene was a little bit different in the first draft, because Ursula was holding Eric under water until he got ahold of the triton and took her out. Then Triton was turned back, Ariel got her voice back, and then apologized to her father. In the final scene it felt like they cut their interaction out and we see Ariel sitting on a rock looking at Eric on the shore. She wasn't begging her father to change her back into a human, but rather she was heartbroken because she was trying to accept that she could never be with him ever again. Then Triton made the decision to let his daughter go because he knew that she truly loved Eric, and it took Ariel completely by surprise. If it was me in that situation I would have never thought I deserved it because I never want to hurt my parents like that.
Melody's whole gimic was that she was the first child 'born of sea and shore'. The other disney couples are mostly one royal and one commoner but this was a royal marriage between mermaids and humans and her birth was a big deal.
A more cynical approach would be that having Ariel become a mother makes her look older and less relatable to young girls.
The cynical approach is true, but if you think about. Disney movies don't just appeal to young girls, it also appeals to girls and boys of all ages. Yea Melody started out as a Princess and as a product of a royal marriage. But it's not easy for royalty children either as was portrayed for Melody in the movie. And honestly the movie was a life lesson to learn from the mistakes of your parents, not repeat. Which Ariel quickly learned when she realized that she was doing, Albeit slightly too late but still.
Yesss
What's wrong with Young Girls watching a character that they love grow-up & live her life from childhood to adulthood? If anything it shows them the wonders that life has to offer as they get older, and if done correctly(emphasis on "IF" & "CORRECTLY"), the character can serve as a positive role model for the young girls as they get older, going from child to teen to adult & even to parent, there is nothing wrong with little girls finding a Mother as someone relatable if they learn that the mother originally started out as someone who was more like the little girls are currently.
@@skurvay3429 true, but I have and still do get sad to see childhood role models grow and change. It almost always makes me feel like “oh, so that’s gonna happen to me?”
So I’m sure Disney wants to avoid that.
But it is good to see her having a life
@@omnisexualidiot3750 Despite the fact that it's all a cartoon, nobody truly lives forever(or stays exactly the same forever either), eventually children grow-up, and later have children of their own, and being able to see these beloved characters grow-up & have children who have great adventures of their own, it just means that the magic continues on even into the next generations, and Real World children can come to realize that their parents once started out as what they are now, which can make children feel more comfortable around & feel more relatable to their parents, and realize that they can take their time & work towards becoming as great as their parents, which can make a family only become stronger & come together better.
Also if Disney wanted to 'Avoid' that whole “oh, so that’s gonna happen to me?” feeling, then explain the Disney's Descendants Franchise, which literally focuses on the offspring of famous Disney Characters(many of which are from the Disney Princess line).
I never knew the Little Mermaid 2 was considered a fairly poor film. My sister and I absolutely loved this film and since we were young it was nice to have a Disney Princess our age. We used to drown in the bathtub pretending we were mermaids lol!
I did'nt know that Little Mermaid 2 was not accepted very well, personally I enjoyed it not just because Ariel is my fave Disney princess but because it showed something beyond "they live happily ever after". The life after the fairytale, raising a child, and learning that what your parents told you when you were young was not bad at all. I loved it and I hope people will soon see the value in it too.
I believe it wasn’t accepted because it was the year 2000 honestly. It would’ve got in different reviews if it Came out this year
Agreed. I love seeing characters grown up and having kids
Whaaaaaaaat
@@jaedevrick n
I agree.
One thing I like about Melody is that she actually looks like a fusion of her parents.
Most Disney children where you see the parents are usually just a clone of one of their parents, including Ariel.
Edit: So this comment kinda blew up and a lot of people think I was implying that everyone is a mixed of their parents (looks-wise), this is not the case.
Genetics are very complicated and there's even a chance that you won't look like either of your parents.
I was stating that Disney has a habit of making kids look exactly like one parent or the other. Maybe it's just the easier way to design a character that's not important to the story but I wish they were more creative about it.
I also think it makes sense that she got her dads hair color. Dark hair is way more dominant than red hair.
@@Takisan111 and they both have blue eyes so it makes sense why she would have blue eyes too. the creators really paid attention to how genetics work
Actually, genetics is a lot more complicated. While it is rare for a child to be the spitting image of one particular parent, it is not unheard of. In some families certain traits are more dominant than others, and can show up with greater frequency. And it's completely random what genes you get from each parent.
@@leshyaedawnfire this is very true.
@@leshyaedawnfire Genetics are so cool! I learned a lot about them in Biology class in Freshman year of high school and it helped solve certain genetic traits about myself you see, I'm adopted and both my birth parents had dark brown hair and dark brown eyes and out I pop with light brown hair and blue eyes so somewhere in my family history there must've been someone with these traits because blue eyes are recessive but it's not impossible for me to have it. it was just very low since brown eyes tend to be the most dominant trait out of all the different colors like green or blue. sorry bout going into a rant I just loved learning about genetics
I really think it emphasizes character development through Ariel. The first movie is strongly based on her desires of becoming human and her relationship with her father whereas in the second one she is now taking on the parental role and finding out how to raise a child who wants to be part of a different world. But also wanting to protect the thing she loves most from where she encountered the most evil which is what her dad was doing for her as well. I think it's a great story to show the maturity that Ariel went through when converting over to be human. From child to adult.
Exactly. This movie actually gives character development to both Melody and Ariel. Something Ariel lacked in the first movie.
I actually really liked the sequel, I just wished that Melody got an original story. It was literally the copy and paste of her mother's story except instead of wanting to be human, she wanted to be a mermaid. I wish that Disney gave Melody her own unique story. Maybe then it would have gotten more positive reviews. Even so, Melody is underrated in my opinion and I just wish that Disney gave more princesses kids of their own because they deserve a second chance.
Edit: HOW DID I GET SO MANY LIKES OMG TY-
Yeah
It's a shame the other princesses don't have kids of their own. Not to say that EVERY couple NEEDS to have children as some agree they don't want kids. Still though it was something I never really thought about in terms of Disney Princesses having kids afterwards.
But it's probably why I never watched the movie because it was a copy of her mother's story, and it would have been better to do something different for Melody 🙁.
@@TheMeloettaful Yeah I'm not saying every princess should have a kid, but it'd be nice to have a few.
Yeah would have been nice, like heres my take on a sequel
Melody is born with the ability to breathe underwater, when she discovers the ability she goes hunting for the reason why and in doing so discovers her mother's heritage and becomes angry that her parents never told her and then have Morgana come in and take advantage of Melody's anger. Then the rest of the story where am I going to get the trident, turns melody into a mermaid he plays out roughly similar
At least Melody didn't do it for a boy LOL. She wanted adventure kinda like Belle.
I must've been an odd fan because I really LIKED that she had a daughter that was very 'similar' to her. I think also cause I was drawn to the ocean as a kid, I really liked the idea of a 'human girl getting a mermaid fin' and splashing around the ocean making friends and exploring.
NO LITERALLY
same about everything
especially the ocean
Same, the only reason that i didnt like Melody as much was because she didnt LISTEN to her mother and Ariel is my absolte favorite. But now that i have a teen daughter i can see how impatient they are.
@@gripi8 my problem was with Ariel becoming her dad. They could have done the plot so much better, I think that's where they failed. A villian out of nowhere that isn't even that scary. I mean, after defeating Ursula, who would find her weaker sister threatening? Even Ursula wasn't all that powerful without the Trident. The problem is that it didn't logically make sense for the characters to pick the choices they did.
Yeah, I remember wanting to be a mermaid as well. I was also obsessed with being a fairy.
As a child I originally loved the little mermaid. However, I never really understood Ariel wanting to come live among human beings. So when I saw the sequel I fell in love with Melody’s song and feelings about wanting to be a mermaid. So the sequel made me feel so good about myself. As a grown up I also love the family’s dynamics (Ursula and Morgana/ Ariel’s entire family). It also made me realise that even princesses grow up. The Little Mermaid and its sequel are true gems for me. (Ps sorry for my english; not a native speaker)
Your English is perfect! ❤
People don't understand that the way we feel about the ocean is the way this sea creatures felt about the land. An unknown world with weird artefacts. The mermaids didn't had much fashion options, artefacts or entertainment. Ariel was bored most of the time showed in the prequel.
I dunno why it wasn't well received. I liked it and saw nothing wrong with it ... aside from Ursula's sister appearing out of nowhere. And I kinda always wanted to see the Disney princesses grown with children. Kinda funny how fans love to draw art of pregnant princesses or draw what their child(ren) would look like ... but then get upset when Disney actually gives them kids?
It takes away from what you are about to create in your own imagination and Disney often ruins the main character by making them a parent. They are terrible at writing good parents
@@SecretKeeperForever9 not all disney parents are bad, you forgot about tiana's parents.
I liked seeing the mature and thoughtful Ariel grown up from the dizzy teenager she was in the original.
I 100% agree and I totally loved this movie and I was personally shocked to find out Ursula had a sister
@@DannyJane. same
I loved the second movie. I know a lot of people thought Ariel changed for the worse but she really didn't. She grew out of her rebel teen phase and when the life of her baby was threatened she gave up her family to protect her daughter. She basically showed that deep down she is Triton's daughter. She ached for the ocean but no sacrifice was too much to keep her daughter safe. She was a good mom.
I still think Ariel was the real villain in Little Mermaid 1 & 2.
@@taraungoogle8482 Hot take, but I can see the argument.
@@Imsexysryurnot Ariel was the real villain because in the first film, Ariel fell for man she knew nothing about and all she knew was that he was a prince. Then she went to Ursula, a loan shark witch that everyone warn warned her about, and through song and dance she told Ariel that she scammed mermaids for a living but Ariel didn't care. That is what made Ariel the perfect target: she's the youngest, she was in love, naive and her father would sacrifice anything for her. True her father acted harsh and strict but Ariel is only 16, know nothing of the surface and it was thinking straight and that almost cost her life, family, friends and Eric.
In the second film, Ariel looked like she's in her 20's(due to her being married at 16) and she was being welcomed to motherhood. But then, Ursula's sister came and threatened her family. But in reality, Ursula's sister wasn't a threat, she didn't know no magic, her Megalodon was turned into a piranha and her stingrays just had a creepy look and smile. Ariel must've had PTSD from her encounter with Ursula in the past, so she asked a wall to be built which was foolish( the foolish built walls but the wise built bridges) and she hid her mermaid heritage and family from Melody. All Melody wanted to know was about her family, but all she knew was her father's side but not her mother's. That is what made Melody the best target for Ursula''s sister: a little girl whose looking for answers that a mother who is too paranoid to give. It took Melody making the same mistake her mother just for Ariel to come clean.
In conclusion: Not the best daughter, mother or princess in my opinion. 👎
@@taraungoogle8482 Ariel was more of a victim in the first film. She was young and naive, and her father was very strict. If you watched the prequel, he banned music in the kingdom due to grief over his wife's death and even got mad at Ariel for singing. He also limited her mobility and forbade her from going up to the surface. The second film could have been done better though, as it somewhat removed a lot of Ariel's characteristics (being adventurous & curious) and instead gave her some of the qualities of her father, which is why she completely hid her daughter's mermaid heritage from her.
I remember watching this as a kid and ADORING IT. My mom couldn’t find the movie again (I think we went to Redbox or family video to rent it) and I somehow convinced myself it wasn’t an actual movie. My sisters and mom don’t remember the movie (even though I remember watching it with them). When I saw this it was like a wave of memories were unlocked. Great movie, wish I could see it again for the first time.
I did like Melody as a character, and I absolutely loved Ariel and Eric’s husband/wife duo relationship moments throughout the movie. If they had given a more original plot line plus take out those goshdarn annoying penguin and walrus comic relief characters, it would’ve been a super good movie!
>:0 how dare! Those two are amazing!!
@@thelittlestarlight6221 interesting! I thought they were really annoying, but usually I’m fine with those kinds of characters in Disney! So idk maybe they felt out of place for me
Titanic tip and daring dash are absolutely awesome characters and desver to be apart of the movie. They are melody animal sidekicks just like Flounder and scuttle are Ariel animal sidekicks and Sebastian is king triton animal sidekick.
Titanic Tip and Daring Dash Adventurers/Explorers deserve nothing but respect and admiration thank you very much
I will not tolerate Titanic Tip and Daring Dash Adventurers/Explorers slander in this house /j
I loved Return to the Sea and was kind of disappointed to find it wasn't the start of princesses and their children, and shocked when I found out just how many people didn't like it.
I enjoyed Return to the Sea too. I liked seeing how everyone was getting on years after the original story.
Same
I totally agree!
I think thats why I like Disney Channel's movies The Descendants series. Its about their children in a modern way, live action too
@@therealxireen1833 no lie I hate that franchise... like they bring characters back to life and have some of them marry others that I just can’t see actually being together let alone have children like maleficent and hades... but I guess it’s good for young kids for me tho it actually mead my stomach turn ever time my little sister would put one of the movies on
I consider Nala to be just as much a disney princess and LK2 isn't "more" about Kovu than Kiara. It's about both.
same
Nala is a queen tho. She was never a princess..she married simba after he took the throne(rock)
I actually really liked the sequel! And the opening song where Ariel sings, "You're my beautiful Melody" got me so bad I kept it in my mind for years. I now have a little Melody myself
I loved the movie too!
I loved it too, and sing that part regularly! I have two daughters already, but if I got a third I’d want her to be a Melody ^^ It’s a beautiful name!
My sister is named melody because of this movie 😅
Same, I loved the movie and loved mermaids as a little girl. Now an adult with my own daughter the opening song brings me to tears every time I play the second movie for my toddler, who loves it just as much as I loved the first film
Me too! This is actually a Disney sequel I love next to lion king 2. I would watch this one on repeat! And I still sing Ariel’s coming! In my head to this day! Lol I love that opening song! And adventures/explorers songs lol love it!
I personally really liked Little mermaid 2 and watched it sooo many times. Not sure why it wasn't liked by others. I know the story wasn't "original". But it was cool how it reminded them not to make decisions from fear and to be true to their roots. And also why is it bad that Melody wanted to go to the sea? It was a part of her after all and showed how much kids actually take after their parents. True life lesson in my opinion
One thing no reviewer ever takes into consideration is that we don't go to sequels to see something original. We go to see more of what we liked in the first one!
@@DannyJane. so true!
@@DannyJane. true
@@DannyJane. but I think for a sequel the story has to be different if it's going to be shown to the same generation you would need an extra 5 to 10 years if you want a second movie that is the same as the first one because then it's using the nostalgia effect, and the "My child is watching basically an updated version of what I watched as a kid...effect". that is why the live action remakes work (to some extent). but in stead the little mermaid 2 was only made 11 years after the original. the original was never that movie the critics watched 100 times till the VHS didn't work anymore (a common habit very young children have).
@@BouncyAnimation That's only part of it, Reel. Think about the originals of series that you liked. Think about what it was you loved about them. Was it the plot? The characters? One specific character? The place the story happened in? If you can specify what you liked best then THAT's what you're going to want to see more of in a sequel. I lost interest in the second Star Wars trilogy because the characters I liked best all DIED! Why would I want to see the sequels when everything I liked about the original wasn't going to be there? ( I did go--Family pressures, you know, but it wasn't much fun).
That's so weird, I really liked Little Mermaid 2! I thought it was interesting and cute to see Ariel have a baby who ended up being rebellious in her own way!
Ariel is royalty by birth & married royalty, she has a child.
But Esmeralda is not royalty & yet has a child in her sequel.
Well Hunchback of Notre Dame isn't really about Esmeralda. She is a main character in the movies, but she's second to Quasimodo.
@@MoonShadow31690 originally not a princess ruin the last 5-10 years she’s gotten the fancy “limited edition princess” Barbie upgrade so that means Disney sees her as an honorary Princess like Mulan.
And yet Esmeralda gave birth to a Phoebus clone… a clone with her eyes…
While I would love to agree with your argument... I´m strongly in denial about that sequel ever happening.
@@anitam1049 why? Do you not believe Quasi deserves someone to love him in return? Or is the Beast from Belle ey la Bete the only one that deserves to be loved despite his outer appearance? Both are, in the end, the hero that protects the girl. Beast was in between Gaston & Bell when he launched, & Quasi kept Esmeralda’s unconscious body from dying at the hands of Claude.
I love this this sequel. I love seeing Ariel as a motherly character. To me it makes complete sense, she lost her mother at very young age and wanted to have a child of her own.
And she got all that Karma from how she acted as a teen towards her father. Being able to understand why he did what he did and the rules he made were to keep her safe the same way she is doing with her daughter.
@@vianjelos
Yeah, Melody definitely takes after her mother... XD
@Will N
I mean, Ariel was super curious about things as well. ^^
@Will N I don't think Eric even thought about merfolk being real before meeting Ariel...
@Will N in the movies it’s her mother where she gets her red hair from though
I loved the sequel, such a bummer to see it got bad reviews. I think Disney never did it again, not only because it wasn’t a success, but maybe also because it keeps their princesses young. The thought of them becoming mothers ages them, keeping them in the time where they came out, keeps them young and able to use for all generations.
so ageism basically
well... it is a bad movie... the plot is bad, the animation es bad, the songs are bad, the ending is bad... is pure nostalgia... not really good
What’s upsetting is all the “critics” that rated this back then was adults. If you ask the children (which are now us now) how we liked the movie, I assure you that the sequel would have continued. It was a beautiful story and as a little girl I watched 1 & 2 all day everyday. Now the show was questionable but nonetheless melony deserves her flowers💯💯💯💯
This is so on point.
My thoughts exactly! Thinking back to during the time when the movie was released, I'm assuming by "top critics" they really meant either bitter old men grossed out by pregnancy/children or overprotective parents over-reacting about the sexual implications of a Disney character in a movie for children. Overall, it's sad and Melody is pitiful for the unoriginal storyline (even if it is Ariel's karma) and the ostracization.
Yeah but children don’t give them money
probably the only true good sequel for A rated Disney princess classic
As someone who went to school for animation, this doesn’t make sense. I could tell a crappy animated movie from a masterpiece as a kid. The classics like the Lion King and The Little Mermaid & Pocahontas are rated well because as an art form, they were brilliant and well done. Most Disney sequels got bad reviews because they had crappy animation, writing and music.
Jungle book, Peter Pan, Pocahontas, and Mulan are all Disney classics that had direct sequels.
Wendy even had a daughter in her sequel. Even if Windy is not a Disney princess it is worth noting.
Thats what I was thinking
Maybe you're right, but all those aren't classic Disney princesses movies I believe
@@Carlitiable Well, Pocahontas is, but that comes with a whole host of baggage and controversy now... Like, it happened, but it really shouldn't have...
@@miyapapayax agreed, that's what I meant by "classic" Disney princesses :)
You're right I completely forgot about Jane.
The sequel was just fine. Ariel’s story continued, as she had to deal with the fallout of protecting her child, and not telling her the truth about her heritage. So she could now understand what her own father felt. It was cute and not offensive and better than so many straight to video Disney sequels. It was nice to see Ariel have a family and how very much she loved them.
Other languages: "They lived hapilly ever after", "... and had many children"
Meanwhile czech: "They was happy until they died"
Well... true XD
That's wonderful 😆
😂😂😂
Finnish one is: "And they lived happily until the end of their lives". Quite similar vibe.
@@Tenshionful same in Germany
I was so sad to hear that the second "Little Mermaid" had gotten such bad reviews. It really makes me upset because Ariel is one of my favorite princesses. Not just cause she's a mermaid, but because she had a child.
I'm also *incredibly mad* at Melissa De La Cruz, the author of the Descendants books that coincide with the movies, because of the fact that she didn't mention Melody AT ALL. Instead, Melissa talks about Ariel's niece, Arabella, and not Melody at all.
What?? That makes absolutely no sense I wonder why she wouldn’t mention her 🤔
@@melsnailsasmr I think it may be because of them all thinking Arial having a child was the reason for the bad reviews so she didn't get mentioned but thats just what i think lol.
She's not the standard. And as much as I wanna explain, an Atlantean woman isn't what a woman should be or wanna be. They try to sell and make you think that's how they are or can be. I'd go to unplugem's channel and type atlantis specifically and dogan. You'll know what theu actually are.
Whose daughter is Arabella ?
I don't think it was Melody as a character or Ariel having a kid. It didn't capture the feel of the first one, the songs were crap compared to the original however by l better then Ariel Beginnings, the fact that they went with "Ursula's crazy sister" that existed all the sudden, and the art style was pretty bad and it was one of the first films that had a major change to the art style.
Little Mermaid 2 was one of my favourite movies growing up. Loved Melody.
7:00 as a matter of fact, yes, there ARE direct sequels of some other Disney princesses
Pocahontas 2: Pocahontas travelled to London to negotiate for peace with the British gov
Mulan 2: Mulan and Shang are about to get married and then they faced differences while also received orders to protect 3 princesses to travel to another country for political marriage
Unless you wouldn't count them as real "royal-blood" princesses, then I couldn't recall other princesses having a direct sequel
I had Tarzan 2 as a kid
Pocahontas is a daughter of a chief she's a Indian princess
true! but Pocahontas did not end up with a "prince" in the end of the movie, so it's natural that having children was not the thing for the sequel. Mulan had a warrior life story, so also would not be a good fit. Sequels with others with kids maybe just would not be so interesting + after not best reviews for the Little Mermaid 2 there was no point.
what about Frozen and Frozen 2?
Cinderella has sequels.
I hated Melody's story. It wasn't actually Melody I had an issue with, it was Ariel keeping her away from the sea. It bothered me to see Ariel, my favorite disney princess, suddenly acting somewhat similar to her father rather than just being open with her daughter and exploring things together, which felt like it would have been more IC to me.
I mean... Like father like daughter, it's just natural
Eric acted like he was letting Ariel do the parenting more than he was. He'd make a few hidden snarky comments, but when he encouraged Ariel to go home to help hunt Melody, that was the only scene I had respect with. And one question hit me was did they know Sebastian was there with Melody? And yeah, the issue with Ariel's attitude...that was a poor concept.
It's because of her instinct as a parent. There are things that we understand as a child in a different way of how our parents see these things. She became a mother, unlike on the first movie she was only a teen who see no harm in life.
It makes sense because of her experience with Ursula. Her original intentions weren’t to keep Melody away from the sea, she only did that because Morgana attacked when Ariel first tried to introduce her to The mermaid civilization. She wanted to keep her away from the danger, not the sea itself.
@@sierraalice8072 i agree ariels opening song is about how proud she is that she can share her world with Melody, but once Morgana came to the picture and threaten to take Melody away, she had to do what any new parent would do and that's to shield her away from danger. it's also the same with Triton, he didn't want any of them to interact with humans because humans killed their mom/ his wife. He's scared of what would happen.
I really loved both movies. It was fun to me to see her daughter go back to the sea and learn about her roots. Maybe I related because of the discovering roots part.
I actually really liked the sequel and was really eye opening for me as a child. It was basically the first DIsney movie where I immediately saw the parent in a positive light, cause she was Ariel and I loved Ariel. So often the parent is the "bad guy" for lack of a better phrase that we want to rebel against because they're portrayed as unreasonable and/or unyielding. In this one I was able to understand more of the parents side and sympathise with how hard it is to protect your child from things YOU know are bad without being overbearing and pushing your kid away. I thought it was so well done, the song Ariel and Melody sing about their different experiences back in the sea is amazing.
I feel exactly the same!
In Greek, the phrase “they lived happily ever after” is delivered as “ζήσανε αυτοί καλά κι εμείς καλύτερα” which translates to “they lived well and we lived better”. With “they” referring to the storyline characters and “we” to the audience.
In the Egyptian Arabic dialect it goes like this :
و عاشوا في تبات و نبات و خلفوا صبيان و بنات.
Which translates to:
And they lived in stability and prosperity and they had boys and girls.
I really want to know how it's phrased in other languages! Please everyone comment how it's said in your culture.
@@mennaayman9689 In portuguese it's said:
E viveram felizes para sempre
Which means they lived happily ever after, literally haha
@@alexandermorgan3469 😍Thanks for sharing!
@@mennaayman9689 No problem 🤭
I was still little when Little Mermaid 3 happened. I remember really liking it. I remember feeling a little sad that Ariel had grown up, but I definitely liked seeing how wonderful Ariel's family was.
To use your term Disney Classic, there is another. Return to Neverland. Wendy’s daughter, Jane, is introduced, and, after not believing Wendy’s stories about Neverland, ends up traveling there with Peter. Peter had gone to get Wendy but didn’t realise that she was now a grown woman with a child!
Actually, it was Captain Hook that kidnapped Jane. He thought she was Wendy and kidnapped her to lure out Peter Pan to kill him(which actually worked, thinking about it now).
@@AmyoftheFlowerField yes I realised that after I posted my comment, the rest is still the same, Jane is Wendy’s daughter.
@@AmyoftheFlowerField bruh I watch that literally millions of times of that movie when I was little and when you said that Jane got kidnapped by Captain Hook, I finally remember them all lmao it just came back to me in a second 😂
I adored Return to Nederland! 😁😁🥰🥰
The only difference is that Jane is a character in Barrie's play, so it made sense that Disney would feature her in a sequel. Whereas Melody is an original character.
The generation that mainly watched the original little mermaid were 11 years older when the sequel came out. That is 11 years of growth and most people change at least a little in that amount of time. They probably thought they could reconnect with Ariel like they did before and that she would be the center of the film. However, the film focused heavily on Melody in an effort to get younger audiences to connect to the older disney princess. I will admit - I enjoyed the movie both as a child and now as an adult. As a child, I could relate with Melody and her desire to follow her heart. When I got older and started wanting kids of my own one day, I started to understand Ariel and appreciate how they portrayed her as a mother who just wanted to protect her daughter. Could she have done a different approach to keep Melody safe? Yes, but mothers are not perfect, sometimes we do what we think is best before learning that what we are doing doesn't work (advice varies so much and each child is unique - needing their own approach), and Disney understood this when they made Ariel react the way she did. As for Eric - he was always a bit on the quiet side but even more so with Melody around - most likely because he doesn't understand what his daughter is going through and is giving the reigns to someone more qualified. He has had everything handed to him on a silver platter since the day he was born, so the word no isn't something he was probably ever told. Since Ariel had restrictions growing up because of her father, it was only natural for her to step into that role. Plus, if Eric is running a country - he probably has 100s of things on his mindaside from his daughter while Ariel has more time to focus on her daughter since she has less on her shoulders. For what it's worth, even if it was rated bad - it is realistic in terms of family life in that situation. For those of you who have not rewatched and you are now adults, please rewatch and see if Ariel resonates with you more now.
I personally loved ariel being a parent. It makes me now go back and watch now that i will become a parent myself. To show the love of parents from that perspective should happen much more in IPs like that.
Didn't know it was so badly received, liked it a lot more than the others. Though King of Thieves was fun too.
I loved the sequel as a child, actually related to melody quite a bit. And my own daughter who is four actually prefers the sequel for the very same reason, melody is closer to her age. But I will say, Ariel becomes a shadow of herself, and that is a pity. They did something very similar with the lion king sequel, where Simba became someone very different from who he was in the original. That was the mistake in my opinion. No one wants to see the protagonist become an antagonist.
Growing up I loved the second one more than any film including the first one, I think I saw the second one first, I got the tape at an garage sale and I watched it so much some of the colour wore off and became white noise?visually when played, I think people relate way more to wanting to become a mermaid than the other way around, who would wanna be a human when you can be a mermaid?
Plus I relate more to the shy awkward Melody than the bold and confident Ariel
I'm a shadow of myself after having a kid, I get it
Simba didn’t turn into an antagonist. The whole point was he was so determined to be just like Mufasa who he thought was a perfect ruler. He became so overprotective of Kiara he tended to snarl at her she wasn’t allowed to go anywhere without someone with her and Kiara was fed up with being treated like a cub as an adult. Simba simply made a mistake and he owns up to it in the end by apologizing to Kovu and accepting whoever wanted to rejoin Pride Rock from Zira’s pride.
Always had a crush on Eric
I’d have his babies 😂
I thought the sequel was alright - they had all (at least most) of the original voice characters. Morgana was a hoot “ooo… what you gonna do? Throw the crab at me? Ahahha” I literally died when I heard that.
The penguin and walrus actually brought the film down for me.. they were definitely not needed!
Umm…😬
“Kappa” is a name of one of “Yokai” (monster) in Japan.
It’s a fantasy character that’s like half turtle and half human.
We do have a story based on a mermaid, and it’s called人魚 “Nin-gyo” (human-fish).
We have an ancient story about a woman who ate the flesh of a mermaid and gained an eternal life.🧜♀️
I remember learning the word "Kappa" on teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3
Weren't they originally depicted as a full big fish (like a tuna) just with a human face, not half and half as we know them in modern media?
Very little research goes into videos like this. It's shameful.
@@dmars9942 And I learn the word "Kappa" from Onmyoji mobile game. 😁
Lion King 2 is also a beautiful movie. I disagree that it was mostly about Kovu. I think it was a well balance story about him as well as Kiara. "We are one"
True! I loved that sequel!
Nala had Kiara. She don't count as a princess?
@@spencerthespinosaurusdinod7744 I would count her as a princess.
@@spencerthespinosaurusdinod7744 she’s a queen now >3
Yap this is favorite move
I liked the movie. Melody was so cute. However, I always thought people just had a hard time dealing with the fact that Ariel was the mean parent who "didn't understand" her kid. I always figured having Ariel or any Princess grow up and turn into their child's mean authority figure didn't work well with our thoughts on the Princesses. At that time the stories were always about a mean authority figure ruining the life of the beloved main characters.
I hate that Ariel turned her back on her family and also somehow turned into her father: forbidding her daughter from swimming in the ocean. Sixteen year old Ariel would not like 30 year old Ariel.
@@sallyjrwjrw6766 Ariel had a good reason, tho - she didn’t want Morgana to kidnap her young daughter. Triton just held prejudice towards all humans after what happened to his wife.
I would say Mulan II would be a continuation! It helps to expand the relationship and dynamic between Mulan and Shang!
This is what I was hoping to see someone mention
It wasn’t a direct sequel, but Tangled’s whole story got a continuation in the animated show “Tangled: The Series” which, in my opinion, is FANTASTIC. The music is great, and I think making it a show really gave the writers room to expand on world & character building.
Absolutely! Tangled Series is one of the best animated series ever. And I don't think I'd like it any other way. Sure, Rapunzel and Eugene don't have children but we know how they'll handle them, if they did. 🤭
I love that series so much and I heard a new season is coming in spring of 2023!
I feel the tangeld series is under rated like no one remembered the series and It's my favorite Disney series
You're wrong about Ariel having the only real sequel as a Disney princess! Mulan, even though not a princess herself in the movie, is referred to as a Disney princess. She got a sequel. I watched it only once as a 14 year old (am now 32) and all I remember is Mulan and Li Shang bickering continuously (and him almost dying) and a lot of political stuff with three princesses to be married off and falling for Chien-Po, Ling and Yao on the way. It is one of the worst sequels of all the horrible Disney sequels ever. But it's out there. There's also a Pocahontas 2. Pocahontas 2 was, in a way, refreshing as all the other Disney princesses do get their happy ever after with their original love interest and Pocahontas doesn't end up with John Smith but with John Rolfe. Which of course is a reference to the real Pocahontas (who was about 10 or 11 when she saved John Smith from getting killed by her father, and yes even though she was just a child she did fall in love with him and after he goes back to England wounded she does believe him dead for a while and in real life she did end up marrying John Rolfe after being baptized and taking on the Christian name Rebecca and had an important political value to the peace with her tribe, she did go to England to meet the king where she found out her first love was still alive, and when she and John Rolfe decided to go back she died on the way, she had one son). I also loved to see the cultural difficulties that Pocahontas faced as she had to adapt to a society that was extremely different from her own.
I actually like the sequel more than the other movies. I watched it like everyday. I loved melody. She actually looked like a fusion of her parents, had her own great personality and was very relatable for me when I was a kid. Like her, I wanted to be a mermaid and was obsessed with the water. I just wish they'd bring her back.
I love the sequel to the little mermaid. So much so that I named my daughter Melody after Ariels’s daughter.
I loved the name too & want that name for my daughter. Can you imagine a generation of girls named Melody because their mothers loved the little mermaid💜
That is adorable! 💕
I just had my babygirl 4 months ago and I also named her melody
I’m shocked that Little Mermaid 2 was poorly received. I loved both movies. I loved Melody.
I have to say Return to the Sea was one of the only sequels I really enjoyed watching. I don't know why people don't like the idea of a princess having a child. I liked Melody's character. I also liked seeing Ariel and Melody's mother/daughter relationship.
It was also fun seeing how Ariel and Eric's relationship had matured. I think it also has a good message Ariel was a mom and could still fight and have adventures.
Me who has forgotten the storyline of The Little Mermaid: _I like your funny words, magic man_
Where is that quote from...I can't place it
@@Jynxxy13ravedoll clone high
Nothing bad- ever happens to the Kennedys!
One of the kids who was there when it came out- I loved that Ariel had a daughter and I loved her story. I had no idea it wasn’t liked by critics when released. That blows my mind. 🤯
I loved Melody and still think she should be included in the lineup. She is the daughter who took on her father's love for the ocean and her mother's sense of adventure and exploring the unknown. Why did everyone hate a 12 year old shy girl who wants to be a mermaid? Ariel did all she could to protect her and Melody. Melody felt like she was being kept out of her heritage and her peers were bullies! Melody took charge and went out looking for her own answers. She fell for a trick, but only because she was younger than any other princess. After that, she snagged the trident and saved her grandfather, who let her break down the wall! Now that's my kind of princess!!
As a bot, you should learn to write without using such impeccable grammar.
You want to know a Disney sequel that you forgot? How about Peter Pan and the Return to Neverland? Wendy might not be a Disney "princess" but she does have offspring--TWO of them! There's her daughter Jane and her young son Danny!
That one it's my favorite movie besides Peter Pan and I'm going to watch it again soon.
@DannyJane I still remember the main theme song from that movie: Jonatha Brooks's "I Try". (2/8/2022)
I love that movie! I watched it non stop growing up
She’s a female Disney character, but she isn’t a princess so that’s probably why she didn’t mention it
@@IsabelHernandez-cm5bd sameeeee 😭😭😂
It never crossed my mind but wow Ariel is the only Disney Princess mama lol
I never considered for a moment that Ariel might've been the only one who had a child, from my perspective it's silly to think that the other princesses never did just because we never saw them included in a movie (for the few that had sequels).
Also, while Descendants is super cheesy and honestly I wish they'd executed it way differently for a variety of reasons), since Disney gave it the official green light and therefore made it canon, it's pretty solid evidence that at the characters' bloodlines DID continue.
But its not officially cannon. Not all of the characters were in the same timeline.
A lot of those villains canonically died before those kids were born. =/
Oh you should watch ever after high
tbh with her having 6 sisters, i'm more surprised she does only have one kid X"D
Ever after high is really great
As a child I loved the sequel! Now that I’m a mom myself, it’s interesting seeing a teen mom in a child’s cartoon but at least she was married first lol. And that’s technically the age a lot of people started families hundreds of years ago.
Personally, I think Ariel having a kid works tremendously well from a narrative perspective: Ariel was a difficult, irrational child to her father, and now she's getting a taste of her own medicine via her equally difficult daughter. And as far as I can tell, none of the other princesses were as stubborn as she is with respect to their parents. It's karma at it's finest. (Also, I've always imagined an off-screen moment where Ariel apologises to her father about being such a difficult kid).
I see it much more the other way around. Her father did not connect with her as a teen, or really understood her. He was emotionally abusive and did not explain anything to her. And when children grow up and become parents, without further reflection and processing, they tend to repeat their parents mistakes. This is not about karma. This is about avoiding your child running off into danger, if you really would have connected and worked out things together. And they both had to learn that. If melody is smart, she’ll do different 🙂
This is the same as The Lion King 2 when Simba had a taste of his own medicine and had a childish kid
@@magpiecritic3083 it doesn’t make any sense to put it that way. Children don’t have to know better, parents do.
Theirs an old little mermaid cartoon episode where Ariel is forced parent her own dad because he got cursed and turned into a kid 🤣😂
@@Skadivore I agree. Ariel wasn't being a problematic or stubborn teen or whatnot. The father just was too strict and emotionally abusive as well as emotionally just absent.
This "oh stubborn/problematic teen" statement is quickly made because people really love blaming the kids instead of the parents. As a child of narcissists, I know this too well sadly.
I think that she's the only one to have a kid cuz people wasn't ready for this idea and they just drip the project.
According to the movies the descendents they all had kids. Even the villains.
The sequel was my movie growing up. I think even if it was similar to Ariel's story, elements feel different. For one, Melody is motivated by adventure and breaking free from her sheltered world. She is 12 and the story is less about love and desire to "become human/mermaid", it is more about Melody growing into a calling and becoming more confident in her identity. Melody struggles with fitting in, Ariel struggles with reckless ambition. The mother-daughter relationship differs from the father-daughter relationship, Ariel's concerns are about shelthering her daughter from making similar mistakes (Melody's story is Tangled esq), while Tritdent's concerns is a core prejudice against his daughters interests/above land people, coloured by previous crimes against sea people. I really enjoy actually getting to explore the underwater world, and the finale where Melody is able to kick butt because she is human is such a great scene.
I really liked the sequel myself. I really related to Melody when I was little, especially people around her thinking she was odd and wanting to go somewhere where she could be herself. The story had similar elements, but I honestly thought the sequel was a bit more interesting and complex. I wish more of the princesses had children, not because they’re “supposed to”, but so there would be more opportunity to explore family dynamics and other things like that. Not that they all should have kids, but seeing a few more would be nice.
Technically, Ariel wasn't the only one to have children. Nala from the Lion King did as well. She may be a lion, but she's also a princess.
I liked Melody! It wasn't the best movie ever, sure, but it was enjoyable and I liked how Melody had traits from both her parents (especially as she had Erics thick dark eyebrows!) I'd love to see more Disney Princesses with kids if they kept the same fusion formula just to see what they came up with (not like Lady and the Tramp, where the girl pups just look exactly like Lady and the boy like Tramp!)
I also LOVED the Cinderella sequels, some of the best by far. Giving Ugly Sister Anastasia Tremaine and the Prince a personality was amazing (especially the Prince, he was hysterically funny! I'd absolutely watch a sequel about a child from him and Cinders!)
If they actually took the time and made the sequels look good then we wouldn't have these kinds of conversations. I remember how weird they made the animations and how annoyed I was with their dialog. The stories were great but some didn't really click. And I also didn't like the idea of them going back to the story and not foward. Like Cinderella 3 and Tarzan 2. I thought, "oh it's going to be about her kids." But no. Good movies but still disappointed ☹️ Lady and the Tramp 2 and Peter Pan 2 was good. It didn't have a princess movie but it had a true sequel.
I had this movie on VHS and watched it all the time. I loved it 💙
me who actually liked the little mermaid sequals: this further proves i am weird and probably not a human
Same!
That's right. You're not a human. You're a mermaid!
@@nonyabusiness3619 :o SEE THE LINE WHERE THE BEACH MEETS THE SEA TOTALLY NOT RIPPING OFF ANOTHERMOOVIEEE
@@nonyabusiness3619 that sounds fun
Same😅
For those who don't know...Esmerelda (Hunchback of Notre Dame) was announced as an offical Princess. She had Zephyer (aka her son) with Phoebus. So not the only Princess with a child.
She’s a secondary character, she wasn’t the main main character.
Also simba and Nala had children
Wait. I always thought Disney followed the original story which is tragic lol.. Well.. At least somewhere it was happy.
In Brazil, Melody had the same voice actress as Isabella from Encanto. 🐚🌵
I loved this film, if they had to do it again I’d like Anna to get a child because how exhausted her and kristoff and even Olaf would be is comedy gold
I watched the little mermaid 2 before watching the first little mermaid so it holds a special place in my heart and I kinda see it as the original TLM and the original one as the prequel that just adds to the story somehow
Ariel may be the only Disney PRINCESS to have a child, but she's NOT the only Disney character to have a child. Simba and Nala have children (Kion and Kiara) Lady and the Tramp have puppies, even in the first movie. Wendy Darling had children (Jane and Daniel). Even Esmeralda and Phoebus in Hunchback II have a son. It HAS been shown that Disney CAN, in fact, give us creative, emotional stories with the children of original characters (the Lion King 2 being one of the better examples of this.)
And as for The Little Mermaid 2....I don't think it was that "people didn't like MELODY as a character or the idea of Ariel and Eric having a child"....so much as they basically just copy/pasted the SAME villain (with the SAME voice actress) from the original Little Mermaid, but made her whiny, pathetic and pointless, rather than giving us a GOOD villain....like Zira) and HOW Ariel and Eric choose to deal with the problem that arose at the start of the film with Morgana. Morgana threatens to avenge her sister, and Ariel, RATHER THAN telling her daughter THE TRUTH about her heritage (on her mother's side) or finding a better way of dealing with the danger, she LIES to her daughter for TWELVE YEARS....forces her to stay away from the ocean and then, EVEN when she's caught, she gets ANGRY at her daughter for calling her out, rather than telling Melody the truth, which results in Melody running straight to Morgana. Had Ariel just trusted her daughter, it would have been a much better story.
The funny part with the second argument of why Disney thought showing the child of the main characters wouldn't sell well, is that most children and teens, even young adults of a fandom ADORE creating the possible mixtures of their ship in a film, book, cartoon or anime in the form of a child and imagine "how would their kids look like". And in this movie that was done so well.
About the sequels with next generation trope, except Lion King 2 we also have Peter Pan 2 with Wendy's children and it was actually interesting to see her daughter being a realist and practical considering she was growing up during the Great War. And we also had the Hunchback of Notre Dame sequel where we see Esmeralda's and Phoebus' son too. (Yes none of them are actual princesses but still)
Honestly, Hunchback II is a terrible movie for a slew of reasons, but Zephyr (Phoebus and Esmeralda's kid) is an annoying tag-along with no real development and only exists to be cooed over, then used as a hostage. You could cut him out entirely, and the plot would improve.
Melody actually had an arc and characterization, so she's more enjoyable to watch, which shows that just because you *can* add a kid character doesn't mean you *should*.
I liked the Disney sequels, the little mermaid, lady and the tramp and the lion king. Because it was the next generation of older Disney characters. And that the interesting plot was that the kid wanted the life one of their parents wanted out of. So I really liked that. Mulan 2 does not exist, it can't hurt you...
I really enjoyed the sequel as a kid and even as an adult now. I adore melody 🥰
I feel as though, yes they were trying to expand but it's also from a story point of view.
If you think about it, Ariel dreamed of being human, therefor she really wouldn't have a reason to return to the sea willingly. This is a mermaid movie though and for it to remain as a mermaid movie they need someone who would want to be or is a mermaid.
So without breaking Ariel's story-line they needed another protagonist but if they kept the dreams of being human it would just be another Ariel story that just so happened to be in the same world and that would be boring. So to keep it more of the little mermaid story and relatable to Ariel they gave her a child that was just like her and made it the opposite with the saying like mother, like daughter coming to mind.
Exactly, it's a life lesson that a lot of children can be more like their parents then they think. And we sometimes make the same mistakes are parents made, it's not always avoidable. But seeing the story like this with those lessons, can help us realize we should be careful not to make those mistakes.
I love both movies. Melody is as interesting as her mother and I really like their different personalities.
I always thought Melody was adorable :) I wouldn't mind a true third movie where she is older or even a series where it's her going on her own adventures.
As a child, I LOVED this movie. It didn’t even cross my mind people would dislike it, since I know a lot of people my age who like it as well, but we watched it as young children when this movie was new. I think it was neat to have a character that was much like us after watching the first movie, someone who wanted to be a mermaid.
Descendents has every kid that belongs to a Disney Princess and Villain so there's that but yeah, I guess they thought the other princesses having kids wouldn't be interesting enough for people after The Little Mermaid 2, but it would've been great if it happened!
Fun fact: In Hungarian instead of "and they lived happily ever after" we say "és boldogan éltek míg meg nem haltak" which means "and they lived happily until they died" which is basically the same thing. Maybe a bit darker by mentioning death, tho I think it's completely normalized, so it doesn't sound weird, I just realized as I was translating it like, oh yeah we say that.
I think that's also why I loved the Lord of the Rings finish that Bilbo uses "And he lived happily ever after, until the end of his days."
Love this! In Greek we say 'zisane afti kala ki emis kalitera'' meaning '' and they lived well, and/but we lived better'' , bringing some hope to the reader about his/her own life I guess lol
"'Til death do we part" is a standard part of English-spoken wedding vows in North America, which in essence means the same. "Happily ever after" tends to bring a connotation of eternity, which is probably why it's relegated to fairy tales. I don't think the mention of death being at the end of life is particularly morbid, but maybe I'm just more practical minded than a lot of Anglophones. It SHOULD be normal, instead of raising our children with a background thought of a fairy tale never ending story, a happily ever after that never ends. That's life: 'til death do we part.
@@zofilep3612 In German it's "Und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind, dann leben sie noch heute" which means "And if they didn't die, they're still alive today"! :D
@@melooo9689 or "Und sie lebten glücklich bis ans Ende ihrer Tage" which means "and they lived happily until the end of their days", also implying death. It seems common among a lot of languages.
Funny how the German Version of „and they lived happily ever after” just mean “and if they didn’t die, they are still living today”
I personally think the reason is, that Ariel has a major storyline about the relationship to her father and so they want to show us how she is handling this situations as a parent now. And just turning the story around is easier. It reminds me of the lady and the tramp, where they turn the story around in the second movie.
Translated from Danish: and they lived happily til their Death!
I LOVED THE SEQUEL! I loved Melody I loved seeing Ariel as a Mother and everything. I loved the story line also. Forever and always!
No she’s not there’s the Disney movies “Descendants” they are literally all the children of the princess and princes and villans
I dont think descendants is cannon to these particular things.
Descendants is basically a whole different universe because all the characters who died are alive so no Descendants doesn't count
'Descendents' is the result of a villain orgy. I'll die on this hill.
@@mollycblaeser LMFAO
I liked the second one a lot. Mostly because I liked the family dynamics and wished that I could have that with my parents. I also loved Melody and how she looked like a kid, where Ariel always looks a grown teen/young adult.
Him: *"talking about how Ariel was the only princess with a child"*
Me: *"HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OR SEEN DESCENDANTS!?!?!"*
I liked the movie actually. I wish they had done more showing their families. The only thing that was super weird was Ursula’s sister, which contradicts the mythology as well.
Personally I do not understand why the second movie was disliked so much. I really enjoyed it and thought Melody was a very good character. Mulan had a sequel and so did Pocahontas. As for others having children the descendant’s series does really well giving those original characters children.
I'm still holding out for a sequel where Pocahontas has her son, Thomas, cause the real Pocahontas has a son with John Rolph. But they might not do that since it ends with Pocahontas dying. And since the real Pocahontas was much younger than her Disney counterpart and died at age 22... they'd have to storyline Pocahontas dying and maybe make her son the story's main character on a mission to find out why his mom died or if someone killed her. It might be too dark for Disney, but they'd had death in their movies before, and it wouldn't be too far-fetched to believe John Radcliff poisoned Pocahontas... either by getting out of prison or having someone on the outside do it for him.
@@DinosaurNick i mean i think it’s also bc now it’s a different time era and since we know that pocahontas was an actual figure with a really intense history it would probably be considered disrespectful to make a sequel ab her
@@DinosaurNick nope I really wish we’d FINALLY get Pocahontas Smith, but sadly I don’t think it’ll ever happen unfortunately. I’m actually working on my rewrite for Pocahontas along with a mini series if you’re interested!
Kids and Black Mermaids kill the fantasy for SOME PEOPLE FOR WHATEVER REASON!! *pukes
Honestly, I wish more of the princesses had children. Plus, Melody was a great character, and I can't understand why it got such bad ratings.
Some of the origins of the princess stories are quiet dark. Take Sleeping Beauty who indeed had a child under nefarious circumstances. Not sure how Disney could fit a child into the reworked family friendly version. All of the original fairytales were very dark and because changes had to be made, left many princesses childless with happy endings.
@@FacelessMusic2dayAgreed. People want original stories too, not prequels/sequels. Something fresh. Combination of animation and acting is not always up to par..every studio has its moments
Theirs BEN who’s belle and beasts son!
My theory is that most if not all of the princesses had kids, we just haven’t seen those events. I think the mistake Disney made was just thinking of the sequels with additional revenue as the main focus instead of adding additional classics. I thought The Little Mermaid II was lackluster, but I really liked the idea of continuing the story, and seeing what “happily ever after” means for these characters.
Like why did they do that they literally made a part 2 of like every Disney princess movie and the only one who had a kid was Ariel Cinderella actually had a part 2 and 3 still NO kid!
I actually like the sequel and I love melody. I just wished she was in descendants just like the other disney princess's kids
Pocahontas had a true sequel and maybe mulan
I loved the sequel! I always wanted to be a mermaid and I thought it was so cool to have a movie where the main character also wanted to be a mermaid but actually got to be one
I love the Little Mermaid but the second movie is my favorite. They did a great job in genetics with her but it also continued the storyline that flowed together. The movie also seemed more relaxed because it had a character who wasnt very girly or princess like. It showed the main character being rebellious in a way that was shown in a way of her starting to learn more about herself. It showed to listen to that little voice to find your calling.
One that had a direct sequel that was released around this time was Pocahontas. I consider her a Disney Princess, and I am pretty sure Disney does as well. Her sequel takes place after the events of the first movie. It was a straight to VHS release. It was called, Pocahontas: Journey to the New World.