The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea (film)

The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea is a 2000 American animated direct-to-video musical adventure film and a sequel to the 1989 animated film The Little Mermaid. Directed by Jim Kammerud and Brian Smith, the story of the film takes place 12 years after the original, and focuses on Ariel and Eric's daughter Melody, a human princess who longs to swim in the ocean despite her parents' law that the sea is forbidden to her. The film features the voices of Jodi Bensonas Ariel, Tara Strong as her daughter Melody, and Pat Carroll as Ursula's sister Morgana, the film's new villain. In 2008, Disney released a third film in the Little Mermaid series, The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning, which is a prequel to the original film.

Plot
Ariel and Eric celebrate the birth of their newborn daughter Melody on a ship at sea. Ariel's father King Triton presents Melody with a magic locket. The party is interrupted by Ursula's sister Morgana, who threatens to have Melody fed to her pet tiger shark, Undertow, unless Triton surrenders his trident to her. Morgana then announces her plan to use the trident to avenge Ursula and take over the ocean. Ariel and Eric work together to foil Morgana's plan, and Triton shrinks Undertow to the size of a piranha. Morgana escapes, eluding the attempts of King Triton's forces to capture her and declaring that she will someday exact her revenge on both Ariel and Triton and avenge the death of her murdered sister Ursula.

Fearing Morgana and remembering Ursula, Ariel decides that, until Morgana is captured, they will have to withhold all knowledge of the sea world and her heritage from Melody in order to protect her. Triton tosses the locket into the ocean, and a massive wall is built to separate the royal castle from the sea. Triton assigns Sebastian to watch over Melody like he did with Ariel in the first film.

12 years later, Melody remains unaware of her mother's mermaid heritage and is forbidden from ever going into the sea. However, she ignores the warnings of Ariel and has been sneaking out of the castle regularly to swim, and one day finds the locket. Seeing her name on the locket, Melody questions her mother about it, but Ariel confronts Melody and forbids her to go into the sea. Frustrated with her mother's refusal to answer her questions, Melody steals a small boat and sails away from home. Melody is discovered by Undertow, who leads her straight to Morgana.

In a panic, Sebastian confesses to Ariel and Eric that Melody went out to the sea. Meanwhile, Melody meets Morgana, who reveals that Melody's background is marine, and uses the remains of Ursula's magic to transform Melody into a mermaid. Triton prepares search parties, and is convinced by Ariel and Eric to use his trident to transform Ariel back into a mermaid in order to help in the search for Melody. Ariel searches the sea for Melody, regretting not sharing her heritage with her, while Melody explores her newfound abilities as a mermaid, and has a strong feeling that she was meant to be part of the sea.

Melody visits Morgana to thank her, only for Morgana to tell Melody that the spell was only temporary, and that she can only make the spell permanent if Melody retrieves the trident from Triton, which Morgana claims he stole from her. Melody decides to get the trident, and during her search befriends Tip and Dash, a penguin and walrus duo who join her.

Melody succeeds in stealing the trident, and returns to Morgana, but before Melody can hand the trident over to Morgana, Ariel arrives and pleads for Melody not to give Morgana the trident. Melody refuses to listen to Ariel, having been angered by Ariel's decision to lie to her, and gives Morgana the trident. With the trident in her power, Morgana reveals her true intentions and grabs Ariel with her tentacles, taking her hostage. Morgana then reveals to Melody that she stole from her grandfather and throws her against the wall, trapping her in a cave by sealing the entrance with a thick layer of ice and informing her that her time as a mermaid is about to expire.

Morgana uses the trident's magic to lord over the ocean, rising to the surface to gloat. Scuttle, Triton, Sebastian, and Eric arrive, and a battle ensues against Morgana and her minions. Ariel frees herself and again rescues Eric from being drowned by Cloak and Dagger whom Sebastian pinches.

Soon afterward, Morgana's spell on Melody wears off, causing her to revert into a human and nearly drown. Tip and Dash manage to free both her and Flounder and help him drag her to the shore. Sebastian ties Cloak and Dagger in their tails, trapping them on the icicle.

Morgana makes Tip, Dash, Ariel, Sebastian, and Triton bow down before her before she attempts to revive Ursula and Flotsam and Jetsam. Melody manages to grab the trident by confronting Morgana and throws it back to Triton, who encases Morgana in a block of ice, which sinks underwater.

Melody apologizes to Ariel and Eric and reunites with her family, and Triton offers his granddaughter the choice of becoming a mermaid permanently. Instead, Melody uses the trident to disintegrate the wall separating her home from the sea, reuniting the humans and the merpeople, including Ariel, Sebastian, Flounder, Scuttle, Triton, and Eric who love her.

Voice cast

 * Jodi Benson as Ariel
 * Tara Charendoff as Melody
 * Samuel E. Wright as Sebastian
 * Pat Carroll as Morgana
 * Rob Paulsen as Prince Eric
 * Kenneth Mars as King Triton
 * Cam Clarke as Flounder
 * Buddy Hackett as Scuttle
 * Clancy Brown as Undertow
 * Max Casella as Tip
 * Stephen Furst as Dash
 * René Auberjonois as Chef Louie
 * Edie McClurg as Carlotta
 * Kay E. Kuter as Grimsby
 * Frank Welker as Max the Sheepdog

Release
The film was released directly-to-video on September 19, 2000.[1] On November 6, 2006, the film was released in a bundle together with the original film in the Region 2 release.[2] The original DVD release was later discontinued and a special edition DVD with a deleted song, "Gonna Get My Wish," and a new game was released on December 16, 2008.[3] A package called The Little Mermaid Trilogy, which includes all three Little Mermaid films, was released on the same day.[4] This film, along with The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning, was released in a 2-Movie collection on DVD and Blu-ray on November 19, 2013.[5]

Reception
The film received mixed to negative reviews from film critics. The film holds a 33% "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[6] In 2011, Total Film ranked it as 27th among the 50 worst children's films ever made.[7]

Soundtrack
The film's official soundtrack was released on September 19, 2000,[8] and again on October 31, 2000 in a special edition double pack with the original film's soundtrack.[9] Additionally, two limited edition two-tracked CD samples were released as a promotion for the soundtrack.[10] The film's ending credits play a new recording of Part of Your World, performed by country singer Chely Wright. Another version of the song, performed by Ann Marie Boskovich, was used in some international releases of the film.[11]
 * Note: *These tracks were originally recorded for the album Sebastian: Party Gras!.