The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea

The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea continues the story of Ariel and Prince Eric, who are now married and raising a daughter, Melody. To keep the girl safe from Morgana, the vengeful sister of Ursula, they hide her mermaid heritage and forbid her from going near the ocean. Melody, drawn to the water despite their warnings, eventually flees into the sea, where Morgana sees a chance to use her in a plan against King Triton and the underwater kingdom. Ariel must turn to old friends, including Sebastian and Flounder, to bring her daughter home.

The film is a direct-to-video animated sequel released in 2000, directed by Jim Kammerud in his feature directing debut and written by Elizabeth Anderson and Temple Mathews. It is the first of three films Kammerud directed, ahead of 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure and The Fox and the Hound 2. Jodi Benson and Samuel E. Wright return as the voices of Ariel and Sebastian, with Tara Strong as Melody, Pat Carroll as Morgana, Buddy Hackett as Scuttle and Kenneth Mars as King Triton, among a credited cast of twenty.

At 75 minutes in length, it is aimed at a family audience and mixes adventure and comedy. Ratings are moderate: on IMDb it holds 5.5 out of 10 from around 24,000 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6.4 out of 10 from roughly 1,800 votes. A small set of critics' reviews gives it 4.1 out of 10, placing it below the audience score on TMDB.