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The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, a review by Tom

The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea (2000/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia (United Kingdom) Director: Jim Kammerud Writing: Elizabeth Anderson (Writer), Temple Mathews (Writer) Length: 72 min. Video: Widescreen 1.66 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, Danish: Dolby Digital 5.1, Norwegian: Dolby Digital 5.1 Subtitles: English

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Stars:
Jodi Benson as Ariel (voice)
Samuel E. Wright as Sebastian (voice)
Tara Charendoff as Melody (voice)
Pat Carroll as Morgana (voice)
Buddy Hackett as Scuttle (voice)

Plot:
Disney's spectacular undersea classic, 'The Little Mermaid', lives on in an all-new story bursting with the same captivating musical style, unforgettably colourful characters and brilliant animation that made the original film an Academy Award winning favourite.
After rejoicing over the birth of their daughter Melody, Ariel and Eric face a new threat - from Ursula's revengeful sister Morgana - that forces them to hide Melody's true mermaid heritage. But Melody ultimately ventures into the sea and, in her dream to be a mermaid, beocmes a pawn in Morgana's plot to control the seven seas. Now, Ariel must reunite her childhood friends, Sebastian, Flounder and Scuttle, to rescue her daughter and restore harmony to her family. An all-star cast returns, including Jodi Benson (Ariel) and Samuel E. Wright (Sebastian), for a remarkable adventure teeming with surprises and five phenomenal new songs.

Awards:
Nominated:

Annie Awards (2001)		Outstanding Individual Achievment for Music Score in an Animated Feature Production (Danny Troob)
Annie Awards (2001)		Outstanding Individual Achievment for Voice Acting by a Female Performer in an Animated Feature Production (Tara Strong - As the voice of Melody)

Extras:

• Interactive Game
• Read-along
• Scene Access

A rather good sequel. Even though it is nothing really special, I enjoy it. Nice reversal of the original's storyline. This time around the daughter of Ariel, being a human, is longing to be a mermaid.
The songs are okay. I especially enjoy two of them.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on June 12th, 2011)

Bee Movie, a review by addicted2dvd

Bee Movie
Everyone is buzzing for 'BEE MOVIE', the hit comedy from creator and comic icon Jerry Seinfeld. Ambitious young worker bee Barry B. Benson soars out into the world with the high-flying pollen jocks in search of nectar and adventure. But when he breaks one of the cardinal rules of beedom and speaks to humans, Barry sets off an un-bee-lievable chain of events that prove even a little bee can make a big difference!

My Thoughts:
I normally wait till I can watch the animated films so I can watch them with my daughter. This time however I decided to go ahead and watch this one without her. A friend gave me this disc so I wanted to be sure to watch it and let him know what I thought of it as soon as possible. I thought this was a very cute movie. I enjoyed it... and it was a nice change from what I usually watch. And it was good seeing (or hearing) Jerry Seinfeld in something new. I believe this is the first thing I seen (or heard) him in since his sitcom was canceled. Even though I watched this one now... I will still probably watch it again when Brittany decides she wants to watch it. To my friend Roger, Thanks again for the disc... I am sure Brittany will enjoy it just as much (if not more) as I did.

(From Weekend Movie Marathon: Unwatched DVD Collection on April 18th, 2008)

"Stargate SG-1" Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: Jack trains a group of young recruits (among them Hailey and Lt. Elliot). He prepares them to become members of SG teams., But then a "foothold" situation arises in the SGC and Jack has to use them to repel the alien attack.

My Opinion: A very nice training scenario, especially the last part. It was a bit unfortunate that they revealed to the audience so early that the situation in the SGC is fake. When I watched it for the first time, I didn't recognize Grace Park (Sharon Valerii in Battlestar Galactica) but back then I didn't even know her.

Synopsis: After Teal'c has killed Tanith, his Al'kesh crashes into the Stargate and the wormhole is disrupted. But this traps the fleeing Teal'c inside the Stargate's buffer and he isn't being re-integrated. Sam tries to get him out of there, Daniel negotiates with the Russians about the second Stargate and Jack is looking for "alternate sources of information".

My Opinion: In principle this episode reminds me of a "typical" transporter incident in Star Trek. But that doesn't mean that they've re-used a script, the characters behave as they should be and the other story elements would prevent that this script could be used in Star Trek. I really liked the negotiations with the Russians and the "That didn't happen in the simulations." after the borrowed DHD blew up (of course only after Teal'c's rescue). I also liked the first appearance of Dr. McKay who behaved exactly like he will do when he becomes a main character in Stargate Atlantis.

Synopsis: Daniel infiltrates a summit of the System Lords in disguise of a human slave. Among others, Yu, Ba'al, Bastet and Kali attend this meeting. The plan was that Daniel releases a new and deadly Tok'ra virus that would kill them all. But then Osiris arrives and claims to speak in the name of Anubis who wishes to return to this council. In the meantime, Lord Zipacna attacks the Tok'ra base and he, too, acts under orders from Anubis.

My Opinion: The thrilling element of this episode was to wait for the moment Daniel and Osiris run into each other. It was cool that it only happened in the last minute and that it would turn out to be a two-parter. Fortunately the titles don't give that info away.

Synopsis: The Tok'ra base is under heavy fire and many have been killed. Martoufs former symbiote Lantash had no choice but to enter Lt. Elliot. Jack, Sam, Teal'c and Elliot/Lantash have to find a way to the Stargate. Daniel has managed to deceive Osiris with the help of the same drug he used to slip into Yu's entourage. But he had to give up the plan to kill them all because that would bring Anubis into a very powerful position. And Anubis has already threatened to ignore the Asgard treaty and to attack Earth.

My Opinion: The mind can paint the worst pictures. They didn't show how SG-1 "successfully" returned home and it wasn't necessary. One can imagine how the surroundings of the Stargate had to look like, after Elliot/Lantash sacrificed himself and killed thousands of Jaffa with the help of the virus. I am torn when it comes to the Jaffa. In most cases they are simply the attacker who have to be shot in self-defence. On the other hand they are presented as slaves who have no other choice but to fight for their "god" and that makes their death deplorable. There was a similar dilemma in The Matrix, where all the inhabitants were potential enemies even though they were the persons to be freed.

(From "Stargate SG-1" Marathon on April 5th, 2008)