The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning (also known as The Little Mermaid III) is a 2008 American animated direct-to-video fantasy film produced by DisneyToon Studios, and a prequel to Disney's 1989 animated film "The Little Mermaid". Directed by Peggy Holmes, the film's story is set before the events of the original film and acts as a pilot to the television series, "The Little Mermaid: The Series", when Ariel is still young, and where all music has been banned from the underwater kingdom of Atlantica by King Triton, and Ariel attempts to challenge this law. Jodi Benson
The Little Mermaid (1989 film) Andersen tales. Development started soon after "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" in the late 1930s, but was delayed due to various circumstances. In 1985, Ron Clements became interested in a film adaptation of "The Little Mermaid" while he was serving as a director on "The Great Mouse Detective" (1986) alongside John Musker. Clements discovered the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale while browsing through a bookstore. Believing the story provided an "ideal basis" for an animated feature film and keen on creating a film that took place underwater, Clements wrote and presented a two-page treatment of "Mermaid" to Disney CEO