Barbie in a Mermaid Tale 2

DISCLAIMER: I won't be reviewing Barbie: A Perfect Christmas for this as it's going on my Animation Advent Calendar for this year! I've already written the review just now as I just watched it, but I've put it away for safekeeping until December. Anyway, this oddly enough is a sequel to A Mermaid Tale, as clearly the first movie was popular enough to warrant such a feat! Actually, this is the first ever Barbie sequel & even got a limited theatrical release (I don't know how much money it made) in the beginning of 2012. This one would also feature the return of Kelly Sheridan as the voice of Barbie since the first A Mermaid Tale film (Thank God!) and we wouldn't have to hear Diana's annoying performance again (for now anyway!) So now that we have the queen of the waves Merliah and her friends returning, does this movie prove that she can be strong enough to sustain another movie, or is it as bad & lazily put together as The Little Mermaid 2? Let's find out!

 

Story: Taking place a year after the first film, Merliah goes through to a surfing championships in Austrlia & becomes very cocky about it & neglecting her duties as Princess of Oceana. Her rival Kylie, ends up finding out about her secret as a mermaid and is manipulated into setting Eris, the villain of the last movie, free from the whirlpool she was trapped in & wants to take the throne of Aquallia & take over the ocean at the changing of the waves ceremony. Now it's up to Merliah & Kylie to stop Eris & save the ocean once again before the surfing championships begin in Australia. The movie does do some service by recapping the events of the first film at the very beginning & unlike the last movie, it does have pacing to some extent! Heck, Eris is freed in the 30 minute mark! The message this time round is also pretty good for girls to show that winning isn't everything & what is actually more important than their own selfish plights. Yes, the plot of defeating the villain again may be cliched, but at least it's better than the cliched quest plot in the last film. And thankfully, the fish puns this time round are kept to a minimum besides the beginning with Good Morning Oceana & it can be quite self aware at times. Overall, the plot is quite a bit better than it's predecessor, and that's really saying a lot!

 

Animation: The animation clearly still has the same flaws as before. The character designs are the same, but are a bit more polished compared to the second generation and the character animation, again, is quite stiff. The backgrounds I will say are more creative with Aquallia being feature much more than Oceana (which is barely in the movie at all) & the rendering on the textures is still pretty bad. But I will say that the rendering on the water in a bit of an improvement, but not really by much & the editing is much better on the surfing sequences. And honestly, I don't have much more to say about the animation. I know this section may seem short this time round, but it overall is just the same as the first movie besides Aquallia looking pretty creative.

Characters: Merliah this time round is a cocky selfish brat whose main motivation throughout the movie is to beat her surfing rival Kylie in Australia & defeating her aunt. Well, at least she changes her ways by lettting Kylie win & realizing life isn't always about winning & what's really important, but it doesn't stop her from being unlikeable for most of the movie!  Kylie, who you'd expect to be a bitchy character, is surprisingly likeable as she's put into a pretty crazy situation & helps Merliah with defeating Eris. Calissa is the wise mother to Merliah & brings out the message of the movie & expects her daughter to realize what's more important. Zuma, doesn't have as much screen time this time round & isn't as annoying, but she can still be classified as the animal sidekick. Fallon & Hadley are still the same selves as Merliah's friends & Eris, while still an annoying villain, is a bit more threatening this time round as she tries to take the throne of Aquallia by making merpeople's worst nightmares come to life. And Break barely appears, so overall, the characters are surprisingly an improvement this time round!

 

This may sound weird, but Barbie in A Mermaid Tale 2 is actually one of them sequels that is better than the first film! Yes, the animation isn't good, the plot is a bit generic & some characters can get annoying, but the message is better & not hand-fisted, the characters aren't as cliched as before & the plot isn't just rehashing the first film! I would definitely recommend this to fans of the first A Mermaid Tale film. They're really that ones that'll enjoy this & newcomers don't really have to worry as they recap everything that happened in the first film at the very start.
Story: 7/10
Animation: 4/10
Characters: 6/10
Overall: 5/10