Trivia / The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea

---

• Acting for Two: Dee Bradley Baker provided Cloak and Dagger's vocal effects.
• B-Team Sequel:
  • This film was produced by Disney Television Animation, rather than Walt Disney Animation Studios.
  • Alan Menken didn't return as the film's composer, so his frequent orchestrator Danny Troob wrote the music.
• Celebrity Voice Actor: In the Japanese dub, Morgana is played by comedian Masami Hisamoto.
• Creator Couple:
  • Songwriters Michael and Patty Silversher were husband and wife at the time of the film's production.
  • Jodi Benson voices Ariel and her husband Ray is one of the chorus singers.
  • Cony Madera and Humberto Vélez, the Latin American Spanish actors for Ariel and Sebastian, were married at the time of the film's release. They have since divorced.
• Creator's Favorite: Tara Strong has stated Melody is one of her favorite roles.
• Cut Song: Morgana's song, "Gonna Get My Wish", was originally going to be included, but was cut from the final release. It was eventually included on a special edition DVD.
• Dawson Casting: Melody's voice actress Tara Strong was 27 years old at the time of the film's release.
• International Coproduction: The film was produced by Walt Disney Television Animation, while the actual animation was handled by Character Builders (USA), Walt Disney Animation Australia (Sydney), Walt Disney Animation Canada (Toronto and Vancouver), and Wang Film Productions (Taipei).
• Kids' Meal Toy: McDonald's had different Happy Meal toys depending on the region:
  • In the US, toys of Melody, Flounder, and Tip were released in the 2000 holiday season as part of the "Disney Stars" Happy meal, which also had toys based on Toy Story 2, A Bug's Life, Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving, Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas, and Dinosaur.
  • In Europe, a set of eight toys was released. These consisted of Ariel, Tip, Dash, Melody, King Triton, Sebastian, Undertow, and Morgana.
  • In Asia, a set of four toys was released. These consisted of Melody, Sebastian, Morgana, and Tip and Dash together.
  • In Australia, a set of four beach toys was released. These consisted of a Sebastian sand moulder, a Morgana bucket, an Ariel spade, and a Melody sand rake.
• Late Export for You: The film was released in Japan in 2006, six years after its initial US release.
• The Original Darrin: After being replaced by Maurice LaMarche for the 1992 TV series, Buddy Hackett returns to play Scuttle for the film.
• The Other Darrin:
  • Rob Paulsen becomes the third actor to voice Eric, after Christopher Daniel Barnes (who voiced him in the first film) and Jeff Bennett (who voiced him in the TV series).
  • Flounder is voiced by Cam Clarke instead of Jason Marin due to the character's aging. This is carried over to some of the foreign dubs, with Nobutoshi Canna replacing Daisuke Endo as Flounder in the Japanese dub and Ernesto Lezama taking over for Rigoberto Jiménez in the Latin American Spanish dub.
  • In the Latin American Spanish dub, everyone besides Guillermo Romano (King Triton), Víctor Mares (Scuttle and Grimsby) and Isela Sotelo (Ariel's singing voice) was recast, given the first movie was dubbed at Intersound in Los Angeles while the second was dubbed at Iyuno • SDI Group; Mexico in Mexico City instead.
  • In the Japanese dub, Kōichi Yamadera, Taro Ishida and Tetsuo Goto respectively voice Sebastian, King Triton and Scuttle instead of Tsunehiko Kamijo, Akira Kume and Kaneta Kimotsuki.
  • In the Norwegian and Swedish dubs, Ariel is respectively voiced by Guri Schanke and Myrra Malmberg instead of Sissel Kyrkjebø, who played the character in both dubs of the first film.
  • In the Italian dub, Valerio Ruggeri voices Grimsby instead of the late Manlio Guardabassi (who died in 1993), while Renata Fusco sings for Ariel instead of Tanaquilla Leonardi (who provided her singing voice for the TV series).
• Permanent Placeholder: Tara Strong's voice for Melody was to give a potential Celebrity Voice Actor an idea of what the character should sound like. Strong did the role herself after Disney liked her performance so much.
• Promoted Fangirl: Tara Strong claims she was a huge fan of the first film, and she lists Melody as her favorite role.
• Real-Life Relative: In the German dub, Ariel and Melody's singing voices are provided by sisters Naomi and Debby van Dooren.
• Role Reprise:
  • Returning from The Little Mermaid are Jodi Benson as Ariel, Samuel E. Wright as Sebastian, Buddy Hackett as Scuttle, René Auberjonois as Chef Louis, Edie McClurg as Carlotta, and Kenneth Mars as King Triton. For Hackett, it would be the final time he voiced Scuttle before his 2003 death.
  • Kay E. Kuter reprises his role as Grimsby from the 1992 TV series.
  • In the Latin American Spanish dub, Guillermo Romano (King Triton) and Víctor Mares (Scuttle and Grimsby) reprise their roles, while Isela Sotelo once again sings for Ariel.
  • The Japanese dub brings back Mayumi Suzuki as Ariel, Kazuhiko Inoue as Eric and Joji Yanami as Grimsby from the first film, as well as Taro Ishida as Triton from the 1992 TV series.
  • In the Italian dub, Vittorio De Angelis, Ronny Grant, Marco Mete, Ida Sansone and Vitorrio Amandola reprise their respective roles as Eric, Sebastian, Scuttle, Carlotta and Chef Louis from the first film, while Paola Valentini, Bruno Alessandro and Davide Perino respectively return as Ariel, Triton and Flounder from the TV series.
• Sequel Gap: Released about eleven years after the first movie and takes place around twelve years later in-universe.
• Star-Making Role: For the Brazilian Portuguese dub, Disney opted to hold a contest to pick a newcomer to voice Melody, with the five finalists (including eventual winner Larissa Cardoso) appearing on local children's TV show Disney Cruj.
• Swan Song: Return to the Sea was the last time Buddy Hackett reprised his role as Scuttle, as well as his final film role.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Melody was originally going to have a Celebrity Voice Actor, but Disney was impressed with Tara Strong's performance that they retained her as the character's actress.
  • During production, storyboard artist Dino Athanassiou produced a scene where Ariel encounters the transformed Melody and Morgana, only for Morgana to trap them with their powers. In the final product, Morgana traps Melody along with Flounder.
• You Sound Familiar:
  • Pat Carroll, Morgana's voice actress, previously voiced Ursula in the first film and the spin-off TV series.
  • Undertow is voiced by Clancy Brown, who had a minor role as the Octopin Leader in the 1992 TV series episode "Heroes".
  • The same as Pat Carroll in French, with Micheline Dax having voiced both Ursula and Morgana.

---