The live-action remake of Disney’s beloved classic The Little Mermaid is shaping up to be one of the best yet—with a massive opening weekend to confirm it and a tidal wave of memes and TikToks taking over the internet as more and more people get their chance to see Halle Bailey take on the role of everyone’s favorite mermaid.
Bailey herself is definitely one of the movie’s best features—from her incredible voice to her ability to truly capture Ariel’s curiosity and spirit, even with her character spending a good chunk of her onscreen time completely voiceless. This new The Little Mermaid really does drive home once more that Ariel has never been just “a lovesick teenager who gave up her biggest asset for a guy,” but that she is a headstrong and passionate girl, fascinated by something that the rest of her family doesn’t understand but that she isn’t willing to give up on. And also a giant nerd—just look at her gadgets and gizmos aplenty.
But these things have always been true of Ariel’s character, even in the 1989 animated version. While Bailey does manage the impossible feat of making Ariel’s signature song, “Part of Your World,” even more wistful and heart-wrenching, it’s not like the original one was any less emotionally powerful. And so, it was very nice to get the chance to hear the voice we all grew up imagining when thinking about Ariel as a cameo in this new version of the story, as well.
Jodi Benson’s cameo in The Little Mermaid
Actress and singer Jodi Benson was the original voice of Ariel when the animated The Little Mermaid was released in 1989—and hearing her voice in the live-action remake is a delightful treat.
Benson appears onscreen when Ariel is exploring the island together with Eric, on her second day of being human. While the prince leaves the carriage to help move some goats off the road, Ariel follows the sound of music and happens upon a market—where everything she sees is understandably a source of wonder and amazement for her.
Between eating a flower and looking at some hats, Ariel hears one of the market vendors offering her some of the island’s typical food. When the camera moves to said vendor’s face, we can see that it’s none other than Benson, who then proceeds to offer Ariel a tool that should help her with eating the food she has just been handed. Of course, forks aren’t something that Ariel is familiar with—but dinglehoppers are, and our little mermaid proceeds to twist her hair with it just as Scuttle taught her.
Considering how the dinglehopper is one of the objects that is immediately associated with The Little Mermaid, it was very nice to see 1989 Ariel hand it over to her 2023 incarnation—a sort of thematically spot-on passing of the baton.
(featured image: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
