The original voice actress of Ariel in ‘The Little Mermaid’ defends the casting of Halle Bailey in the live-action

Jodi Benson, the original voice actress of Ariel in ‘The Little Mermaid’, publicly addressed the notorious changes in the upcoming live-action remake in a recent article published by Entertainment Weekly. To everyone’s surprise, she fully supports the casting of Halle Bailey as Ariel.

Benson brought Ariel to life in the original animated movie in 1989. At the time, she received a lot of critical acclaim due to her amazing voice and undeniable talent. For the live-action remake, Disney decided to cast Halle Bailey in the role and the decision was met with a lot of criticism all around the world.

Despite this, the 61-year-old actress defended the casting choices and all the changes that were made to the movie:

“’I think Rob and John have done a beautiful job of doing that, still paying tribute and honor to our original film. But you’ve got to have growth. It’s very important to stay relevant with where we are, what’s going on around us. It’s 2023, things change. We’ve got to roll with that.”

In addition, she applauded Bailey’s performance and hopefully, this will put all the online discussion about the topic to rest: “And to know just the beautiful way that she has been able to capture Ariel and all that is part of Ariel. I am Incredibly proud of Halle. She did it. She has told this beautiful story, and I’m just so thrilled for her.”