Ariel

Princess Ariel is a fictional character, a mermaid, who first appeared in Disney's 1989 animated film The Little Mermaid and later in its TV series and direct-to-video sequels The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea and The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning. Ariel is voiced by Jodi Benson in all the above animated material.

The character is based on the protagonist of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid" story, but was developed into a different personality for the 1989 animated film adaptation. Her distinct appearance consists of long, flowing red hair, a green tail and a purple seashell bikini top. A stage musical version of the 1989 film debuted in 2007, in which the "live" role was originated by Sierra Boggess.

Ariel is one of the face characters at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts.

Design
Ariel's original design was developed by animator Glen Keane, who reportedly said in an animation lecture that she was based on his own wife. Ariel's appearance was also based on model Sherri Stoner, who provided live-action references for the animators during the development of the film. Who also inspired the look for Belle.

A challenge in animating Ariel for the 1989 film were the color required to show Ariel in the changing environments, both under the sea and on land, for which the animators required thirty-two color models, not including costume changes. The blue-green color of Ariel's fin was a hue specially mixed by the Disney paint lab; the color was named "Ariel" after the character. Ariel's original design for her being human through out the entire movie was to show her with seaweed covering only her privates. Although it failed, due nothing would be holding the seaweed from falling and there would be gaps to show her privates. To see more photos of her, click here.

Voice casting
Jodi Benson, who was predominantly a stage actress when she was cast, was the choice to voice Ariel because the directors felt "it was really important to have the same person doing the singing and speaking voice". Co-director Ron Clements remarked that Benson's voice had "sweetness" and "youthfulness" that was unique. When recording the vocals for Ariel's theme song "Part of Your World", Benson reportedly asked that the lights in the studio be dimmed, so to create the feeling of being deep under the sea.

The Little Mermaid
As depicted in the 1989 film, Ariel is the youngest of King Triton's seven daughters (being 16-years-old). She is shown as being adventurous and stubborn. She also has a vast fascination and is highly curious with the world of humans, despite it being forbidden by her father, Triton, who hates humans. Her best friend in the film is a fish named Flounder, and she develops a close relationship with a crab named Sebastian, the court composer who is forced to watch Ariel. Ariel salvages human items and keeps them in a secret grotto as part of her collection, from books to other regular objects (such as globes, mugs and the like). Ariel is also shown to be impulsive, as striking the deal with Ursula and exploring whilst forgetting about the concert. After various embarrassments, the hardship and being saved from Ursula's scheme, she stays on land with Eric with her father's permission, as he realises it's what she truly wants, and both Ariel and Eric live happily ever after.

Prequel television series
The prequel series, which first debuted in 1991, takes place an indeterminate time chronologically before the 1989 film, and revolves around Ariel's adventures as a mermaid living under the sea. Most Ariel's adventures involve her meeting various creatures, getting in trouble, and usually getting out of it successfully. Her friends Flounder and Sebastian are also featured prominently in the series. Ariel continues to be fascinated with human things in the series and is shown collecting items for her grotto.

Prince Eric is sometimes shown in the show, but Ariel always just misses seeing him, preserving the continuity that she sees him first in the 1989 film.

The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea
This 2000 direct-to-video sequel shows Ariel as having given birth to a daughter named Melody. When Melody's safety is threatened by a sea witch named Morgana (sister of Ursula, who died in the 1989 film), Ariel and her husband Eric decide they must keep Melody from the sea, and to this effect, build a large wall separating the castle from it. Melody's love of the sea proves too strong, however, and when Melody falls into Morgana's clutches, Ariel is forced to temporarily resume her mermaid form in order to rescue her and save Melody from Morgana's scheme.

This sequel features Ariel becoming an overprotective parent for her daughter, effectively taking over the role of her father in the 1989 film. This film also shows that Ariel was the only Disney Princess to become a mother.

The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning
This direct-to-video prequel features Ariel as a young mermaid. King Triton, her father, has banned music from Atlantica because it reminds him of his deceased wife. In the end, Ariel convinces her father how wonderful music really is.

Abilities
While she is a Mermaid, Ariel has a few abilities. She is known to have at least a certain degree Superhuman strength, as she was able to move away an underwater boulder blocking her grotto with relative ease in the original film (which, in real life, an underwater object blocking an object with an unbalanced volume would result in the door being sealed shut and virtually impossible to open, which doesn't even take into account Water Pressure and other related factors.). Also, according to a slightly alternate version of the Ending to the original film, Ariel slams into Ursula damaging her enough to knock the Trident off of her. The fact that she can give an Octopid Sea Witch who is at least 300 pounds and far larger than her a degree of damage by bumping into her implies that she has superhuman strength. In Ariel's Beginning, she seemed to be able to knock down a door to free her friends (This is especially telling as Sebastian stated immediately prior that Ariel was "a weak helpless girl"). It's debatable if she ever retained her superhuman strength by the time she became a human.

She may also have Superhuman endurance, as during the final battle with Ursula in the film, Ariel was at one point knocked into a whirlpool that is several miles deep and survived with barely any injuries. Such a feat would kill a normal person if not completely destroy the body of said person. Like her superhuman strength, it's debatable if she ever retained her Superhuman Endurance when she turned into a Human.

As a Mermaid, she is also able to metabolize Oxygen from the water, which negates the need to surface, though she is certainly more than capable of breathing on land. Also, she is capable of swimming at a much faster rate than humans or even certain marine creatures in terms of undersea travel, or sea travel as a whole due to her half-marine status. Like Dolphins, she is capable of leaping out of water at great heights. For example, She was able to get to Triton's Greenland Palace from Sicily, Italy (the implied location of Eric's kingdom) in less than a day, as well as getting from Atlantica to Norway in the episode "Metal Fish" in a similar time fashion.

Because of her being a Mermaid, she is also capable of speaking with aquatic fauna.

While in human form, she seems to at least have some knowledge of swordplay, which is evident when she used one to cut the rope of a Mast to save Melody from Morgana. Also, her ability to speak with Marine Fauna is retained in her human form. Whether her abilities of Superhuman Strength/Superhuman Endurance were retained upon becoming human is debatable.

She also seems to be capable of rapid adaptability. This is especially evident in terms of her becoming a temporary human, where she learned how to stand in a few minutes, and move in presumably the same timespan (whereas the average human seems to need a few months at the very least to learn how to walk), as well as quickly learning about the true human customs and abandoning her original beliefs about how human artifacts work, or at the very least not doing it in public)

In the Kingdom Hearts timeline, she also seems to excel at Lightning Magic (presumably due to her father wielding the Trident).

It's also implied that she was capable of reading advanced literature, as during Part of Your World, she is seen reading an immense book in the grotto.

Music albums
Due to the success of the 1989 film, a series of music albums were released as part of Disney's The Little Mermaid franchise and featuring Jodi Benson singing in character as Ariel. Among these albums are:
 * "Sebastian from The Little Mermaid" - Ariel sings two full tracks, "Dancing Mood" and "Dance the Day Away", and provides supporting vocals in "Day-O (The Banana Boat Song).
 * "Splash Hits" - This album features a few songs used in the prequel series and other original The Little Mermaid songs. Ariel sings about half the tracks on the album.
 * "Songs from the Sea" - Features entirely original songs, and Ariel sings the majority of the tracks.

Ariel is also included in the various albums that have been released as part of the Disney Princess franchise. The most prominent song for the franchise is "If You Can Dream", which features solos by most "members" of the Disney Princess group. Jodi Benson sings as Ariel in this line as well.

Theme parks
Ariel makes regular appearances in the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, having a special location called Ariel's Grotto at most of them. Ariel also makes cameo appearances in Peter Pan's Flight at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom and in It's a Small World at Hong Kong Disneyland. She also has a major role in Mickey's PhilharMagic and stars in her own live stage shows at Disney's Hollywood Studios (Voyage of the Little Mermaid) and Tokyo DisneySea (Mermaid Lagoon Theater).

Disney's House of Mouse
Ariel appears as a regular guest in the animated television series Disney's House of Mouse and its specials. Her appearance alternates irregularly between her human form and her mermaid form, depending on what the situation requires. These appearances are not part of the animated film continuity. Jodi Benson continues to provide Ariel's voice in this series.

Kingdom Hearts series
The Kingdom Hearts video-game series uses elements from various films in the Disney animated canon, integrating and reinterpreting the stories to fit into the game's plot as the playable characters travel into different kingdoms or "worlds". The 1989 The Little Mermaid film and the kingdom of Atlantica are included as part of the game play.

Kingdom Hearts
In the first game, Ariel's story is similar to the 1989 film, but in addition she to deal with Ursula's attempt to use the Heartless to defeat King Triton. Ariel can be one of Sora's party members for this world. She encounters Sora as a merman (with a dolphin tail instead), Donald Duck as a half-octopus, and Goofy as a sea turtle. She is the only Disney Princess featured in the game who is not one of the Princesses of Heart (possibly replaced by Alice or Kairi) and also the only female fighter to join the party.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
In this second game, Ariel is a character in Atlantica; but one in Sora's mind. Here, Ursula kidnaps Flounder and baits Ariel into stealing her father's trident. Ariel brings Ursula the trident, believing that Flounder has been taken to the human world, and learns the truth when she does. After helping Sora defeat Ursula, she resolves to tell her father what happened.

She can be acquired as a Friend card after visiting the Key of Guidance room. Using the card causes her to swim across the arena, injuring any enemies she strikes.

Kingdom Hearts II
As in the firm Kingdom Hearts, Ariel's story is almost a mirror of the 1989 film's plot. Songs in this world are "Swim This Way", "Part of Your World", "Under the Sea", "Ursula's Revenge", and "A New Day is Dawning". There are some slight changes from the film, among them being:


 * 1) The musical numbers, "Poor Unfortunate Souls" and "Kiss the Girl" are removed.
 * 2) Instead of Ursula's cave, the deal is made in the Courtyard.
 * 3) Sora, Donald and Goofy push the human Ariel to the surface instead of Sebastian and Flounder. She is also clothed in the sail cloth right after the transformation instead of having only her shells on as in the movie.
 * 4) Eric throws the trident — as originally storyboarded for the film — to defeat Ursula.
 * 5) Eric is conscious after Ursula is defeated, speaks with Ariel as a mermaid for a longer time, and eventually asks her if she'd teach him how to swim.

Disney Princess
Ariel is one of the nine characters of the Disney Princess line, a prominent franchise directed to young girls. The franchise covers a wide variety of merchandise, including but not limited to magazines, music albums, toys, clothes and stationery. Ariel is usually depicted in her mermaid form on the merchandise, but also appears in human form wearing her blue dress, white wedding dress or pink dress. The Disney Princess magazine features comics and posters of Ariel, usually in mermaid form. Ariel is the only Disney Princess to have given birth to a child (her daughter, Melody). Ariel is also the first Disney Princess to be shown almost completely naked onscreen, something later repeated by Mulan (Technically, she would be second, and Mulan is third, if one counts Cinderella's showering as her being shown fully naked)

Stage musical


A stage musical version of the 1989 film had its world premiere in Denver, Colorado in 2007 for its pre-Broadway tryout, and on January 10, 2008 debuted on Broadway. The character of Ariel for the stage adaptation was originated by Sierra Boggess. Jodi Benson, the original voice actor for Ariel, attended the musical's opening night.

A few new songs were added to the score, accompanying the songs in the film that were moved to the stage. "The World Above" is Ariel's introductory song, replacing the entire shark-chase sequence in the film. In Act 2, although Ariel has become mute, she sings two songs expressing her thoughts and feelings, these songs being "Beyond My Wildest Dreams", where Ariel explores the human world for the first time, and "If Only", in which Ariel bemoans that she cannot express her feelings to Eric. Additionally, Ariel's voice can be heard in the extended opening of "Fathoms Below", although she is not seen on-stage.

The stage musical features new plot elements not present in the film. It is explained through dialogue that Ariel inherited her mother's singing voice, adding another layer to Triton's protectiveness of her. Ariel and Eric's romance is expanded from the film, as explored in a musical sequence "One Step Closer" where the pair dance together. In the climatic battle, it is Ariel, not Eric, who destroys Ursula by smashing the magic shell. The reason for this change was that the musical's creative team did not want Ariel to come off as passive.

Impact
Ariel is one of Disney's most iconic animated characters, and her specific color combination of red hair, purple sea shells and green tail make her distinctly identifiable. Ariel is an official "ambassador" for the "Keep Our Oceans Clean" campaign by Environmental Defense, The National Maritime Sanctuary, and The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Due to the fact that the movie she debuted in, "The Little Mermaid", had generated a lot of much needed revinue, she can also be considered the savior of Disney. She is considered the savior of Disney because when Walt Disney died she brought the magic of Disney back to life if it wasn't for her the Disney company would have died along with Walt.