Ursula (The Little Mermaid) Ursula (The Little Mermaid) Ursula is a fictional character who appears in Walt Disney Pictures' 28th animated feature film "The Little Mermaid" (1989). Voiced by American actress Pat Carroll, Ursula is a villainous sea witch who tricks a mermaid princess named Ariel into trading her voice for a pair of human legs, at first appearing to be providing the character with an opportunity to become human by temporarily transforming her into one so that she may earn the love of Prince Eric within three days. However, Ursula is, in fact, determined to sabotage Ariel's chances at any expense so that
Ursula (The Little Mermaid) Clements eventually learned that Walt Disney himself had actually attempted to adapt the fairy tale into a feature-length animated film as early as the 1930s, but the project was ultimately shelved due in part to its sad ending. Clements suggested "The Little Mermaid" to Katzenberg, who finally green-lit it after having first rejected it. Hardly present in Andersen's original story, the sea witch is not a prominent character and lacks a proper name. Among Clements' ideas to alter the story, the filmmaker decided to "make the witch more of a villain", describing Ursula as "a fun character to develop" into