Ariel (The Little Mermaid) some publications such as "Time" criticize her for being too devoted to Eric whereas others, such as "Empire", praise the character for her rebellious personality, a departure from previous Disney Princesses. Ariel was based on the title character of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid", but co-director and writer Ron Clements felt that the mermaid in the original story was too tragic and rewrote the character, resulting in Ariel. Jodi Benson, who was predominantly a stage actress, was chosen to voice Ariel because the directors felt "it was really important to have the same person doing the singing and speaking
The Little Mermaid (1989 film) final performance also featured special appearances by Brad Kane (the singing voice of the title character of "Aladdin") and Susan Egan (who played Belle in the stage adaptation of "Beauty and the Beast"), who sang songs from their respective films, and a duet of "A Whole New World". On May 16, 2017, ABC announced that it planned to air a special broadcast of the film, "The Wonderful World of Disney: The Little Mermaid Live", on October 3, 2017. The special was to feature a presentation of the film intertwined with live performances of its songs by guest musicians, in a