Kid Reporter Meets the Real 'Little Mermaid'
The Little Mermaid is swimming back onto home video with an all-new Diamond Edition, putting the beloved animated Disney classic on Blu-ray Combo Pack and HD Digital for the first time on October 1. Kid Reporter Lauren Kaplan is with the voice of Ariel herself, Jodi Benson, as she sees her Disney Legends hand prints for the first time on the Disney lot in Burbank, CA.
PICS: 'Smurfs' and Cartoons Come to Life!
"She came at the right time, at the right place, and with the right story," says Jodi of the lightning-in-a-bottle success of The Little Mermaid in 1989. "I just think it was the perfect storm."
One of the last great hand-drawn animated films by Disney for quite some time, The Academy Award-winning The Little Mermaid (it won for Best Music, Original Score, and Best Music, Original Song -- Under The Sea) is based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale and follows Ariel, a free-spirited mermaid princess, who longs to be part of the human world – and gets her wish, thanks to the sneaky sea witch, Ursula. Ariel embarks on the adventure of a lifetime with her good friends Flounder and Sebastian at her side, but with her father's undersea kingdom at stake, she must find the courage and determination to make things right in both her worlds.
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Watch the video for more of Lauren's interview with Jodi, including her amusing initial reaction when she got the call to become a Disney Legend.