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Ursula Is Friendly & Ariel Is A Young Disney Princess In This New Animated Series
We get to meet Ariel when she was little in Disney Junior’s new animated preschool series.
One thing we know for certain: we will never get tired of learning more about Ariel from The Little Mermaid. Ever since she was first introduced in the 1989 Disney animated classic, singing her little heart out and trying to meet the prince of her dreams while evil (also fabulous) Sea Witch Ursula steals her voice and makes a mess of things, we’ve been hooked. And now we’re finally going to get a look at Ariel as a real little mermaid. Because Disney Junior has a new series called Ariel coming out soon, inspired by Halle Bailey’s role as the Disney princess in last year’s remake.
In the wake of the massively popular live-action remake of The Little Mermaid starring Bailey, Disney Junior has created an animated musical preschool series. In a trailer for the new series, Ariel is already showing signs of being a super curious child, looking to get into all sorts of adventures with her pals. We meet two new mer-pals in Disney Junior’s Ariel, Lucia and Fernie, but also familiar faces like her forever friend Flounder and that well-intentioned, bossy crab Sebastian. We also get a little more interaction between King Triton (voiced by Taye Diggs) and Ursula (voiced by Glee’s Amber Riley), so with any luck we’ll find out why they fight so much.
Even better, the series is full of Caribbean-inspired music, food, festivals, and folklore.
The trailer shows Ariel (voiced by Mykal-Michelle Harris of Disney Channel’s Raven’s Home) heading off an undersea adventure as Sebastian, predictably, clutches his head and laments, “Ariel, where are you?” This does tell us that perhaps Sebastian should have been less surprised by Ariel’s adventurous nature as a grown mermaid. Ariel swims her way to a group of luminous jelly fish, shows off her shimmering tail to her friends in Atlantica, and get ready for this... calls Ursula “Tantie Ursula,” a loving title for aunt used in Caribbean cultures, and visits her at, get this, “Ursula’s Magic Camp” where the sea witch appears to welcome children and is friendly and nice? Wow, plot twist.
All of the creatures of Atlantica are encouraged to celebrate their differences in Ariel, which should make this series a more kid-friendly watch than the darker live-action version of The Little Mermaid with all the voice stealing, teen angst, and menacing eels Flotsam and Jetsam acting all sneaky and slithery in the background.
Ariel premieres on Disney Junior this summer.
