Disney’s new dwell-action Little Mermaid is a fresh choose on a beloved tale, and even though there are a ton of shiny new scenes and tracks to marvel at, it does not wash absent what created the 1989 cartoon a typical. On the opposite, the new adaptation really paid out its respects to the original Ariel in a tremendous clever way, even if a lot of moviegoers may well not have recognized it. Here’s why Jodi Benson’s cameo in The Minor Mermaid was the ideal Easter egg.

In the 2023 adaptation, Halle Bailey delivers the flowing purple locks and iridescent mermaid tail to lifetime practically a quarter of a century following Ariel was 1st introduced in the animated movie. That film starred actor and singer Jodi Benson in the guide job. It is Benson’s voice that built songs like “Part of Your World” so iconic, and despite the fact that Bailey put her individual equally amazing spin on Ariel in the new movie, there is still a touch of Benson’s magic in the remake.

Benson appears as a current market seller in a shop that Ariel stumbles into shortly immediately after investing her voice for legs. In a hilarious nod to a unforgettable animated Ariel minute, Benson’s character palms Ariel a fork for her food stuff, which Ariel quickly works by using to comb her hair. Yes, it was Benson pretty much passing the dinglehopper from 1 Ariel to another.

Benson informed Today that director Rob Marshall and producer John DeLuca had prepared her cameo out from the pretty start. “To see it come via Rob and John’s eyes of how they envisioned it, paying out tribute to the original but then just increasing it, was just wonderful. I was blown away,” Benson mentioned of observing the moment.

And the graciousness of passing the dinglehopper wasn’t just for present. Benson has been very vocal in championing Bailey’s version of Ariel, admitting she had no strategies to give the new mermaid princess. “She does not need any information from me!” Benson said at the premiere. “She’s fantastic.”