Meanderings

Jodi Benson achieved international acclaim for her voiceover work as Disney's Princess Ariel, The Little Mermaid.  Because of her fame, it's not surprising that when she provided voice work for a lesser known musical feature, The Mighty Kong, the animators apparently could not resist making a subtle reference to her mermaid roots.

Jodi played the lead character, Ann Darrow, the winsome lass to whom the behemoth Kong became attached.  Yes, the same role that was immortalized by Fay Wray back in 1933.  In the course of one of her musical numbers, Dolly of Pa Pali, Ann dove off a cliff and into the ocean.  There she sang and swam under the sea in a mermaid-like fashion.  Her hair flowed about her in much the same way that Ariel's glorious red tresses did -- but with cheaper, vastly inferior animation, of course.

The song?  It was what it was--decent Sherman Brothers music, but nothing outstanding.  Of course, Jodi Benson's vocals were as excellent as ever.

Here's a bit of trivia, by the way.  Dudley Moore also provides some of the vocals, and this was his last role before his death.  A much lesser known cast member was a young Jason Gray-Stanford, who would later achieve greater fame in his role as Lt. Randy Disher on TV's Monk.