Don't get me wrong, Halle Berry's a talented singer and a talented actress from what I heard. But my honest opinion is that Jodi Benson works better because she was the OG voice actor and that's just how I remember it. From a marine biology standpoint, on the other hand, Halle Berry's a perfect fit for the role because of the theory going around that in the live action film, each of Triton's daughters rule one "sea" (and in olden days, sea and ocean meant the same thing). And guess who is set up to be the heir of the Caribbean Sea? Ariel (so it makes sense). So, yeah, while initially I don't agree with it, the evidence made me change my mind. So both would actually work.
But this goes to prove something else: Disney is running out of ideas. So while yes, some remakes are kinda needed to correct a mistake from the original (like Aladdin, but that's a topic for a different chapter), most are unnecessary. The Little Mermaid lands in the former category. So I might watch that later and give an honest opinion on it. I don't like the way Sebastian is portrayed in the trailer, though. Sorry.