In case you don't know the original story, Ariel's sisters give her a knife and tell her to kill Eric before sunrise and then she'll turn into a mermaid again and come back to them, but Ariel doesn't, instead she dives into the ocean and turns into sea foam. It's kind of a bitter-sweet ending.
I know my description isn't the best...if you still don't get it go read it online.

But not for the better because she's bland, unrelateable and would lose all the amazing things Ariel has that she wishes that she had but never will. She doesn't have the admireable qualities that Ariel has. Plus you all do realize that disney would no longer exist if they did the original version right? It would be too dark for children and would end up being a flop and than disney would be shut down forever. Meaning no Beauty and The Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas, Hercules, Mulan, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Tangled, The Princess and The Frog, Tarzan etc.

If Ariel ended up diving into the sea and turning into sea foam, I would have been majorly depressed as a little kid. I agree with Kataralover, Ariel would lose all of her amazing qualities, children would hate it, there'd be a whole lotta contraversy, and Disney wouldda gone broke.

Well, it wouldn't be a very happy movie at all, so kids wouldn't like it. It probably would've ruined my childhood, not being able to see Ariel and Eric sail away on that boat happily ever after. The original Little Mermaid is too dark and doesn't give any hope at all. It's about a mermaid who turns into a human (btw, it's extremely painful for her to dance, walk, etc.) but it doesn't stop her because she wants the prince so bad. But in the end, like most guys nowadays, the prince picks someone else and gets married, and the mermaid has a choice of killing him, or turning into seafoam and being nothing. She can't bring herself to kill him, so she jumps into the sea and somehow becomes Daughter of the Air, which means she can earn an immortal soul by doing good things for mankind on earth.

I don't think she would have lost her qualities and her flaws, but she would have definitely be a different character, and I think I might have liked her a bit more.

I would finally like her and her movie.

I probably would like her more too; not because she died, necessarily, but because it would have made her seem more selfless. I love Ariel (she's my number 3,) but the older I get, the more I wish she had some semblance of insight or conscience. She's pretty one-track minded: 'mustgetdudemustgetdudemustgetdude.' I didn't mind that as a child, but I'm not so much a fan of that now.

i would like her a lot less, and the whole movie A LOT less

i would definitely like her more

I'm not sure for better or for worse. Probably for better though.

I would like her even more

well i need to read the whole story (is it long? or is just a short thing?) to form a proper opinion but based on what i've heard i think i'd like her more. not necessarily the story itself, but the character - i agree with phantomrose89.

She's my fav and always will be no matter what!

I would like her less because I love her so much now. I would also like the movie waaaaay less.