diff --git a/datafusion/functions/src/unicode/character_length.rs b/datafusion/functions/src/unicode/character_length.rs
index 4f32f4c17776..cee1a57bc6d9 100644
--- a/datafusion/functions/src/unicode/character_length.rs
+++ b/datafusion/functions/src/unicode/character_length.rs
@@ -17,11 +17,10 @@
 
 use crate::utils::{make_scalar_function, utf8_to_int_type};
 use arrow::array::{
-    ArrayRef, ArrowPrimitiveType, GenericStringArray, OffsetSizeTrait, PrimitiveArray,
+    Array, ArrayAccessor, ArrayIter, ArrayRef, ArrowPrimitiveType, AsArray,
+    OffsetSizeTrait, PrimitiveArray,
 };
 use arrow::datatypes::{ArrowNativeType, DataType, Int32Type, Int64Type};
-use datafusion_common::cast::as_generic_string_array;
-use datafusion_common::exec_err;
 use datafusion_common::Result;
 use datafusion_expr::{ColumnarValue, ScalarUDFImpl, Signature, Volatility};
 use std::any::Any;
@@ -71,17 +70,7 @@ impl ScalarUDFImpl for CharacterLengthFunc {
     }
 
     fn invoke(&self, args: &[ColumnarValue]) -> Result<ColumnarValue> {
-        match args[0].data_type() {
-            DataType::Utf8 => {
-                make_scalar_function(character_length::<Int32Type>, vec![])(args)
-            }
-            DataType::LargeUtf8 => {
-                make_scalar_function(character_length::<Int64Type>, vec![])(args)
-            }
-            other => {
-                exec_err!("Unsupported data type {other:?} for function character_length")
-            }
-        }
+        make_scalar_function(character_length, vec![])(args)
     }
 
     fn aliases(&self) -> &[String] {
@@ -92,15 +81,32 @@ impl ScalarUDFImpl for CharacterLengthFunc {
 /// Returns number of characters in the string.
 /// character_length('josé') = 4
 /// The implementation counts UTF-8 code points to count the number of characters
-fn character_length<T: ArrowPrimitiveType>(args: &[ArrayRef]) -> Result<ArrayRef>
+fn character_length(args: &[ArrayRef]) -> Result<ArrayRef> {
+    match args[0].data_type() {
+        DataType::Utf8 => {
+            let string_array = args[0].as_string::<i32>();
+            character_length_general::<Int32Type, _>(string_array)
+        }
+        DataType::LargeUtf8 => {
+            let string_array = args[0].as_string::<i64>();
+            character_length_general::<Int64Type, _>(string_array)
+        }
+        DataType::Utf8View => {
+            let string_array = args[0].as_string_view();
+            character_length_general::<Int32Type, _>(string_array)
+        }
+        _ => unreachable!(),
+    }
+}
+
+fn character_length_general<'a, T: ArrowPrimitiveType, V: ArrayAccessor<Item = &'a str>>(
+    array: V,
+) -> Result<ArrayRef>
 where
     T::Native: OffsetSizeTrait,
 {
-    let string_array: &GenericStringArray<T::Native> =
-        as_generic_string_array::<T::Native>(&args[0])?;
-
-    let result = string_array
-        .iter()
+    let iter = ArrayIter::new(array);
+    let result = iter
         .map(|string| {
             string.map(|string: &str| {
                 T::Native::from_usize(string.chars().count())
@@ -116,55 +122,54 @@ where
 mod tests {
     use crate::unicode::character_length::CharacterLengthFunc;
     use crate::utils::test::test_function;
-    use arrow::array::{Array, Int32Array};
-    use arrow::datatypes::DataType::Int32;
+    use arrow::array::{Array, Int32Array, Int64Array};
+    use arrow::datatypes::DataType::{Int32, Int64};
     use datafusion_common::{Result, ScalarValue};
     use datafusion_expr::{ColumnarValue, ScalarUDFImpl};
 
+    macro_rules! test_character_length {
+        ($INPUT:expr, $EXPECTED:expr) => {
+            test_function!(
+                CharacterLengthFunc::new(),
+                &[ColumnarValue::Scalar(ScalarValue::Utf8($INPUT))],
+                $EXPECTED,
+                i32,
+                Int32,
+                Int32Array
+            );
+
+            test_function!(
+                CharacterLengthFunc::new(),
+                &[ColumnarValue::Scalar(ScalarValue::LargeUtf8($INPUT))],
+                $EXPECTED,
+                i64,
+                Int64,
+                Int64Array
+            );
+
+            test_function!(
+                CharacterLengthFunc::new(),
+                &[ColumnarValue::Scalar(ScalarValue::Utf8View($INPUT))],
+                $EXPECTED,
+                i32,
+                Int32,
+                Int32Array
+            );
+        };
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn test_functions() -> Result<()> {
         #[cfg(feature = "unicode_expressions")]
-        test_function!(
-            CharacterLengthFunc::new(),
-            &[ColumnarValue::Scalar(ScalarValue::Utf8(Some(
-                String::from("chars")
-            )))],
-            Ok(Some(5)),
-            i32,
-            Int32,
-            Int32Array
-        );
-        #[cfg(feature = "unicode_expressions")]
-        test_function!(
-            CharacterLengthFunc::new(),
-            &[ColumnarValue::Scalar(ScalarValue::Utf8(Some(
-                String::from("josé")
-            )))],
-            Ok(Some(4)),
-            i32,
-            Int32,
-            Int32Array
-        );
-        #[cfg(feature = "unicode_expressions")]
-        test_function!(
-            CharacterLengthFunc::new(),
-            &[ColumnarValue::Scalar(ScalarValue::Utf8(Some(
-                String::from("")
-            )))],
-            Ok(Some(0)),
-            i32,
-            Int32,
-            Int32Array
-        );
-        #[cfg(feature = "unicode_expressions")]
-        test_function!(
-            CharacterLengthFunc::new(),
-            &[ColumnarValue::Scalar(ScalarValue::Utf8(None))],
-            Ok(None),
-            i32,
-            Int32,
-            Int32Array
-        );
+        {
+            test_character_length!(Some(String::from("chars")), Ok(Some(5)));
+            test_character_length!(Some(String::from("josé")), Ok(Some(4)));
+            // test long strings (more than 12 bytes for StringView)
+            test_character_length!(Some(String::from("joséjoséjoséjosé")), Ok(Some(16)));
+            test_character_length!(Some(String::from("")), Ok(Some(0)));
+            test_character_length!(None, Ok(None));
+        }
+
         #[cfg(not(feature = "unicode_expressions"))]
         test_function!(
             CharacterLengthFunc::new(),