The 10 best mermaid movies ever, ranked

Another summer time, one other Disney launch. And this time it’s a reimagining of the film that kicked off the Disney Renaissance, The Little Mermaid.

But the following mermaid craze clearly didn’t come out of a vacuum; legends have been circulating for hundreds of years about merpeople in a single kind or one other, whether or not as sexually enchanting sirens luring sailors to their deaths or benevolent beings so fascinated by people they develop into the perfect lovers. They’re very similar to vampires in the way in which that they supply countless potential to discover the superb line between the human and the alien, and so they may even take it additional by appearing as metaphors for the huge, nonetheless unexplored areas of the ocean and nature itself.

With that in thoughts, here’s a listing of 10 mermaid movies that ought to go down swimmingly.

10. The Little Mermaid (2023)

Image: Disney

Genre: Fantasy household journey
Run time: 2h 15m
Director: Rob Marshall
Cast: Halle Bailey, Jonah Hauer-King, Melissa McCarthy, Daveed Diggs, Awkwafina

Give Disney some credit score; it is aware of easy methods to maintain this story enchanting. It can’t cowl for the truth that the brand new Little Mermaid is much too spinoff of an iconic story that’s already been informed, however Halle Bailey is a surprise as Ariel, whose fascination with people leads her to surrender her voice so she will achieve legs and be together with her prince.

The remake additionally provides some new twists by altering up the setting, together with her love curiosity Prince Eric’s (performed by Jonah Hauer-King in full dreamboat mode) kingdom turning into a tropical island paradise slightly than a generic European locale, and Ariel getting to point out off her undersea data. There’s additionally the supporting solid, with Javier Bardem as Triton, Awkwafina because the seagull Scuttle, Daveed Diggs because the crab Sebastian, Melissa McCarthy introducing an entire new era to the tentacled villain Ursula, and a fully scene-stealing Jessica Alexander vamping it up as her human guise Vanessa.

The Little Mermaid is now enjoying in theaters.

9. Aquamarine

Image: twentieth Century Fox

Genre: Fantasy household comedy
Run time: 1h 50m
Director: Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum
Cast: JoJo, Emma Roberts, Sara Paxton

Thirsty teen ladies! The seashore! Best good friend oaths! Calling your crush and hanging up! iPod references! There’s a purpose this 2006 teen film has develop into a cult traditional that has continued to construct a following with Gen Z.

Thirteen-year-old besties Hailey (JoJo) and Claire (Emma Roberts) are spending their last summer time collectively on the hormonal smorgasbord that’s the seashore scene of their small Florida city earlier than Hailey is compelled to depart for Australia. They occur upon the titular teenage mermaid Aquamarine (Sara Paxton) by probability, shortly studying she’s fled her father’s underwater kingdom, and now has three days to show love exists with the intention to keep away from the wedding he’s organized for her. Once Aquamarine falls for the city heartthrob, good-looking lifeguard Raymond (Jake McDorman), the sport is on.

The feminine gaze is robust with this one, as director Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum lingers over a shirtless Raymond and unabashedly embraces woman tradition in a time that was notoriously disdainful of teenage ladies, particularly in the event that they tended to point out want. But Aquamarine has a surprisingly empowering message, because it encourages its characters to be uniquely themselves and emphasizes the highly effective bond between the trio over conventional romantic love.

Aquamarine is streaming on Disney Plus, and can be out there for digital rental or buy on Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play, and Vudu.

8. Mad About Men

Image: Everett Collection

Genre: Fantasy comedy
Run time: 1h 30m
Director: Ralph Thomas
Cast: Glynis Johns, Margaret Rutherford, Donald Sinden

Long earlier than Glynis Johns delighted because the suffragette matriarch in Mary Poppins, she turned beloved because the mischievous mermaid Miranda. Reprising her position from the eponymous 1948 movie (scroll down additional), she returns to land, this time in Cornwall, to swap locations together with her distant, buttoned-up cousin Caroline (additionally performed by Johns) for a couple of weeks.

Miranda is as much as lots of the identical tips, hiding her tail through the use of a wheelchair, shamelessly flirting with the assorted males she encounters, and enlisting the enthusiastic assist of eccentric Nurse Carey (a pre-Jane Marple Margaret Rutherford) for the comedic hijinks. This time her schemes have extra of a goal: to improve her cousin’s life by shortly ridding Caroline of her stuffy fiance and catching the attention of the good-looking rich bachelor Jeff (Donald Sinden). And this time, Miranda might even get to sing a musical quantity.

Mad About Men will be discovered on YouTube.

7. The Mermaid

Image: Sony Pictures

Genre: Fantasy comedy
Run time: 1h 34m
Director: Stephen Chow
Cast: Chao Deng, Yun Lin, Kitty Zhang

Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle director Stephen Chow provides us a rom-com that’s as offbeat as we’d count on, and in a trend that straddles genres. At as soon as a fluffy rom-com, environmental rallying cry, and motion fantasy, The Mermaid was a smash hit in China, shortly turning into one of many highest-grossing movies of all time within the nation.

After playboy billionaire Liu Xuan (Chao Deng) acquires a coastal wildlife reserve referred to as the Green Gulf and makes use of photo voltaic expertise to drive away the marine life with the intention to reclaim the land for enterprise functions, he unknowingly causes widespread illness and demise among the many native merpeople inhabitants. Fed up with the surplus of people, they ship the younger mermaid Shan (Yun Lin) to seduce Liu Xuan, then assassinate him. Complications come up, in fact, with the 2 falling for one another and discovering themselves within the crosshairs of much more harmful forces.

Shan has some really ingenious strategies to go for a human on land, none of which contain wheelchairs, and there are some sidesplitting sequences the place she first makes an attempt to kill Liu Xuan solely to finish up with one thing far weirder than egg on her face. Amusing riot that’s additionally a plea for the wealthy to think about what they’ll be left with if their rampant consumerism is left unchecked, The Mermaid is above all an ode to like and the way it can overcome all types of odds.

The Mermaid is obtainable to look at on Starz and Viki, or out there for digital rental or buy on Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play, and Vudu.

6. Blue My Mind

Image: Uncork’d Entertainment

Genre: Fantasy horror
Run time: 1h 37m
Director: Lisa Brühlmann
Cast: Luna Wedler, Zoë Pastelle Holthuizen, Regula Grauwiller

Puberty arrives with a roar within the Swiss movie Blue My Mind, because the teenage Mia (Luna Wedler) discovers zits is the least of her issues shortly after getting her first interval. Suddenly, becoming in with the cool children takes brief shrift to her cravings for saltwater and fish, her toes rising collectively, her stomach button disappearing, and unusual bruising on her legs that ultimately transforms them right into a tail.

More than a metaphor for adolescence, the film additionally touches on the pressures trendy teen ladies face, with Mia making use of partying, medication, intercourse, and even slicing to deal with her bodily modifications. In the absence of any solutions from her mother and father, her saving grace turns into Gianna (Zoë Pastelle Holthuizen), who turns into her good friend, crush, and staunch ally. Good factor, as a result of when a lady grows a tail, she’s gonna want all of the discovered household she will get.

Blue My Mind is obtainable to stream free of charge with a library card on Kanopy, free of charge with adverts on Tubi, Vudu, and Freevee, or for digital rental or buy on Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play, and Vudu.

5. A Mermaid in Paris

Image: Film Option International

Genre: Fantasy romantic comedy
Run time: 1h 42m
Director: Mathias Malzieu
Cast: Nicolas Duvauchelle, Marilyn Lima

Any listing of mermaid movies is sure to have not less than one for all of the hopeless romantics on the market, and the French film A Mermaid in Paris greater than matches the invoice, as two leads who’ve closed their hearts off to like discover themselves opening up to one another.

Gaspard (Nicolas Duvauchelle) is mourning the lack of his romantic relationship and his household enterprise closing. Lula (Marilyn Lima) calls herself the final mermaid, and since her mom was killed by people, she’s spent many an evening utilizing her voice to lure males to their deaths. When Gaspard takes Lula again to his condominium after he discovers her unconscious and injured, she’s shocked to find he’s proof against her music, not less than at first. But as the 2 start to fall for one another, it begins to take a bodily toll on Gaspard, with the 2 additionally having to deal with a vengeful hunter whose fiance fell sufferer to Lula.

But the center of the movie lies in its emphasis on the historical past of inventive resistance to fascism, and the redemptive energy of not solely love however creativeness within the face of an isolating trendy world. And apparently Parisians rival New Yorkers of their capacity to fully disregard a mermaid tail once they see it.

A Mermaid in Paris is obtainable for digital rental and buy on Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play, and Vudu.

4. Miranda

Image: Everett Collection

Genre: Fantasy romantic comedy
Run time: 1h 20m
Director: Ken Annakin
Cast: Glynis Johns, Griffith Jones

Glynis Johns originated the position of the titular Miranda on this 1948 comedic charmer the place the mermaid captures and captivates. Married doctor Dr. Paul Martin (Griffith Jones) finds himself imprisoned by Miranda on a solo fishing journey, however she agrees to launch him if he takes her on a tour of London. Disguising her mermaid tail by passing as a wheelchair consumer and abetted by Nurse Carey, she shortly and thoughtlessly charms the boys she meets, inspiring damaged engagements and exquisite work alike.

Much of the comedy outcomes from the antics of these louses who return to their spouses, with Nurse Carey assuring one of many youthful ladies that eager to kill your husband is a superbly regular a part of marriage. Since it’s all in good farce, the madcap entanglements finish fortunately, and Miranda is all the higher for refusing to study a factor or be humbled basically.

Miranda will be discovered on YouTube.

3. The Lure

Image: The Criterion Collection

Genre: Fantasy horror
Run time: 1h 32m
Director: Agnieszka Smoczynska
Cast: Michalina Olszanska, Marta Mazurek

The mermaid is each a lover and a monster on this Polish movie, which comfortably embraces musical, horror, and fantasy genres in equal measure. When mermaid sisters Golden (Michalina Olszanska) and Silver (Marta Mazurek) come to land to carry out in a Warsaw nightclub within the ‘80s, the result’s without delay a contemporary spin on the sweetness and physique horrors of womanhood, the immigrant expertise, and a darkish fairy story that faucets into the tragic coronary heart of the Hans Christian Andersen supply materials.

While Golden largely views people as a supply of meals and enjoyable, Silver is the tragic romantic who falls in love with a human, surgically changing her tail with legs and dropping her voice in consequence. A deeply feminist gothic story that additionally finds grim humor in objectification, director Agnieszka Smoczynska makes having — and doing — all of it look simple… on-screen, not less than.

The Lure is obtainable to stream on HBO Max and the Criterion Channel, or out there for digital rental and buy on Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play, and Vudu

2. Splash

Genre: Fantasy romantic comedy
Run time: 1h 51m
Director: Ron Howard
Cast: Tom Hanks, Daryl Hannah, John Candy

There’s a purpose that is the traditional fish-out-of-water story. It’s a uncommon actor who can match nationwide treasure Tom Hanks for attraction, however Daryl Hannah makes it look easy, taking to the position so nicely she made the protection staff eat her bubbles as she outswam them.

As Hanks’ workaholic, closed-off Allen and Hannah’s free-spirited mermaid, who takes the title Madison, tour ’80s-era New York City, their ensuing journey is one in every of director Ron Howard’s sweetest comedic love tales. Nevermind that Hannah’s mermaid can solely be human on land for a mere seven days; Allen and Madison’s connection feels written within the stars and the waves. Plus, there’s supporting gamers John Candy and Eugene Levy, who give their all.

Splash is streaming on Disney Plus, or out there for digital rental and buy on Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play, and Vudu

1. The Little Mermaid (1989)

Image: Walt Disney Animation Studios

Genre: Fantasy household journey
Run time: 1h 23m
Directors: John Musker, Ron Clements
Cast: Jodi Benson, Samuel E. Wright, Pat Carroll

Ron Howard gave us an exquisite instance of the style, however as soon as Disney launched The Little Mermaid in 1989 and kicked off its renaissance, it gave us what has develop into probably the most iconic and memorable mermaid movie of all time. The response was (and is) so enthusiastic that it’s tough to recall that not everybody was a fan, with critic Pauline Kael calling it “a bland reworking of old Disney fairy tales,” questioning whether or not the House of Mouse was “trying to put kids into some sort of moral-aesthetic safe house.”

Nevertheless, it’s ironic that this considerably problematic, admittedly sanitized fairy story could be the most in contact with the story’s queer roots, with some even likening it to a trans allegory. For this on-screen introduction to the Andersen fairy story of a mermaid giving up her voice for her prince, there was some heavy queer involvement behind the scenes in Princess Ariel (Jodi Benson) and Prince Eric’s (Christopher Daniel Barnes) love story. The film’s villain, Ursula, was famously impressed by drag queen Divine, and there’s additionally the truth that Ariel should disguise her pursuits in a form of closet from her illiberal father, Triton (Kenneth Mars).

Radical is probably going the very last thing that involves thoughts for Disney’s interpretation of the traditional fairy story, however all of the concentrate on how Ariel provides up her voice for a person doesn’t change that Eric was the mere catalyst for Ariel’s resolve to take step one to vary her physique to match who she is aware of she is on the within. And in fact, by the tip, Ariel will get to have her kelp and eat it too.

The Little Mermaid is streaming on Disney Plus, or out there for digital rental and buy on Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play, and Vudu.