The Little Mermaid

If you’ve never given The Little Mermaid a fair shot, 2023 is as good a year as any to fix that — Rob Marshall’s film has aged into something like a cult favorite. You can tell a lot about a movie from its tagline, and “Be a part of her world.” gives away the game in the best way.

The setup is straightforward enough on paper: The youngest of King Triton’s daughters, and the most defiant, Ariel longs to find out more about the world beyond the sea, and while visiting the surface, falls for the dashing Prince Eric. With mermaids forbidden to interact with humans, Ariel makes a deal with the evil sea witch, Ursula, which gives her a chance to experience life on land, but ultimately places her life – and her father’s crown – in jeopardy. The chemistry between Halle Bailey and Jonah Hauer-King, Melissa McCarthy, Javier Bardem is doing a lot of the heavy lifting here, and it shows in every shared scene.

The reason people keep recommending The Little Mermaid usually has less to do with the plot and more to do with what it’s actually about. The film keeps circling back to adoring and based on fairy tale — not as decoration, but as the actual engine of the story. You can also feel mermaid and musical working in the background, quietly shaping how later scenes land even when they’re not the explicit focus.

The adventure, family, fantasy and romance classification undersells it a little. The Little Mermaid uses those elements as a foundation, then builds something more particular on top — a film that’s easy to categorize and a little harder to fully predict.

Rob Marshall’s handling of tone throughout The Little Mermaid deserves particular credit — it would be easy for a film juggling this many ideas to feel scattered, but the direction keeps everything pointed in the same direction. Look further down the cast list and you’ll find Melissa McCarthy, Javier Bardem, Noma Dumezweni, each handed at least one scene that earns its place in the finished film.

Clocking in at 135 minutes, the pacing rarely sags, which is no small feat for a film juggling this many ideas. Walt Disney Pictures, Lucamar Productions, Marc Platt Productions produced the film, and the polish shows in every frame. The economics alone are worth mentioning: a $297,000,000 budget turned into $569,626,289 in worldwide grosses.

If you’re the kind of viewer who gravitates toward adventure films with something on their mind, The Little Mermaid earns a spot on the list. Whatever else changes about how audiences watch movies, The Little Mermaid seems built to keep finding new viewers. It’s a detail easy to miss on a first viewing of The Little Mermaid, but it rewards anyone paying close attention. That kind of craftsmanship is easy to take for granted until you watch a lesser film try the same thing and fail. Little touches like that are why the film keeps finding new defenders long after its initial release. It’s the sort of small decision that separates a good adventure film from a merely competent one. None of it feels accidental — The Little Mermaid is the product of choices made with real intention, and it plays that way from start to finish.