Film

The Little Mermaid

Disney's back-from-the-brink musical about a mermaid princess who trades her voice for legs and a shot at love. It's lush, funny, occasionally properly scary (Ursula is a genuine icon of menace), and packed with songs you'll be humming for a week. Great for kids, but the animation and craft hold up for adults too.

TMDb rating7.4

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Beauty and the Beast1991

The next Disney musical after Ariel, and arguably the peak of the whole Renaissance. Same DNA — headstrong heroine, sweeping ballroom-scale songs, a genuinely felt love story — but even more confident.

But If you've had enough of Disney princesses learning lessons about love and self-sacrifice, this won't feel new.

Beauty and the Beast poster

Aladdin1992

Same era, same studio, same appetite for a big villain and bigger songs, but swaps mermaids for genies and turns the comic sidekick into the whole show thanks to Robin Williams.

But Genie's manic energy dates it a little, and some of the Middle Eastern stereotyping hasn't aged gracefully.

Aladdin poster

The Lion King1994

Another Disney classic built on a young hero defying their parent's wishes, with music that's arguably even more iconic. Bigger, sadder, and more operatic in scope.

But It's a Shakespearean tragedy for kids — heavier and more emotionally brutal than Ariel's story.

The Lion King poster

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Splash1984

Same fish-out-of-water romance structure — a mermaid choosing legs and land for love — but for grown-ups, a decade earlier, and played as comedy rather than fairy tale.

Five years before Ariel, Tom Hanks fell for a mermaid who gave up the sea for love, in a warm, funny, very human rom-com that quietly did the same story first.

But It's an adult comedy with nudity and innuendo — nothing like a kids' film, despite the shared premise.

Splash poster
More like this (8)

Tangled2010

A later Disney princess who also longs to escape her sheltered world, with the same visual lushness and comic sidekicks, updated for a more knowing audience.

But The humour is more self-aware and modern, which some purists find less magical than the old-school approach.

Tangled poster

Frozen2013

Disney's other unstoppable earworm machine, with a headstrong young woman, a sister instead of a prince at the emotional centre, and songs built for shouting in the car.

But It leans harder into modern pop songwriting than the classic Broadway-style score of Mermaid.

Frozen poster

Moana2016

Another girl drawn to the ocean against her family's wishes, but this time the sea itself is a character and the songs come from Lin-Manuel Miranda.

But No romance at the centre — if you came for the prince, this isn't that story.

Moana poster

Enchanted2007

A loving, funny live-action riff on exactly this kind of fairy tale, with a Disney princess literally plopped into real New York. Amy Adams is perfect.

But The joke is affectionate parody, so if you want it played completely straight, this undercuts itself.

Enchanted poster

Anastasia1997

A non-Disney animated musical from the same golden-age mould — a young woman fighting to reclaim her true identity, gorgeous hand-drawn animation, a villain with real menace.

But The songs, while lovely, don't have quite the cultural staying power of Menken and Ashman's score.

Anastasia poster

Pocahontas1995

Another Disney heroine caught between two worlds and defying her father for love, with a painterly visual style and a soaring Alan Menken score.

But The history is heavily softened and the plot resolution is far less satisfying than Ariel's.

Pocahontas poster

Ponyo2008

Both draw from the same Andersen source material, but Ponyo answers it in a completely different medium and register — dreamlike, Japanese, almost plotless by comparison.

Miyazaki's own version of the Hans Christian Andersen story: a fish-girl who wants to become human, hand-painted with the kind of tactile, watery animation no computer could replicate.

But It's gentler and stranger than Disney's version, with almost no conventional plot tension — some viewers find it too meandering.

Ponyo poster

The Shape of Water2017

The same structural fable — a human falling for a sea creature, sacrificing safety for connection — stripped of songs and cartoon color and played as an adult, unabashedly erotic fairy tale.

A mute woman falls for a captive amphibious creature in a Cold War lab, and the film asks the same question Mermaid does — what would you give up to love something not like you — with total sincerity and an R rating.

But It's an adult fantasy-romance with real violence and sexuality, miles from family viewing despite the fairy-tale bones.

The Shape of Water poster

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