Film
The Little Mermaid
Rob Marshall's live-action retelling swaps hand-drawn magic for photorealistic CGI and expands Ariel's world with new Lin-Manuel Miranda songs and a soulful lead performance from Halle Bailey. It's lush, earnest, occasionally waterlogged with effects, and squarely built for families who grew up on the 1989 original wanting to relive it with their own kids.
If you liked this
Beauty and the Beast2017
The gold standard of Disney's live-action remake era — Emma Watson and Dan Stevens carry real chemistry, and the ballroom sequence still lands despite the CGI Beast's uncanny valley moments.
But If you found this one's blend of animation-era songs and glossy realism uncanny, the same discomfort applies here.

Aladdin1992
Will Smith's Genie shouldn't work and somehow does, and the film has a genuine sense of fun that some of the darker remakes lack — pure spectacle, played with a grin.
But The CGI-heavy magic carpet sequences show their seams badly, and the romance is thinner than the original's.

Moana2016
A Disney princess who chooses the ocean over a prince, animated with genuine visual imagination and a Lin-Manuel Miranda score that's arguably his best Disney work.
But It's traditional animation, not live-action — if you specifically wanted the photoreal spectacle, this won't scratch that itch.

The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Ponyo2008
Same fairy tale — a sea creature crossing into the human world for love — told in traditional animation by a director with zero interest in Disney's rules of romance or moral tidiness.
Miyazaki's own fish-girl-becomes-human tale trades Ursula's bargains for pure watercolor wonder — a five-year-old's ocean is rendered with more strangeness and joy than any CGI budget could buy.
But It's gentler and stranger than a Disney narrative, built on dream logic rather than plot mechanics — some viewers find it meandering.

More like this (8)
Cinderella2015
Kenneth Branagh directs with real classical elegance — Cate Blanchett's stepmother is deliciously cruel, and the ballgown transformation is one of the best in any Disney remake.
But It's a much straighter, less musical retelling — no big song sequences if that's what you came for.

Enchanted2007
Amy Adams sends up the fairy-tale princess archetype with total sincerity, dropped into modern New York — funnier and sharper than the setup suggests.
But The satire is gentle Disney self-parody, not genuine subversion, so don't expect any real bite.

Splash1984
Tom Hanks falls for a mermaid in this warm, funny, unabashedly '80s romantic comedy that treats the fantasy with a lighter, sillier touch than any Disney version.
But Dated effects and broad comedy stylings won't appeal if you want something visually polished or emotionally weighty.

Into the Woods2014
Sondheim's fairy-tale mashup musical, filmed with a starry cast, digs into the darker undercurrents beneath these stories — consequences, compromise, the cost of wishes.
But It's tonally much bleaker and more theatrical — less spectacle, more discomfort, and the songs are dense rather than catchy.

Mamma Mia!2008no page yet
If it's the sun-drenched island setting and big swoony musical numbers you're after, this ABBA jukebox romp delivers pure unfiltered joy on a Greek coastline.
But No fantasy elements at all — this is a completely different kind of musical, adult and comedic rather than a fairy tale.
The Shape of Water2017
Guillermo del Toro's Cold War fable about a mute woman falling for an aquatic creature takes the fairy-tale romance and gives it a strange, tender, adult sincerity.
But It's slower, stranger, and far more melancholic — this is not family entertainment, and the romance is genuinely odd.

The Piano1993
Ariel gives up her voice to pursue a life on land; this film asks what it actually costs a woman to be silenced in exchange for love, played completely straight and without a safety net.
Jane Campion's masterpiece follows a mute woman transplanted to a strange land, trading her only means of expression for a chance at connection and freedom — devastating, gorgeously shot, unforgettable.
But This is heavy adult drama with no fantasy comfort — it's about repression, colonialism, and desire, not happy endings.

Nanny2022no page yet
Same well of folklore — a powerful, seductive spirit of the water who extracts a price — reimagined through a different culture's mythology and a genre built for dread instead of wonder.
An immigrant nanny in New York is haunted by Mami Wata, the West African water spirit, in this slow-burn horror that treats sea mythology as something ancient, dangerous, and deeply personal.
But It's a horror film, not a romance — unsettling and dreamlike rather than uplifting, with a much darker read on what the sea demands of women.
People
Cast
Halle BaileyAriel
Jonah Hauer-KingEric
Melissa McCarthyUrsula
Javier BardemKing Triton
Noma DumezweniThe Queen
Art MalikSir Grimsby
Daveed DiggsSebastian (voice)
Jacob TremblayFlounder (voice)
AwkwafinaScuttle (voice)
Jessica AlexanderVanessa
Martina LairdLashana
Emily CoatesRosa
Directing
- Rob MarshallDirector
- Ben HowarthFirst Assistant Director
- Lisa VickScript Supervisor
- Terence MaddenSecond Assistant Director
- Adam KirleySecond Unit Director
- John SorapureSecond Unit Director
Writing
- Howard AshmanLyricist
- Lin-Manuel MirandaLyricist
- John MuskerOriginal Film Writer
- Ron ClementsOriginal Film Writer
- Hans Christian AndersenOriginal Story
- David MageeScreenplay
Production
- Jeffrey SilverExecutive Producer
- John DeLucaProducer
- Lin-Manuel MirandaProducer
- Marc PlattProducer
- Rob MarshallProducer