Dive Into These 31 Mermaid Movies

The classic Disney animated film follows a young mermaid named Ariel (Jodi Benson) who desperately wants to live on land. After catching a glimpse of the handsome Prince Eric (Christopher Daniel Barnes), she instantly falls for him — and he feels the same. Her father, King Triton (Kenneth Mars), isn't supportive of her wishes, so she makes a deal with Ursula (Pat Carroll), the sea witch, to live on land. Ariel agrees to trade her voice for legs, losing both her fins and her ability to sing or talk at all. Now she has to convince Eric she's the one he's been pining for — all without being able to sing her siren song to him.

In this sweet Japanese animated movie, Lu is a mermaid with unique powers. When she sings, she can make people dance, which is exactly what Kai needs in his life. Kai is new to Tokyo and isn't quick to make new friends. However, one day, he's asked by a few of his classmates to play the keyboard in their band. This draws Lu to them, causing her to sing along with the music they play and make anyone who hears it dance along. Kai's taken by her when they meet, and the two form a fast friendship as he starts to open up to her.

While on shore leave, Johnny Drake (Dennis Hopper) meets Mora (Linda Lawson), a woman who spends her time posing as a mermaid on the boardwalk. Her life as a fake mermaid might be more real than either of them think, though. She tells Johnny she believes she's a true siren, like the mermaids of the deep, and Johnny almost starts to believe that Mora's two dead boyfriends were a result of something she'd done. Johnny isn't sure if he should grow wary of the beautiful young woman or not, but when he almost drowns at (what he assumes to be) her hands, he can't help but wonder what's true.

In yet another instalment of Pirates of the Caribbean, Jack Sparrow's (Johnny Depp) past catches up with him when he meets Angelica (Penélope Cruz) — a beautiful pirate he once loved. They collect Blackbeard (Ian McShane) on his ship and set off together for the Fountain of Youth. Of course, Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) is also in the chase for the legendary landmark, and the race won't be pretty. One task they must complete to get to the Fountain of Youth is to capture a mermaid's teardrop to place in a chalice — so Barbosa snags Syrena (Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey), a mysterious mermaid, along the way.

While on holiday, Caroline (Glynis Johns) meets a mermaid named Miranda (also played by Johns) who happens to be her distant relative. Because the two look so similar, they decide to switch places so Miranda can see what life on land is really like. Miranda meets Ronald (Peter Martyn), to whom Caroline is engaged, and she immediately doesn't like him and wants better for Caroline. Looking for suitors, Miranda finds a couple who she thinks are worthy of their bloodline. But Miranda ruffles some feathers and is about to be outed as a mermaid until Caroline swoops in. The question that remains, though, is what becomes of the messy love story Miranda created for Caroline.

In this 1948 movie, Arthur Peabody (William Powell) and his wife, Polly (Irene Hervey), are vacationing in the Caribbean when their marriage hits the rocks. Polly starts to admit her feelings for someone else after thinking her husband is cheating. It turns out, Arthur followed a siren song to a mermaid (played by Ann Blyth) deep in the depths of a cave. Though she cannot speak to him, he finds himself drawn to her more and more. Arthur winds up getting caught in a love triangle that makes him question his marriage and whether or not he can truly be with a mermaid.

A lot goes down in this 1965 party film. Sugar Kane (Linda Evans) is caught up in a scandal that she's mostly unaware of and is being used for publicity stunts, like fake skydiving. Because of this, Frankie (Frankie Avalon) thinks he saved Sugar Kane during one, when in reality it was just a stunt. He tries skydiving, though, because Bonnie (Deborah Walley) wants to get her boyfriend's attention and thinks Frankie is the way to do it. However, everyone gets in on it, and suddenly they're all enamoured with the idea of falling from the sky. Amid all this, Bonehead (Jody McCrea) falls in love with a mermaid, because of course that's what happens at the beach.

Sara Paxton is Aquamarine, a mermaid who escaped her underwater life to get out of an arranged marriage. Determined to show her father that true love exists, she's enlists the help of Claire (Emma Roberts) and Hailey (JoJo) to aid her in romancing a human. Her heart is set on the hunky lifeguard Raymond (Jake McDorman), but Aquamarine has to compete with cool girl Cecilia (Arielle Kebbel) for his heart. To try to win her man, Cecilia sets out to expose Aquamarine's secret that she's a mermaid, but her plan is foiled. Naturally, Raymond develops feelings for Aquamarine, but is it enough to convince her father?

Siren (Emmy Perry) thinks she's just an ordinary girl, but how could she be with a name like Siren? As she nears her 12th birthday, she realises she can control water. As she starts to question her existence, she befriends Adam (Jack Grazer), who seems friendly enough, but Siren's friend Crystal (Nikki Hahn) isn't so sure. Siren soon finds out she is half mermaid and will begin her transformation on her 12th birthday. Every three years from then on, she has to return to the water to survive. Crystal, who is also part mermaid, warns her of mermaid hunters who might be out to get them.

Mia (Luna Wedler) is a 15-year-old girl on the cusp of becoming something completely different. Whereas most teen girls hit adolescence and grow into women, Mia finds herself craving fish and growing gills. Soon, her toes start to fuse together and her legs become bruised. For a curious teen, this transformation is troubling, and Mia demands answers out of her mother (whom she can't recall ever seeing pregnant in photos). Mia starts to suspect maybe she comes from something otherworldly and her affinity for the water might be more than just a desire to swim. Perhaps it is her true home.

"The Mermaid" is a classic tale of falling in love with the wrong person. Liu Xuan (Deng Chao) buys a wildlife reserve that requires sonar technology to raze the area, which will wipe out the merpeople currently living there. The thing is, Xuan doesn't seem bothered. Shan (Lin Yun) is sent by her fellow merpeople to kill Xuan to prevent the erasure of her kinfolk. Unlike all merpeople, Shan is able to blend in with humans because of her unique ability to use her fins like feet. But when she actually meets Xuan, she accidentally falls in love with him — and the feeling is mutual.

Not to be confused with the Disney cartoon "The Little Mermaid," this 2018 film is based on Hans Christian Andersen's mermaid tale. Cam (William Moseley) and his young niece Elle (Loreto Peralta) discover a mermaid named Elizabeth (Poppy Drayton) trapped in a tank at the circus. Supposedly, her water heals all ailments, which Cam hopes to use for Elle, who is sick. However, he fears it's not true and that Elizabeth isn't actually a mermaid, especially when he meets her again in the woods. But while the mermaid water may not be working as planned, Elizabeth truly is a mermaid who is trapped, and Cam and Elle can help her find a way out.

This Polish film tells the thrilling story of two mermaids, Silver (Marta Mazurek) and Golden (Michalina Olszańska), who escape their watery homes to dance in a nightclub. They start by just dancing and singing backup for other acts before they realise they're quite the catch on their own. They form an act called The Lure, and that's where things start to go off the rails. There's murder, lust, betrayal, and absolutely no possibility that anyone will get a happy ending in this off-the-wall horror film. At least the scenes with The Lure on stage are relatively mild and not too bloody.

When he's just a boy, Allen Bauer (Tom Hanks) falls overboard while on a trip to Cape Cod but is quickly rescued by a mermaid. Fast forward 20 years, and Allen still can't stop thinking about the mermaid (Daryl Hannah) who saved his life. He returns to Cape Cod just to test the waters (so to speak) and falls in the ocean. Yet again, he's saved by the same mermaid. The mermaid finds her way to New York to reconnect with Allen and assumes a human body. She quickly learns English and gives herself the name Madison. She and Allen grow closer, but people start to suspect she's not who she says she is.

Miranda the mermaid (Glynis Johns) is every bit the siren you'd imagine a mermaid to be. She meets Paul (Griffith Jones) while he's on holiday without his wife. Miranda hooks herself onto Paul's fishing line and drags him down into the water to keep him prisoner. She agrees to let him go if he takes her home to London with him. With no other option, he agrees, but he has to figure out how to disguise the mermaid so no one will know what's going on. Once they arrive in London, a series of events ensue that threaten to expose Miranda and Paul's secret.

Elisa Esposito (Sally Hawkins) is a cleaning lady in a high-security government facility who is totally mute. She keeps her head down and gets her work done until one day when she discovers the facility is keeping an amphibious man (Doug Jones) locked in a tank. The creature, which resembles a merman but is also something completely unidentifiable, takes a liking to Elisa, despite her natural inclination to not really communicate. But as they get to know each other, Elisa realises this creature is trapped, and that's just not how it should be. Can the quiet woman help him, or will he remain imprisoned?

Based on H.P. Lovecraft's novella of the same name, "Dagon" begins with Paul (Ezra Godden) foreshadowing what's to come when he dreams of a mermaid with sharp teeth. Shortly after, he wakes up on a boat that immediately wrecks. While he and his girlfriend try to find help, their friends left on the boat are attacked by a mysterious watery creature. It's not long before Paul's girlfriend disappears as well. Lost and without answers as to what to do next, Paul eventually winds up in a village full of half-fish, half-human creatures. It's here he learns the story of Dagon, a god-like being that initially helped the small town overcome their troubles. However, this creature has more sinister plans for the people in the village.