Point out mermaid films and most 90s and early-aughts children will rattle off one film particularly: Disney’s The Little Mermaid.
Its message might have been in some methods, erm, questionable. (Who wants a voice to lure a love curiosity whenever you’ve received gams?) Nevertheless it’s additionally the film that, in 1989, introduced Disney animation again from the brink of break and impressed legions of us to play mermaids within the swimming pool.
Impactful as it could have been, the Disney-fied retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s (a lot darker) fairytale is a far cry from historic depictions of mermaids. Most sea-faring cultures around the globe characteristic some model of merfolk of their folklore, and so they aren’t precisely Dinglehopper-loving Ariels. From Atargatis, the (by accident) murderous Assyrian goddess-turned-mermaid, to the sirens of Historical Greece that lured sailors to watery graves, most mermaids of fable are lethal, misleading creatures. And there are many mermaid films that lean into that.
Whether or not you’re on the lookout for one thing gentle and enjoyable or films that paint mermaids in a extra mysterious gentle, we’ve rounded up the 18 greatest mermaid films to select from.
1. The Thirteenth 12 months (1999)
“Cody’s not simply rising up… he’s rising fins!” So reads the tagline for this Disney Channel Authentic Film about an adopted teen who, on his thirteenth birthday, begins to sprout scales and shortly discovers that his delivery mom is definitely a mermaid. It’s a coming-of-age story that makes a not-so-subtle nod at puberty and the surprising methods our our bodies change throughout it, and it’s additionally the product of a very good time for Disney Channel Authentic Films. (Zenon: Woman of the twenty first Century, Good Home, Don’t Look Beneath the Mattress and The Thirteenth 12 months all got here out in 1999!)
2. Mermaids (1990)
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