Director: Ron Clements, John Musker
A curious young mermaid trades her voice for a pair of legs, and Hans Christian Andersen's oldest bargain gets sung all over again.
What is The Little Mermaid about?
Ariel, youngest daughter of King Triton, spends her days collecting human trinkets in a hidden grotto and dreaming of the world above the waves. After saving a shipwrecked prince named Eric from drowning, she becomes fixated on joining his world, against her father's wishes. Desperate, she turns to the sea witch Ursula, who offers a deal: three days on land with legs instead of a tail, in exchange for Ariel's singing voice. If Eric doesn't fall for her before the bargain runs out, she belongs to Ursula forever. What follows is a race between growing affection on land and Ursula's own designs on Triton's throne, playing out across sunlit beaches and stormy open water.
Cast & crew
Jodi Benson voices Ariel with the bright, longing tone that made the character an instant animation standard, opposite Christopher Daniel Barnes as Prince Eric. Pat Carroll gives Ursula her theatrical menace, Samuel E. Wright voices the crab Sebastian, and Kenneth Mars rounds out the cast as King Triton.
Context & significance
The film draws from Hans Christian Andersen's 1837 fairy tale but reshapes its bittersweet ending into a lighter, more hopeful finale built around a full musical score. Its songs, built around Ariel's underwater world and her longing for the surface, became some of the most widely recognized in modern animated film, helping revive interest in the fairy-tale musical format for a new generation of viewers.
Where & how to watch
The Little Mermaid streams on K-Time with both a Persian dub and Persian subtitles available, so viewers can choose either option. Only a free account and login are required to start watching, on a platform built around the Farsi-speaking diaspora experience.