The Little Mermaid has been a favorite Disney Princess movie of countless children since its premiere in 1989 (now over thirty years ago). Another classic childhood favorite that came out around that time? Pokémon! The idea for Pokémon was actually first thought of that very same year, when the Nintendo GameBoy was released, and the first games came out a few years later, in 1995. Since these two incredibly popular things came out around the same time, it's only logical to think: What would happen if you did a mashup?
If Pokémon and Pokémon adventure filled with water-types, sailors, and, of course, Ariel's Pokémon journey to get her legs and find her place on land. So, on that journey, what Pokémon would she take with her, and which other ones would she run into?
Team Member: Lanturn
The interesting thing about Ariel is that she can actually talk to sea creatures, and, unlike most other Disney Princesses, the creatures she speaks to can talk back. This will make for a very interesting relationship between her and her team, as most trainers cannot speak to Pokémon unless they are legendaries or especially talented Psychic-types.
Ariel's first team member would definitely be Lanturn, and he would play the role of Flounder: This sweet-looking blue-and-yellow fish Pokémon looks a lot like him, right down to the color scheme and the big Disney eyes. "Lanturn, don't be such a guppy!"
Team Member: Krabby
If Ariel's team has a Flounder, then of course it also needs a Sebastian. While it's true that Sebastian is technically Triton's court composer, he forms a loyalty with Ariel almost as soon as he sees her secret treasure trove. Even if he started off as King Triton's Pokémon, in the end he'd be a solid part of Ariel's team, sticking with her through thick and thin to help her achieve her dreams.
And, of course, Disney's most well-known crab would be represented by the crabbiest crab Pokémon in the whole franchise: Krabby.
Team Member: Wingull
Of course, there's one other animal sidekick of Ariel's in The Little Mermaid that you'd be remiss to forget, and that's Scuttle. Scuttle, her sometimes-obnoxious seagull friend, would have to be on her team, especially once she gets legs and becomes human: Who else would be around to tell her how to dress herself or what to call that pronged thing to the left of her plate at dinner?
In this case, Scuttle would definitely be a Wingull, the commonly found sea bird Pokémon from the Hoenn region. (The annoyance levels related to Scuttle singing over your romantic serenade and running into yet another Wingull while using surf are around the same, anyway.)
Team Member: Klefki
Sadly, there are no fork-shaped Pokémon for Ariel to call Dinglehopper and bring along with her on her journey, but there are still plenty of other object-based ones, and one that Ariel would probably be particularly drawn to is Klefki.
Even though most Pokémon fans didn't really take to Kelfki, it's easy to imagine Ariel scouring a shipwreck with Lanturn, and finding a bunch of little knickknacks, like keys and jewelry in a box, and going to take it back to her trove...only to find, to her surprise, that one of those little Thingamabobs has a face! She and Klefki would probably become fast friends, but she'd have to hide him from her father, at least until she got her legs and came on land.
Team Member: Primarina
Primarina and Ariel are similar in more ways then one. To begin with, they are both mermaids, in a sense (even though Primarina is more of a cross between a mermaid and a seal). They are also both very musically inclined: Ariel is known for having the most beautiful voice in the entire kingdom of Atlantica, and Primarina is known as the "Soloist Pokémon," and has many moves based upon its superior singing voice and performance talents. Perhaps Ariel would actually save Eric with Primarina's help!
Team Member: Vaporeon
Vaporeon is a great representation of everything Ariel really wants in her life: She wants to be where the people are, to grow legs and get to live on land among humans, but she also still wishes she could be connected to her home, her family, and her aquatic roots. Vaporeon is a water-type Pokémon with the ability to live on land as well as in water, as it has both a powerful, serpent-like tail, and four legs clearly made for running on land.
It would be really cute if, during her early time on land, she found an Eevee and befriended it, and then at the end it showed up at the wedding and Triton evolved it into a Vaporeon for her, to show Ariel that both the land and sea are her home.
King Triton's Team
Speaking of King Triton, as a King, his team would be no joke: He'd have Pokémon like Kingdra, Starmie, Gyrados, Walrein, and Dragonair representing his regal but ionate and firm demeanor. After Ariel gets married, he could evolve his Dragonair into Dragonite, so that they could stay connected through letters and such.
More importantly though, as King of the seven seas (and, technically, a minor deity), Kyogre, the legendary Sea God Pokémon, would also be on his side. In this version of the story, the power of Triton's trident would come from Kyogre.
Ursula's Team
There can be no hero without a villain, and Ursula's villain motivation in the Pokémon version of The Little Mermaid would still be to rule all the oceans, but her goal to get there would be to steal Kyogre and its power from Triton, rather than just steal his trident.
Ursula would have to have a pretty good team to pull a plot like this off. First, she'd obviously have two Huntail, which would be Flotsam and Jetsam. She'd also have a Ditto, whose powers she could use to transform herself into "Vanessa," so that Ariel doesn't get to marry Eric, as well as to transform all her prisoners into those creepy little kelpy things. Other dark and nefarious underwater Pokémon she might have include Cloyster, Tentacruel, and Grapploct.
Prince Eric's Team
Of course, an breakdown of the theoretical Pokémon Little Mermaid movie wouldn't be complete without including Prince Eric's team. He'd obviously Herdier or Stoutland named Max who would be by his side at all times. He also might have a Slowking around to offer him sage advice in his role as prince...perhaps with a name like Grimsby.
Aside from that, it's an easy bet that Eric would have Pokémon that would help him when he was out sailing (an activity that he's known to be ionate about.) The ones that best fit Eric would probably be Pokémon like Dhelmise, Squirtle, Lapras, and Machop.
Other Friends
Of course, there are tons of other friends that help Ariel and the gang out in the movie, and so there would also be tons of other Pokémon that would make major appearances: "Under The Sea" would show us friends like Crabrawler, Shellos, Horsea, and Lumineon. In "Poor Unfortunate Souls," we might see that Ursula is actually transforming merfolk into Skrelp. In "Kiss The Girl," you'd see Pokémon like Ducklett, Tirtouga, Kriketune, Politoed, Pelipper, Wishiwashi, Volbeat and Illumise helping Sebastian "set the mood." And those Pokémon would come back later, along with Dewgong, Staryu, as well as any other fish Pokémon you could think of, to stall the almost-wedding between Eric and "Vanessa."
All in all, The Little Mermaid would make a great Pokémon movie, featuring that many different creatures!
