The Internet Is Swooning Over Ariel and Eric’s Chemistry in ‘The Little Mermaid’

Disney's live-action version of The Little Mermaid is out in theaters today, and the Twitterverse has come to one important conclusion: Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King) and Ariel (Halle Bailey) have extremely good chemistry.

It's the kind of chemistry that helped earn the film a whopping 95% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and inspired fans to devote their Twitter feeds to shipping these two actors.

First things first: There's a scene between the duo that's particularly captivating the imagination of Little Mermaid fans in which a robbed-of-her-voice Ariel teaches Eric how to say her name (I can confirm the scene is deserving of the hype).

The palpable connection can be traced back to Bailey and Hauer-King's own friendship, which was cemented early on in the casting process. The actress opened up to Out in a recent interview about how quickly the two clicked.

"It was so much fun to be able to play that with Jonah," she said. "From the moment we met, there was this genuine friendship and connection that we had, and I was so grateful for that. I think in our screen test the first time, we felt that right away."

Hauer-King returned the compliment, gushing to PopBuzz after being asked his favorite moment of Bailey on-screen.

"I 100% know mine. It was when Halle does the iconic rock moment where she's got the waves going behind her and she's singing the beautiful song," he said. "I was there on the beach just having a nice time, chilling out, and watching her do it was just unbelievable. It was very moving." 

The Little Mermaid, with all its under-the-sea chemistry in tow, is playing in theaters now.