Aquamarine

I took my nine-year-old sister to see this movie today. It was between this movie and Chicken Little, and she admitted she wanted to see this more, so that was fine with me. Remembering the display of ultimate mediocrity that was A Cinderella Story, one of the last movies we saw in the theater together, I was prepared to hate and be bored by this movie. That is to say, I went in expecting crappy dialogue, a predictable yet forced and contrived plot, and acting that ranged from mediocre to awful. Its having below a 3.0 on IMDb (compared to A Cinderella Story's 5.2) certainly didn't help matters.

And I have to say . . . I was pleasantly surprised. Not because the dialogue was brilliant, the plot was novel, and the acting was amazing. It was just all better than what I expected. Okay, a lot of the dialogue was pretty cheesy, and you can see the "plot twists" coming a mile away. But I have to admit, I chuckled out loud a couple of times, and as for the acting, it wasn't NEARLY as bad as what Ms. Duff had led me to expect from these young women. Actually, this movie turned out to be, dare I say, slightly charming at times, and even when the mermaid annoyed me with her unfunny quips about life on land versus life in the sea (which was at least half of the time she was on screen), the other two main characters were actually fun to watch together. They're not future Judi Denchs in the making, and probably not even future Keira Knightleys or Natalie Portmans in the making, but I'd GLADLY choose them over Hilary Duff any day of the week.

And this is the real reason why I'm commenting here. I can understand that if you didn't go into the movie knowing how tweeny it was going to be, you would loathe it with your entire soul. I don't really know how that would happen, considering who two out of three of the leads are, but still . . . if that's what happened to you, I understand. But come on . . . this movie was not worse than A Cinderella Story, so please, let's stop rating it as such. A Cinderella Story was less charming, less unique, and less valuable in the "What Lessons Can We Learn From These Characters?" Department than Aquamarine by a long shot.

So, do I think this was a good movie? Well, I'm 21, so that's pretty much impossible. Like I said . . . thin and predictable. But is it a BAD movie? No. It accomplishes what it sets out to do. My little sister loved it, and I can see why. Therefore I give this movie not a 10 or a 1 but a 5, that is, a rating of perfect mediocrity. If you know a girl between the ages of 8 and 13, feel free to take her to see it, because she'll probably love it, and honestly, you're not going to mind it all that much. I promise.

Aquamarine By Dean Kish For hundreds of years we have been fascinated with the nautical myth that there are beings in the oceans who are ½ fish and ½ woman. They are always young, beautiful and completely naive. Some classic films have captivated this obsession. The first biggest and most memorable film was the classic 1984 comedy "Splash" which really brought the myth back into the fore-front of our minds. Next was 1989's "The Little Mermaid" which stole our hearts and re-launched Disney's animation division.

Probably the most obscure reference and the most bizarre use of the mermaid myth was used in the short-lived TV series, "Maximum Bob" where an ultra right-wing judge (Beau Bridges) marries a psychic mermaid-performer (Kiersten Warren). There are a lot of scenes with Warren in an aquarium and dressed in her fish tail.

OK I have covered the biggest to the most obscure which brings me to "Aquamarine".

"Aquamarine" is a light-hearted preteen comedy about a naive mermaid, Aquamarine (Sara Paxton) who comes ashore to uncover the human myth called love. Helping her in finding this mythical emotion are two best friends, Claire and Hailey (Emma Roberts and JoJo), who befriend the mermaid. It turns out that the friends maybe separated forever when Hailey moves away. Aquamarine promises them a wish if they help her find true love so the girls, desperate to stay together, help her out.

This film is probably not a classic or will be fondly remembered in five years but for the audience it is aimed at it succeeds on many levels. I liked the performances of Emma Roberts and Sara Paxton. I even warmed up to JoJo a little.

What I kept saying as the film went on was how these three girls looked like junior versions of established actors. I felt that Paxton reminded me a lot of a younger Reese Witherspoon and Roberts reminded me some of her aunt, Julia Roberts. JoJo did also remind me of Lindsay Lohan but there isn't much of an age difference between them so you can't really say junior version.

I think that Paxton and Roberts have a lot of potential in their Hollywood careers. JoJo could have a career in film but does she have the ability to manage music and film like say, Hilary Duff. Only time will tell.

"Aquamarine" is a great little film if you have girls who are between 8 and 15 but other than that I can't really recommend it to anyone else. But you have to give it marks for succeeding so well in a pinch demographic. (3.5 out of 5) So Says the Soothsayer (dwkish@shaw.ca)

Even though I was forced to watch this with younger siblings, I actually enjoyed myself. Besides the movie Splash which was made years ago, I don't think there has been many mermaid movies. This one, although a little bit on the cheesy side, had a pretty good underlying message. Graphics were not extraordinary, but they weren't terrible. Jojo turned out to be a sarcastic, funny actress and Sara Paxton did a pretty good job on being the clueless mermaid. Emma Roberts was a little bit rusty on acting, but she can sure tear up. Yea it was cheesy, but what'd you expect, at least it wasn't unbearably cheesy. It was really just cute and I enjoyed watching it with my siblings.

I took my daughter 5 and son 8 to see Aquamarine yesterday after school. I didn't go in expecting to see an Oscar worthy movie as many who rated this movie must have. Both of my kids really enjoyed the movie and I did as well. I thought the plot was good and the acting was pretty good as well. I liked the magical feel that this movie had and at least it lets kids use their imagination instead of just the same old boring stuff. How Aquamarine could ever have a lower user rating than Ultraviolet is a crime against humanity. I am glad that several of the user comments that I have read appreciate this movie for what it is, a movie for your kids and that the parents will enjoy also.

Following a violent storm, a beautiful and sassy mermaid named Aquamarine washes ashore and into the lives of two teenage girls. After Aquamarine falls for a local, hunky lifeguard, she enlists the girls' help to win his heart.

After watching the trailer for Aquamarine, I was expecting a horrible movie. Instead, I got a decent "tween" film that should appeal to its target audience. The film proves to be mildly charming and enjoyable for adults with a few fun characters and scenes. The premise is pretty familiar and the film is a little by-the numbers. However, screenwriter Jessica Bendinger is pretty good when it comes to harmless fluff and she at least tries to stray away from the familiar path. Of course she gets help from a good cast and the combination makes the film quite entertaining.

The main reason why this film works well is because of its young and charming cast. I don't really like JoJo as a singer so I was expecting her to give a bad performance. To my surprise, she shows a lot of charm in the role and she is actually quite engaging. Emma Roberts gives an okay performance, nothing special. However, her character is kind of dull so maybe that's why her performance isn't very interesting. Sara Paxton gives the best performance as Aquamarine. Her performance is a little familiar but still pretty funny.

The most engaging aspect of the movie is the relationship between the three girls. Of course the premise is far fetched but the relationships are realistic and it helps make the film more enjoyable. Despite this engaging quality, the film is still only average for me. I liked it but I didn't like it too much. The pacing was too slow, especially during the first twenty minutes. There were also a few "girly" scenes that almost completely lost my interest in the film. After the movie had finished, I got a lukewarm feeling. The ending wasn't as good as I was expecting it to be and the entire thing really wasn't that memorable. Aquamarine is a nice movie to watch but it doesn't leave a long lasting impression on the viewer unless you're part of the target audience. In the end, Aquamarine is harmless fluff and it's worth checking out. Rating 5/10