Le garçon qui venait de la mer

A friend sent me this movie because we both like mermaids. I thought it would suck, but I loved it! If there are any mermaid fans out there, you know how hard it can be to find mermaid videos without any porn. This is a great movie for teens especially who have an interest in movies. Plus the guy who plays Cody is kind of cute!!! Also if you've ever watched Full House you will reconize the father. Its Joey and he is really good in it. Now mind you, hes not as funny as when he was on Full House, but hes still pretty good.

For reasons not entirely clear, a beautiful mermaid leaves her baby son with a goofy boater; happily, a nice couple picks him up instead. In this story, mermaids get fishy when they reach that certain age. Thirteen years later, the baby boy grows into typical teenager Chez Starbuck (as Cody). He takes an advanced swim class (the team looks high school), competes with Tim Redwine (as Sean), and gets a birthday kiss from Courtnee Draper (as Sam). Then, young Starbuck's palms get sticky. He makes friends with lonely nerd Justin Jon Ross (as Jess), who helps him in biology; in return, Starbuck promises he will teach young Ross to swim. Then, Starbuck's hands sprout scales... Cute.

**** The Thirteenth Year (5/15/99) Duwayne Dunham ~ Chez Starbuck, Justin Jon Ross, Tim Redwine

Young Chez Starbuck is going through one interesting puberty, in his 13th year he's starting to grow fish scales and fins, especially when he's in the water. Which being a junior high school swimming champion he's in the water a lot.

It turns out that he was adopted, a baby left on his parent's boat, they run water tours from their sleepy Pacific coast village. The only one who young Chez can confide in is his friend Justin Jon Ross whose dad is the local eccentric and runs a salvage business. The dad is played by Brent Briscoe and he's seen mermaids in the harbor and has even done research on the subject, though where he would have got it, God only knows.

Disney channel features aren't any competition for Gone With The Wind or The Godfather, but The Thirteenth Year is definitely one of the silliest on record. There are so many holes in the plot on this one, I gave up counting. But I doubt this is the typical experience for MerMen in any case. Just why the infant that grew up to be Chez Starbuck was left on the boat was left unexplained.

I'm not sure I want to find out.

The Thirteenth Year is a very entertaining Disney Channel movie. It is definitely not of one of Disney Channel's best, but it's OK. One thing that was a negative was the acting and dialog. I know this is a Disney movie, but the acting is very unbelievable at times, especially by the main character, Cody. The chemistry between the mermaid mother and Cody also felt kind of awkward. The dialog is also cheesy at time, but this is expected. But on the good side the makeup of the mermaid was very nice though and was a big plus. The story is entertaining and sure to keep you interested. and overall the good outweighs the bad. The Thirteenth Year isn't amazing but a really entertaining flick. Enjoy.

"The Thirteenth Year" helps establish the Disney Channel Original Movie trope of using fantastical transformations as metaphors for puberty, blending this with a subplot centered on extracurricular activities and a light dip into the fantasy genre. There is some subtle commentary on adoption, but the lack of substantial conflict makes it a mellow, middle-of-the-road DCOM.

Being a DCOM made before they became a vehicle to promote rising Disney Channel child stars, "The Thirteenth Year" features a largely unremarkable cast-besides Uncle Joey-and many of the performances are noticeably weak. At least its mermaid lore goes deep!.