Aquamarine

The movie has a sweetness and innocence that makes it near perfect entertainment for its target audience.

Refreshingly, the movie never wavers in the importance it places on friendship over just about anything else.

Won't win points for originality, but the screenplay includes some snappy dialogue, smart observations, and an uplifting message about the importance of friendship.

That everything gets worked out -- friendship affirmed, jokes made about silly magazine articles on reeling in a boy -- is as sure as the soundtrack's inclusion of a Mandy Moore song.

Aside from an inspired bit involving a pair of sycophantic starfish, it's amazing how unimaginative a movie about a mermaid can be, and it's sad how thoroughly its girl-power stylings devolve into a muddle of mixed messages.

Aquamarine will likely please its undemanding tween audience--especially if today's kids are as unsavvy a crew as 20th Century Fox seems to think.

It would seem that Allen and screenwriters John Quaintance and Jessica Bendinger couldn't decide between making a movie about the summer that 'tweens become teens or "Scenes From a Mal"l for the MTV set.

Predictable young teenage stuff going on. Flirting with the boys, being an outcast and meeting mermaids. We've all been there. Despite the whole mermaid angle, it's surprisingly devoid of any magic or fantasy. Bruce Spence has a nice unpredictable role, that he does a lot with in his limited screen time. Manages to hold your attention, even if it doesn't quite entertain.

I didn't expect to like this movie and, lo and behold, I didn't. The dialogue is unbearably stupid, the premise is executed poorly, the characters are generic and boring the acting is mediocre at best and...I'm sorry but mermaids can just grow legs whenever they come on land? Are you kidding? All the negative reviews I've read talk about how ugly the main two actresses are. First of all, even if you don't find them that attractive, that's a very petty reason for not liking them. And secondly, I think they're pretty. My beef with them is that their acting in this film is bad. Technically, I should hate this movie, but I don't. Know why? Because, damn it, it has an incredible ending! That climax is one of the best I have ever seen. I can easily say that I did not see it coming. It actually worked well. And while it does not make up for the other flaws that this movie has, I still thought it was brilliant. I've read the short story that this was based on and even though it has been a while and I do not remember all of the details, I found it to be more compelling. For one thing, Aquamarine can't just sprout legs whenever she wants. She's stuck as a mermaid, so both girls place her in a wheelchair and cover her tail. This is a pretty clever idea. I also didn't find the two leads to be that aggravating. Also, the motivation for helping Aqua is different. In the book, the girls are worried that Aqua will die if they don't get her to the ocean in time but she does not want to leave until she spends time with Raymon, so the girls agree to set up a date. In the movie, the motivation is more selfish. Keeping up with the BS mythology, if you help a mermaid, you get a wish, and their wish is to stop one of them from moving. In the book, both girls are in a similar predicament when one of them has to move but they work through it. Overall, the movie is dumb and not well made but It has a great ending. Go read the short story. I have to see if I can dig it up.