When promo spots for Aquamarine first started running on television, the only thing that I could think was that, wasn’t this originally called Splash many years ago? Some of you might remember the film; it was back when Tom Hanks was funny and hadn’t yet become an overrated actor who could make millions based on name instead of talent. Anyway, Aquamarine in fact turned out to not be the Splash rip off that I had thought it was going to be, at least to some extent, but it’s still the type of movie that really only appeals to a certain market of film goers.

Aquamarine is actually based on the novel by Alice Hoffman (yes, yet another Hollywood feature based on something else) and you may have seen her work in the past as she’s the same woman who penned Practical Magic, and Aquamarine goes for a similar brand of magic, though from the depths of the sea. Hailey (JoJo Levesque) and her best friend Claire (Emma Roberts) are enjoying what little time they have left in the summer. Once it’s over, Hailey’s mother is moving to Australia for her job and Hailey is not pleased about moving. That’s not a surprise since she’s a junior high school student, her best friend is staying behind, and let’s not forget about the lifeguard they both have their eyes on, Raymond (Jake McDorman.)

But then . . . something happens that changes everything.

During a terrible storm, Hailey says a little prayer, thinking that it might change her life so that she doesn’t have to move, and there certainly are big changes the next day. In the swimming pool, the two girls have found something unusual; a mermaid named Aquamarine (Sara Paxton). She’s swam away from home because her father is forcing her to get married. It seems that arranged marriages still exist under the sea. Aqua has managed to get her father to agree that if she can prove true love exists, she won’t have to follow through with the arrangements and she’s set her eyes on Raymond. Like it or not, Hailey and Claire have decided to help her, especially since they’ve discovered there’s a wish involved if they can make Aqua’s dream come true.

If you hadn’t already figured this one out, Aquamarine is a film that is definitely geared not only to a younger crowd, but one that is female. Seriously, I see junior high boys wanting to see this about as much as they want to play the latest Barbie game that was released on the PlayStation 2 (yes, they do have those games.) The film really does pander to it’s given target audience and then some, though this is also one of those films that is harmless enough for the most part.

However, while Aquamarine isn’t quite a complete rip off of Splash, it does have elements, and there are more than a few moments that I was reminded of yet another classic mermaid tale, The Little Mermaid. For Aqua though, there are some problems now that she’s land-based; any contact with water and she turns back into a mermaid, and the same is true when night falls. Luckily Hailey has found an old water tower for her to stay in at night, but as fate would have it, a group of bad girls realizes what’s going on and decides to try and expose Aqua for who she really is.

The film delivers quite a few different things, though that whole “true love” thing because ridiculous, and even by the end it doesn’t necessarily come to pass. Aquamarine though is about friendship first and foremost, and while we see the relationship already between Claire and Hailey, their bonds strengthen more when Aqua becomes their newest gal-pal. Aquamarine also plays around with some rather unique puns based on life in the sea, though some are definitely bad, like Aqua’s “shell phone.” Yeah, hilarious, isn’t it? We also find Aqua clueless about life on the surface, boys, and basically everything else save for what she knows from the ocean.

The problem that I have with the film, aside from the obvious, is that the film is just far too predictable in every sense of the word. There are no big surprises in store at any point during the course of the movie, and more or less, everything is set up without you even realizing it. This is also another case of trying to get a “beautiful” cast together, and this could be looked at as a means to show girls who would go to the film that you need to be gorgeous to achieve your dreams, though Hailey is a rare case when she dresses more like a tomboy, and that does work a bit in her favor. Opposite of that however, there are some extremely gorgeous scenery shots, and some fantastic slow motion used in the film at times, and from this standpoint, the film isn’t bad at all. Unfortunately, this isn’t a nature film, so Aquamarine doesn’t rely on these too heavily.

Like a number of Fox’s DVD releases, Aquamarine is a double sided disc meaning that first of all, you have the option of wide or full screen, but this also means that the special features can be found on both sides. On the first side of DVD you have commentary with Elizabeth Allen, the films director, as well as producer Susan Cartsonis and not only will you have the usual feature commentary, there is an option that allows you to select specific scenes featuring Sara Paxton, Emma Robert and Jojo. The second side has these same features, but it also includes a collection of deleted scenes and a number of behind the scenes features.

Aquamarine is probably going to be a fun movie for the preteen, female audience that it is aimed at, but for those that are a bit older, or male, this really isn’t going to give them much entertainment (though I could see it as a good punishment for some naughty little boys.) This fish out of water was just that during my viewing session, and it’s going to be that way with a number of people I believe.

-mike-