Aquamarine (film)

Aquamarine is a 2006 American teen fantasy comedy film directed by Elizabeth Allen, loosely based on the 2001 young adult novel of the same name by Alice Hoffman. It stars Emma Roberts, Joanna "JoJo" Levesque, and Sara Paxton. The film was released in the United States on March 3, 2006, by 20th Century Fox.

Plot
Best friends Claire and Hailey are enjoying their last few days of summer together before Hailey relocates to Australia because of her mother's work. Claire, sensible and slightly naive, looks up to Hailey as a mother figure, after her parents drowned in a boat accident years before, and now lives with her grandparents by the beach. Hailey, who is more daring and adventurous, lives with her single mother in the small beach town after her father left them.

They have a slumber party and Hailey prays to the ocean god for a miracle that will make her mother change her mind about moving, and minutes later, a violent storm occurs. The following morning, Claire accidentally falls into the beach club swimming pool and sees something strange, with blue hair and a tail, in the water. The girls go back and explore it later that night, and find a mermaid named Aquamarine. They instantly become friends. Aquamarine tells the girls that she needs to prove to her father that true love exists or she will be forced to marry a man she does not know when she returns home. Aquamarine (who is able to change her tail into legs during the day as long as she does not get wet) has set her eyes on Raymond, the lifeguard whom Hailey and Claire have had a crush on for years. They are reluctant at first, but when Aquamarine explains that you get a wish if you help a mermaid, they agree to try, in hope that they can prevent Hailey from leaving.

Because Aquamarine is not human, she does not understand how love works and is rejected immediately by Raymond when they first meet. Still, the girls promise to make Raymond fall in love with Aquamarine over the next three days, using strategies found in teen magazines. However, a group of popular girls headed by Cecilia Banks, who also has a crush on Raymond, are always getting in the way.

At the street fair, Raymond spends the day with Aquamarine and mentions that he wants to see her at a party, The Last Splash, the following night. She flees without giving him an answer, knowing a sunset can cause her legs to transform back into a tail. Claire and Hailey find Aquamarine a water tower for her to spend the night in. The following day, Cecilia tells Raymond that Aquamarine has a boyfriend back home, so Raymond invites Cecilia to the party instead. Claire then finds him to tell him Cecilia made the whole thing up, and he and Aquamarine reconcile.

At the party, Aquamarine and Raymond bond more but then she flees again due to sunset. Before she does, she kisses him and asks him to meet her on the pier in the morning. When the three girls leave the party, Cecilia follows them to the water tower and discovers Aquamarine's secret. She unhooks the ladder to prevent Aquamarine from getting down and calls the news so they can expose her on national television. However, during the night, the town's mysterious handyman Leonard helps her out and promises not to tell anyone what he knows. Aquamarine grants him a wish for helping her out.

After a while, although he cares for her a lot, Raymond admits that he has still has not fallen in love with Aquamarine. They meet on the pier where Cecilia interrupts and pushes Aquamarine into the ocean but she screams in horror and runs away right after realizing what she has done when she notices that Aquamarine is actually a real mermaid. Aquamarine's father calls her back home in a giant storm, but Hailey and Claire swim after her as Aquamarine tries to defy her father again. They discover the meaning of platonic love and Aquamarine's father is satisfied knowing love is real, and the girls receive their wish. They decide to not use it to keep Hailey from moving away, and instead, they part ways with Aquamarine, with promises of Aquamarine visiting them and Raymond and loving each other forever.

Cast

 * Sara Paxton as Aquamarine
 * Emma Roberts as Claire Brown
 * JoJo as Hailey Rogers
 * Jake McDorman as Raymond
 * Arielle Kebbel as Cecilia Banks
 * Claudia Karvan as Ginny Rogers
 * Bruce Spence as Leonard
 * Tammin Sursok as Marjorie
 * Roy Billing as Bob Brown
 * Julia Blake as Maggie Brown
 * Shaun Micallef as Storm Banks
 * Lulu McClatchy as Bonnie
 * Natasha Cunningham as Patty
 * Dichen Lachman as Beth
 * Lincoln Lewis as Theo
 * Julia Blake as Jessica
 * Alice Hunter as BG

Home media
The film was released on DVD on June 13, 2006, and on Blu-ray on March 6, 2012.

Reception
Aquamarine received mixed reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 51% based on reviews from 81 critics. The site's consensus states: "A lighthearted, gum-smacking, boy-crazy film with a hopeful message for young girls." On Metacritic, which uses an average of critics' reviews, the film holds 51/100, indicating "mixed or average reviews." Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "A-" on scale of A to F.

Box office
In its opening weekend, Aquamarine grossed $7.5 million in 2,512 theaters, ranking #5 at the box office. By the end of its run, the film grossed $18.6 million domestically, and $4.4 million internationally, for a worldwide total of $23 million.

Soundtrack
Two of the film's main stars, Emma Roberts and Sara Paxton, were featured on the soundtrack. In 2008, La La Land Records released a limited edition CD (1000 pressings) of David Hirschfelder's score (incorporating the voice of Paxton) for the film.
 * 1) "One Original Thing" – Cheyenne Kimball
 * 2) "Strike" – Nikki Flores
 * 3) "Connected" – Sara Paxton
 * 4) "Gentlemen" – Teddy Geiger
 * 5) "One and Only" – Teitur
 * 6) "Island in the Sun" – Emma Roberts
 * 7) "Time for Me to Fly" – Jonas Brothers
 * 8) "Can't Behave" – Courtney Jaye
 * 9) "Summertime Guys" – Nikki Cleary
 * 10) "One Way or Another" – Mandy Moore
 * 11) "Sweet Troubled Soul" – Stellastarr
 * 12) "I Like the Way You Move" – Bodyrockers
 * 1) "Main Titles"
 * 2) "The Storm"
 * 3) "Washed Ashore"
 * 4) "Claire Falls In"
 * 5) "Meeting Aqua"
 * 6) "The Next Morning/Shell Phone Call"
 * 7) "Making the Deal"
 * 8) "Ray & Aqua/Magazines"
 * 9) "Paddleboat Date"
 * 10) "The Water Tower"
 * 11) "Hailey Rides the Dolphins"
 * 12) "Aqua's Decision"
 * 13) "First Kiss"
 * 14) "Cecilia Climbs the Tower"
 * 15) "Hailey and Claire Argue"
 * 16) "The Pier/Storm/The Buoy"
 * 17) "The Tear/Goodbyes"
 * 18) "Finale"
 * Other songs featured in the film
 * "A Comer Chicharron (Guaracha)" – Charanga Cubana
 * "City Girls Jr." – Simon Leadley
 * "Control Me" – The A Team
 * "Dejenme Vivir" – Charanga Cubana
 * "Don't Cry Baby" – Alana Dafonseca
 * "Drive Me Crazy" – Miss Eighty 6
 * "I Rock Hard" – Miss Eighty 6
 * "Island in the Sun" – Weezer
 * "Big Wave – Pearl Jam
 * "Underground" – Puretone
 * "Smile" – Vitamin C