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
