Aquamarine

Aquamarine is a 2006 American teen fantasy romantic 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 in their small beach town near Tampa, Florida, before Hailey relocates to Australia because of her mother's work as a marine biologist. 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 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.
The next morning, Aquamarine asks Raymond if he loves her. Raymond admits that he likes her a lot but has not fallen in love with Aquamarine. Aquamarine is disappointed until 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 and holds on to a buoy. 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 since her mother worked hard for this, and instead, they part ways with Aquamarine, with promises of Aquamarine visiting them both and loving each other forever. Raymond swims up to Aquamarine and he asks her to visit him as well. She agrees and they kiss. Back on shore the girls see Lennard has used his wish to win the heart of another employee Bonnie who he has loved for so long. The girls are happy for him and Raymond finds the girls to thank them for introducing Aqua not knowing if he could have done what they had done keeping Aquas secret. He gives them both a kiss and the girls celebrate giving each other one last hug with both saying how much they will miss one another.
In the stage booklet it is revealed that a year later Clare, Raymond, and Aqua meet up with Haley in Australia exploring the great coral reef together.
==Cast==
* Sara Paxton as Aquamarine
* Emma Roberts as Claire "Clara" 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
* Alice Hunter as Beach Girl
==Home media==
The film was released on DVD on June 13, 2006, and on Blu-ray on March 6, 2012.
==Reception==
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 51% based on reviews from 89 critics, with an average rating of 5.44/10. The site's consensus states: "A lighthearted, gum-smacking, boy-crazy film with a hopeful message for young girls." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 51 out of 100, based on 27 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews." Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "A-" on scale of A to F.
Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter called it "A bright and breezy tween fantasy romantic comedy that coasts along on its charming performances and the light comedic touch of first-time feature director Elizabeth Allen."
Variety's Joe Leydon praised the film saying it was an "unusually likeable family-friendly comedy that could appeal far beyond its target [audience]".
===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.
=== Accolades ===
 
Year	Result 	Award 	Category 	Recipients
2006	rowspan="3" 	Teen Choice Awards 	Choice Movie: Chick Flick	
2006	Choice Movie Breakout Star – Female 	Teen Choice Awards 	JoJo 	
2007	Nickelodeon Australian Kids' Choice Awards 	Fave Movie Star 	Emma Roberts 	
2007	 	Young Artist Awards	Emma Roberts 	Best Performance in a Feature Film – Supporting Young Actress
2007	rowspan="2" 	Young Artist Awards	JoJo 	Best Performance in a Feature Film – Supporting Young Actress
2007	Best Performance in a Feature Film – Leading Young Actress	Young Artist Awards	Sara Paxton 	
==Soundtrack==
# "One Original Thing"Cheyenne Kimball
# "Strike"Nikki Flores
# "Connected"Sara Paxton
# "Gentlemen"Teddy Geiger
# "One and Only"Teitur
# "Island in the Sun"Emma Roberts
# "Time for Me to Fly"Jonas Brothers
# "Can't Behave"Courtney Jaye
# "Summertime Guys"Nikki Cleary
# "One Way or Another"Mandy Moore
# "Sweet Troubled Soul"Stellastarr
# "I Like the Way You Move"Bodyrockers
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.
# "Main Titles"
# "The Storm"
# "Washed Ashore"
# "Claire Falls In"
# "Meeting Aqua"
# "The Next Morning/Shell Phone Call"
# "Making the Deal"
# "Ray & Aqua/Magazines"
# "Paddleboat Date"
# "The Water Tower"
# "Hailey Rides the Dolphins"
# "Aqua's Decision"
# "First Kiss"
# "Cecilia Climbs the Tower"
# "Hailey and Claire Argue"
# "The Pier/Storm/The Buoy"
# "The Tear/Goodbyes"
# "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"Halfday
* "Big WavePearl Jam
* "Underground"Puretone
* "Smile"Vitamin C
==See also==
* Mermaids in popular culture
Category:2006 films
Category:English-language films
Category:2000s comedy films
Category:20th Century Fox films
Category:American coming-of-age films
Category:American films
Category:American teen films
Category:American comedy films
Category:Australian films
Category:Children's films
Category:Directorial debut films
Category:Fantasy-comedy films
Category:American fantasy films
Category:Fictional mermen and mermaids
Category:Films about wish-fulfillment
Category:Films based on children's books
Category:Films shot in Australia
Category:Films shot in Louisiana
Category:Mermaids in popular culture
Category:Films about mermaids
Category:2000s buddy comedy films
Category:2000s coming-of-age films
Category:2000s fantasy-comedy films
Category:2000s teen comedy films
Category:2000s teen fantasy films
Category:American buddy comedy films
Category:American fantasy-comedy films
Category:American romantic drama films
Category:American female buddy films
Category:American teen comedy films
Category:Buddy comedy films
Category:Films based on American novels
Category:Films based on young adult literature
Category:Films directed by Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum
Category:Films scored by David Hirschfelder
Category:Films set in Florida
Category:Films shot in New South Wales
Category:Films shot in Queensland
Category:Rated PG
Category:1:85:1 Aspect Ratio Films