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"AQUAMARINE" (2006) (Joanna Levesque, Emma Roberts) (PG) Alcohol/ Drugs Blood/Gore Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude Frightening/ Tense Scenes Guns/ Weapons None Minor Moderate *Mild None Imitative Behavior Jump Scenes Music (Scary/Tense) Music (Inappropriate) Profanity Moderate Minor Moderate Minor Mild Sex/ Nudity Smoking Tense Family Scenes Topics To Talk About Violence Moderate None Moderate Moderate Minor QUICK TAKE: Romantic Comedy: Two girls try to get a lifeguard to fall in love with the mermaid they've just met, all in hopes that she'll grant a wish that will keep one of the girls from having to move to Australia. PLOT: Hailey (JOANNA 'JOJO' LEVESQUE) and Claire (EMMA ROBERTS) are two 13-year-old friends who like hanging out at the small town Florida beach club run by Claire's grandparents with whom she lives. While that occasionally involves getting spooked by the sudden sight of lanky maintenance worker Leonard (BRUCE SPENCE), they don't mind since their attention is squarely focused on hunky lifeguard Raymond (JAKE McDORMAN). But there are two things in the way of the girls' happiness. One comes in the form of older teenager Cecilia (ARIELLE KEBBEL) and her equally snobby friends who look down on Hailey and Claire, with Cecilia -- whose father is the local TV weatherman - having also set her sights on Raymond. Far worse, however, is that it's the end of the summer and Hailey's marine biologist mother Ginny (CLAUDIA KARVAN) is moving them to Australia in a few days. Upset, but realizing there's nothing they can do, Hailey jokingly tries to cast a spell that might intervene. That night, a fierce storm arrives and deposits the possible answer to the girls' prayers in the form of 18-year-old mermaid Aquamarine (SARA PAXTON). She's swum away from home to avoid a prearranged marriage in a few days, but if she can prove that a myth known as love really exists, she can get out of it. Learning that she can grant wishes to those who help her, the girls give up their thoughts of landing Raymond for themselves. Instead, they decide to help Aquamarine get the lifeguard to fall in love with her in exchange for her magically stopping Hailey's move halfway around the world. With a deadline of three days and the complication of Aquamarine's new human legs changing back to her tail at sunset or if touched by water, the girls set out to help the naive mermaid find love. WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT? Many younger girls will probably want to. WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG For mild language and sensuality. CAST AS ROLE MODELS: JOANNA 'JOJO' LEVESQUE plays a 13-year-old girl who has a crush on Raymond but is mad at her mom that they're moving to Australia in a few days. She worries that she'll miss Claire, but then tries to help Aquamarine get Raymond to fall in love with the mermaid so that she'll grant a wish that will prevent her from moving. EMMA ROBERTS plays her best friend, also 13, who similarly has a crush on Raymond but likewise tries to get Raymond to fall for Aquamarine. She lives with her grandparents and has a fear of the water (apparently due to her parents dying in some water related incident). SARA PAXTON plays the 18-year-old mermaid who shows up and befriends the girls. Running away from a prearranged marriage, she needs to prove that love exists in order to get out of those nuptials. Accordingly, she sets her sights on Raymond, but is relatively naive about human romances and other behavior. JAKE McDORMAN plays the hunky and friendly lifeguard that all of the girls have their sights set on. ARIELLE KEBBEL plays the older teenage girl who's demeaning to Hailey and Claire, likes Raymond and thus tries to sabotage Aquamarine's efforts of wooing him. CLAUDIA KARVAN plays Hailey's marine biologist mom who's not happy that Hailey's so upset about them moving. BRUCE SPENCE plays the lonely but friendly maintenance man at the beach club. CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit? Then read OUR TAKE of this film. (Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below). OUR WORD TO PARENTS: The following is a brief summary of the content found in this romantic comedy that's been rated PG. Profanity consists of a benign slang term for breasts, a minor expletive and some religious phrases, while various colorful phrases are also uttered. Various teens are seen in swimming attire (shirtless guys, girls in bikinis, including one in a rather small one), while the mermaid is seemingly nude above the waist (her hair covers her breasts, but everything else is exposed) and other nudity is implied (seen by others, but not the camera). A few scenes (a storm at night, initial views of an underwater creature in a murky pool at night, etc.) may be unsettling for the youngest of kids (but probably to no one else), while thematic elements include absent or dead parents, phobias and more (including a brief gay related comment). Some bad attitudes are present (mainly in the form of older girls being mean to the younger protagonists), while one of the latter isn't happy with her mom about moving away, and some behavior might be enticing for some kids to imitate. If you're still concerned about the film and its appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home who may be interested in seeing it, we suggest that you take a closer look at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content. For those concerned with bright flashes of light on the screen, there's a bad storm at night with many flashes of lightning. For those prone to visually induced motion sickness, there's some bouncy camera movement in a scene that follows Aquamarine bouncing up and down on a bed. ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE None. BLOOD/GORE While riding on the handlebars of Claire's bike, Aquamarine ends up falling off and getting a slight bloody cut on her leg (Raymond puts a bandage on it -- and we see a tiny bit of a blood stain on that). DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE Cecilia and her friends look down on Hailey and Claire throughout the film. Hailey isn't happy with her mom for moving them to Australia. Viewers opposed to magical powers might not like Hailey jokingly making a spell that will keep her from moving, or Aquamarine having the abilities to transform her body or grant wishes. Seeing that Cecilia's license plate reads "Princess," Aquamarine wonders if she is one, with Claire saying no, but that she's "a royal bitch." We hear that Cecilia lied to Raymond about Aquamarine having a boyfriend. To trap Aquamarine in the water tower where she spends her nights, Cecilia first locks the door up top and then breaks away the ladder leading up to it. Cecilia has a bad attitude toward a middle-aged ticket-taker. FRIGHTENING SCENES Scenes listed here may be unsettling or suspenseful to the youngest of viewers but probably to no one else. Hailey and Claire run into Leonard and the sudden sight of him at night startles them. There's a bad storm at night with many flashes of lightning. The power goes out and Hailey and Claire then scream when a silhouetted figure enters with a flashlight, but it turns out to be Claire's grandmother. A big wave then washes up on the beach and swamps the pool, etc. Later, everyone goes out to look at the damage, with Claire accidentally falling into the debris-filled pool. When she sees something moving about in the murky water (which turns out to be Aquamarine - but they don't know that yet), she screams underwater and Raymond then dives in and saves her. Hailey and Claire return to the pool at night, trying to find whatever is in there, but it turns out to be Aquamarine and nothing else scary or suspenseful occurs once they meet her. As Hailey and Aquamarine ascend a water tower's ladder, part of it starts to break away and there's a brief, suspenseful moment, but they then continue and nothing else happens. As Cecilia later ascends the water tower's ladder, part of it breaks away (and swings out) with her on it, but after a suspenseful moment, she's okay. Cecilia pushes Aquamarine off the end of the pier, and the currents suddenly swell and start to yank her out to sea. Hailey and Claire then jump off the pier together to swim out and try to save her (all end up hanging onto a buoy and are okay). GUNS/WEAPONS None. IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR Phrases: "A sand-witch," "You're insane," "Amen-eth," "That was tight," "About as deep as a tidal pool" (said about a person), "You scared the salt out of me," "I think you're hot," "Who ordered broom service?" "She thinks she's the shizz," "A royal bitch," "Dim-sighted," "There's something fishy about that girl," "Holy mackerel," "Fish-butt," "Notorious suck-ups," "What's next? Dentures or depends?" "Bull-shark" (said in place of the other "B-S" word), "Jeez," "That barnacle," "You little freaks," "Freak city," "This is so lame" and "What the hell is the matter with you?" Aquamarine repeatedly bounces on a bed (excited that she has legs for the first time). Aquamarine has blue streaks in her hair and Hailey later has them added when she gets her hair done. Aquamarine playfully kicks Claire on the butt (testing out her new legs). Aquamarine rides on the handlebars of Claire's bike and later stands on Hailey's rear bike axle as they go down the road. Being from the sea, Aquamarine pours salt directly from the container into her mouth. After Cecilia's friends are demeaning to Hailey and Claire, Aquamarine spits soda (or something similar) on those mean girls with a straw. Seeing Aquamarine adding salt to her water, Raymond joins her in doing the same and then drinks some, adversely reacting to the salty taste (but he does not vomit as expected). JUMP SCENES Hailey and Claire run into Leonard and the sudden sight of him at night startles them. MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE) A moderate amount of suspenseful music plays in several scenes. MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE) A song has the lyric, "I like the way you move" (sung by a guy, but in this instance it represents the girls' view of Raymond being shirtless on the beach). PROFANITY At least 1 slang term for breasts ("boobs"), 1 hell, 14 uses of "Oh my God," 2 of "God" and 1 use of "Oh God." SEX/NUDITY We see Raymond and other guy shirtless on the beach, while various young woman are seen in bikinis or bikini tops. That includes Cecilia who shows up in a rather skimpy bikini that sports cleavage and prompts Claire to say she (Cecilia) could poke an eye out with them (referring to her breasts). In the pool at night, Aquamarine's long hair covers her presumably bare breasts, but we don't see anything explicit. Hailey and Claire find Aquamarine hiding in a building and the latter is happy that she now has a butt and legs (transformed from her mermaid tail) that she turns to show the girls. We see her bare back and she comments on her butt (not seen, as she's behind a large beach ball that blocks the lower view of her, but the girls see it and then look away), saying how cute it is and that she can sit on it. A song has the lyric, "I like the way you move" (sung by a guy, but in this instance it represents the girls' view of Raymond being shirtless on the beach). Naive about love and how quickly it's supposed to occur, Aquamarine asks Raymond if he loves her. He says he doesn't (as he's only just met her), but think she's hot, adding "really hot." When Aquamarine tells Hailey and Claire about this, Claire says that all the girls are after him, and even some of the boys as well. We see various teens in bikinis at the beach. After Aquamarine moves a light above Hailey's fish bowl (that causes her pet fish to come out of hiding), Claire asks, "Can you make boobs come out of hiding?" The word "sex" may have been included in text in a magazine article, but the shot was split-second in a rapid-fire montage of such views of teen magazine content. While trying on clothes, Aquamarine shakes her butt in a dress. Aquamarine shows some cleavage. Hailey shows a little cleavage. We see various shirtless guys and young women in bikini tops at a party. We see Aquamarine in a bubble bath (but don't see anything explicit), with Hailey's legs sticking over the edge to stand in for Aquamarine's (since she has a tail in the bathtub and they can't let Raymond, who's inadvertently walked in with Claire, see that she's a mermaid). Aquamarine shows some cleavage. We see some miscellaneous cleavage. Hailey shows a little cleavage in her bikini or bra top (she removes her shirt to jump in the ocean to save Aquamarine). Aquamarine joins Raymond on his surfboard type flotation device and we see her bare back along with her long hair strategically placed over her presumably bare breasts. SMOKING None, but when Hailey responds to Cecilia and her friends' reaction to how much clothing she's wearing at the beach by saying there will be less skin cancer, one of the ditzy girls responds that they don't smoke. TENSE FAMILY SCENES We see a family photo of Hailey and her parents and we know the dad isn't around, but don't initially know why. We later hear that her father left them for another woman. Hailey isn't happy that she and her mom are moving to Australia (and it's indicated they've moved before for her mom's job) and that creates some tension between them. We hear that Aquamarine ran away from home three days before her prearranged marriage. We later hear the muffled sounds of Aquamarine's dad being angry with her (on the "shell phone"). Claire is afraid to go into the water and it's suggested her parents died in some sort of water-related accident (she lives with her grandparents). TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT Phobias (Claire is afraid of the water). Losing parents (through divorce or death). Mermaids. We hear that Aquamarine ran away from home three days before her prearranged marriage. When Aquamarine tells Hailey and Claire about Raymond, Claire says that all the girls are after him, and even some of the boys as well. Marine biology (Hailey's mom is in that field). Teenage girls' tactics to try to attract boys. The comment that sometimes you have to leave home to figure out what you want. The notion of why go through life unnoticed. The comment that love doesn't always work. VIOLENCE While riding on the handlebars of Claire's bike, Aquamarine ends up falling off and getting a slight bloody cut on her leg (Raymond puts a bandage on it -- and we see a tiny bit of a blood stain on that). Cecilia pushes Aquamarine off the end of the pier. Reviewed February 25, 2006 / Posted March 3, 2006

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