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Back Shelf Beauties
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Aquamarine She's a blonde haired, blue eyed mermaid who loves Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream. HELLO SARA PAXTON, I AM IN LOVE!!!! Emma Roberts stars as Claire - a boy crazy, neurotic 7th grader whose best friend, Hailey (Joanna "JoJo" Levesque), is preparing to move to Australia because her mother has accepted a huge, prestigious job offer. The two best buds are inseparable, and the impending move is causing a great deal of heartache, so they spend every possible moment together at Claire's grandparents' beach club drooling over an older teenage lifeguard, Raymond (Jake McDorman). One night, a huge storm hits their beachfront town, and a mermaid, Aquamarine (Sara Paxton), is blown into the club's pool. She "swam away" from home to avoid an arranged marriage, and her only hope for escape is to find true love in the three days before the wedding is to take place. When they find out Aquamarine will grant one wish to the person or people who save her from a loveless marriage, Claire and Hailey agree to help, but they're not so sure they are happy with Aquamarine's choice in boys. Will Aquamarine find true love? What will Claire and Hailey wish for? Aquamarine is a charming, likable, fun movie, especially for moms and daughters looking to share a special evening together (and dirty old men who want to stare at the mermaid). Aimed at tweens and younger, the movie doesn't pose any intellectual challenges that will lead to Oscar glory, but writers John Quaintance and Jessica Bendinger do provide some funny jokes about the crazy advice girls get to chase after boys (or trying to play hard to get, depending on the latest fad magazine), and the girls get some lessons about living life instead of dreaming about it. Aside from some painful dialogue, like Hailey's big, supposedly inspirational speech about love (which made me want to stop dating for at least 3 months, or conduct research into whether all people under 14-years old have this much trouble with their vocabulary), Aquamarine is a movie full of mostly innocent fun, familiar themes and some slapstick humor. While JoJo and Roberts may be better known to the audience, Sara Paxton is the extremely charming, engaging, lively and radiant star of the movie. She fills her character with naiveté, but makes Aquamarine spunky and always up for an adventure, which makes the audience want to go along for the ride. Paxton has true star quality, and might become a big name in the next few years, if she doesn't get sidetracked by the horror movie/Maxim cover girl career track most available to a beautiful young lady in today's Hollywood. Levesque and Roberts have nice chemistry and come off like real kids instead of overly pretentious little brats. Director Elizabeth Allen makes sure they don't start rolling their eyes and putting on a fake cuteness like many child actors do (or spoiled children trying to get their way), which is refreshing for all. Roberts shows some ability to display real emotion as her character has the more painful backstory, and Levesque is fairly good at playing the kid who matures enough to realize she was acting like a brat to her mother for 75% of the movie. The two feel like real kids in the middle of a fantasy, even when their story is not fantasy driven. Aquamarine is worth going to see if you are looking for fun and innocence. 2 ½ Waffles (Out Of 4) Copyright 2006 - WaffleMovies.com
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