One can only imagine that the initial pitch for the film Aquamarine was simple enough – tell the timeless tale of The Little Mermaid in a new way that is accessible to the modern audience. Giving classic material a makeover is not always a bad idea. After all, the Shakespearean play “Taming of the Shrew” was very successfully told with the charming comedy “10 Things I Hate About You”, proving that the subject matter is good for any age. However, in order to survive – it takes respect for the art of storytelling, and a good script is essential. This is where “Aquamarine” drowns.
THE STORY – Best friends Claire and Hailey (Emma Roberts and Joanna Levesque) are spending their last five days of together before Claire is forced to move to Australia with her mother. A horrible storm washes our heroine Aquamarine (Sara Paxton) into a swimming pool and we now have our trio set. Varying on the theme from the original tale – Auqamarine has three days to prove to her father that love exists or she will be forced to return to her world under the ocean and marry a merman that she is not in love with. If they succeed and she can find love, then a wish is granted to Claire and Hailey for helping a mermaid.
It’s unfortunate. The production is given a nice shooting location along a summer beach community in Florida. We have a charming cast that is fighting like mad to help the well thought out plot along. We have beautiful people doing fun things. Then, disaster happens---they open their mouths.
Now, before anyone gets upset – I realize the target audience for this piece. However, I also believe that if we’re going to target films to 10 year-old girls, the responsibility is needed to give them the best possible material. None of the characters are believable – and to really have an impact, we have to really believe these people. I find it ironic that in the original tale, The Little Mermaid can’t speak. If only Sara Paxton would have had that luxury. Again, I’m not blaming her---she did the best she could with what she was given…which wasn’t much. She has the ability to do much more. Roberts and Levesque fare better, but barely.
Note to Hollywood – if you have to put a dance scene in a non-musical perhaps more script development needs to be done.
Interesting trivia – Aquamarine was originally supposed to be played by Jessica Simpson—I have no problem with Jessica Simpson, but Paxton is much better considering the ages of the supporting characters.
Now, I’ve been picking on the heroes a lot, but they are far stronger than the “villains” in the piece. They could star in their own feature: Beach Babes Behaving Badly – and the acting is some of the worst I’ve seen on film. If you pick up a copy and brave the waters with this piece, watch the extras in the background – they have no idea what they are supposed to be doing. Although, maybe that’s just because the film gives them nothing to do.
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