Aquamarine
—1. Overview
—2. Cast and Crew
—3. Photo Pages
—4. Trailers, Clips, DVDs, Books, Soundtrack
—5. Posters (Current Films)
—6. Production Notes (pdf)
—7. Spiritual Connections
—8. Presentation Downloads
Everybody in the pool! That means you mermaids too. Take the old Tom Hanks/Darrel Hannach movie SPLASH, mix in a dash of THE LITTLE MERMAID, throw in a trio of cute girl actors, and then just add water. Presto! You got yourself a genuine tear-jerker for the tween girl set called AQUAMARINE!
Here’s the basic premise. Clair (Emma Robets) and Hailey (JoJo) are best friends near Tampa Florida. They live at an old fashioned family resort on the ocean and pine after buff kite-boarder/lifeguard Raymond (Jake McDorman). They dread the end of summer, because then Hailey and her marine biologist mother will move far away to Australia. One night, they pray to the gods of the hurricane’s to come and change the mind of Hailey’s mom. A wicked storm brews up, and in the morning, the girls find a genuine teenage mermaid girl in the resort pool named, what else, Aquamarine (Sara Paxton.)
The mermaid tells them she swam away from her father because her father wants her to marry a boorish “blowfish� in an arranged marriage. Aquamarine doesn’t want to marry this merman, of course, because she believes in true love. Her father doesn’t believe in true love and so they made a deal. Aquamarine must find someone to tell her that they love her within three days, or Aquamarine must go back and marry the blowfish.
Aquamarine sets her sights on Raymond, and after initially balking, the girls agree to help Raymond discover Aquamarine and “fall in love� with her. After all, Aquamarine tells them if you help a mermaid, you get a wish granted. The girls figure they can get Raymond to fall in love with Aquamarine and then Aquamarine will somehow make it so that Hailey and her mom don’t have to move away.
After what begins as a dumb, trite, stereotypical dumb, girl friendly rom-com, complete with shopping montages, silly bubble-gum remakes of pop songs, and vindictive, rich-girl, snob villainesses, the movie takes an unexpected turn to depth and substance in the last fifteen minutes. The girls learn that love between friends is as powerful as romantic love. Clair and Hailey learn to sacrifice their dreams for the greater good. And everyone learns that in giving, you receive.
A whole paragraph must be devoted to the starfish. Aquamarine tells Clair and Hailey that the starfish, used as earrings, complement her, not just in appearance, but actually speak encouraging words in the ears of those who wear them. Aquamarine ultimately gives the starfish to the girls and she tells her friends, “The starfish might sound like they are saying sweet nothings, but they never lie.� The girls try on the aquatic accessories and hear such wonderful truths like, “You are as beautiful on the inside as on the out.� And, “You can do anything you set you mind to do.�
What could be perceived as just a simple throwaway sugary-sweet scene reveals itself to be a powerful symbol of the Holy Spirit’s work. The Holy Spirit is your encouragement and your strength. He speaks truth in a loving and kind way to you, always wanting you to bloom to your potential. (When the starfish said their magic, this old salty dog began to water up out of the sheer beauty of it all.)
Aquamarine will not go down in the annals as a great film, or even a great children’s film, but it stands apart from common tween fair for having its priorities right. It commands what is true and rebukes what is not, and leaves you feelings more encouraged and hopeful than when you left. And, perhaps a matinee of this kind of experience in late winter is just the prescription to beat the winter blues. Anyone care to go swimming?
— Overview
—2. Cast and Crew
—3. Photo Pages
—4. Trailers, Clips, DVDs, Books, Soundtrack
—5. Posters (Current Films)
—6. Production Notes (pdf)
—7. Spiritual Connections
—8. Presentation Downloads
Everybody in the pool! That means you mermaids too. Take the old Tom Hanks/Darrel Hannach movie SPLASH, mix in a dash of THE LITTLE MERMAID, throw in a trio of cute girl actors, and then just add water. Presto! You got yourself a genuine tear-jerker for the tween girl set called AQUAMARINE!Here’s the basic premise. Clair (Emma Robets) and Hailey (JoJo) are best friends near Tampa Florida. They live at an old fashioned family resort on the ocean and pine after buff kite-boarder/lifeguard Raymond (Jake McDorman). They dread the end of summer, because then Hailey and her marine biologist mother will move far away to Australia. One night, they pray to the gods of the hurricane’s to come and change the mind of Hailey’s mom. A wicked storm brews up, and in the morning, the girls find a genuine teenage mermaid girl in the resort pool named, what else, Aquamarine (Sara Paxton.)
The mermaid tells them she swam away from her father because her father wants her to marry a boorish “blowfish� in an arranged marriage. Aquamarine doesn’t want to marry this merman, of course, because she believes in true love. Her father doesn’t believe in true love and so they made a deal. Aquamarine must find someone to tell her that they love her within three days, or Aquamarine must go back and marry the blowfish.
Aquamarine sets her sights on Raymond, and after initially balking, the girls agree to help Raymond discover Aquamarine and “fall in love� with her. After all, Aquamarine tells them if you help a mermaid, you get a wish granted. The girls figure they can get Raymond to fall in love with Aquamarine and then Aquamarine will somehow make it so that Hailey and her mom don’t have to move away.
After what begins as a dumb, trite, stereotypical dumb, girl friendly rom-com, complete with shopping montages, silly bubble-gum remakes of pop songs, and vindictive, rich-girl, snob villainesses, the movie takes an unexpected turn to depth and substance in the last fifteen minutes. The girls learn that love between friends is as powerful as romantic love. Clair and Hailey learn to sacrifice their dreams for the greater good. And everyone learns that in giving, you receive.
A whole paragraph must be devoted to the starfish. Aquamarine tells Clair and Hailey that the starfish, used as earrings, complement her, not just in appearance, but actually speak encouraging words in the ears of those who wear them. Aquamarine ultimately gives the starfish to the girls and she tells her friends, “The starfish might sound like they are saying sweet nothings, but they never lie.� The girls try on the aquatic accessories and hear such wonderful truths like, “You are as beautiful on the inside as on the out.� And, “You can do anything you set you mind to do.�
What could be perceived as just a simple throwaway sugary-sweet scene reveals itself to be a powerful symbol of the Holy Spirit’s work. The Holy Spirit is your encouragement and your strength. He speaks truth in a loving and kind way to you, always wanting you to bloom to your potential. (When the starfish said their magic, this old salty dog began to water up out of the sheer beauty of it all.)
Aquamarine will not go down in the annals as a great film, or even a great children’s film, but it stands apart from common tween fair for having its priorities right. It commands what is true and rebukes what is not, and leaves you feelings more encouraged and hopeful than when you left. And, perhaps a matinee of this kind of experience in late winter is just the prescription to beat the winter blues. Anyone care to go swimming?
— Overview
1 Comments:
You know - of course I will go swimming! In an all male household, (the cats don't count btw - they are female and think they're God.) sometimes I forget that I am female and these movies help me to remember!
So give me some popcorn and my traveling pants.
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