'Aquamarine' is the perfect summer movie

With summer just around the corner, a good mermaid movie is the perfect way to set the mood. If you’re looking to make this summer as fun as the ones from your childhood, “Aquamarine” is the perfect movie to start it off.

“Aquamarine,” starring Joanna “JoJo” Levesque, Emma Roberts and Sara Paxton, came out in 2006. It is a sweet, summertime, coming-of-age movie about how powerful friendship can really be.

The movie starts with Hailey Rogers (JoJo) and Claire Brown (Roberts) coming up on the end of summer in their small beach town in Florida. Hailey is about to move away to Australia, and both of them are wanting to talk to the good-looking lifeguard, Raymond (Jake McDorman).

A few nights before Hailey has to leave, a major storm hits their town. In the pool of Claire’s grandparents’ house, the two girls discover that the bad weather dropped something in the pool: a mermaid named Aquamarine (Paxton).

During the day, Aquamarine is able to transform her tail into human legs as long as she does not touch water. She was thrown ashore in order to prove to her father that love exists, and she asks for the girls’ help to fall in love with Raymond in exchange for a wish, which the girls want to use to keep Hailey from moving in a few days.

Throughout the movie, the three girls navigate the ups and downs of life, love and friendship.

This movie is the perfect early 2000’s summer movie. From a shopping montage to a popular mean girl (played perfectly by Arielle Kebbel) to a pop song sung by one of the main actresses over the credits, “Aquamarine” screams Y2K in the best way.

“Aquamarine” is, overall, very heartfelt. As someone who was once a young girl who had (or has) dreams of becoming a mermaid, this movie hit every nostalgic spot in me. The dialogue felt very realistic between the three. It was never dumbed down because they are young, but it wasn’t too mature, either. This movie did a good job of hitting that awkward, teen sweet spot.

The cast did a great job showing this as well. Paxton’s portrayed Aquamarine perfectly, really focusing on the character’s naivety and excitement to be in the human world and find love. JoJo and Roberts also did an excellent job portraying their characters. With their dialogue and actions, it was easy to believe that they were best friends throughout the entire movie.

The magic in this movie was easy to follow, as well. I enjoyed how the mermaid rules were set up, such as how Aquamarine’s tail appears and disappears. However, she also kept color-changing nails, which coincided with her mood, and used live starfish as earrings, who complimented her. These little details about mermaid magic added so much fun and gave the movie a very whimsical tone.

However, despite all the fun, this movie also focuses on some important themes. As stated earlier, Hailey and Claire are about to move far away from one another, and the two must learn how to deal with the loss of one another, which is important for young audiences to hear.

Another theme the movie focuses on is finding confidence in yourself. Aquamarine is portrayed as naïve with lots of quirks because she’s a mermaid. However, she recognizes this within herself, and she does not let it bother her. Although she wants Raymond to fall in love with her, Aquamarine sticks to what she believes in and is herself around him, and he ultimately ends up falling for her because of that.

One great example of this theme in the movie is during the shopping mall montage. At the top of the escalator, Aquamarine shouts “Hello!” to everyone below and waves. Hailey and Claire are mortified, but Aqua just shrugs and says, “Why go through life unnoticed?”

The quote immediately went on my vision board.

Overall, “Aquamarine” is a love letter to an early 2000’s summer with a bit of magic sprinkled in. It highlights every girl’s dream of being a mermaid while also showing girls how important it is to be themselves and stick by their friends.