Now Playing
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search

Upcoming Release Calendar
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

sort by name

sort by score

38 12 Rounds
48 17 Again
76 Adventureland
48 Angels & Demons
54 Battle for Terra
xx Bruno
80 Coraline
40 Dance Flick
83 Drag Me to Hell
72 Earth
45 Fast & Furious
61 Fighting
34 Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
72 Gran Torino
73 Hangover, The
47 Hannah Montana: The Movie
51 Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
54 Imagine That
41 Knowing
32 Land of the Lost
56 Monsters vs. Aliens
34 My Life in Ruins
51 My Sister's Keeper
46 Next Day Air
42 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
54 Observe and Report
25 Obsessed
48 Proposal, The
70 Public Enemies
61 Soloist, The
83 Star Trek
64 State of Play
55 Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, The
52 Terminator Salvation
35 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
77 Under the Sea 3D
88 Up
43 X-Men Origins: Wolverine
34 Year One

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

sort by name

sort by score

67 $9.99
75 24 City
66 Adoration
74 Afghan Star
48 Alien Trespass
56 American Violet
82 Anvil! The Story of Anvil
57 Away We Go
81 Beaches of Agnes, The
62 Big Man Japan
28 Big Shot-Caller, The
78 Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
55 Brothers Bloom, The
82 Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
xx Call of the Wild
63 Cheri
62 Cherry Blossoms
63 Dead Snow
65 Departures
18 Downloading Nancy
58 Easy Virtue
70 End of the Line, The
77 Every Little Step
64 Examined Life
80 Food, Inc.
38 Gigantic
56 Girl from Monaco, The
67 Girlfriend Experience, The
87 Gomorrah
89 Goodbye Solo
63 Great Buck Howard, The
79 Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
xx Home
82 Hunger
91 Hurt Locker, The
16 I Hate Valentine's Day
81 Il Divo
54 Is Anybody There?
71 Jerichow
58 Julia
74 Lemon Tree
36 Life is Hot in Cracktown
40 Limits of Control, The
42 Little Ashes
64 Lymelife
50 Management
57 Merry Gentleman, The
66 Moon
35 New York
62 Not Forgotten
xx Offshore
78 O'Horten
64 Outrage
40 Paris 36
54 Pontypool
71 Pressure Cooker
52 Quiet Chaos
83 Revanche
67 Rudo y Cursi
86 Seraphine
65 Sex Positive
70 Shall We Kiss?
77 Sin Nombre
59 Sleep Dealer
74 Song of Sparrows, The
54 Stoning of Soraya M., The
82 Sugar
84 Summer Hours
61 Sunshine Cleaning
28 Surveillance
42 Tennessee
63 Tetro
64 Throw Down Your Heart
80 Tokyo Sonata
63 Tokyo!
70 Tony Manero
74 Treeless Mountain
88 Tulpan
74 Two Lovers
83 Tyson
83 U2 3D
60 Under Our Skin
69 Unmistaken Child
69 Valentino: The Last Emperor
22 What Goes Up
45 Whatever Works
57 Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Aquamarine
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation


7.9

based on 27 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 51 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG for mild language and sensuality

Starring Emma Roberts, JoJo, Sara Paxton, Jake McDorman, Arielle Kebbel, Claudia Karvan, Bruce Spence, and Tammin Sursok

Following a violent storm, a beautiful and sassy mermaid named Aquamarine washes ashore and into the lives of two best friends about to be parted at summer's end. When Aquamarine falls for a local, hunky lifeguard, she enlists the girls' help to win his heart and in exchange offers to grant the girls one wish. (20th Century Fox)

GENRE(S):	Comedy \| Drama \| Family/Kids
WRITTEN BY:	John Quaintance Jessica Bendinger Alice Hoffman (novel)
DIRECTED BY:	Elizabeth Allen
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: June 13, 2006 Theatrical: March 3, 2006
RUNNING TIME:	109 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

The movie has a sweetness and innocence that makes it near perfect entertainment for its target audience.

Variety Joe Leydon

Result is an unusually likeable family-friendly comedy.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Undemanding, unsurprising and really quite charming within conventional limits, Elizabeth Allen’s tween-coming-of-age feature debut is as realist as can be, given that, of the three nice Florida girls who need to grow up in the movie, the eponymous heroine (Sara Paxton) is a high-achieving blond mermaid with vaguely feminist leanings, a twitchy blue tail and the comic timing of an up-and-coming Cameron Diaz.

The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen

A bright and breezy tween fantasy romantic comedy that coasts along on its charming performances and the light comedic touch of first-time feature director Elizabeth Allen.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

Refreshingly, the movie never wavers in the importance it places on friendship over just about anything else.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Unique because it's the rare movie that fiercely respects the altruistic loyalty that bonds girls to one another.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Won't win points for originality, but the screenplay includes some snappy dialogue, smart observations, and an uplifting message about the importance of friendship.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

It's not the best "Little Mermaid" movie - it's totally predictable and its trio of tweeners squeal at a pitch that could break glass. But it's also a bubbly confection about best friends, crushes on preening lifeguards, grrrl power and shades-of-blue fashion tips.

New York Post Kyle Smith

It's high-spirited, innocent fun.

USA Today Staff [Not Credited]

Despite corny one-liners and plot developments that don't always hold water, Aquamarine rises above the flotsam filling theaters this time of year with a likable tale of friendship and charming performances.

Empire Anna Smith

This fantasy comedy should entertain its pre-teen female market – and repel those silly superficial boys (swoon).

The New York Times Neil Genzlinger

Ms. Paxton isn't quite as magnetic as a movie mermaid ought to be, but the two buddies are a treat to watch, especially Ms. Roberts, showing the genes of her Aunt Julia.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

That everything gets worked out -- friendship affirmed, jokes made about silly magazine articles on reeling in a boy -- is as sure as the soundtrack's inclusion of a Mandy Moore song.

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

This is a totally predictable exercise if you're not in the target market.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Simultaneously salacious and sugary.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

The film robs mermaids of everything exotic and remarkable about them in mythology.

Dallas Observer Gregg Rickman

Aquamarine will likely please its undemanding tween audience--especially if today's kids are as unsavvy a crew as 20th Century Fox seems to think.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Aquamarine is better than nothing for its woefully underserved audience.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The movie is awfully sweet. The young actresses playing eighth-graders look their age, for once, and have an unstudied charm.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Winda Benedetti

If "Splash" was a movie for grownups and "The Little Mermaid" was a film for kids, it's safe to say that the latest flick to feature a mermaid is aimed directly at those who are neither adults nor children, but rather lost somewhere in that awkward middle zone in between.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

The story has its hokey moments ("There's something very fishy about that girl"), but the sincerity and focus of the storytelling compensate.

TV Guide Ken Fox

Aside from an inspired bit involving a pair of sycophantic starfish, it's amazing how unimaginative a movie about a mermaid can be, and it's sad how thoroughly its girl-power stylings devolve into a muddle of mixed messages.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Like its title heroine, it's sparkly, pretty and flirty--but often all wet.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

Adapted (and significantly reshaped) from a young-adult book by novelist Alice Hoffman, Aquamarine has the tossed-off quality of an ABC Family TV movie. Its lessons come pre-digested.

Austin Chronicle Marrit Ingman

But for what it is, I think it's pretty okay. It's not going to win an Oscar or anything. But I liked how it was actually made for tween girls.

Village Voice Gregg Rickman

The film's true focus is the friendship between the two girls, although this tends to get lost between Elizabeth Allen's jittery direction and the screenplay's contrivances.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

It would seem that Allen and screenwriters John Quaintance and Jessica Bendinger couldn't decide between making a movie about the summer that 'tweens become teens or "Scenes From a Mal"l for the MTV set.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.9 (out of 10) based on 51 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Alona M. gave it a10:
This movie is really amazing and full of fun.. it shows how important the friendship is... i really really love it!!! you rock!!!

Prudence K. gave it a10:
An absolute masterpiece! Direction, writing, technicals... but the acting! Everyone was superb. But Sara Paxton in particular gave one of the best performances I have ever seen. Subtle, heartbreaking, raw, real, emotional... if she doesn't win the Oscar it will be a huge travesty. Easily the performance of the decade, but I would go further and say it is the best performance of all time.

Katherine gave it a3:
Please people who like this movie, forgive me, I am only giving me opinion. I did'nt like this movie. Emma Roberts and JoJo are not that pretty. Put them together and they just look even worst. I think Emma is just here because shes the niece of Julia Roberts, and JoJo , her parents just probably pushed her into singing. I think JoJo is a better singer then an actress, and I don't think her music is that good. This movie I thought was sort of an insult to mermaids. I mean there a fantasy. Leave them that way instead of putting them in Hollywood.

someobody gave it a7:
emma roberts acted the worst here.

Gavin M. gave it an8:
This is a great little movie - and of course it is derivative. But the performances are full of fun, and it is very well written. The two leads ooze a delicious geekiness and longing, the mermaid is initially unlikeable but wins you over in the end, and there is some great writing that makes the minor characters 3 dimensional and important even though they have very little screen time. I got dragged along to this with a 10 year old - it is not a movie I would ever choose to see in the theater, on DVD or on television. However, I found it totally captivating, and if this is the quality of tween movies, I would much rather spend my money on similar movies than on the often bitterly disappointing adult orientated movies that Hollywood has to offer.

Rol L. gave it a7:
To be fair, I went to see the movie with my 2 daughters ( 7 and 10 ) and they would have given this movie a 9... A good saturday afternoon / summer type tween movie, cute, no surprise, fluffy and with 2 girls that cant wait to see this movie again on DVD.

Joanie gave it a10:
I laughed, I cried and I had a very entertaining time.

Aquamarine Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Aquamarine
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation