Aquamarine (DVD)

Aquamarine isn't exactly going to win any awards or be remembered all that clearly come the end of the year, but for a tween girl coming of age fantasy it's actually quite delightful. The story of 13-year-old best friends Claire (Emma Roberts, looking more and more like her Aunt Julia every day) and Hailey (JoJo) looking for a way to keep the latter's mother from moving to Australia and the blonde mermaid (Sara Paxton) looking for love who befriends them, this has sappy schlock written all over it.

Instead, Aquamarine is a charming, innocent family friendly adventure told with far more intelligence and flair than that simple scenario suggests. Director Elizabeth Allen lets things fall into sitcom level earnestness a time or two, but otherwise handles things delicately and with just the right touch of winsome joy allowing the movie to capture your imagination. Paxton and Roberts help matters considerably, while pop star JoJo steal the picture projecting a sassy, youthful maturity I can't say I really saw coming.

Having not seen this in theaters, I hazard to guess that Aquamarine probably works better at home than it ever did at the local multiplex. With that in mind, 20th Century Fox certainly hasn't skimped on giving this lightweight entertainment its DVD due. Presented in both Widescreen (1.85:1) and Full Screen versions on a single flipper disc, the package's special features include three charming featurettes, a collection of deleted scenes and a rather excitable audio commentary from director Allen.

While these are all nice, the most enchanting extra is a scene specific commentary from the three stars. The girls are so fun to listen to, so good natured and so bubbling over in love for the film it is a shame Fox didn't splurge on letting the girls comment on the whole darn thing.

Overall, Aquamarine is truly a winning DVD in more ways than one. Not just Splash for teenage girls, this is a warm and genuine story of friendship and love that really touched my heart. Kids will love it and adults shouldn't feel at all bad about enjoying the film right along with them. Moments of sappy cheesiness aside, this is one fish tale where the scales all balance to the good.