YMMV / Aquamarine

• Adaptation Displacement: The movie is a little more well-known than the book. Notably in the book, Aquamarine can't turn into a human at all.
• Adorkable: Aquamarine is shamelessly dorky - especially for her bad dancing and screaming into the phone - but she's utterly adorable.
• Applicability: Along with Madison of Splash and Ariel of The Little Mermaid (1989), Aquamarine is a mermaid character whose behavior could parallel someone on the autism spectrum. She's extremely knowledgeable about specific things (in this case mermaid culture), but needs to be coached on how to act like a 'normal' teenager. And sometimes, when she attempts to copy behavior she sees others doing, she embarrasses herself by coming across as unnatural (as autistic individuals often try to 'mask' by imitating neurotypical people). At first, she has no problem walking around naked or dressing unconventionally (and she still wears starfish as earrings). She's also extremely empathic and caring, declaring Claire and Hailey her best friends after only knowing them three days, and bonds quickly with everyone she meets.
• Awesome Music: The cover of "Island In The Sun" that plays over Raymond and Aquamarine's dance.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: both the book and the movie were well received in Canada. It's possibly even more popular there then in the United States.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • The scene where Aqua stands before the ocean preparing to go home mirrors the opening for Taylor Swift's "Out Of The Woods" video.
  • The two girls discuss the possibility of dying a Slasher Movie death. Ten years later, Emma Roberts has to experience that in Scream 4, American Horror Story and Scream Queens (2015).
  • It's also amusing to see Emma Roberts being bullied by an Alpha Bitch, considering in The New '10s she'd get typecast playing them herself (including the aforementioned Scream Queens).
  • The plot involving one character having to move to Australia, considering another series about mermaids aired there later that year.
• Jerkass Woobie: While the 'jerkass' part only comes out in a handful of scenes where Hailey is sassing her mother and making her feel bad for the move, this girl's father ran out on her and she's never had any other friends before.
• Just Here for Godzilla: People who didn't like the film admitted that it was worth watching for Sara Paxton's hilarious performance.
• Les Yay: Claire and Hailey. And how! They sleep in the same bed and spend the whole movie not wanting to be separated, acting like Star-Crossed Lovers. Also both of them and Aquamarine. At the end, they even say that they love her.
• Memetic Mutation: Jojo whispering to Emily Roberts ^ExplanationThe scene of Claire and Hailey whipering to each other became popular as a way of hyping someone up, often on the lines of I heard he can X.
• Memetic Psychopath: Leonard is often assumed to have ill intentions from viewers, as his wish is getting together with a woman he fancies.
• Moe: Claire is a shy, dorky young girl that needs to be hugged at several parts of the film.
• Narm Charm: Aqua's attempts to dance to "Island in the Sun" are so terrible they're absolutely Adorkable.
• Retroactive Recognition: Dichen Lachman has a small role as one of Cecilia's Girl Posse, three years before her breakout role in Dollhouse.
  • Jake McDorman, who plays Raymond, would also become more well-known in later years due to major supporting roles in films like American Sniper and Lady Bird and shows like Watchmen (2019).
• Signature Scene: The most famous scene is when "Island in the Sun" gets performed, and Aquamarine tries to dance.
• Special Effect Failure: The conversation between Raymond and Aqua in the sea is a pretty obvious green screen effect.
• Testosterone Brigade: Although a film aimed at the tween girl demographic, it's not uncommon to find male viewers who were drawn in by Sara Paxton's beauty and Aquamarine being Adorkable. As noted below, the movie surprisingly has Godiva Hair in effect, and even gives Aqua a bathtub scene.
• Unintentional Period Piece: The film is dated to the mid-2000s by some of the technology used; Claire and Hailey call Raymond using a landline phone, the internet is barely used and there's a notable lack of cell phones among the teenage characters. Claire and Hailey's angst about being separated by one of them moving to Australia would be considered much more so in the days before social media (which of course is not mentioned). The crimped hair, Bermuda shorts and soundtrack featuring Mandy Moore and The Jonas Brothers adds to the 2000s setting.
• What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: While it is family friendly for the most part, it's quite surprising that the movie forgoes the Seashell Bra and gives Aqua Godiva Hair instead.

---