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In this bubble-brained flick, Aquamarine is a teenage mermaid fishing for love on dry land. Starlet Sara Paxton glitters in the role, but she has to swim through an ocean of froth and treacle to arrive at the conclusion that friends are more important than boys. Girls under twelve will probably lap it up, but director Elizabeth Allen (making her big screen debut) fails to give the story a cinematic breadth. For supervising grownups, its giddy leanings will induce seasickness.

Anchoring the story are plain Janes Claire and Hailey (Emma Roberts and Joanna Levesque) who while away the hours mooning over hunky lifeguard Raymond (Jake McDorman). Meanwhile the threat of separation looms over them as Hailey鈥檚 mother lands a job in Australia. Unfortunately all these details take an age to unfold. It鈥檚 only when Paxton rears her head in a swimming pool and sets her sights on Raymond that the film finally begins in earnest.

"SAPPY MAGAZINE-STYLE PORTRAIT"

Mostly the action involves predictable 'fish out of water' japes, vying with the popular girls for Raymond鈥檚 attention and the obligatory shopping montage. At least Paxton shows a keen instinct for comedy as she tries to get a handle on dating etiquette, but the more she shines, the more Claire and Hailey鈥檚 predicament feels like a dull afterthought. Likewise the worthy message about the value of friendship, central to Alice Hoffman鈥檚 novel, is drowned out by a sappy, magazine-style portrait of girlhood that鈥檚 all lip-gloss and giggles. That may be fine for teatime television, but on the big screen it just doesn鈥檛 float.