Aquamarine(2006)

SHORT VERSION:
On her final day on land, Aquamarine meets with Raymond on the pier near the Capri Club and asks if he loves her, and he replies that, though he likes her a lot, he hasn’t reached that point yet. This saddens her and makes her believe that her father (assumed to be Poseidon) was right when he told her that love doesn’t exist, and then the situation gets worse when Cecilia – who had designs on Raymond and was jealous of Aquamarine for winning his affections, plus she knows that Aquamarine is a mermaid and had earlier unsuccessfully tried to publicly expose her – appears and orders her to go back to where she came from before pushing her into the water. Aquamarine turns back into a mermaid, much to Raymond’s shock, and a sudden storm also forms that pulls her further out to sea, a clear indication that her father is taking her back. Raymond runs off to get his rescue board so he can help her, and Hailey and Claire – who watched the whole scene unfold from afar – jump into the water and swim after her.

Aquamarine grabs hold of a buoy on Claire’s instruction, and Hailey and Claire soon join her there. They tell Aquamarine to take their wish and use it to stay here, but she replies that there is no wish to take because Raymond doesn’t love her. Hailey and Claire ask if there is anything that they can do at all, and Aquamarine replies that she doesn’t know, for they jumped into the water to save her and have just offered her their wish. When she asks why they would do that for her, Claire replies that she knows that she would do that for Hailey and vice-versa, and they want to do it for her because they love her. Aquamarine cries out of happiness, and when one of her teardrops hits the water, the storm dissipates, signifying that her father is letting her go. Aquamarine tells the girls that they just proved to her father that love exists in the form of platonic love between friends, so that means that they will get a wish after all. Claire asks if they can wish for her to stay forever, but Aquamarine replies that that isn’t possible because the sea is her home and her family needs her. She tells them to save their wish and promises to see them again someday, no matter where in the world they are. Raymond then comes in on his rescue board, so Hailey and Claire swim back to shore to give him and Aquamarine some time alone. As they go, Claire decides not to use the wish to keep Hailey from moving to Australia, and Hailey suggests that she use it to come visit her there next summer. Meanwhile, Raymond asks Aquamarine if he can see her again, and she replies that he can, but she needs to clear some things up between her and her father first. He promises to wait for her, and they kiss.

Raymond meets up with Hailey and Claire back on shore and thanks them for introducing him to Aquamarine; plus, he remarks that they are pretty extraordinary and doesn’t know if he could’ve done what they did for her, then kisses each of them on the cheek before departing. Hailey and Claire then bid each other a heartfelt farewell and walk off in different directions.

LONG VERSION:
At the Last Splash Party at the Capri Beach Club, Aquamarine (Sara Paxton) continues to bond with Raymond (Jake McDorman) (who doesn’t know that she is a mermaid) and their attraction to each other grows stronger, but as they are taking a nice stroll along the boardwalk outside, Hailey (Joanna “JoJo” Levesque) and Claire (Emma Roberts) notice that sunset has arrived, so they haven’t got much time to get Aquamarine back into the local water tower before night falls and her legs become a tail again (Aquamarine can’t go into the ocean because it puts her at risk of being taken back by her father before she can prove to him that love exists). They interrupt her and Raymond and point out the setting sun to her, so she tells Raymond that she has to go, but he replies that he really wants to spend more time with her, given the fact that she told him that she leaves tomorrow. She ends up telling him to meet her at the nearby pier at 9:00 tomorrow morning, then kisses him before departing with Hailey and Claire.

However, as the girls are riding away on their bicycles, Cecilia (Arielle Kebbel) – who is suspicious about Aquamarine and is jealous over how she and Raymond are enjoying each other’s company since she has designs on him as well – notices them and decides to tail them in her car. Hailey and Claire get Aquamarine into the tower’s tank and head back to their homes, but sometime after nightfall, Cecilia climbs up to the tank and discovers Aquamarine’s true self. She shuts and locks the tank’s door before descending the ladder, and though the ladder breaks loose, she is able to get to the ground before pushing it down and hiding it. She then returns to the Capri Club and reports her discovery to her friends, but they just think that she has lost her mind, so she angrily walks away. Just then, the club’s handyman Leonard (Bruce Spence) – having overheard what Cecilia just said – heads to his cabin and gets out Aquamarine’s necklace that he earlier found, then he flips through a book he has on Greek sea nymphs until he comes to a section about mermaids. There, he finds a photograph of an ancient coin embossed with the image of the sea god Poseidon that is 100% identical to the necklace’s pendant.

In the morning, Cecilia goes to her meteorologist father, Storm (Shaun Micallef), and tells him that she found a girl trapped in the water tower while she was taking her daily run, intending to expose Aquamarine to the world, and he puts in a call to the news station he works at so he can cover this story. Meanwhile, Hailey visits Claire at her house and tells her that she is having second thoughts about using the wish Aquamarine will give them for their help to keep her and her mother from moving to Australia, having come to feel that it would not be fair to take away an opportunity that her mother has worked all her life for just so she can stay with Claire in Baybridge. After she suggests to Claire that some time apart from each other might teach them how to stand on their own for a change, Claire gets angry and tearful about everything she has just heard, and then she has a short exchange of hurtful words with Hailey before turning on the TV to ignore her. However, after Hailey walks out the door, a special news bulletin comes on showing Storm at the water tower with a rescue crew, and he reports that they are working to save the “trapped girl” inside. Claire rushes up to Hailey and alerts her to this distressing news before they hurry over to the tower.

However, all that the rescue crew finds in the tower is an inflatable dolphin that Raymond gave to Aquamarine during their first get-together after winning it in a carnival game. Cecilia desperately tries to tell everyone watching the broadcast that there is a mermaid up there, but she just comes across as looking like a total fool, and after the cameras stop rolling, Storm – believes this to be a hoax that Cecilia created to garner attention for herself – punishes her by confiscating her car. As Hailey and Claire wonder where Aquamarine went, we see her hanging out with Leonard in his cabin, who had saved her from the tower using a ladder of his own. He thanks her for being the first person to have talked to him nicely all summer, then returns her necklace to her. He then watches with a smile as his co-worker Bonnie (Lulu McClatchy) passes by his window since he has a crush on her but has never had the courage to act on it, and this doesn’t go unnoticed by Aquamarine, who informs him that she can grant him a wish for helping her.

We next see Hailey and Claire heading down underneath the pier to eavesdrop on Aquamarine’s meeting with Raymond, knowing that she wouldn’t miss this for anything. After noticing that Raymond is already there waiting for her, Claire tells Hailey that she still plans to wish for her to remain in Baybridge. Aquamarine turns up moments later, and as she walks down the pier with Raymond and chats with him, Hailey and Claire follow directly below them. However, the girls are soon halted by the ocean (since Claire has aquaphobia), so they go up onto the pier and spy on Aquamarine and Raymond through one of the public telescopes. When Aquamarine and Raymond reach the end, she asks him if he loves her, but he replies that, while he likes her a lot and wants to see more of her, he hasn’t reached that point yet. The deeply disappointed Aquamarine begins to cry, and after he asks her why they have to be in love today, an enraged Cecilia suddenly appears and tells her to go back where she came from before pushing her off the pier and into the water. Suddenly, a powerful storm starts up, the cause of which is Aquamarine’s father (presumed to be Poseidon himself), who is fixing to take her back, and then Raymond watches in shock as she transforms back into a mermaid. She is then pulled further out to sea and calls for Raymond to help her, so Raymond tells her that he will be right there before running off to get his rescue board, leaving Cecilia infuriated with him for still choosing a “fish” over her. Raymond runs into Hailey and Claire, who saw the scene unfold, and after telling them where he is going, Hailey tells Claire that she is heading into the stormy waters to help Aquamarine. Claire decides to do away with her aquaphobia and come with her.

As they swim towards Aquamarine, Claire yells for her to grab hold of a nearby buoy, and she and Hailey meet her there after she does. They tell Aquamarine to take their wish and use it to stay here, but she replies that there is no wish to take because Raymond doesn’t love her, and she has thus failed to prove to her father that love exists. Hailey and Claire ask if there is anything that they can do at all, and Aquamarine says that she doesn’t know if they can do anything more for her, for they jumped into the water to save her and have just offered her their wish. When she asks why they would do that for her, Claire replies that she knows that she would do that for Hailey and vice-versa, and they want to do it for her because of the love they have for her as a good friend. Aquamarine starts to cry out of happiness, and when one of her teardrops hits the water, the storm quickly dissipates, and Hailey realizes that Aquamarine’s father is letting her go. Aquamarine explains that they just proved to her father that love exists in the form of platonic love between friends, so that means that they will get a wish after all. Claire asks if they can wish for her to stay forever, but Aquamarine replies that that isn’t possible, since the ocean is her home and her family needs her. She tells them to save their wish and promises to see them again someday, no matter where in the world they are. She then removes her starfish earrings and gives one to each of them as a goodbye present, saying that, while starfish are big suck-ups, they never lie about the compliments they give. Raymond then comes in on his rescue board, so Hailey and Claire decide to swim back to shore to give him and Aquamarine some time alone, and they wave goodbye to her as they go. As they swim, Claire decides not to use the wish to keep Hailey from moving to Australia, and Hailey suggests that she use it to come visit her there next summer. Meanwhile, Raymond asks Aquamarine if he can see her again, and she replies that he can, but she first has to take some time to clear things up between her and her father. He promises to wait for her, and they then kiss each other goodbye.

Hailey and Claire are then seen walking along the beach near the Capri Club, and they cross paths with a happy Leonard walking hand-in-hand with an equally happy Bonnie. Raymond then comes up to them and gives them his thanks for introducing him to Aquamarine, and remarks that they are pretty extraordinary and doesn’t know if he could’ve done what they did for her. He gives each of them a kiss on the cheek and departs, and they hug each other and laugh with delight over it since they had a crush on him as well. They then bid each other a heartfelt farewell, put the starfish earrings on (and hear the glowing compliments they give), and share one last hug before walking off in different directions.