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A ministry of the ChildCare Action Project: Christian Analysis of American Culture (CAP Ministry) A 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Christian Ministry. www.capalert.com/ Entertainment Media Analysis Report A service to His little ones through you in His name by His Word MAR26017  (2006), PG ["Ultra-lite" 13-PG*] (1hr 36min) The #1 Christian entertainment media analysis service on the Internet. We give you OBJECTIVE tools NO ONE ELSE CAN to help YOU make an informed decision for yourself whether a film is fit for your family. Over 1000 analyses for parents, grandparents, pastors, youth leaders and more. |
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(This section may be and sometimes is somewhat subjective.)
 Cast/Crew Details Courtesy Internet Movie Database Distribution (US): Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Fox 2000 Pictures Director(s): Elizabeth Allen Producer(s): Susan Cartsonis, Steven R. McGlothen Screenplay by: John Quaintance, Jessica Bendinger Novel: Alice Hoffman Cinematography/Camera: Brian J. Breheny Music: David Hirschfelder Film Editing: Jane Moran Casting: Christian Kaplan Production Design: Nelson Coates Art Direction: Bill Booth Viewed At: Driftwood Theater 6 In this beach-bound chick flick for tweenage girls, Baybridge Floridian 13-year old BFFs Hailey (Joanna 'JoJo' Levesque) and Claire (Emma Roberts) dream of being in love with and loved by lifeguard Raymond (Jake McDorman). Squeaking and squealing, Hailey and Claire plan their every move to get a glimpse of Raymond shaking his hair, stretching and flexing his muscles. Note the face of Emma Roberts (left) in the poster art above and see if you can see another famous actress in her face. Hint: Julia. Amidst the enamorous endeavors of Hailey and Claire is the foreboding threat of being separated, not only Hailey from Raymond but both from each other. Hailey's mom must move to Australia for her work and, being 13 years old, Hailey must go with her. Therein lies the plot "justification" for the arrogance against parental authority displayed by Hailey. The next day, after a nighttime coastal storm ravaged the beach town community, the curb of the swimming pool deck crumbles under Claire's feet and deposits her in the debris filled and now murky pool. While submerged, Claire is startled by something moving. Loosing her breath and becoming in danger of drowning, dashing Raymond dashes to the rescue and pulls Claire out. Claire's panic-driven speech kept telling of something in the pool. Due to the weakened status of the pool structures the owner locked it up and restricted access to it to everyone. But Claire, having convinced Hailey something was in it, decided with Hailey to sneak in later that night to see what it was. Sure enough. There is something in the pool. A mermaid! Her name is Aquamarine (Sara Paxton). Aqua for short. It seems the storm was daddy's rage at Aqua running away to avoid being forced to marry a merman Aqua described, in one case, as a blowfish. That's the way it is down in mer-town. There is no love. Parents arrange marriages. Aqua is certain love exists. She saw it one night long ago between two humans. Daddy gave Aqua the ultimatum to prove love exists else submit to the arranged marriage. Now, Aqua has three days to prove love exists by making someone say "I love you" to her. In three days. And Aqua must do this all between sunrise and sunset. No nocturnal antics whatsoever. "I love you?" In three days? Talk about love at first sight. While I will not spoil the rest of the somewhat ingenious plot, I will say the writer gave an rather unusual twist at the end of what is indeed a gentle and romantic love story. Let me say that it shows that love does not not have to be physical. Even that maybe non-physical love is deeper than physical love. Aquamarine, being a beach/mermaid film, is quite a display of human anatomy. Though very few of the cast are actual teenagers, there is much portrayal of teen skimpy dress by showing enough skin to push down the threshold of acceptability as much as possible. Though no nudity is seen, the displays include pounds of flesh being squeezed out from under the scanty postage stamp sized swimsuits. There were enough individualized displays of scanty swim wear best described as "tease-wear" for tweenage boys (who are least equipped to handle such matters) and enough instances of attention to human anatomy (enough of the "lesser" kind" of examples) to equal the magnitude of the typically fewer but more bold examples of sexually orientated matters in some R-rated flicks. See CAP Rule of 1000 for the reasoning behind this finding. And Aqua, when a mermaid, wore nothing under her "Lady Godiva" hair. That much -- er -- that little is obvious. Is it any wonder why our tweenage girls want more and more to wear less and less every year? Aquamarine is an example of why. Violence is not the only or even the most influential influence in modern entertainment. [Eph. 4:19] The thread of belittling parents and parental authority, a teen's arrogance at her mother, social warfare/brutality plus a number of other issues of impudence were also enough to be equal to the magnitude of impudence in some R-rated films. [Eph. 6:2, Exod. 20:12] Also, there are two uses of the three/four letter word vocabulary, both by teens. [Prov. 22:11] Further, this film perpetuates the use of God's name in vain which seems to be so popular, especially among the tweenage age stratum, often in the three-syllable sentence with God's name trailing it. [Deut. 5:11] All of them but two were spoken by the two tweenagers, thus emboldening other tweenagers to do likewise. Now, Luke 17:2 is invoked upon each filmmaker since "through the disobedience of the one man [a filmmaker] the many [youth] were made sinners [by, for example, the youth being emboldened by the flippant use God's name in vain to do likewise]." [Rom. 5:19] And the emboldening to use God's name in vain because of the flippant use of it in this film is just one example. In terms of violence/crime, drugs/alcohol and murder/suicide, no such examples were noted whatsoever. Due to the examples of impudence and the sexually oriented matters in this film it earned a score of 67. That places it at the very top of the scoring range earned by PG-13 films (55 to 67 out of 100) in the comparative baseline database of films. Aquamarine is a "hardcore" PG or an "ulta-lite" PG-13. Any way you look at it, this is another "13-PG" film. SCRIPTURAL APPLICATION(S) If needed to focus or fortify, applicable text is underlined or bracketed [ ] or bold. If you wish to have full context available, the Blue Letter Bible is a convenient source. If you use the Blue Letter Bible, a new window will open. Close it to return here or use "Window" in your browser's menu bar to alternate between the CAP page and the Blue Letter Bible page. CHAPTER/VERSE ***Selected Scriptures of Armour against the influence of the entertainment industry*** As always, it is best to refer to the Findings/Scoring section -- the heart of the CAP analysis model -- for the most complete assessment possible of this movie. |
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(The objective heart of the CAP Analysis Model, independent of and insulated from the Summary/ Commentary section.)  Wanton Violence/Crime (W) Impudence/Hate (I) Sexual Immorality (S) Drugs/Alcohol (D): Offense to God (O) Murder/Suicide (M) |
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| There are some in the entertainment industry who maintain that 1) violent programming is harmless because no studies exist that prove a connection between violent entertainment and aggressive behavior in children, and 2) young people know that television, movies, and video games are simply fantasy. Unfortunately, they are wrong on both accounts." And "Viewing violence may lead to real life violence." I applaud these associations for fortifying 1 Cor. 15:33. Read the rest of the story. From our more than eight years of study, I contend that other aberrant behaviors, attitudes, and expressions can be inserted in place of "violence" in that statement. Our Director - Child Psychology Support, a licensed psychologist and certified school psychologist concurs. For example, "Viewing arrogance against fair authority may lead to your kids defying you in real life." Or "Viewing sex may lead to sex in real life." Likewise and especially with impudence, hate and foul language. I further contend that any positive behavior can be inserted in place of "violence" with the same chance or likelihood of being a behavior template for the observer; of being incorporated into the behavior mechanics and/or coping skills of the observer. In choosing your entertainment, please consider carefully the "rest of the story" and our findings. |
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