Barbie in A Mermaid Tale


 * "What makes you different just might be your greatest strength"
 * —Barbie

Barbie in A Mermaid Tale is the seventeenth computer animated movie in the Barbie film series. It was released direct to DVD in 2010. The film is about a half-human, half-mermaid girl named Merliah Summers who has to rescue her mother.

Official summary
"Barbie stars as Merliah, a surfing champion from Malibu. One minute she's a normal teenager and the next she learns a shocking family secret: she's a mermaid! Merliah and her dolphin friend Zuma set off on an undersea adventure to rescue her mother, the queen of Oceana. With help from her new mermaid friends, Merliah saves the ocean kingdom. In the end, she discovers that what makes you different could be your greatest strength."

Full Story
Merliah Summers is a champion surfer who lives in Malibu. She is nicknamed the "Queen of the Waves", and her friends, Hadley and Fallon, even made a song about it for her. One day, during a surfing competition, pink highlights appeared in her hair when she went underwater. She hid underwater when the surf announcer made everyone aware of her hair, and realised she could breath and talk underwater. A talking dolphin named Zuma had a conversation with Merliah, took her back to her friends, and then left.

Merliah told her friends what had happened, and then went home. Her grandfather, Break, who takes care of Merliah, revealed to her that she is actually half mermaid; her father Rip married a mermaid named Calissa, and had Merliah. However, Merliah would be unsafe living among mermaids, because she was born with a human appearance. Break agreed to take care of her, so he took her from her mother when she was a baby. Her father had died. Merliah originally was told that both of her parents had died, and didn't believe her grandfather. She left to talk to her friends again.

Zuma the dolphin found Merliah again and told her that Calissa, her mother and queen of a mermaid kingdom, was in danger. Merliah's aunt, Eris, had been trying to take her throne. Merliah became angry because she didn't understand what was going on, and threw a necklace she'd been wearing on the floor. The necklace had been given to her when she was a baby, and it played a message when she threw it. It revealed that Calissa needed help and that Merliah was half mermaid. It also said Calissa was making Merillia, the magical life force of the ocean.

Merliah goes with Zuma to help her mother. They arrive in an underwater kingdom named Oceana, and find that an Eris festival is happening. Zuma told Merliah that Eris' Merillia was not as powerful as Calissa's, and it was making the ocean weak. Zuma and Merliah went into a fashion boutique to hide while they witnessed the festival. They saw Eris make whirlpools hat were impossible to escape from, and take merpeople to her dungeons. This makes Merliah unsure she can save Oceana, and the boutique owners find out she is hiding when their pet seal, Snouts, tickles Merliah's toes. The owners are Kayla and Xylie, two stylish mermaids, and they give Merliah a fake tail to swim around in so she will fit in.

Kayla and Xylie want to help Merliah and Zuma, so they go to see the Destinies. They are mermaids who can see into the future. They hear Eris saying she will destroy Merliah, so Kayla and Xylie sidetrack her, and they go on to meet the Destinies. The Destinies — Dee, Deandra and Deanne — tell Merliah exactly what she needs to defeat Eris: The Celestial Comb, a Dreamfish, and Eris' necklace, which protects her.

Merliah talks to Fallon and Hadley with a device and they find out where the Celestial Comb is: in a cave guarded by large jellyfish. Zuma, Kayla and Xylie get rid of the jellyfish while Merliah and Snouts get the comb. They get it and escape before the cave collapses. Merliah contacts Fallon and Hadley again, and they locate the Dreamfish. It is in the Adenato currents. They get the Dreamfish and then, to get Eris' necklace, Merliah, Kayla and Xylie sing a song to her to distract her. Eris becomes angry and makes a whirlpool to get rid of Merliah, and Merliah gets sucked in.

Merliah asks the Dreamfish for help, and it offers to let her go home and pretend nothing ever happened. Merliah refuses and magically gets a real mermaid tail to replace her fake one. She escapes the whirlpool with her new, strong tail and takes Eris' necklace. Calissa makes more Merillia, and Merliah finds out that Eris couldn't defeat Calissa because Eris is unable to make any Merillia. Eris chases after Merliah and Eris ends up caught in one of her own whirlpools. She is taken to the bottom of the deepest trench in the ocean.

Merliah freed Calissa from the necklace and Calissa cures the ocean with her Merillia. She also gives Merliah a necklace that will let her be human again, as well as a mermaid whenever she wishes. Merliah goes back to Malibu and wins a surfing trophy, and Calissa meets Break, Hadley and Fallon.

Soundtrack

 * "Summer Sunshine", performed by Holly Lindin.
 * "Queen of the Waves", performed by T-Marie.
 * "Swimmin' On Sunshine", performed by Kennedy Noel.
 * "Show Me Some Love", performed by Chelsea Ward.
 * "Barbie Vox", performed by Emily Gomez.
 * "Queen of the Waves" (Eris Version), performed by Melissa Lyons and Kelly Sheridan.

DVD Special Features

 * Music Video
 * Outtakes
 * I Can Be... A Professional Surfer

Trivia

 * BlairHadleyIsla_Surfing.pngBarbie in A Mermaid Tale was the top-selling Barbie movie in 2010. It was the first Barbie movie released in the spring that outsold the one released in the fall (Barbie: A Fashion Fairytale)
 * Merliah's name may be based off of Merillia, the life force of the sea.
 * In Barbie: Princess Charm School, in the bloopers, there is a parody of Barbie in A Mermaid Tale when Blair, Hadley and Isla surf.
 * The film's title "Mermaid Tale" is a pun of "mermaid tail".
 * There are puns on store names in Oceana: Bloomingtails, a pun on Bloomingdales; Seaphora, a pun on Sephora; and Fred Seagull, a pun on Fred Segal.
 * Zuma's name is from Zuma Beach in Malibu.
 * Syrenka's name means Mermaid in Polish language.
 * There are a few similarities with Barbie: A Fairy Secret:
 * Barbie and Raquelle use fake wings in Gloss Angeles, and Merliah uses a fake tail in Oceana.
 * Gloss Angeles is shown as a modern city inhabited by mythical creatures, as is Oceana.
 * The main protagonist's hair has pink strands after transformation.
 * In Barbie: A Fashion Fairytale, Barbie has a Barbie in A Mermaid Tale poster in her trailer.