Barbie in A Mermaid Tale

Barbie in A Mermaid Tale is the 17th Barbie movie that released on March 8, 2010. It's about Merliah Summers, a half-human and half-mermaid who tries to rescue her mother and her underwater kingdom. The theme song of the film is "Queen of the Waves", performed by T-Marie.

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 make a song for her. One day, during a surfing competition, suddenly there's pink highlights on her hair while she is surfing. Seeing this, she dives underwater and realises that she can breathe and talk underwater. A talking dolphin named Zuma has a conversation with Merliah, and then takes her back to her friends. Merliah is shocked but chooses not to believe it.

Merliah tells her friends what happened and then goes home in deep thought. Her grandfather, Break, who takes care of Merliah, reveales to her that she is actually half-human 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 her mother gave Merliah to him when she was a baby. Merliah doesn't believe him and leaves to talk to her friends about this.

Zuma the dolphin finds Merliah with her friends again and tells her that the mermaid kingdom, Oceana, ruled by Merliah's mother is in danger. Merliah's evil aunt, Eris, had taken her throne. Merliah becomes angry because she doesn't understand what was going on, and throws 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 was alive and 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 the underwater kingdom, and find that a festival held by Eris is happening. Zuma tells Merliah that Eris' Merillia was not as powerful as Calissa's, and it was making the ocean weak. Zuma and Merliah enter a fashion boutique to get her a fake tail as a disguise as they witness the festival. They see Eris make whirlpools that were impossible to escape from, and take merpeople to her dungeons. This makes Merliah unsure if she can save Oceana, and the boutique owners find out that she is hiding when their pet seal, Snouts, tickles Merliah's toes. The owners are Kayla and Xylie, two stylish mermaids, who give Merliah a fake tail to swim around 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 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, 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 try to distract 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 Queen of the Waves (but with different lyrics) to her in a festival 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 frees Calissa and Calissa cures the ocean with her Merillia. She also gives her daughter 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. Later, 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

 * According from IMDb, the movie rated 5,8/10.
 * 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" maybe is a pun of "mermaid tail", or a pun from "Fairytale" (since fairytale is for fairy, then mermaid tale is for mermaid)
 * 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, and Zuma, the popular game from GameHouse in computer.
 * Syrenka's name means mermaid in Polish.
 * The Polish title of the movie translates as "Barbie and the Underwater Mystery".
 * 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.
 * This is the first modern Barbie movie in four years, which has initiates the Third-Generation Barbie movies (modern ones).
 * The film was released on Barbie's birthday.
 * The tails of the mermaids are the same colour as the streaks on their hair.
 * The surfer before Merliah in the beginning has red hair and wears a purple top with green shorts. This is most likely a shout-out to Ariel in Disney's The Little Mermaid.

Goofs

 * When Merliah puts her clothes on the rock before jumps into the water, her clothes is slowly sinking into the rock
 * Merliah's streaks fade from bright pink, to pastel pink.
 * When Merliah gets her real tail, the streaks in her hair are almost unseen.
 * When Merliah pulls the Celestial Comb out, she is seen wearing her swimsuit.

Also known as

 * Spanish - Barbie en Una aventura de sirenas
 * French - Barbie et le secret des sirènes
 * Italian - Barbie e l'avventura nell'oceano
 * German - Barbie und das Geheimnis von Oceana
 * Polish - Barbie i Podwodna Tajemnica
 * Czech - Barbie Příběh mořské panny
 * Portugal - Barbie em Vida de Sereia
 * Dutch - Barbie in een Zeemeerminavontuur
 * Finnish - Barbie ja Merenneidon tarina