Barbie in a Mermaid Tale (2010)
On October 27, 2023 by CrescentBarbie in a Mermaid Tale is the first Barbie movie of the 2010s, and it certainly brings in the new decade with a bang. Welcome to the age of stories in the present era. We’re starting off with a fusion of fantasy and modern coming of age, and it’s a bundle of fun.
Story
Mermaid Tale follows the adventures of Merliah, an up and coming Malibu surfer whose life is turned around when she discovers the truth of her past. She’s a half-mermaid princess, and now, she needs to return to the underwater world of Oceana to save her people from the tyranny of her aunt, Eris. Merliah is hesitant to change her life so completely, wanting to return to her old ways on land, but eventually embraces both sides of her for the sake of the future.
Mermaid Tale has a fun story that’s both well-paced and enjoyable from start to finish. It’s far from the best Barbie story, lacking the complexity or emotional involvement of plots from the past, but it’s still fun. Merliah goes a long way to making this story shine, and the politics surrounding her strange family situation are certainly interesting. The opening scenes are incredible too, and it’s great to really get into Merliah’s head as the adventure begins. However, this movie largely boils down to a fetch quest near the middle segment, and that slows down the momentum a lot. The climax makes it all make sense, but the center arc still feels a bit pointless in comparison to the opening and closing.
The last point I want to make here is about the Dreamfish. That plot point never gets resolved, and if the writers thought I would forget about it… I most certainly did not. Having that be conveniently written out at the last moment was somewhat frustrating, and I wish we got actual closure from that, especially since everything else came together so well. I’m kind of grasping at straws here to criticize the story though; overall, it’s pretty good.
Mermaid Tale has a fun story that, while not anything too inventive, is still enjoyable from start to finish.
Story: 7/10
Characters
Merliah is a great protagonist for this story, and I love her initial refusal of the call to adventure. She feels grounded and realistic in a way many of her contemporaries of the past do not, and I love her for it. Her friendship with Fallon and Hadley feels real, and I can really see the three of them as a group of friends. They bounce off each other perfectly, and I love every second they share on screen.
It’s a shame that Fallon and Hadley are replaced for the bulk of the movie by Kayla and Xylie. They’re fine characters, I suppose, but they’re nowhere near as fun as Fallon or Hadley. They’re a bit one-note too, paling in comparison to their dolphin friend Zuma. Snouts is fine too, but he’s nothing special. The secondary cast is really carried by the characters who get the least screen time, and it’s a shame Kayla and Xylie end up taking the supporting roles when Fallon and Hadley were much more interesting to me.
However, the family politics surrounding the royal line are very interesting, and every character in the royal family struck me as intriguing immediately. Break is a perfect supporting figure to Merliah, and I appreciate his down-to-earth demeanor. Calissa and Eris’ history is intriguing too, and Eris steals the show as an antagonist. I wish we learned more about the family drama in this movie; it really is one of the best things here.
Mermaid Tale touts some incredibly interesting dynamics, but those are often pushed aside in favor of one-note characters who take up a lot more screen time than they should.
Characters: 7/10
World Building
The world building of Mermaid Tale is strong from the first minute. Merliah’s world fits around her perfectly, and you can immediately understand why she wants this to be all she ever knows for the rest of her days. Her relationships with her friends and grandfather feel real and relatable, and it goes a long way to establish Malibu as the only home Merliah has ever known. This movie sets itself up as a coming of age story quickly and gives Merliah a perfect motive to return to the old way of her life right away.
The underwater world of Oceana is interesting too. I love the minor detail about how the coral is dying and has turned pink and orange because of it. In the climax of the movie, the city all becomes blue again when Calissa takes control, and that’s such a small detail, but it goes a long way. Unfortunately, we don’t spend as much time in the city of Oceana as we could have. Instead, the journey takes us all around the ocean but rarely back to the city itself. I wish we could have seen more of it honestly.
I adore the family politics and history between Calissa and Eris though. It was one of the most interesting parts of the movie to me, and while I wish we had gotten more, I’m still very happy with what we got. The twist of Eris being unable to heal the ocean was set up well through the sisters’ conversations, and everything with them came full circle. It was great, and it deserves its flowers.
Mermaid Tale has strong world building overall, but Oceana as a setting feels a bit underutilized.
World Building: 8/10
Themes
The theme of Mermaid Tale is that what makes you different might just be your greatest strength. This idea makes sense given Merliah’s arc throughout the movie of figuring out what she wants both sides of herself to mean in the long run. At first, she rejects her mermaid side and wants nothing to do with it in favor of a normal life. Her mermaid half is the very weapon that helps her to defeat Eris though, and in doing so, Merliah learns to accept herself. The theme makes sense, but it doesn’t feel like a perfect application for this movie. Merliah was more worried about her internalized thoughts of being an outcast than the expectations of others, and that makes the theme feel a bit less impactful than, say, Fairytopia‘s take on a similar idea.
Theme: 7/10
Production
Mermaid Tale does a great job of picking up with the animation advances provided by the previous movies. For the most part, the animation is incredible. That does make its problems a bit more obvious when they come up though. For example, Kayla, Xylie, and other mermaids that look like them don’t look great. Their faces look strange, and these two have the same problem as Thumbelina of having reused, recolored models of major characters in the background. It’s nowhere near as distracting as in Thumbelina since it’s much easier to track where your focus should be through the use of colors, but it’s still notable. It only exacerbates the past issues of the poor face animation in a movie that otherwise looks great. The Dreamfish falls into this category too; in a movie that looks amazing, the flaws really stand out.
This movie also chooses to lean heavily into its early 2010s setting by pairing the movie with modern pop music. It fits perfectly well with the setting too, and it avoids feeling jarring as other films struggled with in the past. I like the music even ending up as an important part of the story in the climax. It helps everything to feel like it comes full circle in the end.
Generally, Mermaid Tale has a very strong production, but it struggles with the animation of a few major characters that unfortunately bleeds over into the background as well.
Production: 8/10
Overall
Barbie in a Mermaid Tale is a fun movie to kick off a new decade with, and it’s great as the first mermaid adventure in years for Barbie. While it may not reinvent the wheel, the story remains fun the whole way through. If you’re looking for a good coming of age story, Mermaid Tale isn’t a bad place to start, and I would gladly recommend the movie to anyone interested.
Overall: 7.4/10
Silly Superlative: Barbie movie with the most tattoos
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