Line #4 WesternAnimation/BarbieInAMermaidTale


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/barbie_in_a_mermaid_tale_qu.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:"What makes you different just might be your greatest strength."]]
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4	''Barbie in a Mermaid Tale'' is a member of the DirectToVideo Franchise/{{Barbie}} filmography, released in 2010. It was preceded by ''WesternAnimation/BarbieAndTheThreeMusketeers'' and followed by ''WesternAnimation/BarbieAFashionFairytale''.
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6	Barbie plays Merliah Summers, a champion surfer who suddenly sprouts pink hair during a championship...then immediately after meets Zuma, a talking sparkly pink dolphin. Oh, and she learns that she's the half-mermaid daughter of Queen Calissa, ruler of Oceana. Which means she can breathe underwater at least.
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8	TheReveal could not have been more timely, as Calissa's been kidnapped by her evil sister Eris, who keeps her around to make Merillia, the substance that gives the ocean life. Eris threatens dissenters with orange whirlpools that send them to the deepest trenches. As Merliah stands to inherit the throne, it's up to her to stop Eris and rescue her mother, with the help of her newfound mer-friends Kayla and Xylie.
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10	It later had a sequel, ''WesternAnimation/BarbieInAMermaidTale2''.
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13	!!This movie contains examples of:
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15	* TheAce: Merilah is a champion surfer.
16	* AttentionWhore: Eris. She has a whole festival dedicated to herself, demands her subjects adore her, and imprisons someone who was too distracted to applaud.
17	* BigBad: Eris, who seized the throne of Oceana and imprisoned her sister.
18	* BlandNameProduct: Some of the stores seen in Oceania include "Bloomingtail's", "Seaphora", and "Fred Seagull".
19	* BlatantLies: When Merliah points out that Eris is [[GreenEyedMonster angry and jealous]] because she can't make Merillia, despite being born of royal blood, Eris keeps trying to deny this, even when Merliah reveals the truth about Merillia
20	--> '''Merliah:''' You're different and you hate it.
21	--> '''Eris:''' That's ridiculous.
22	* CainAndAbel: Calissa is the Abel and Eris is the Cain.
23	* CantKillYouStillNeedYou: Eris keeps Calissa imprisoned to keep spinning Merillia and keep the ocean alive, as she can't spin any herself. Even Merliah points that out after showing everyone a vision of Queen Calissa spinning Merillia.
24	* ChekhovsGun: The fact when the protective pendent of Merliah's is broken shows her mother Queen Clarissa ends up being important in the final.
25	* CloudCuckoolander: Hadley is a bit odd, spouting various non sequiturs. On the other hand, she instantly believes that Merliah might be a mermaid when Merliah and Fallon are doubting it.
26	* DarkReprise: "Queen of the Waves" gets an Eris-centric version.
27	* EmotionalPowers: The quality of the Merillia that Calissa creates is dependent upon her emotions; as such, her bitterness at being locked up by her evil sister creates lower-quality Merillia that outright poisons the ocean.
28	* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Eris' is to have the crowd adore her, imprison someone for not applauding, and continue on like nothing happened.
29	* EverythingsBetterWithSparkles: Apparently it wasn't enough for Zuma to just be a pink dolphin; she's sparkly, too.
30	* FantasticRacism: Eris looks down on humans, and expresses disbelief at Calissa's human husband. She later uses this to turn public opinion against Merliah because she's HalfHumanHybrid.
31	* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: Eris, who's slowly poisoning the ocean.
32	* GreenEyedMonster: Despite being of royal blood, Eris can't spin Merillia. This made her very jealous that even Merliah lampshades this.
33	--> '''Merliah:''' You could have destroyed my mother, but you didn't. You needed her to spin Merillia because you ''can't''. That's what makes you so angry and jealous, isn't it? You're the only one in the royal family who can't make Merillia. You're different and you hate it.
34	* HalfHumanHybrid: Merliah is half-human, half-mermaid.
35	* TheHighQueen: Calissa, who rules over Oceana justly and creates the substance needed to keep the ocean alive.
36	* HoldYourHippogriffs: After the Destinies meet Merliah and her new mermaid friends, they decided to go out for "manies and tailies".[[note]]As opposed to "manies and pedies". Apparently, mermaids get "tailicures", at least in Oceania.[[/note]]
37	* HoistByHerOwnPetard: Eris is done in by her own whirlpool.
38	* IAmWho: Merliah is flabbergasted to learn she's a half-mermaid princess.
39	* IJustWantToBeNormal: Merliah completely rejects her heritage at first. Until, she accepts that being half-mermaid is a part of who she is and it's ok to be different.
40	* ItsAllAboutMe: Eris' personality revolves around herself.
41	* KickTheDog: Eris imprisoning a fish for being too distracted to applaud her.
42	** She later tells Calissa that she'll imprison innocent people for no reason until she finds Merliah. She is even shown doing it once.
43	* TheLifestream: Merillia, the life force of the ocean.
44	* LockedIntoStrangeness: Merliah gains permanent pink streaks in her hair during the surfing championship at the beginning as her half-mermaid self starts to take effect.
45	* MarriedToTheJob: Merliah is married to her hobby, surfing.
46	* MermaidingSwimsuit: Merliah is given such a swimsuit by two actual mermaids, Kayla and Xylie who are fashion designers to disguise the fact that she's human hiding in a mermaid city, the mermaids seem to wear them over their real tails as humans would leggings or trousers but they give her a loaner. [[spoiler:She later gains her own actual tail as she embraces her her own mermaid heritage she got from her [[HalfHumanHybrid mother's side of the family]]]].
47	* MissionControl: Hadley and Fallon help Merliah out on land by searching for the Celestial Comb and where she can find a Dream Fish.
48	* NeverMyFault: Eris blames Calissa for making low-quality Merillia, rather than acknowledge that her imprisonment of Calissa is responsible for it (and pretending that Calissa's Merillia is hers).
49	* NotSoDifferentRemark: Both Merliah and Eris turned out to be no different from each other
50	** For Merliah, when she learns that she's HalfHumanHybrid, she, at first didn't want any part of it, [[spoiler: until later on, she decides that she must do what's right for Oceania.]]
51	** For Eris, she's jealous because despite that she's born of royal blood, she's the only one in the royal family who is unable to make Merillia.
52	* OnlySaneMan: Fallon, who's more down-to-earth than the spacey Hadley.
53	* OtherworldlyTechnicolourHair: Used as a plot point when Merliah, a natural blonde, suddenly develops pink streaks in her hair for no reason at all. Shortly afterwards, she finds out she's half-mermaid.
54	* PassionateSportsGirl: Merliah is ''very'' passionate about surfing.
55	* PubertySuperpower: Merliah's hair turns pink and she can breathe underwater at age 16.
56	* PunnyName:
57	** The underwater stores are puns on real stores.
58	** Merliah is a pun on "Maria".
59	* RaisedByGrandparents: Merliah has been raised by her human grandfather since infancy.
60	* RedemptionRejection: Merilah tries to appeal to Eris and says they can work together to help the ocean, but she won't have any of it and attacks her.
61	* RefusalOfTheCall: Merliah completely rejects her heritage at first, and wants to return to the surface as soon as possible.
62	* ReligiousAndMythologicalThemeNaming: Eris is named after a Greek goddess of chaos and discord.
63	* RoyaltySuperpower: Only those of the royal family can spin Merillia. [[spoiler: Eris, despite being in the royal family, is the only one who can't spin Merilla, which makes her incredibly jealous.]]
64	* RuleOfThree: Merliah must find three things to end Eris' reign.
65	* SacrificialLamb: A fish is cast into Eris' whirlpool to show she's a threat.
66	* SceneryPorn: The underwater scenes are very pretty.
67	* {{Seers}}: The Destinies, a play on the mythological Fates.
68	* SuperCellReception: Or wristwatch in this case. Liah's watch gets surprisingly strong signals while in the depths of the ocean whenever she video chats Fallon and Hadley for help.
69	* SympathyForTheDevil: Merliah seems to express legitimate sympathy and concern for Eris after realizing that Eris, like her, feels like an outcast.
70	* ThoseTwoGirls: Kayla and Xylie the fashion designer mermaids.
71	* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Eris, though it's partially due to everyone being terrified of her.
72	* UnSorcerer: Despite being of royal blood, Eris can't spin Merillia. This made her very jealous.
73	* WalkingSwimsuitScene: Merliah, Hadley, and Fallon spend the whole film in bikinis.
74	* WaifProphet: The Destinies, a trio of tween-looking mermaids who speak in ValleyGirl slang and can see the future.
75	* WorldHealingWave: Calissa's Merillia restores the ocean.
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77	->''What makes you different just might be your greatest strength.''

Context WesternAnimation / BarbieInAMermaidTale