Barbie in A Mermaid Tale

Plot

Barbie in A Mermaid Tale is about a sixteen-year-old girl called Merliah Summers (Liah for short). She is a top surfer at Malibu and is nicknamed, "Queen of the waves". On the day of a surfing competition, Merliah is surfing mavericks when one part of her hair suddenly turns pink on contact with seawater. Nervous of showing everyone her hair, she dives underwater and meets a dolphin named Zuma. Merliah finds out that she can breathe underwater. Zuma takes Merliah to her friends then disappears. Merliah tells her friends Fallon and Hadley what happened, then she goes home. After telling what happened to her grandfather, Brake, Merliah finds out that she is half-mermaid. Thinking that her parents died when she was a small baby, Merliah's grandfather tells her the truth. Brake tells her that Merliah's father was a human named Rip and that her mother was a mermaid named Calissa (who in fact, is the Queen of Oceana).Brake tells her that when Merliah's father died, Calissa was worried about the fact that Calissa's evil mermaid sister Eris would try to rule over. At the same time, Calissa gave birth to Merliah. Merliah had no mermaid fins which made it dangerous for her in Oceana. Calissa didn't want Merliah to get hurt, so she took Merliah to her husband's father, Brake (Merliah's grandfather). Calissa asked if Brake could raise Merliah so that she would be safer on land from Eris's rule. It worked. Then Eris took over and Brake told her that Calissa had died or was in Eris's rule. At first, Merliah didn't believe Brake and left to tell her friends the news.

After telling her friends the news, Hadley was excited and believed that Merliah is of mermaid royalty. Just then, Zuma appears and says that it is true about what Brake said, but Merliah at first didn't believe anything and in anger she throws her necklace she'd been wearing ever since she was an infant, it reveals Calissa still alive, spinning Merillia, the life force of the sea. She also tells Merliah that the reason her hair is pink, that she can breathe underwater, is because she is part mermaid. Merliah decides to try to rescue her mother and save the kingdom.

With Zuma as her guide, Merliah arrives in Oceana just when the "Eris Festival" starts. Zuma explains that ever since Eris ruled Oceana, her Merillia was not as strong as Caliisa's, which made the ocean weak. Most of the coral has turned brown, much like the autumn leaves. During the Eris Festival*, Merliah and Zuma hide in a nearby shop. Merliah watches how Eris controls Oceana, by spinning whirlpools that are impossible to get out of, and they take merpeople straight to her dungeons. Merliah is terrified and doubts she can save Oceana. After the festival ends, Zuma takes Merliah to a boutique whose owners are Kayla and Xylie. After a mermaid makeover, the team seeks out the Destinies, three small stylish mermaids who have prophetic powers. Just before they arrive, they hear Eris storming that she will destroy Calissa's daughter. Merlaih hides, while Kayla and Xylie point Eris in the fake direction of Calissa's daughter. While Eris was distracted, Merliah and Zuma meet the Destinies. They reveal in order for the team to succeed in overthrowing Eris, they need "three tools that are spread far and wide": The Celestial Comb, a Dreamfish and Eris' protective necklace.

They set out to look for the items. First, with Fallon and Hadley's help, they find the Celestial Comb in a cave guarded by three giant jellyfish. Kayla, Xylie and Zuma lure the jellyfish away while Merliah and Snouts look for the comb. Merliah managed to get it and escape from the cave just before a cave-in. Next, they find the Dreamfish, yet again with Fallon's and Hadley's internet help, in the Adenato currents. Lastly, they get Eris' protective necklace by distracting her with some music and a song. Furious, Eris spins a whirlpool in order to get rid of Merliah. Merliah gets sucked into the whirlpool. Desperate, Merliah calls on the Dreamfish which offers to send her back to Malibu, her mermaid half to go away and it as if none of this has ever happened. Merliah hestitates, but rejects the wish. She is given a real strong mermaid tail, and successfully comes out the whirlpool. Merliah throws Eris' necklace to the ground, revealing Calissa spinning Merillia. Merliah finds out that though Eris is from a royal family, she can't spin Merillia, which is why Eris did not destroy Calissa. Eris is fed up with Merliah and goes after her. Merliah leads Eris into her own whirlpool and she is sent to the bottom of deepest trench in the ocean. Merliah sets Calissa free and Calissa makes Oceana healthy once more. Calissa gives Merliah a necklace that will let her wish to be human or mermaid at anytime. Merliah then goes back to the human world and wins the surfing trophy.