Aquamarine [Soundtrack]

The soundtrack to Aquamarine -- a film based on Alice Hoffman's young-adult novel about two girls who discover a mermaid in the swimming pool of their beach club -- has one foot (or rather, fin) in teen pop and the other in modern rock. The album straddles this gap pretty well, thanks to songs like Cheyenne Kimball's "One Original Thing" (which boasts a heavy, strutting minor-key riff that's uncannily reminiscent of Iggy Pop's "The Passenger"), and Mandy Moore's overdone but still-enjoyable cover of Blondie's "One Way or Another." Meanwhile, Teitur's "One and Only" is a winsome acoustic ballad that could be from a junior version of Ron Sexsmith, and Teddy Geiger, also of the dearly departed CBS TV show Love Monkey, contributes some more mellow singer/songwriter rock with "Gentleman." Aquamarine does have plenty of more typical teen pop, such as Nikki Cleary's "Summertime Guys" and the Jonas Brothers' "Time for Me to Fly," but even the poppiest songs have a few twists: Nikki Flores' "Strike" has a Latin flair, while Courtney Jaye's "Can't Behave" has an irresistible twang. Fittingly enough, two of Aquamarine's stars also contribute tracks: Emma Roberts' cover of Weezer's "Island in the Sun" is charming and fresh-sounding, almost like she was caught singing along with the radio. Sara Paxton -- who stars as the mermaid, Aquamarine -- has a voice almost as sweet as a mermaid's, and lifts "Connected" above more usual teen pop fare. Add in stellastarr*'s theatrical "Sweet Troubled Soul" and Bodyrockers' playful, ever-so-slightly-sleazy "I Like the Way You Move" (both of which make more sense and actually sound better in this context than they would with other modern rock songs), and the results are a soundtrack that fills a void for tweens who have outgrown Radio Disney but might still be a little too young for The O.C..