- Barbie and her sisters visit a sun-kissed island resort, only to discover that a rare Gemstone dolphin has gone missing. Will Barbie and her mysterious new friend Isla manage to find it? Above all, what is Isla's well-hidden secret?
- "In this fun, underwater adventure, Barbie and her sisters visit Ken at his summer internship where he works at a coral reef researching dolphins. While diving and exploring the reef, the sisters discover rare, rainbow-colored dolphins who only visit once a year. This amazing find encourages them to learn more about preserving the coral and all the sea life that lives there. That's when they meet Isla, a mysterious new friend who's also on a mission to save the coral. What seems like a simple task turns out to be quite the adventure when it's revealed Isla is really a mermaid. But there's no time to celebrate having a mermaid for a friend, because Isla needs the help of Barbie and her sisters, and the gemstone dolphins to save the day."—http://barbiemovies.wikia.com
- Barbie and her sisters--Skipper, Stacie, and Chelsea--enjoy their vacation at a sun-kissed island resort, where Ken does an internship at a marine biology laboratory. But there are strange goings-on in and out of the marine reserve. Now Emerald, a rare Gemstone dolphin, has gone missing, and the team must race against time to solve the mystery before it's too late. Will poor Emerald reunite with Isla, her loyal companion? But first things first. What is the secret of Barbie's enigmatic new friend?—Nick Riganas
- A mermaid and her four dolphin friends flee an approaching fishing boat by diving deeper into the sea, not wanting to be seen. The dolphins are all brightly colored, with strange hibiscus flower markings on their sides. The youngest, a baby male named Emerald, decides to curiously surface anyway and is spotted by the fishermen, who immediately recognize him as a rare "Gemstone Dolphin" and capture him, one saying that someone has offered a reward to anyone who brings a gemstone dolphin in. As he is netted and dragged away, he and the other dolphins lose their glowing markings. The mermaid tells the other three to stay put and sets off in pursuit of the boat.
Meanwhile, Barbie, her sisters Chelsea, Skipper, and Stacy, and their four pet puppies arrive at a beach cabin rented for them by Ken, who has arranged their vacation so they can hang out with him while he interns at a marine biology institute a bit further down the beach. Ken, who is hoping to be able to do more but right now is relegated to cleaning and taking care of the starfish tanks, has a few hours off when they arrive, so once they are settled in, he takes Barbie and Skipper out on a boat to go diving in the reef. Skipper has entered a contest for the best photo blog and is hoping the vacation will give her lots of good options, and Barbie is excited to see some of the sea life. As they are in the water, they see a strange large creature flash by. Skipper gets a very blurry picture, and the trio hop into the boat to pursue it, but lose sight of it just as it appears to lead them back to the research facility Ken works at. The creature is actually the mermaid, who finds Emerald but has to hide before Ken and the others catch up.
Back at the cabin, Stacy, Chelsea, and the puppies are playing on the slide and people watching, as Stacy's ankle needs one more day in a boot while she recovers from a sprain and she can't get in the water right now. Through the binoculars, Chelsea notices Emerald in a holding tank at the research facility, and she and Skipper set off to investigate, the puppies following behind. When they get there, they discover the 'tank' is actually a naturally-occurring cove which has been modified to a holding area by a concrete ramp on one end and a large submerged gate on the other. He greets them and plays for them. At the same time, Barbie, Skipper, and Ken arrive at the facility and meet up with them. Ken has no idea why the dolphin is there, as it wasn't there before, so they assume that he must have swum in by accident when the gate was open and gotten trapped. They attempt to open the gate to let him out, but Marlowe, the owner of the facility, immediately rushes out and angrily demands they leave. She insists that the dolphin needs to be seen by a vet and is sick and stressed from being caught in a fishing net. Everyone can see Emerald is perfectly healthy and happy, except for wanting to get out, but because Marlowe is supposed to be an expert, they decide she knows best. Marlowe tells them the vet will see the dolphin in the afternoon and to not come back until after then, at which time she will let them say goodbye if he is fit to be released. However, something about her abrupt and harsh manner rubs the sisters the wrong way.
As Ken gets back to his chores, the sisters return to their cabin only to find the puppies aren't with them. Barbie sneaks back to find them. Meanwhile, the mermaid meets the puppies at the dock, and, thinking they are land dolphins, pets them and plays with them a bit before using a magic necklace to change her tail to legs. The puppies follow her as she hurries to open the gate and let Emerald out, but Marlowe has locked it electronically so the valve that releases the gate won't budge. Barbie notices the stranger and sympathizes with her frustration. She introduces herself to her, and learns her name is Isla, then explains the situation to her, and says they intend to come back when the vet does to make sure the dolphin is indeed released, but until then they'll have to trust Marlowe. Reluctantly, Isla agrees that Emerald is probably safe for the time being and follows Barbie to hang out with her sisters while they wait.
Isla lets Barbie and her sisters in on the fact that Emerald is a gemstone dolphin, but keeps their monetary worth, and her true identity, a secret. She confuses them when she shows she doesn't know what most human things are, including bread, sandwiches, toothbrushes, and beds, but explains this away by saying she's come here from a very remote island and doesn't know much. At a Luau that evening, they again meet up with Ken. When Isla learns they keep starfish and other creatures from her home in tanks at the research facility, she starts to distrust Ken and Barbie's assurance that Marlowe knows what she's doing. However, the sisters cheer her up with a song and a group selfie around a campfire, teaching her about the fun of having friends and sisters since she claims she is mostly alone. Meanwhile, back at the facility, Marlowe makes a phone call to someone and says they need to move their plans to earlier in the day, because she wants the dolphin sold and gone before Barbie and her sisters come back, revealing she is the woman who offers rewards for the capture of gemstone dolphins.
The next day, the group find that Isla is a very sound sleeper - not even the puppies swarming all over her can wake her. The night before, she had indicated she'd never slept in a bed, so they chalk it up to it being TOO Comfortable for her and eventually wake her up with the smells and sounds of breakfast. Barbie and Isla decide to go swimming while the other sisters hang at the cabin - Chelsea to play with the puppies, Skipper to work on her photo blog, and Stacy to use her high powered binoculars to people watch again. In the water, Isla is joined by the other three Gemstone dolphins, who swam up closer to shore when she didn't come back the night before. One of them, Ruby, noses her necklace to make her turn back into a mermaid, startling Barbie. Isla resigns herself to the fact she's been discovered, but orders Barbie to not tell anyone, even her sisters. There are too many humans she doesn't trust, and even though she trusts Barbie's sisters, she's afraid the secret might get out accidentally. The two play together in the reef, with Isla teaching Barbie how to swim mermaid style. Meanwhile, a mysterious helicopter arrives at the research facility - seeing this, Chelsea, Skipper, and Stacy set off to find out if the vet has arrived early.
As Barbie and Isla play in the water, they suddenly hear the sound of Emerald clicking, as if he is close nearby. The clicking comes from a cave just underwater, and they realize it must have an outlet in the cove. Isla and the dolphins immediately charge into it, forgetting about waiting for the vet, to free Emerald, leaving Barbie to wait alone in the bay. The sisters and puppies arrive at the facility, and notice the logo on the helicopter is not that of a vet's office but that of a sideshow. They then overhear Marlowe and the owner of the chopper arguing about how quickly they can get the dolphin loaded and flown away, and realize what she is up to. Skipper, who is not paying full attention, runs a filter on her blurry picture from earlier and discovers it's a picture of Isla, but as it's from the back they don't recognize her. They do, however, recognize it as a mermaid, which excites Chelsea very much and nearly gets them discovered.
Isla and the dolphins return, saying the cave system is a labyrinth and they cannot find their way. The three dolphins, now distressed by having heard Emerald's calls, rush off before they can be stopped and show up just outside the gate of the holding tank at the facility. Ken, working on top of the wall where the control valve is, notices them, and Marlowe immediately makes a show of holding Emerald to "comfort" him from stress. SHe orders Ken to let the dolphin's family in so they can relax, and then close the gate behind him. Ken isn't sure about this but Marlowe points out the distressed calls of the dolphins and he gives way. To open the gate, she gives him the security pass code for the electronic lock. Ken still doesn't feel right about this, and his suspicions are confirmed when Barbie and Isla arrive, the latter having regained her human legs. Furious at herself for trusting Barbie and Ken's judgment and having all her dolphin friends trapped, she storms away in rage, saying she will find a way to free them herself without their help.
Skipper gets a message through to Barbie about what Marlowe and Hugo, the sideshow owner who came in the chopper, are up to. Upon hearing this, Ken immediately uses the pass code to open the gate, only to find Marlowe has already changed it remotely and that the gate remains locked. After five failed attempts, the security system automatically resets the pass code again, saying it has sent the new pass code to Marlowe's master device. Realizing this means the key fob that Marlowe carries, Barbie, Ken, and her sisters hatch a plan. Barbie personally hunts down and apologizes to Isla, and promises to her that they will get all her friends back. Isla, having cooled down from her flare-up of temper, readily accepts the apology and agrees to help with the plan.
Ken and one of the puppies distract Marlowe while she is at lunch, while Chelsea steals the key fob and takes it to Skipper, who hacks into it with her tablet. However, the tablet takes a long time to load the pass code, and Ken's banter starts to cease to distract Marlowe. Isla flashes by in the ocean and Ken gets Marlow to look to see what it was that blurred by so quickly, allowing Skipper to finish hacking the device and Chelsea to return it. However, one of the puppies steals it en-route and it gets covered in half-chewed treats before Chelsea can replace it.
The group arrives at the facility and Isla, hearing that Skipper got a picture of a mermaid, reveals her true identity to them willingly to show that it is indeed her in the photograph. She jumps into the cove with her dolphins and Skipper uses the pass code she hacked to open the gate, only to have it rejected. Marlowe appears, and says that the dog treats gave them away and that she has permanently locked the gate so it will never open again. Isla and the dolphins hide in the cave's entrance that leads into the cove while she gloats, and when Marlowe and Hugo realize they've "escaped", they hurry to the helicopter to pursue them. Isla returns to the cove, saying that the caves are just as much a maze on this end and that they still can't find their way out. She gives Barbie a special shell that is connected to her necklace, saying that mermaids usually live far apart in the wide open ocean and they use these shells to communicate. Barbie goes with Stacy to the other cave entrance and uses the shell, which sends out a glowing signal that allows Isla and the Dolphins to escape. Ken and the others catch up and they board his boat to flee, the Dolphins surfing the wake of the ship as the helicopter spots them and closes in.
Ken's boat nearly runs aground on a reef and he's forced to stop. However, Isla knows that a short distance off the reef is a very fast current. If she and the Dolphins make it there, the helicopter will never be able to catch them. They start off, after a hasty goodbye to Barbie and her sisters, but when Marlowe catches sight of the real mermaid, she realizes that this would be worth millions more than an oddly-colored Dolphin, even with hibiscus markings now that these have reappeared. She switches tactics and they go after Isla, separating her from the dolphins and chasing her across the reef. Barbie immediately jumps into the water to help, and swims like a mermaid, wrapping herself in seaweed to complete the disguise. She is caught in the fishing net that was dropped for Isla, and they carry her off to the marine institute. Isla and the Dolphins are able to escape to the open sea before the deception is realized. Barbie tells Marlowe she is going to report her facility and have her license revoked, because there was no research ever going on at the lab other than to keep rare specimens to sell for profit.
Some days later, the sisters and puppies enjoy time on a more secluded beach with Ken, who's now retired from the Marine Biology business. Skipper's photo blog won the contest, though she deliberately deleted the picture with Isla as a mermaid, to preserve her secret. THey find the picture from the group selfie at the Luau and everyone is sad that they didn't get to properly say goodbye to Isla and that their time together was so short. Barbie tries to use the shell to call Isla and the dolphins to her. It seems to not work, but Isla, as a human, later shows up and says that she can always follow the signal back. They hang out on the beach together and declare Isla their "sister of the sea", while the gemstone dolphins, safely out of reach of the shore, frolic freely in the ocean.
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