The Thirteenth Year
| The Thirteenth Year | |
|---|---|
VHS cover
|
|
| Written by |
Jenny Arata Robert L. Baird Kelly Senecal |
| Directed by | Duwayne Dunham |
| Starring | |
| Theme music composer | Phil Marshall |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) |
Thom Colwell Heidi Wall Mike Jacobs Jr. |
| Cinematography | Michael Slovis |
| Running time | 95 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Dream City Films |
| Distributor | Disney-ABC Domestic Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | Disney Channel |
| Original release | May 15, 1999 |
The Thirteenth Year is a 1999 comedy-drama Disney Channel Original Movie. It was released May 15, 1999. The film was directed by Duwayne Dunham, who has directed other children and Disney movies, including Little Giants and Halloweentown.
Cody Griffin is an adopted teenager; his birth mother is a mermaid who left him on the Griffins' boat when he was a baby to avoid being captured. As she left, she was spotted by Mr. Wheatly, a fisherman who became obsessed with finding mermaids. Cody establishes himself as a quick swimmer in the town he lives in, and has a girlfriend named Sam. He's under a lot of pressure from a big swim meet coming up and because he's failing biology, he's partnered with Jess Wheatly, the class geek who is a marine biology expert.
After Cody's 13th birthday, he begins to feel strange. As he wakes up in the morning, he turns off his alarm clock and zaps it. Ignoring it, Cody drinks from a milk container, which he notices is stuck to his hand; he later also drinks large amounts of water. He goes to Jess for help, who agrees to figure out what's going on with him as long as Cody teaches him to swim in return. Jess runs various tests, learning Cody can generate electricity, climb walls (like Spider-Man), talk to fish, swim extremely fast, and when sometimes wet, scales appear on his hands and arms. Jess concludes that Cody is turning into a merman.
Despite all the odd things happening to him, as well as the objection of his adoptive parents when they found out, Cody decides to attend the swim meet. He not only wins the meet and beats Sean, but breaks the state speed record, with his scales appearing. Sean sees the scales and surmises Cody cheated, following him into the locker room. Cody avoids him by sticking to the ceiling, but Sean says he saw something and will find out what. Cody safely makes it out of the stadium and goes home with his parents after they find out he wasn't in his room; however, the scales are lasting longer now.
Cody tries calming his parents by claiming nobody saw him change, but Jess shows up and tells them he saw everything and that people are talking about Cody. Sam arrives and faints at the sight of Cody's scales. When she comes to, she is freaked out. Cody tells her he's still the same guy and to not be afraid. While sworn to secrecy for Cody's safety, Sam is disturbed by the discovery and leaves. The next morning Cody takes a swim, and meets his mermaid mother; however, Jess's father, who is the obsessed fisherman, spots them and ends the reunion.
...
Wikipedia