Soul Surfer

Directed By: Sean McNamara
Written By: Sean McNamara, Deborah Schwartz, Douglas Schwartz & Michael Berk
Starring: AnnaSophia Robb, Dennis Quaid, Helen Hunt and Carrie Underwood
Rated: PG

MY RATING: C

Surfer? Yes.  Soul?  Could've used a little more.

This film is based on the true story of Bethany Hamilton, a surfer who lost an arm in a freak shark attack accident.  The film begins by showing Bethany Hamilton (AnnaSophia Robb) as a little girl growing up on the beaches of Hawaii with her family of surfers.  Her mom (Helen Hunt) and dad (Dennis Quaid) were both surfers so it was natural that she would be born with the ability and passion for the sport also.  Fast forward to Bethany (Robb) as a teenager living a carefree life surfing and spending time with her friends and family.  With the help of her mom (Hunt) and dad (Quaid) she trains for an upcoming surf competition, a competition that her childhood bestfriend Alana (Lorraine Nicholson) is also training for.  While out training one day she is bitten by a shark and loses an arm.  Bethany perseveres and learns to live her daily life with this missing limb and also finds the will to continue surfing.

This was a sweet, cute movie, nothing more, nothing less.  The surfing scenes were about the most action you'll get in the film.  The most impressive things were that the surfing was real with the real Bethany Hamilton doing the stunt surfing for AnnaSophia Robb. Also the great special effects job they did to make AnnaSophia Robb appear to have a missing arm. 
It took a little while for the shark attack to happen while they set up Bethany's (Robb) life and relationships.  For me it took a little too long and when the moment happened it was pretty predictable.  I was looking for more of a surprise.  Also everyone was so calm during and after the shark attack which didn't fit.  But it turns out that the real Bethany Hamilton actually remained calm so I guess I can't critique that too much.  I'm just used to things being exaggerated for entertainment sake and in this film the Hamiltons were very much involved and wanted the film to be as close to real life as possible which I think takes away from the film a little. 
Also this was our introduction to Carrie Underwood as an actress and I think she did an okay job.  She wasn't great and she wasn't bad.  She played Sarah Hill, Bethany's Christian youth leader but her spiritual role wasn't enough for me.  Maybe they didn't want the movie to be too preachy but for the real life Hamiltons to hold their Christianity so dear to them I don't think Soul Surfer painted a clear enough picture of that aspect of their lives. 

But overall it was a cute movie for the whole family.  I mean it's worth making the kids watch it for the inspirational message.  There were good scenes where Bethany (Robb) realizes her purpose in life and comes to terms with why the accident happened to her.  I even teared up a couple of times.  It was more like a good Hallmark movie but not one of the best "based on a true story" films I've seen.  I'll say I pretty much got what I expected from this movie: a cutsie, family film that's pretty entertaining and not too complicated. 

So my recommendation is if you have kids then definitely see it, but there's no rush.  If you don't have kids you can check it out on cable.  I wouldn't say skip it because it's worth knowing Bethany Hamilton's story.