Movies for Grownups Review Soul Surfer
Movies for Grownups Review Soul Surfer Movies for Grownups
Directed by Sean McNamara
Rated PG
Runtime: 106 mins. If Soul Surfer weren’t based on a true story, audiences would never believe it. But the larger problem with director/screenwriter Sean McNamara’s film version of the 2003 shark attack that took 13-year-old Bethany Hamilton’s left arm but failed to steal her indomitable spirit is that it is so riddled with clichés — in the dialogue and in the character portrayals — that its authentic message almost gets lost.
The film begins with Hamilton (played by the appealing AnnaSophia Robb of Race to Witch Mountain) explaining in voiceover how she was born to surf. That’s because she’s the daughter of Tom and Cheri Hamilton — McNamara’s casting of Dennis Quaid and Helen Hunt in the parent roles was brilliant — who moved to Kauai from the mainland to share their love of the water with their children (including two teenage boys, Timmy and Noah). Next scene is young Bethany, on the verge of going pro, having just won sponsorship from the surf- and ski-wear manufacturer Rip Curl. Then, that fateful Halloween morning, as she chats with her best friend Alana Blanchard (played by Jack Nicholson’s up-and-coming actress daughter, Lorraine Nicholson) while they straddle their boards in the Hawaiian surf, a 14-foot tiger shark mistakes her for his next meal. Bethany loses more than 60 percent of her blood in the attack, and that she survives — thanks in part to the quick thinking of Alana’s dad, Holt (Kevin Sorbo), who wraps a tourniquet around the wound and hustles her out of the water — is, according to her doctor (played by Craig T. Nelson), nothing short of a miracle. The rest of Soul Surfer (which bears the same title as Hamilton’s bestselling memoir, published in 2004) is a recounting of Bethany’s journey to reclaim — no, embrace — her identity, now with a changed body. Within a month of the attack, she gets back in the ocean, determined to return to surfing. Frustrated by the effort to adapt to the sport with one arm, she threatens at one point to quit, but ultimately perseveres, eventually going on to become one of the world’s top female pro surfers today. She does this because she’s a feisty and courageous person, backed by a supportive and close-knit family and community who share an abiding religious faith.
Review Soul Surfer
A too picture-perfect portrayal of a gritty real-life drama
Photo by Mario Perez. Courtesy of FilmDistrict and TriStar From left to right - Dennis Quaid, Helen Hunt and AnnaSophia Robb in Soul Surfer.Directed by Sean McNamara
Rated PG
Runtime: 106 mins. If Soul Surfer weren’t based on a true story, audiences would never believe it. But the larger problem with director/screenwriter Sean McNamara’s film version of the 2003 shark attack that took 13-year-old Bethany Hamilton’s left arm but failed to steal her indomitable spirit is that it is so riddled with clichés — in the dialogue and in the character portrayals — that its authentic message almost gets lost.
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See also:The film begins with Hamilton (played by the appealing AnnaSophia Robb of Race to Witch Mountain) explaining in voiceover how she was born to surf. That’s because she’s the daughter of Tom and Cheri Hamilton — McNamara’s casting of Dennis Quaid and Helen Hunt in the parent roles was brilliant — who moved to Kauai from the mainland to share their love of the water with their children (including two teenage boys, Timmy and Noah). Next scene is young Bethany, on the verge of going pro, having just won sponsorship from the surf- and ski-wear manufacturer Rip Curl. Then, that fateful Halloween morning, as she chats with her best friend Alana Blanchard (played by Jack Nicholson’s up-and-coming actress daughter, Lorraine Nicholson) while they straddle their boards in the Hawaiian surf, a 14-foot tiger shark mistakes her for his next meal. Bethany loses more than 60 percent of her blood in the attack, and that she survives — thanks in part to the quick thinking of Alana’s dad, Holt (Kevin Sorbo), who wraps a tourniquet around the wound and hustles her out of the water — is, according to her doctor (played by Craig T. Nelson), nothing short of a miracle. The rest of Soul Surfer (which bears the same title as Hamilton’s bestselling memoir, published in 2004) is a recounting of Bethany’s journey to reclaim — no, embrace — her identity, now with a changed body. Within a month of the attack, she gets back in the ocean, determined to return to surfing. Frustrated by the effort to adapt to the sport with one arm, she threatens at one point to quit, but ultimately perseveres, eventually going on to become one of the world’s top female pro surfers today. She does this because she’s a feisty and courageous person, backed by a supportive and close-knit family and community who share an abiding religious faith.