Review of Soul Surfer (2011) by Jim C — 25 Aug 2011

I enjoyed Soul Surfer, but it suffered the main problem almost every inspirational movie based on a true story has, and that problem is Hollywood. The story is about Bethany (AnnaSophia Robb), a girl who was born to surf.

A natural talent who took to the waves at a young age, she was leading an idyllic life on Kauai, participating in national surf competitions with her best friend Alana (Lorraine Nicholson), when everything changed.

On Halloween morning, a 14-foot tiger shark came out of nowhere and seemed to shatter all her dreams. Soul Surfer reveals Bethany's fight to recover from her ordeal and how she grappled with the question of her future.

Strengthened by the love of her parents, Tom (Dennis Quaid) and Cheri (Helen Hunt), and supported by her youth group leader Sara (Carrie Underwood), Bethany refuses to give in or give up, and begins a bold return to the water.

The plot of the film never became boring, it never tried to be stupid, and it tried hard to inspire people such as the true story of Bethany Hammleton, but there were thjings like I said where Hollywood has to move in and ruin some things.

The cast was good, AnnaSophia Robb made a great performance, while Helen Hunt and Dennis Quaid play good performances, but the mighty hand of Hollywood has taken its toll on most of the roles of this film, and it seemed a little to inspirational, I mean for me there is a limit on how much cliche they put in this, like when the mean girl in this film wore black in like every scene, I mean come on, was I the only one thinking how stupid and cliche that was, in real life do you think that girl was wearing black everytime to show off her villainous side.

I usually only mention the score in my reviews when its really good, and here it was really good, it had the hawaiin feel to it which really was cool, seeing as I have been to Hawaii and it was cool to remember the music from my trips there.

This movie was not great, but it was good, and I enjoy the love for God they give in this film, and the moral which is determination that if you love doing something, nothng in the world will stop you from doing it, and even though Hollywood tried to ruin this movie, its still a good movie that I recommend to everyone who enjoys and happy film.