Review - Soul Surfer

A Message That Comes Right Down The Pipe

The story of Bethany Hamilton (AnnaSophia Robb) has made national news. A young woman, progressing on a path to a promising career in the surfing world has a terrible accident, through no fault of her own. An attack in the middle of the ocean leaves Bethany and her family searching for answers.

Her parents (Dennis Quaid and Helen Hunt) have always encouraged her with her dreams. But now they are as devastated as she is that her life will undergo changes beyond what anyone can imagine.

Bethany doesn’t view this as a change in lifestyle. Bethany views her physical condition as yet another challenge that is put in front of her. This journey to greatness will be met with a speed bump. A speed bump that would cause some to fall off the road is just a bump for Bethany. Her family realized long ago that with God all things are possible. And with Bethany’s determination she’s going to make that happen. It may be a different path, but she remains on the same journey.

Soul Surfer makes no excuses for delivering a Christian message in a mainstream movie. From the get go, as Bethany heads from the water, Church plays a prominent role in the film. But it isn’t the only force at work in this film. In fact, I think that if the story has as much of a faith component to it, it would have been truly refreshing to see more overt leaning on God after the first 30-40 minutes of the film.

But that doesn’t distract from the message of determination being delivered in this film. And the delivery of the message is the point of this film. It is a solid message of determination and finding your way through the darkness. Bad things “can” happen to good people. Good people have a way of making those bad things work to their advantage, and that is the case here.

Bethany is a picture of encouragement and the story works on so many levels. But where that works, there is a number of things that didn’t. The dialogue was clunky and out of place at times. There were moments that should have been stronger but seemed to suffer amidst setup and dialogue issues that held the actors back. The accident sequence was “Jawsesque” and not in a good way. But that’s ok; it was good that the scene was slightly toned down.

Films with overt Christian messaging have come a long way and while some of the “cheesy” elements of Soul Surfer distract from the film as a whole the message “hangs ten” and comes right down the pipe.


B-/C+

Soul Surfer
TriStar Pictures

Director: Sean McNamara
Cast: AnnaSophia Robb, Dennis Quaid, Helen Hunt, Carrie Underwood, Kevin Sorbo

Rating: PG for an intense accident sequence and some thematic material.
Runtime: 106 minutes.