Ramona & Beezus

Based off Beverly Cleary's classic “Ramona” series, Joey King stars in a new version directed by Elizabeth Allen. As far as I know “Ramona and Beezus” follows the story fairly. The cast is excellent – John Corbett and Bridget Moynahan as the Quimby parents and unfortunately Selena Gomez as Beezus (luckily her role wasn't that significant – I heard it was originally supposed to be Miley Cyrus...which would have ruined the movie. Some people are critical about a Hispanic actress playing Beezus, but at least she doesn't have an Montanan accent.) I was excited to see Ginnifer Goodwin as Aunt Bea and Josh Duhamel as Uncle Hobart since they co-starred in “Win a Date with Tad Hamilton” back in 2004. Eleven-year-old Joey King plays Ramona, which was probably the best casting decision ever made. It's a very demanding role, what with Ramona crying and vomiting and all; nevertheless, King gives an incredible performance.

The story line is a little complicated since there are so many little things going on at once. Plot #1: Ramona is a very unique and imaginative individual and is always messing up and causing trouble so she sometimes feels like a nuisance. Plot #2: Basically Mr. Quimby loses his job, the Quimbys have financial problems and may have to move, so Ramona tries her best to help out. Plot #3: Ramona's Aunt Bea and the next-door neighbor's Uncle Hobart were high school sweethearts. They kinda start falling for each other again but Aunt Bea's pretty bitter about Hobart's fear of commitment. Plot #4: Beezus (her real name is Beatrice...) is “coming of age” and develops a crush on her childhood friend, Henry (Hutch Dano).  Even with all these plots, it's not hard to stay focused and understand what's going on - it is a children's story after all.  I don't really remember the books all that well but everything I saw looked believable and actually pretty realistic. I rarely cry at movies, but I just felt so much sympathy for Ramona. Joey King is adorable and genuine and so talented at making you smile or cry with her.

Visually, “Ramona and Beezus” is pretty great. It's stylized so that it looks sort of like “Juno” with that warm, vintage-esque feel. There are a couple cool graphics which add a lot and really let you see into Ramona's imagination. One of the best parts in my opinion is the montage of Ramona and Howie jumping out of the hole in the house. Speaking of montage, the music is...okay. I was annoyed that they included a terrible remake of “Walking on Sunshine.” Oh, the remake is by Aly & AJ... There's also some Taylor Swift and an original Selena Gomez song. Ew. But to redeem itself, there are also songs by Peter, Paul & Mary and OK Go. There's a little too much music in this film – but that's one of my only complaints.

Basically, I ended up liking this movie a lot more than I expected. I mean, it's a Beverly Cleary story, there's a great cast, and some nice cinematography/graphics.  It's like a younger “Juno”... and definitely not as Disney Channel as it seems in the trailers.  So don't be perturbed by how Selena Gomez is hyped up in the billing – she doesn't have that big of a role.   They just want the tweens to come see it. Honestly, though, I really think that this is a great movie for all ages. The 7 and 9-year-olds I babysit loved it, my cousin loved it, and even I (a film student) liked it.  So go check it out! Grades: =] & =D or 3.5 out of 4 stars.

-Sarah Wason

Grade key:

| [ (so bad I had to close my eyes.)

=[.. (caused drooling out of lack of interest/lack of intelligent content)

=( (made me sad that I saw it)

=\ (made me concerned for those involved in production)

=| (so generic that I have no significant comment)

=] (I enjoyed it. It often made me smile without feeling shame or brain decay or it made me think.)

=D (it made me laugh... this is not difficult – I laugh at many things)

=O (made my proverbial jaw drop. Blown away by some prominent aspect.)