SOUL SURFER

Despite having a whopping seven (!) different writers credited, or perhaps because of it, this mediocre family drama feels a lot like a TV movie-of-the-week.

The film tells the true story of teenaged surfer Bethany Hamilton (AnnaSophia Robb), who made headlines worldwide in 2003 when her left arm was bitten off by a shark. Chronicling the attack, Bethany’s recovery and her eventual return to the water to pursue her surfing dreams, Soul Surfer stretches its fairly thin plot about as far as it can go. We watch as Bethany learns to live with one arm, struggles to get back up on her board and copes with the sudden surge of media attention. Her loving, hugely supportive surfer parents (Dennis Quaid and Helen Hunt) cheer her on, as do her brothers, her best friend (Lorraine Nicholson), her best friend’s dad (Kevin Sorbo) and her church’s youth-group leader (an unfortunately wooden Carrie Underwood), who’s overflowing with inspirational messages. There is nary a naysayer to be found.

Now, I love a surf movie. There’s something about the blue waters and rip curls and gorgeous cinematography that automatically draw me in and, admittedly, Soul Surfer does have those elements in place. The in-water sequences are pretty and dreamy. But they alone can’t keep the movie afloat amid a swell of problems.

Director Sean McNamara is a veteran of tween-centric TV series like That’s So Raven, and it shows. There’s a certain ADD-, keep-the-kids-interested quality to some of the editing and narrative choices, both of which are needlessly manic on occasion, and the level of syrup and faux-depth in the storytelling is, at times, a little over-the-top. Efforts to amp up the tension and manufacture drama are obvious each time they occur because they’re accompanied by a sudden switch to the use of a narrow-shutter effect in the filmmaking (think: Saving Private Ryan). This is most evident in the get-Bethany-to-the-hospital sequence very early on... the key problem, of course, being that most people watching the film already know she gets to the hospital and lives. Worst of all, home movies shot by the real-life Hamilton family run alongside the closing credits, revealing (much to the filmmakers’ detriment, I think) that much of the movie is made up of shot-by-shot recreations of what might have been a much more compelling documentary.

The cast is fine but unexceptional. Robb does a nice job of making the über-religious Hamilton less of a Bible-thumper and more of a relatable girl, but both Quaid and Hunt seem to think they’re in A Very Serious Movie and their performances are therefore peppered with a smidge too much gravitas. There’s also an odd disconnect between all the characters – amid all this trauma, there isn’t a sense of genuine warmth or love amongst them. The film is, I suspect, meant to deliver an empowering, uplifting message but it feels synthetic as a result.

Thing is, as mentioned, Soul Surfer would have been much better suited – both in terms of content and execution – to television. It’s totally something that would run on a major network or family-centric cable channel on a Sunday night.