Soul Surfer (2011)
Average Rating: 5.3/10
Reviews Counted: 99
Fresh: 45 | Rotten: 54
There's an amazing true story at the heart of Soul Surfer -- and unfortunately, it's drowned by waves of Hollywood cheese.
Average Rating: 5.1/10
Critic Reviews: 28
Fresh: 9 | Rotten: 19
There's an amazing true story at the heart of Soul Surfer -- and unfortunately, it's drowned by waves of Hollywood cheese.
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Average Rating: 4/5
User Ratings: 38,232
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Movie Info
Bethany (AnnaSophia Robb) 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
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Cast
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Annasophia Robb
Bethany Hamilton -
Dennis Quaid
Tom Hamilton -
Helen Hunt
Cheri Hamilton -
Lorraine Nicholson
Alana Blanchard -
Carrie Underwood
Sarah Hill -
Kevin Sorbo
Holt Blanchard -
Jeremy Sumpter
Byron -
Ross Thomas
Noah Hamilton -
Sonya Balmores Chung
Malina Birch -
Chris Brochu
Timmy Hamilton -
Craig T. Nelson
Dr. Rovinsky -
Gody Gomes
Keoki -
Branscombe Richmond
Ben Aipa -
Titus Kinimaka
Titus -
John Philbin
Fuel TV Reporter #2 -
Tahini Bartolome
Girl at Foodland -
Bridget Tully
Mother at Foodland -
Tiffany Hofstetter
Rosemary -
Kelly Crean
Front Yard News Reporte... -
Dylan Slater
Turtle Bay Open Announc... -
Annie Gertsenberger
Thailand Village Elder -
Sean Patrick Mcnamara
Rip Curl Executive -
Yasmin Dar
Trasnworld Surf Reporte... -
Christie Brooke
National Surf Fan #1 -
Cayla Moore
Surfer Girl #1 -
Moon Otteman
Surfer Girl #2 -
David Tice
Contest Official -
Wesley Mann
Calvin -
Susie Singer Carter
Video Director -
Patrick Richwood
Todd -
Kimberly-Rose Wolter
Nurse -
Kaleo Relator
Boom -
Irie Driscoll
Ukulele Girl #1 -
Faith Fay
Media Gnat -
David Chokachi
Paramedic #1 -
David Stanfield
Nationals Announcer #1 -
Beau Hodge
Nationals Announcer #2 -
Dutch Hofstetter
Brandon -
Michael Coots
Photoshoot Photograher -
Kaipo Guererro
H.I. Regionals Announce... -
Rocky Canon
H.I. Regionals Announce... -
Mark Kubr
ESPN Reporter -
Kim Morgan Greene
Female Reporter -
Shelley Trotter
Nurse #2 -
Arlene Newman-Van Asperen
Cydney Blanchard -
Bailey Nagy
Surfer Olivia Jenner -
Leilani Gryde
Surfer Zoe Madsen -
Kristen Steiner
Surfer Kaila Kanahu
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Soul Surfer Trailer & Photos
All Critics (99) | Top Critics (28) | Fresh (46) | Rotten (54) | DVD (3)
A succession of would-be rousing clichés.
Top CriticSoul Surfer seems simply too sugar-coated to be true.
You wonder why this movie isn't a documentary, rather than a synthetic feature film with the heroine's arm digitally removed.
Hamilton is played, blandly, by Anna Sophia Robb, and her devoted parents, less bland, are played by Dennis Quaid and Helen Hunt. The surfing footage, much of it shot off the coast of Kauai, is not bland at all.
It's Bethany and Alana's friendship - its sturdiness and vulnerability, its laughs and sincere apologies - that rules the day.
A by-the-numbers biopic about young surfer Bethany Hamilton.
The best faith-based film ever made, an uplifting, entertaining and wonderfully-acted account of surfer Bethany Hamilton's life before and after a shark bit her arm off in the waters off her favorite Hawaiian beach.
All that separates this from made-for-TV territory is another strong turn from gifted young lead AnnaSophia Robb.
A well-meaning, handsomely staged biopic of the top Hawaii-based surfing star Bethany Hamilton who lost her arm to a shark in 2003 at the age of 13...
It's ultimately let down by some heavy-handed sentimentality, an over-abundance of Bible-bashing and some dodgy CGI sequences.
Essential viewing for any injured armed forces veteran or contender for next year's Paralympics.
Sure, the film has its mawkish moments, but it's a remarkable, well-intentioned tale that deserves to ride its wave rather than to wipe out on it.
The film is sincere and even a little sanctimonious in the way it depicts Hamilton's family, strong Christian values and work with post-tsunami orphans in Phuket.
Clearly Bethany was quite a girl but this film prompts one simply to say "Amen".
With a tale this strong, what could go wrong? Pretty much everything, as it turns out, with the story buffeted into oblivion by a tidal wave of syrup.
The film that follows is thin and frothy, though watch out for that final sentimental upsurge. It could drag and lift you against your will.
It's clear that Quaid learned nothing from Jaws 3.
A surf film employing massive amounts of CG is incredible for all the wrong reasons.
In the end, the platitudes take over completely, but the inspirational story is still worth telling.
Unless you like your inspiration in heavy-handed doses, you might be better off watching the real thing - on YouTube.
An amazing true story for sure, but this earnest dramatisation is so wholesome, it feels like being stuck in a never-ending Activia advert.
Inspiring true story wipes out on underdog clichés and waves of melodramatic Hollywood cheese.
Faith-based...With its sports-movie structure and Hollywood production values, Soul Surfer is a creditable crossover picture; it just could've done with more nuance. [Blu-ray]
A sincere, occasionally surprising melodrama that hits mostly rewarding messages of perseverance and family unity, unearthing an unanticipated sense of coherence to a frenzied situation.
Like Bethany's sunshine filled life, once a great white takes the talented girl's left arm, the film takes a dramatic turn in both tone and artistic execution.
Audience Reviews for Soul Surfer
The shark attack could've been a really cool scene, but it's over in like 3 seconds. It's kind of unbelievable that a shark would just do that. The shark probably wouldn't have even stuck his head out of the water. It just seemed a little unrealistic, I'd kind of like to hear what really happened to Bethany in the water with the shark.
The movie itself is very cheesy and I wasn't really "inspired" at all. I think the credits were the best part where you actually got to see Bethany surf. The credits were my favorite, everything else needed some work. Especially the acting on Anasophia Robb (sp?). You just got your arm bitten off by a shark...let's see some real tears and emotional breakdowns. She seemed way too calm about the entire ordeal.
Super Reviewer
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- Bethany Hamilton: Sarah's really bumming me out.
- Cheri Hamilton: Any particular reason?
- Bethany Hamilton: Yeah. So, I told her I'm not coming to Mexico. I mean, she knows that I have two important competitions coming up, right? I mean she knows how much I've put into this, you know, how much you and the whole family put into this.
- Cheri Hamilton: So what's her angle?
- Bethany Hamilton: That going to Mexcio to help kids is really important. And I know it is, I mean, I really, really wish I could go. It's just... I've got to stay and train for regionals. It's like she's counting on me now, like I'm the only person in the entire world who can do this.
- Cheri Hamilton: It's your call.
- Bethany Hamilton: Great. Now I feel even worse.
- Cheri Hamilton: That's good. A small step in a good direction.
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- Bethany Hamilton: What's his name?
- Sarah Hill: They don't know. He hasn't said a word, he won't even smile.
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- Sarah Hill: I don't know why terrible things happen to us sometimes. But I have to believe something good is going to come out of this.
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- Bethany Hamilton: Surfing isn't the most important thing in life. Love is. I've had the chance to embrace more people with one arm than I ever could with two.
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- Tom Hamilton: I don't need easy. I just need possible.
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- Bethany Hamilton: Love is bigger than any tidal wave or fear.
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You'll be pleasantly welcomed by the B-movie feel "Soul Surfer" has. It's not preachy or pretentious; deep down, there's a lot of purity and heart injected into this movie. There's a particular scene involving the Bethany, the main protagonist, that effectively agitates the audience's emotions, all without a word being said. Even the message was good-hearted, pure, and a relief, especially among a movie industry filled with dark and unsettling themes. Surprisingly, "Soul Surfer" as a Christian movie, manages to catch a couple of waves, but that's where it ends. The movie suffers from horrible pacing issues, mainly due to the fact that the incident that occurs, and the result afterwards are the only solid material "Soul Surfer" has for its narrative. The spaces in between are nothing more than fillers, and what dull fillers they are. The editing is sporadically all over the place, and the dialogue makes me shudder.
Phew, this is one big cheeseball. Nevertheless, it's a good movie for children and is a surprisingly effective Christian-themed film -- just don't take your film critique crew to watch this. There IS an amazing true story at the heart of Soul Surfer -- and unfortunately, it's drowned by waves of Hollywood cheese... to the max.