- Critic Score
- Most active
- Publication
- Most clicked
-
40Comes across as a particularly unspecial "Very Special Episode" of a television series that never made it past the pilot stage.
-
63The best moments come when Robb's all-purpose toughness experiences vulnerable doubt. These moments are flickers, but they're bright and human.
-
40Sappy melodrama, clumsy dialogue and heavy-handed proselytizing derail the inspirational story of teen surfer Bethany Hamilton.
-
50AnnaSophia Robb (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) is too subdued as the teenage heroine; one might expect more affect from a young woman fighting to overcome disability and return to competitive surfing.
-
63I feel something is missing. There had to be dark nights of the soul. Times of grief and rage. The temptation of nihilism. The lure of despair. Can a 13-year-old girl lose an arm and keep right on smiling?
-
50Hamilton 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.
-
75Soul Surfer, while formulaic in design, is an authentic and heartfelt movie.
-
60That Soul Surfer rates as a giant leap for this team speaks well about the conviction the movie's actors bring to the material as well as the respect afforded the Hamiltons and their faith.
-
75It's a good, solid family film.
-
70Thus ends one of the most understated shark-attack sequences, ever; it's almost Bressonian, except it's not boring.
-
50McNamara's relentlessly shiny, happy outlook crosses the line between believable and artificial by about the 10-minute mark.
-
40Dennis Quaid lends some needed saltiness as Hamilton's supportive dad.
-
38You'd think it would be hard to make an uninteresting movie based on the true story of Bethany Hamilton... But the terminally bland Soul Surfer comes perilously close.
-
88The 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.
-
38The aquatic and surf scenes are spectacular. The story, a clichéed climb to inspiration. Soul Surfer is more parable than plot.
-
50The script is weak, but everyone on the technical side of "Soul Surfer" is a pro. The scenes in the water flow together nicely, and the action is always coherent. Robb's scenes without an arm look seamless throughout the movie.
-
63It's a compelling tale of surf and survival.
-
67The sermons are subtle, raising the film's chances of crossing over to secular audiences. Soul Surfer is so clean that it squeaks, but sometimes that's a nice change of pace.
-
58Unique as an inspirational personal-achievement film in the way it focuses on the protagonist not merely as a bastion of strength, but as part of a supportive community and family.
-
50Soul Surfer is a true story that plays like bad fiction.
-
60A true story of courage, determination and guts that deserves a more exciting approach.
-
Apr 7, 201180As a portrait of a spirited, resilient athlete, the movie succeeds best, unafraid to face its heroine's daunting challenges directly.
-
60Superb limb-erasing effects and lush cinematography are bonuses, though not so much the cloying presence of American Idol's Carrie Underwood.
-
50The inspiring story of surfer and shark attack victim Bethany Hamilton deserves a better dramatization.
-
70Distinguished by splashy cinematography, engaging performances from Dennis Quaid and Helen Hunt as the girl's go-get-'em parents.
-
Apr 5, 201140Soul Surfer offers a ghastlier sight than your wildest "127 Hours"–meets-"Jaws" nightmare: barefaced Christian pandering that pretends it isn't.
-
38The swells of inspirational storytelling sometimes threaten to swamp the underlying inspirational story.