Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Grimerlana Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

Staci Frederick Blistering performances.

fencerdoug The story for this film is, unfortunately, mostly sad. This movie spends the first 70 minutes in a variety of sad or otherwise unpleasant situations some of which are the fault of the main character, and some of which are out of her control. Even the situations which are her fault occur not because she has willfully done a bad thing, but because her energy, imagination and excitement run away with her, and as a result bad things happen. My children were weeping and exclaiming that this was the worst movie ever. We stopped watching, so we didn't get to see how everything turned out, though I imagine everything was fine by the end.The overall behavior of the character of Ramona seemed more appropriate for a first-grader than for a third-grader, but that is hardly the actress's fault.That being said, the direction was fine, and the acting performances were excellent, we would expect nothing less from old hands like Sandra Oh, John Corbett, Ginnifer Goodwin, and Selena Gomez, but Joey King (as Ramona) truly stood out, having turned in an stellar performance.I cannot recommend this movie. Please, please read the parent's guide which gives much more specific (i.e., spoiler) detail.

Neddy Merrill Early on in ?Ramona and Beezus? you come across a character mostly unused in modern popular culture ? The Decent Father. Most recent father characters fall into one of four archetypes in the following order of frequency: (1) Incompetent Dad ? Homer Simpson and Peter Griffen have influence a generation of screenwriters to portray fathers as dithering man-children ? Clark Griswald comes immediately to mind, (2) Superfluous Dad ? writers throw in a dad who has few lines, shows little emotion and are played by indistinguishable journeyman actors - ?The Blind Side? is the best recent example, (3) Absent Dad ? the father character is played as negative space, his absence a major plot point ? ?Precious?? is the best recent example and (4) Angry Dad ? the father is either openly evil or secretly evil ? an older example is ?Say Anything.? The father/child relationship has been so degraded that the most honest relationship portrayal out there is Miley Cyrus and her real father Billy Ray on their Disney television show. So even though the film is overly long, often dull and lacks a compelling overarching plot driver (there is the subplot about whether the Quimby?s will lose their house but it is half-hearted), I am going to recommend it. The film deals with real relationships (the parents fight), real problems (a record number of people are facing foreclosure) and job loss (15.7million people are facing this in the U.S. as of this writing). Let?s hope the film is successful and we see more of this type of light family dramedy.

flyingamon Although I am not really a fan of romantic comedies (most aren't really funny anyway to me) I do make an exception when there is kids in the leading roles. Kids have a wild imagination and that's why I thought this would be different from the mainstream romance and comedies. I wasn't wrong about that. Little Ramona wants to help out her family who are threatened to lose their house because her dad loses his job. This leads to funny but also sweet scenes where Ramona usually screws up although her intentions are often really good. I particularly liked the scenes where she took things literally and imagined those things in her head. Yes sometimes it is exaggerated and silly but I watched it for what it was, cute entertainment with a laugh and a tear. I didn't expect more or less of it and must say I really enjoyed it. I'm at loss why the movie title included Beezus (Ramona's sister) since I can't remember any scene where the movie focused solely on Beezus.

Robert W. As a youngster I remember the Ramona books perfectly. They were definitely part of my childhood. Some might say they were geared more towards girls but I think they were simply geared towards the average youngster growing up and Ramona was the Dennis the Menace of the eighties for anyone growing up with her. I heard they were doing this film a year before and anxiously awaited it not because I thought it would be this huge blockbuster or anything of the sort because I hoped it would be cute, and funny, with plenty of emotion and just a fun throwback to those books I loved. Ramona and Beezus hit that nail on the head. This is such an amazing, fun family film that should be part of any families video collection. I hope to not only have the books for my kids but certainly have the film for them to watch. The casting was excellent and I think the film makers truly did all they could to stay true to the characters and Beverly Cleary's lovely stories. It is said that she even gave her blessing to the film before she died and I think that speaks worlds to the film. It is fun and mischievous and will make you smile and laugh and maybe even cry but most of all have fun!! For children and more importantly children at heart.Eleven year old Joey King is not a newcomer. At her young age she already has more than a dozen credits to her name (many of them Television) and most of them small roles but I hope this shows she has some real talent because she was absolutely perfect as the notoriously mischievous Ramona. She carries the film like a pro and her adorable smile and strong performance is memorable! Disney Diva Selena Gomez plays older sister Beatrice. My fear was that she wouldn't do the role justice because she certainly isn't the picture of Beezus I would have had in my mind and I thought the Disney Diva attitude might drag her down but I couldn't have been more wrong. She was the perfect teen sister that girls can relate to and her and King have terrific chemistry that works perfectly and is probably one of the strongest points in the film. John Corbett has proved to be a versatile actor and he is superb as the doting father of the two girls. He goes through a range of very adult things (losing his job, supporting his family, and dealing with his young girls) and he is just a great fit for the cast. Bridget Moynahan is beautiful but I thought she was just a little too wooden for the role compared to Corbett and the girls. She plays a great lawyer or someone more serious but as the Mom to the mischievous girls she wasn't great in the role, she was just okay. Ginnifer Goodwin and Josh Duhamel support the main cast as Aunt Bea (who I always thought in the books as an old lady) and her long lost love. They do a great job together, add a terrific touch of romance, and this is the perfect setting for Goodwin's pleasant smile and goody goody persona. Honorable mention goes to Jason Spevack who plays Ramona's best friend Howie (who I always loved from the books) and does a good job with a small part.Director Elizabeth Allen is the perfect choice for this film. She has the pre-teen/teen genre locked down having worked on popular CW shows like Gossip Girl, Vampire Diaries and 90210, but she also directed the equally brilliant genre film Aquamarine which is also one of the best teen films in recent years. She clearly knows how to do clean, family fun and make it appropriate so that everyone can enjoy the films and that is so important nowadays. I hope with such a need for good family films in Hollywood and a decent take for Ramona and Beezus that they consider a sequel with the same cast and Allen helming the sequel as well. Until then we have this terrific, cute, clean family film that I encourage all parents to watch with their youngsters and even if you have a soft spot for Disney-like family flicks like I do you won't be disappointed for a moment. 9/10