Twisters and a Movie

I got off work early today, picked Emma and Lara up from school, and took them to the movies!  We chose to see “Soul Surfer.”  (I think *I* chose it; if I had left it up to them, it would have been Hop or Diary of a Wimpy Kid!)  I had heard a lot of good things about the movie (the Christian radio station I listen to has been talking it up A LOT), I was looking forward to a wholesome, Christian family friendly movie to take my girls to, it was NOT animated (or in 3D), and it was rated PG.  Fit all my criteria - plus this was the first day it was out so E&L's friends couldn't ruin it for them yet!  We had a GREAT time – even did a little shopping after it was over before meeting up with Dad and Jake for dinner!

I really, truly enjoyed this movie!  I love “true stories,” and having known the story behind the movie beforehand, I was pretty sure I would like it.  I had prepared the girls for the “shark attack” scene by telling them this is just a movie, and we know she ends up OK or there wouldn’t be a movie to go to!  (We did see a friend of theirs from school leave soon after that scene and he seemed a bit upset, so know that it is an intense scene!)  Some of the young actors were not great by any stretch of the imagination, but once I got past that, I was OK.  There were also more than a couple of times where the editor forgot how to edit out the arm that was supposed to be missing.  They often filmed the actress from the “other” side so they wouldn’t have to edit out the arm, or that side of her body was covered somehow, but a few times, you could see a shadow of her arm, or the pixilation showed more that it was probably intended, but again, when I stopped looking for it and just watched the movie, I didn’t notice it so much!  Dennis Quaid and Helen Hint did a great job, as did AnnaSophia Robb who played the main character.  She was an amazing surfer, and really made us fall in love with Bethany Hamilton!  Carrrie Underwood played the youth minister from the Hamilton’s church, and I almost hate to say it, but she wasn’t very good.  She looked beautiful, though!  And the church scenes were well done.   I really think they handled the faith aspect very well, and showed how the Hamilton’s faith brought them through this terrible time in their lives.

But my favorite part of the movie? HAWAII!  It is so beautiful!  And it was really cool to learn more about surfing and the competition circuit.  I visited Hawaii 11 years ago, and I hope someday to be able to make it back.  But for now, the pictures I see in movies will have to hold me over – and this movie did a great job of that!

I really had a good time with my girls today!  The best part of the whole evening?  At the end of the movie when Lara leaned over to me and said, “This movie was so cool!”  Then again sometime later when we were in Old Navy and she saw a T-shirt with surf boards on it and said, “That movie INSPIRED me!”  It was a great time for us girls!