Leave it to Ramona
Ramona (Joey King), right, and Beezus (Selena Gomez) in action.
(20th Century Fox)
Ramona and Beezus
Running time: 103 minutes
MPAA rating: G (Approved for all audiences)
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Klickitat St., home and adventure headquarters for precocious 9-year-old Ramona Quimby in "Ramona and Beezus," could be about a block over from where Theodore Cleaver of "Leave It to Beaver" fame gave his family lovable fits a half century ago.
Both exist in a sanitized, G-rated, somewhat timeless world where sibling rivalry is important, but daily household events come into play as well. There's another time-line connection. Beverly Cleary's tales of out-of-the-box thinker Ramona and her older sister Beezus were first published over 50 years ago.
Oozing a tad too much schmaltz at times, the big-screen version of Cleary's literary playground still serves up a lively mother-daughter, dad-daughter or family outing to the movies.
Newcomer Joey King fits perfectly into Ramona's inquisitive, feisty persona. She's cute as a bug, as you might expect. King, who started out on TV and who has provided voices for "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!" and "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs," makes us believe she would hide a report card stating "bright, but lacks focus and shows a lack of respect for rules."
Ramona has a mind of her own. When she leaps off the front porch in a homemade parachute, for instance, a third grader's imagination soars. And so does Ramona. Director Elizabeth Allen injects special effects to show her little ball of imagination floating happily through the clouds.
Some filmmakers tend to overdo it with setups like this. But Allen, who made her feature film debut with the teen fantasy "Aquamarine" in 2006, shows logical restraint, using the flights of fantasy as well-timed accents to the live action.
Devotees of the book series shouldn't expect "Ramona and Beezus" to be lifted from one literary adventure springing from the Portland, OR neighborhood (but shot in Vancouver). Screenwriters Laurie Craig (a co-writer on "Ella Enchanted") and Nick Pustay ("Camille") borrow plot points from several, including "Ramona and Her Father," "Ramona Forever" and others.
There's plenty of sisterly shenanigans between the young free-thinker and her older sister, who's in her first year of high school and having second thoughts about that nickname Beezus.
As the elder sibling, singer-actress Selena Gomez ("Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over") gets a chance to stretch a little. Beezus is a girl in that awkward stage of thinking about boys in a different way for the first time. And John Corbett ("Sex and the City") and Bridget Moynahan ("I, Robot") go through the motions well enough as parents navigating real-world problems (a job loss) in a slightly edgy, sanitized movie environment.
"Ramona and Beezus" is the kind of movie a little girl can reach out and hug. Adults along for the ride might just smile a little along the way as well.
Both exist in a sanitized, G-rated, somewhat timeless world where sibling rivalry is important, but daily household events come into play as well. There's another time-line connection. Beverly Cleary's tales of out-of-the-box thinker Ramona and her older sister Beezus were first published over 50 years ago.
Oozing a tad too much schmaltz at times, the big-screen version of Cleary's literary playground still serves up a lively mother-daughter, dad-daughter or family outing to the movies.
Newcomer Joey King fits perfectly into Ramona's inquisitive, feisty persona. She's cute as a bug, as you might expect. King, who started out on TV and who has provided voices for "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!" and "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs," makes us believe she would hide a report card stating "bright, but lacks focus and shows a lack of respect for rules."
Ramona has a mind of her own. When she leaps off the front porch in a homemade parachute, for instance, a third grader's imagination soars. And so does Ramona. Director Elizabeth Allen injects special effects to show her little ball of imagination floating happily through the clouds.
Some filmmakers tend to overdo it with setups like this. But Allen, who made her feature film debut with the teen fantasy "Aquamarine" in 2006, shows logical restraint, using the flights of fantasy as well-timed accents to the live action.
Devotees of the book series shouldn't expect "Ramona and Beezus" to be lifted from one literary adventure springing from the Portland, OR neighborhood (but shot in Vancouver). Screenwriters Laurie Craig (a co-writer on "Ella Enchanted") and Nick Pustay ("Camille") borrow plot points from several, including "Ramona and Her Father," "Ramona Forever" and others.
There's plenty of sisterly shenanigans between the young free-thinker and her older sister, who's in her first year of high school and having second thoughts about that nickname Beezus.
As the elder sibling, singer-actress Selena Gomez ("Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over") gets a chance to stretch a little. Beezus is a girl in that awkward stage of thinking about boys in a different way for the first time. And John Corbett ("Sex and the City") and Bridget Moynahan ("I, Robot") go through the motions well enough as parents navigating real-world problems (a job loss) in a slightly edgy, sanitized movie environment.
"Ramona and Beezus" is the kind of movie a little girl can reach out and hug. Adults along for the ride might just smile a little along the way as well.
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