Ramona et Beezus

My wife and I watched this movie at home on DVD from our public library. After I saw Joey King in a teenage role on the TV series "Fargo" I looked up this older movie to see how she was at a younger time. The impact of this movie depends totally on her performance and she really is superb, one of the best child performances I have seen.

The family, which includes three daughters, lives in Portland in a middle class neighborhood. Joey King has the main role of Ramona Quimby, the 9-yr-old middle daughter. Selena Gomez is good as her teenage sister, with the nickname of Beezus because as a toddler Ramona pronounced her name that way and it stuck.

Ramona is a bright, energetic girl who often fails "to color inside the lines" in various aspects of growing up, including school where she routinely gets into bits of trouble. But deep down she is a pearl with a big heart and it eventually shines through.

All the cast are good, there are several other stories going on, including dad getting laid off when a larger company bought the company he worked for, resulting in the possibility the family may need to move to eastern Oregon.

We enjoyed the movie, it was very refreshing to watch a movie with no sex, no violence, and the worst language was when young Ramona was upset, she yelled "guts" over and over.

Ramona and Beezus is a 2010 film adaptation based on the book Ramona Forever. Joey King plays Ramona and Selena Gomez plays Beezus. I thought the film was actually quite good and it didn't disappoint me at all. Now a lot of people are going out to see this film because Selena Gomez plays in it. But the real person whom truly shines in this film has to be Joey King. She steals the show from her co-stars and plays Ramona really vividly. This movie is a very fun family movie, and if you have a younger brother or sister, you'd connect right away. I hope IMDb users don't just give this film a 1, because its a children's movie and I hope they see it before they judge.

Ramona and Beezus is a small summer flick, that stands short, but proudly with Huge Summer Blockbusters. Highly recommended 8/10

Ramona Quimby (Joey King) lives in a typical middle class neighborhood on the west coast. Her family consists of Father Robert (John Corbett), Mother Dorothy (Bridget Moynahan), big Sister Beatrice, er, Beezus (Selena Gomez) and a new baby sister. Also close to the Quimbys is their mother's sibling, Aunt Bea (Ginnifer Goodwin). Unlike Beezus, who is an excellent student and very mature for a budding teenager, Ramona struggles at school, especially with her no-nonsense teacher (Sandra Oh). The instructor doesn't have much patience with Ramona's penchant to coin new words, among other issues. Life at the house, also, takes a strange turn, when in the middle of home-remodeling project, Dad loses his job. Soon, Mom is working part time at her old job and Pop becomes the lunch packer and house-husband, while sending out a large amount of resumes. Aunt Bea's life, too, receives a curveball when old flame, Hobart (Josh Duhamel) moves back to his original home next to the Quimbys. Happily recovered from the long ago heartbreak of Hobart's abandonment, Bea is startled to find him lavishing attention on her once again. What's a girl to do? Beezus has love trouble, too, when a relationship with longtime pal, Henry Huggins, may turn into a romance. Ramona continues to weather storms, such as the day an egg breaks on her head, minutes ahead of the school pictures! But, biggest problem of all is the fact that they may have to move, if Dad doesn't find a job in town. What will the future bring for the Quimbys? This is very fine family flick, with plenty of humor and energy without any objectionable material. In fact, it is a shining example of how successful a movie can be without sex or bad language. Then, too, the actors do a great job, with King leading the way. What a wholesome and realistic young actress she is! Gomez, too, is a winning and lovely young thespian while Corbett, Moynahan, Oh, Goodwin, Duhamel and all of the others are lively, all-too-human and flat-out fun. The west coast setting is lovely, as are the costumes, script and all other film amenities while the direction is secure and confident. All in all, this film is one every family should have on hand, for repeated viewings, I predict, will never grow old.

Ramona and Beezus on the whole was a charming movie. Many kids I know (myself included) loved the Ramona books because she was active, she did things, and things happened because of her. Ramona in the movie had the dramatic flair I always associated with the Ramona of my imagination.

The movie was well cast and everyone seemed to fit their character well. That being said, it was a little wordy in places -- Ramona was a do-er not a big-conversation-er! Some of the superfluous talking should have been removed to add in more of Ramona's adventures and take on day to day life.

We loved that Ramona's idea of a really bad word was "guts"! As a parent I'm grateful that was the only "bad" word in the movie! I'm glad my kids saw it, I'm glad we saw it.

Sitting down to watch this movie, I knew that I was in for some kind of children's movie, but "Ramona and Beezus" proved to be so much more than just that.

I am not familiar with the written work of Beverly Cleary that this movie is based on, so I cannot draw any comparisons or say what differs from the books and what is true to it, so I will not deal with this matter.

The story deals with multiple story lines and does so in a good way. Of course, you have the lead character, little Ramona Quimby (played by Joey King) who has a very colorful imagination and seem to always be in the spotlight for often not so good things. So the movie deals with her life and her view of the world, and it expresses this in a very good way. And that is of course very well helped along the way by a very charismatic, adorable and good acting Joey King.

Then there is the whole family aspect to the story, and that is one of the supporting foundations of the movie as well, and it gets around to deal with a number of elements in family life, and again does so in a good way. Carried by the excellent cast and the storyline in general. The roles of Ramona and Beezus' mom and dad were played by Bridget Moynahan and John Corbett. Again, two actors who put on very believable performances in the movie.

And of course there is a love story element to the story, well two of them actually, the love story between aunt Bea (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Hobart (Josh Duhamel), and the teenage love romance between Beezus (Selena Gomez) and Henry (Hutch Dano). Both of these love stories are nicely told also, and you do believe in them in the way they are portrayed. And again, all four actors/actresses here did a good job with their roles.

There are so many elements that play through the movie and they all work well together and come full circle throughout the movie in a very satisfying and wholesome way.

Do not, like I did, write this movie off as some sappy family movie for the kids, because it honestly is much more than just that. With hand on heart, I am glad that I sat down to watch this movie, because it is an uplifting experience for the spirit and the heart. This movie is intended as wholesome entertainment for the family and it delivers right on. I think this is the type of movie that will stay with you for a long time, because it just makes you feel happy and put you in a good mood.

I highly recommend this movie if you need a break from the stress of daily life and want to sit down and unwind with an uplifting story. This movie is suitable for children and adults alike, both male and female.

Oh, and the cat, Picky Picky, was so cute and adorable. And he looks quite a lot like my own cat! haha...

Thumbs way up for this heartwarming movie.