I am not a movie reviewer. In fact, I’ve never done it before. And might not do it again.

But my parents recommended this movie, Soul Surfer, and after it became a hit with the kids, gave a copy to them for Christmas. It is about a teenage girl who lives in Hawaii and overcomes a traumatic shark attack to go on and become a pro-surfer.

Why did this movie make it on to my “once in a blue moon review it” list? Well… while there are a lot of movies out there that can wow my kids as cars transform into robots and kill bad guys or toys come alive or fish talk [and we love those too], there aren’t many that promote the unity of the family in quite the same way.  In Soul Surfer I noticed two things:  Bethany Hamilton overcoming fear and pain to achieve a live long dream [this is obvious] and her family sticking together for a unified purpose.  And while the first one [Bethany overcoming loosing an arm and becoming a pro-surfer] is the obvious “wow” of the movie.  We can easily forget that she had a family behind her.  They went to church together.  They played and lived and schooled together.  They surfed together.

We can talk togetherness only so much with our words.  Sometimes we need a word picture.  And image or example to see what can be.  And for me this movie was that word picture.

Words of caution:  Each parent is different and each child.  Just know that the scene where the shark attacks is well… dramatic, and a little graphic.  We skipped that section with the kids and jump to the ambulance ride- something they think is pretty cool. [Is this weird?] But consider yourself warned.  I’ve also heard some complains of skimpy bathing suits. And parents are all over the spectrum on that issue. So…that is that.

I hope you enjoy!