Riding the Waves with The Big Kahuna

Soul Surfer makes its big screen debut today, and like many Christian movies it's flying under the radar, save for a small roll played by Carrie Underwood.  The singer's acting debut is drawing more attention to the film than I think it otherwise would have gotten.  Think about films like To Save a Life.  Do you remember that one?  I think I saw maybe one trailer for it the entire time it was out.  Fireproof is another one.  The only reason I actually heard of that one was because one of my friends watched it during church group (and for the record said it wasn't all that great).

Soul Surfer is based on a true story about a young girl who is attacked by a shark while surfing in Hawaii.  She looses her arm, and spends the film struggling to understand why God would allow something like that to happen to her, and discovers how to overcome the substantial obstacles she now faces.  Tragedy, check!  Heartwarming, check!

Carrie Underwood was on Ellen this week talking about the film, and they showed a clip from it.  The girl who plays Bethany came off as a little cheesy to me.  Just melodramatic and almost annoying.  So, I hope she's not like that throughout the entire film.

The main stream trailer they're using doesn't really say much about how God-dy the film is, or if the film is religious at all.  In fact, if I hadn't seen that clip on Ellen, or done any research about Bethany myself, I wouldn't think it was a spiritual film at all.  I'm not sure how I feel about that.  I know they want to attract a larger audience, but don't trick people.

I think the beauty of this film is that it's based on a true story.  And with people like Dennis Quaid and Helen Hunt in it, it might do better than some of the other more religious films.  Will it be number one at the box office this weekend?  Doubtful.  With big names like Natalie Portman and Russel Brand to compete with, I think it'll be lucky to make top 5 - and if it does, the film makers should be grateful/proud of that spot.

To be honest, I think it looks like a good film.  Not something I'd pay $9 for though.  Unfortunately for the film makers, I'd dub it a renter.  If I go to the theater this weekend, I'll either see The Adjustment Bureau (I know, I'm late with that one), Source Code, Your Highness or Arthur (since Dan informed me he was interested in that).  With a list like that, Soul Surfer gets bumped to the Blockbuster list.  What are you going to see this weekend?