Soul Surfer

I think most everyone is familiar with the story for this one – the 13-year old girl who was surfing and had her arm bitten off by a shark.  I was really looking forward to watching Bethany Hamilton’s story and was not disappointed!  I liked it.  A lot!  It wasn’t a movie about the shark attack that’s trying to be a thriller – it was more a movie about dealing with things that happen in life, no matter how bad they are, and not letting them ruin you or take over your thinking and still be able to “live” without regrets.  She was positive and upbeat, but she had her down times, too, just like anyone would.  Surfing was her life up until that point, so it was quite an adjustment just to move forward and not know what she was going to do after the attack.  She decides that a missing arm is not going to stop her and keep her dreams from coming true - and will do anything she can to become a professional surfer.  I thought many of the scenes were very powerful!  I was almost up yelling and cheering "She did it, she did it" when she was back on the board and stood up for the first time!!!  So yeah, I liked it!  Makes me want to take up surfing after watching it!  It was nice to have a movie "live up" to what I was wanting it to be - and more!!!