Soul Surfer

Soul Surfer tells the story of Bethany Hamilton, a teenage surfer raised in Hawaii who is regarded as a rising talent in the sport. While out in the water at age thirteen, she is attacked by a shark and loses her left arm. The attack upends the future she had been working toward, and the film follows her recovery as she rebuilds her life and her relationship with the ocean, eventually returning to competition.

The film is directed by Sean McNamara, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Douglas Schwartz and Michael Berk and produced it alongside David Zelon. It is the eighth of the twenty-four features he has directed, arriving between Bratz and The Suite Life Movie. AnnaSophia Robb plays Bethany, with Helen Hunt and Dennis Quaid as her parents, Carrie Underwood as Sarah Hill, Kevin Sorbo as Holt Blanchard and Ross Thomas as her brother Noah. The production had a budget of 18 million dollars and took in about 47 million dollars worldwide, a solid return on its cost.

Audience response has been favorable: it holds a rating of 7 out of 10 on IMDb from roughly 56,000 votes and the same score on TMDB from about 1,280 votes. Critics were less enthusiastic, giving it 5.4 out of 10 across 106 reviews, so the film has connected more strongly with viewers than with reviewers.