Soul Surfer

Thirteen-year-old Bethany Hamilton is attacked by a tiger shark while surfing in Hawaii and loses her left arm. The film follows her recovery and her return to competition with one arm. Sean McNamara directed, from Hamilton's 2004 memoir. AnnaSophia Robb plays Bethany, Helen Hunt her mother and Dennis Quaid her father, with Lorraine Nicholson in the cast. It was shot in Hawaii and Tahiti in 2010. The missing arm was produced with visual effects. Robb wore a green sleeve, and the effects house Engine Room completed 450 separate arm-removal shots in post. It opened on 8 April 2011 and took 47.1 million dollars against an 18 million budget. There is a wide gap between critics and audiences. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 45 percent while the CinemaScore grade was an A plus, which is rarely given. Marco Beltrami's score won a Satellite Award. Who it is for: viewers who like real-life comeback stories and surfing footage. Who it is not for: anyone uncomfortable with the film's religious register. Faith sits at the centre of the account rather than in the background.