YMMV / Soul Surfer

• Angst? What Angst?: Roger Ebert and other critics felt that the film made Bethany recover emotionally too quickly. Judging by Bethany's account of her recovery, this seems to be a case of Reality Is Unrealistic, because she really got over it that fast. It admittedly doesn't mean Ebert's (and other critics') problem with the movie is entirely unjustified, either - reality often doesn't make a good story, and filmmakers need to know when to diverge from reality to make the story more engaging.
• Awesome Music: Marco Beltrami's score.
• Best Known for the Fanservice: AnnaSophia Robb wearing her bikini a lot is often what people remembers the most from the film. It goes to the extent that some Christian reviewers complained the film's religious message did not match the protagonist's choices of attire.
• Just Here for Godzilla: A lot of people just saw the movie because Carrie Underwood was in it.
• Nausea Fuel: The shark attack scene and the stump can be this to some.
• Special Effect Failure:
  • Sometimes the length of Bethany's stump changes throughout the movie. The stump was gotten by photographing AnnaSophia wearing a green sleeve on the relevant arm and then erasing that arm in post-production. The real bite was almost up to the shoulder.
  • One particular scene had Bethany putting on a bikini, but it becomes quite obvious where the green sleeve and its casted shadows were erased and covered with a patch of CG skin, and a fake bikini strap that behaves quite unlike the very real strap the actress is manipulating.
  • The barely seen shark.
• Squick: The already one-armed Bethany using her feet to cut open a watermelon. Unless you are into that, of course.

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