Ramona and Beezus

My earliest memories of Ramona Quimby and the residents of Klickitat Street come from kindergarten, where my teacher would often read the works of Beverly Cleary to us during break, in hopes that they would put us to sleep for our afternoon nap. This always struck me as unfair, since the Ramona books are so clearly aimed at young girls that boys like me had no choice but doze off in order to escape. Somewhere in there, the occasional misadventure of the precocious Ramona snuck into my brain, and I couldn't help but become something of a reluctant fan. Despite numerous offers, Beverly Cleary has denied film adaptation of her work for nearly 50 years, for fear that her beloved series would be misrepresented. If she had any worry about Elizabeth Allen's take on the mischievous Ramona, she can finally take a deep breath and relax.

Ramona Quimby(Joey King) is a precious, 9 year old girl with sparkling blue eyes and an imagination long as the street she lives on. She can turn even the most common situation, like swinging on the monkey bars, into a harrowing adventure with just the power of her mind. She's not unlike a lot of other girls her age. She has an older teenage sister, Beezus(Selena Gomez) that she alternately loves and hates depending on the day. She has two loving parents, Bob(John Corbett) and Dorothy(Bridget Moynahan) who always seem to be the victim of Ramona's shenanigans.

Not that Ramona's a bad seed. It's not as if she's McCauley Caulkin from The Good Son or anything. Ramona means well. She's a bright  kid who genuinely wants to help people. She's just not very good at it. Even something as simple as washing someone's car might end up with someone getting an unwanted rainbow paint job. Disaster follows her like a dog on a leash.

The bulk of the film's story is taken from the 1971 book, Ramona and Her Father, and it has particular resonance in today's society. Her normally cheerful and laid back father suddenly loses the job he's had for many years, and now the litle hurricane that is Ramona finds that the trouble she gets in to isn't so cute to her parents anymore. It's a classic story of a little girl forced to grow up just a little bit faster than she intended, but still have some fun along the way.

The real star of the show is newcomer Joey King, who brings an honest energy to Ramona that I don't think every child actress could pull off. Let's face it, troublemaking brats can get annoying pretty quick in both real life and in the movies, but I genuinely wanted to see everything go her way and felt bad when it didn't. Disney Channel alum Selena Gomez holds her own against a surprisingly strong cast of adult stars. John Corbett is his usual effortlessly charming self, and Ginnifer Goodwin as Ramona's Aunt Bea is always welcome. I probably could've done without Josh Duhamel, who always seems creepy to me. What this movie needed was more Sandra Oh as Ramona's concerned schoolteacher. When in doubt, add more Sandra Oh.

The adults get the short end of the stick when it comes to subplots, as the plight of Aunt Bea and her longlost high school sweetheart feels like it should've been in a different film. The growing rift between Ramona's parents seems as if it was jettisoned about halfway through, maybe because it was deemed too heavy for such a feathery story.

It's not going to change anybody's life, but Ramona and Beezus is a harmless, conscientious film that should more than appease fans of the novels. Parents who remember reading Beverly Cleary's stories as a child will have a good time revisiting this silly bit of nostalgia. And if it keeps the kids quiet for 90 minutes, so much the better.