Ramona is an precocious nine year old with a tendency to let her imagination get her into trouble. Her teacher is often exasperated with her and her school mates make fun of her shennanigans. But her boundless energy and sense of fun and adventure is grounded in the loving relationship she has with her family. When the possibility that they may lose their house arises, Ramona comes up with plans to save it.
Ramona (Joey King) has a stay at home mom (Bridget Moynahan), big sis Beezus (Selena Gomez) and a baby sister. They all greet dad (John Corbett) who they meet at the door when he comes home to work. Life is good in the Quimby household. The folks just got an OK on a loan to build an extension on the house so they go ahead with their plans. During a class exercise Ramona stands in front of the class and tells them of the big hole in the back yard and expounds on the wild adventures she had diving into it. Not exactly what her teacher Mrs. Meacham (Sandra Oh) had in mind and she didn't use the vocabulary words as required. It's a good thing Ramona has her mom's sister Aunt Bea (Ginnifer Goodwin) to talk with about her frustrations. Bea promises to always be there for Ramona. That is even unsure when Bea's high school sweetheart Hobart (Josh Duhamel) is back living next door to the Quimby's and she feels like she's being reeled in like a big fish. When Ramona's dad loses his job he becomes Mr. Mom while his wife goes back to work part time. Ramona tries all sorts of schemes like selling lemonade, washing cars and trying out for a princess commercial to help raise money so they won't lose their home. And of course all her attempts end up in disaster to the point that even her parents are losing patience with her antics. When it looks like they will have to move for dad's new job, you may be hard pressed not to shed a tear.
Joey King is charming in her first lead role as the irrepressible as Ramona. She is cute without over doing it like a lot of child stars on the Disney Channel or Nickelodeon. Director Elizabeth Allen treats the story based on the popular Beverly Cleary's Ramona series without making it feel like a long TV show, with thanks to the script by Laurie Craig and Nick Pustay. It's so nice to see a story of kids that don't talk valley speak and that have too much time on their hands. There are times with the parents are a little to good to be real, but the issues of parents losing jobs is so relevant right now and it speaks to the kids going through this in their own lives. This is definitely a movie that will be enjoyed by middle school kids and their parents.
(Review by reesa)
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