Saturday

Ramona & Beezus

Living in a society in which conformity has been ingrained in people's minds ever since Charles Darwin told us not to act up since we're all just a bunch of overly mutated monkeys anyway, and that during a time when you can count the number of movies really worth watching that come out throughout the course of an entire year on the fingers of your two hands, coming across a cute little gem like "Ramona and Beezus" is perhaps not a privilege, but certainly a delight.

Just another American fairy-tale, to be sure, but one ever so lovely, and with a message that sounds so bizarre in a world of gray suits to bring tears to your eyes: "It's okay to be different!" - And produced in a manner which has made Hollywood the unchallenged master at visualizing fairy-tales, despite the piles of rubble and garbage it produces in the process, just as you'd have to unearth a ton of dirt in order to get one diamond.

About 5 minutes into the movie, you'll probably say "I love her (Joey King - the young actor playing the part of Ramona) already!" Since you couldn't picture anyone better for the role - except for the parts in which she's supposed to cry, perhaps because crying simply doesn't seem to be part of King's repertoire.

Without much of a plot, there's definitely a message some of us can relate to: "Less is sometimes more." And, yes, it's definitely okay to be different. Give it a few more decades, and maybe a few more minds to challenge Charley's monkey business theory, and maybe it'll sink into the heads of our less extraordinary fellow-humans as well...