Rated: G

Release Date: 07/23/2010

Production Company: 20th Century Fox

Selena Gomez, Josh Duhamel, Sandra Oh, Joey King, Ginnifer, Goodwin, Hutch Dano, Bridget Moynahan and John Corbett.

Director: Elizabeth Allen. Producers: Denise Di Novi, Alison Greenspan and Brad Van Aragon. Executive Producer: Denise Di Novi. Screenwriters: Laurie Craig, Nick Pustay and Beverly Cleary (Novel).

By: Lana K. Wilson-Combs

"Ramona and Beezus" is based on Beverly Cleary's series of books which have instilled laughter, imagination and fun for children for more than 50 years. With such a wealth of source material to build from, you'd think this big screen adaptation would capture much of the innocence and exuberance from the books, but more often than not it doesn't.

It's not so much the fault of the film's spunky, lead stars like Selena Gomez, the Disney teen sensation from "Wizards of Waverly Place," who plays Beezus, or the talented up and coming actress Joey King whose portrayal of Ramona lives up to the inquisitive and rambunctious kid most remember.

What causes "Ramona and Beezus" to ignite much spark and give it the fun and whimsical feel it should have, are screenwriters Laurie Craig and Nick Pustay. Instead of focusing on perhaps one aspect of Ramona and Beezus," the writers take bits and pieces from the series of books. Consequently, the film feels scattershot instead of cohesive. And the sunny dispositions of many of the characters that were brought to life on Cleary's pages such as Henry Huggins, played by another Disney star, Hutch Dano from the TV show, "Zeke and Luther," seem almost mechanical.

The adventures of 9-year-old Ramona Quimby (Joey King) come to life as she tries to deal with growing up and the love-hate relationship she has with her big sister Beezus. (Selena Gomez). When their father, Robert (John Corbett, ("Sex and the City 2") informs the family that he's been laid off from his job, and their mother Dorothy (Bridget Moynahan) works only part time, Ramona feels the need to step up and try to help out. The misadventures that Ramona gets into during her quest to assist--though at first are frowned upon-- they somehow manage to bring the family together.

Although "Ramona and Beezus" gets a big boost from performances by Ginnifer Goodwin who plays Ramona's aunt, to Sandra Oh as the perfect elementary school teacher and the family's next door neighbor, Hobart (Josh Duhamel), it plays more like an after school TV special than a big screen movie.

A few extra doses of humor and a slight more edginess to Ramona would have served "Ramona and Beezus" well, and kept it moving along at a nice pace. About mid-way through, the film gets bogged down and never quite recovers. It moves from clumsy to sweet and endearing and back to clumsy again especially when Ramona's stop motion animated fantasy sequences--come into play.

As someone who grew up with and worshipped all of Cleary's works, I was a bit disappointed to see such a fabulous story like "Ramona and Beezus" come up a bit short. It's not a terrible movie, but it's not a very exciting and memorable one either.