Welcome to movie math where we review a movie and see if it adds up to family fun.

RAMONA AND BEEZUS – Let me begin by saying that prior to seeing this movie, neither I or my daughter had never read the Beverly Cleary books upon which the movie is based. And frankly, we weren’t exactly chomping at the bit to check out the movie. But it was a hot summer day, and we were looking for a cool afternoon activity and we had already seen Despicable Me, so– we found ourselves tucked into our seats ready to be entertained and entertained we were. The movie was a delightful, sweet, charming, sweet, heartwarming, and did I mention sweet, story of a family going through some tough times. You read that right. It isn’t just about a little girl RAMONA who can’t seem to do anything right even though she tries really hard and her heart is in the right place. No, it’s also about a family with three children, whose father gets laid off and suddenly finds themselves faced with all the anguish that many families have had to face in the last couple of years: loss of income, loss of a home, tension in the marriage, and the anguish of children who may be forced to leave a life and friends they have grown to love. I don’t want to give away too much, but there’s even a pet funeral and its not a goldfish getting flushed down a toilet. I gotta say, I haven’t cried that much since Terms of Endearment. Holy Cow. This is a tug on your heart strings movie. But it was so lovely and, yes I’ll say it again,  sweet and the two main kids JOEY KING and SELENA GOMEZ were incredibly adorable. And while the ending may not be realistic, it’s the reason that people go to see these kinds of movies. I might not recommend it necessarily for boys. It’s definitely got a girly air about it and it was the perfect mommy/daughter afternoon popcorn summer movie. Although Randy the perfekt husband was certainly wishing he had joined us for the show because he had chosen to go see the Adam Sandler/David Spade/Chris Rock movie GROWN UPS which according to his review wasn’t fit for kids OR grownups it was so dang awful.

SWEET FAMILY FUN + SOME SERIOUS ISSUES = A DIVERTING AFTERNOON THAT REQUIRES A KLEENEX MINI-PAK