It’s probably impossible to walk away from Sean McNamara’s Soul Surfer without feeling inspired. Based on the true story of Bethany Hamilton (Charlie and the Chocolate factory's Annasophia Robb), a brave girl who overcame the loss of her left arm in a shark attack at the age of 13 to go on to become a professional surfer, the film is touching to say the least. As a critic who utterly despises anything that is overly-sentimental, I must say, this film caused me to squeeze out a few tears.

Plain and simple, if you’re a fan of touching, feel-good stories, this is the film for you. If you’re not, it’s still a strong enough movie to keep you sucked in.

Soul Surfer does a quality job of depicting a dramatic story without being corny, which seems to be no easy task for Hollywood. Having a strong cast — including Dennis Quaid, Helen Hunt, Kevin Sorbo (TV's Hercules) and country star Carrie Underwood in her film debut — doesn’t hurt either.

This article appears in Mar 31 – Apr 6, 2011.