Soul Surfer

Directed by Sean McNamara. Starring AnnaSophia Robb, Helen Hunt, Dennis Quaid, Lorraine Nicholson, Carrie Underwood 12A cert, gen release, 103 min

CERTAIN TYPES of film just do not travel across the Atlantic. Good luck flogging a baseball film, a Saturday Night Livespin-off or a Tyler Perry production to the Old World.

Another genre that, in these heathen parts, rarely takes off is the happy-clappy Christian flick. Although, to be fair, Soul Surferdoes hang around a strong story.

In 2003, Bethany Hamilton (AnnaSophia Robb), a talented young surfer, had her arm bitten off by a shark. Undaunted, she got back on the board and achieved considerable success in professional competitions. If the film is to be believed, Bethany relished aggressive opposition, but never gave into petty-mindedness herself.

This is a very different environment to the surf communities depicted in films such as Point Breakor Big Wednesday. The waves continue to surge. Again, we note how much the camera – discovering mighty swells and terrifying tubes – loves this most peculiar of sports. But the renegade cool of those earlier surfing films has vanished.

Bethany’s family, despite their beachside home and cut-off T-shirts, seem as worryingly conservative as any midwestern book burner. It’s never clear what the poor girl’s parents (sun-bleached Dennis Quaid and talking skull Helen Hunt) do for a living, but most of their day is devoted to Bible reading and home-schooling.

Fair enough, you might argue. We should allow the family to take their own tilt at solving the world’s mysteries. The problem is that no effort is made to explain why they believe so strongly.

When Bethany travels to Thailand, eager to help out in the aftermath of the Tsunami, we are invited to celebrate practical Christianity at work. But the scenes are so nauseatingly sentimental that no sensible viewer will get through them without gagging. Actually, a sequence that sees Bethany tear off an arm from her Barbie is beyond nauseating.

What we have, in short, is a picture that plays only to the converted. Soul Surfermay persuade the odd person to take up the sport, but it will not win many disciples for Jesus.