Isabelle was the one who actually gave this movie the 3 1/2 star rating, and when I asked her why it wasn't so great, she said, "The beginning wasn't very interesting." I agree! It started out kind of slow, and we had no problem pausing it in the middle to eat dinner. Returning to the movie after dinner, it gradually got better so that by the end, I was really enjoying it.
Even though the Ramona Quimby books span ages four through ten for Ramona, Ramona is nine years old in this movie. Still, the movie manages to include plenty of Ramona's misadventures from the entire series, and they are all tied together really well.
As you'd expect, there was plenty from the books that was omitted. I didn't mind Daisy being left out, but I did miss Yard Ape.
Actually, any disappointment I may have felt about omissions was probably made up for by the clever additions. In the books, Beezus, as Aunt Bea's namesake, seemed to have more of a connection with Aunt Bea. In the movie, Ramona also had a connection because they were both younger sisters. I liked that Beezus and Henry Huggins were into each other in high school. (Henry gradually just faded away in the books.) Uncle Hobart was more likable in the movie, and he and Aunt Bea's relationship was more fleshed out, though his profession wasn't exactly clear in the movie. Mr. Quimby was well portrayed, and I like the way his job situation was resolved in the movie.
In the movie, a bigger deal was made about the Quimby family having to move so that Mr. Quimby can accept a job farther away. In the book, it was just a possibility, but in the movie, the house was actually put up for sale. Isabelle said her favorite part of the movie was that the Quimbys got to stay in their home.
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