Ramona and Beezus

Ramona and Beezus Information

Ramona and Beezus is a 2010 Fox-Walden film adaptation of the Ramona series of novels by Beverly Cleary. The film's title derives from Beezus and Ramona, the first of Cleary's Ramona books, though the plot is mostly based on the sequels, particularly Ramona Forever and Ramona's World, along with some elements from Ramona Quimby, Age 8 and Ramona the Brave.

Plot

The film opens with adventurous and creative third grader Ramona Quimby (Joey King) playing on the monkey bars during recess with her best friend, Howie Kemp (Jason Spevack). Although Ramona has fun with Howie, her mood changes when she goes home and finds out disturbing news.

Mr. Quimby loses his job and the family is in severe debt. Ramona overhears her parents' conversation and decides that she is going to sell lemonade in order to make money. Beatrice (Selena Gomez), Ramona's sister, sees Henry Huggins (Hutch Dano), the paper boy. She accidentally spits lemonade in his face because a fly lands in her glass. She then becomes angry at Ramona, saying that Ramona embarrassed her sister in front of Henry by spitting lemonade in his face and nicknaming her "Beezus," instead of Beatrice (because Ramona couldn't say Beatrice when she was a baby). After that mistake, she decides to sell "delishus car wash $20," but that backfires also.

After accidentally painting Hobart's car multiple colors, she retires. The next day, Mr. Quimby accidentally gives her a raw egg in her lunch, and after cracking the egg on her head, gets it in her hair. Mrs. Meacham tries to take the raw egg out of her hair, but most of it remains stuck in her hair. Instead of the photographer saying "Cheese," he says "Peas," causing Ramona to interrupt with a great big "Eww!," ruining her portrait. The next day in music class, Ramona throws up on the drums, causing her to be picked up by Robert. She then stays at home with Beezus. After trying to make dinner for her parents, the pan catches fire. Ramona interrupts Beezus on the phone with Henry, so Beezus yells at Ramona for always being a little pest and ruining her love life. Shocked, Ramona questions Beezus that she has a love life, but neither of them realize that Henry is still on the phone and has overheard their whole conversation. When Ramona goes to feed her cat, Picky-Picky, in the basement later that night, she sees him lying in his basket, dead. Ramona runs upstairs to tell Beezus to come to the basement. They then hold a private funeral in their backyard. In their prayers, they say that Picky-Picky will always be with them. The girls become closer and nicer to each other.

While touching up the garden, Ramona reluctantly helps and grabs the water hose. While doing this, she accidentally squirts Hobart, who is next door with his family in their backyard. Hobart, believing (Ramona and Beatrice's Aunt) Bea had purposely shot him with the water hose, retaliates by tossing a bucket of water on Bea, and a water fight ensues between both neighbors. During the water wars, Ramona whispers to Bea and the family retreats, only to sneak into their neighbor's backyard to set off the sprinklers. After their neighbors admit defeat, Robert tries to turn off the sprinklers, but breaks the shut off valve and the pipes of the sprinklers begin to burst, flooding the backyard. As the backyard fills with water, a shoebox in a ziploc bag pops up from underground. Immediately knowing the contents of the box, Hobart rushes to retrieve it. He calls out to Bea and shows her the keepsakes from the relationship they had as teenagers that he had stored inside the shoebox. Hobart pulls out a ring with a large, purple gem and gets down on one knee and proposes to Bea. She hesitantly accepts and they kiss passionately under the water still spewing from the sprinklers. Both families head into the neighbor's home to dry off, as the open house is occurring at Ramona's house. Furious that her aunt broke her promise not to get "reeled in," Ramona rushes to her house and seeks solace in the attic. The beams are unable to support her weight and break, leaving Ramona's legs dangling from the roof during the open house.

After the open house clears out, Dorothy tends to her scratched up knees and legs in the bathroom. Robert, tired of Ramona's antics, walks in and scolds her for not being mature enough. Feeling she's not wanted, Ramona goes to her room and begins packing to run away, declaring she's going to be gone "Forever." Dorothy tries to talk her out of it, but then devises a plan and helps her pack up a suitcase. Ramona, with her heavy suitcase in hand, heads out of the house with no one to stop her. As she is walking, she imagines traveling to far places, such as New York City, Paris, and Egypt. She finally comes to a bus stop and sits atop her suitcase. It shifts under her weight, so she opens it discovering a bowling ball and a book Robert would draw doodles of Ramona and her mischievous ways. As the bus pulls up, she hears Dorothy over a baby monitor inside the suitcase. The bus takes off without Ramona, revealing her family in their car searching for her. As the family is reunited, Dorothy tells her she purposely packed the bowling ball to make her suitcase heavy, so she could not have gone far.

As Aunt Bea and Hobart's wedding begins, Ramona and Beezus clasp hands as they head down the aisle as bridesmaids. During the ceremony, Howie fumbles his role as ringbearer by dropping the rings. Ramona quickly finds the rings so the ceremony can continue. Afterwards, during the reception, Beezus and Henry share a kiss and then dance. Robert comes across a better job as an art teacher at the elementary school. Ramona excitedly thanks Mrs. Meacham, telling her the family won't have to move after all, to which Mrs. Meacham sarcastically replies that she's looking forward to having Ramona for the rest of the year. Before Hobart and Aunt Bea leave for their honeymoon in Alaska, Ramona runs outside to Hobart's painted Range Rover to give a gift to her Aunt Beatrice: a locket with her school picture.

Cast

Joey King as Ramona Quimby
Selena Gomez as Beatrice "Beezus" Quimby
Hutch Dano as Henry Huggins
Ginnifer Goodwin as Aunt Beatrice "Bea"
Josh Duhamel as Hobart Kemp
Bridget Moynahan as Dorothy Quimby
John Corbett as Robert Quimby
Sandra Oh as Mrs. Meacham
Jason Spevack as Howie Kemp
Aila and Zanti McCubbing as Roberta Quimby
Sierra McCormick as Susan Kushner
Patti Allan as Mrs. Pitt
Lynda Boyd as Triplet mother
Andrew McNee as Mr. Clay
Michael Jordan as Jumper
Janet Wright as Grandma Kemp
Charlie Sheen as Dancer

Release

Ramona and Beezus was released in theaters on July 23, 2010, by 20th Century Fox and Walden Media to 2,719 theaters nationwide, and was rated "G" by MPAA, becoming the studio's fourth G-rated film following Anastasia, Horton Hears a Who!, and Space Chimps, and followed by Rio and Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked.

The trailer was released on March 18, 2010, and was shown in theaters along with How to Train Your Dragon, The Last Song, Despicable Me, Toy Story 3, and 20th Century Fox's other films, including Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Marmaduke. The film premiered in New York on July 20, 2010.

It was released in Irish and British cinemas on October 22, 2010, and in France on January 15, 2011.

Critical reception

Ramona and Beezus earned generally positive reviews. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, gives the film an average of 6.2/10 and a rating of 70% based on 87 reviews. Dan Kois of Washington Post says, "If Ramona and Beezus fails to capture the essence of its classic source, material, it's sunny, sweet, and wholesome." Ian Buckwalter of NPR says, "Honesty about the difficulties, both large and small, of being part of a family is what Ramona and Beezus does best, even if the rough and dangerous edges have been filed down."

Box office

The film earned $3 million on opening day, and $7.8 million on its opening weekend, ranking sixth at the box office. The film ended up grossing $26.1 million domestically and $27.3 million worldwide, becoming a box office success versus its $15 million budget.

Songs

Live Like There's No Tomorrow

"Live Like There's No Tomorrow" was released as a soundtrack single on July 13, 2010. There is currently no music video for the single. It is performed by Selena Gomez & the Scene and also appears on their second studio album A Year Without Rain.

Walking on Sunshine - 78 Violet
Eternal Flame - The Bangles
Peanut Butter Hingle - The Deekompressors
(Let's Get Movin') Into Action - Skye Sweetnam (feat. Tim Armstrong)
Three Little Birds - Bob Marley & The Wailers
Here It Goes Again - OK Go
Edge of the World - Mat Kearney
How I Love You - Rob Laufer
A Place In This World - Taylor Swift
Picking Me Up - The Seventeens
Everybody - Ingrid Michaelson
Live Like There's No Tomorrow - Selena Gomez & the Scene
Say Hey - Michael Franti & Spearhead