The takeaway line from this reverent retelling of shark attack victim Bethany Hamilton's ordeal is that with faith, all things are possible.
Just goes to show that the Gospel isn't always right. Faith clearly does not assure a good movie.
Hamilton, half tomboy/half mermaid, was a surfing prodigy who grew up in a family of surfers in Hawaii. (She is not, however, related to big wave legend Laird Hamilton).
In 2003, barely into her teens, she lost her left arm to a tiger shark. (Gratefully, Soul Surfer does not depict the incident in graphic detail.)
The film is primarily devoted to her struggle with diminished capacity ("How can this be God's plan for me?" she asks, weeping) and her determination to get back in the water.
