Pajiba

and both of those were written by Judy Blume.

Oh, I know. I used to suffer from the same Cleary/Blume confusion thingy as Optimus Rhyme, but then I realized I like Judy Blume better, and don't even remember any of Cleary's books.

She’s an iCarly, whatever that is.

Nooooo she isn't! She's Disney. Prisco knows.

everything about this topic confuses me to no end. i have no idea who beezus, ramona or beverly clearly are. I do recall the mouse and the motorcycle though, so I guess I have read one of her books. judy blume i know is some sort of feminist icon, as per the jezebel website. i know the name icarley and selena gomez only through their mentions on this site.

watching that trailer made me feel, vaguely disgruntled, but not too much like someone peed in my wheaties. it looks like a crap film no doubt. but most of my disgruntlement comes from the sense that the film deals with the wise-beyond-her-years child. Children are not wise. They are stupid and ignorant little disease ridden carrier monkeys capable of imparting no greater truth than: you should not have children, they suck all your joy and happiness until they finally leave your care.

Man, I read this when I was a kid! It was actually a spin-off from a story about a boy named Henry and his skinny dog Ribsy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Huggins

I read a lot of girl books. When I was a kid, we could only get so many books from the library, so when I was done with mine, I read my sisters'.

Like most other YA books that have been turned into movies as of late, this one seems to have been rather "glossed up" compared to how I remember the book. Ramona in her mischief was just as aggravating as she was endearing, and in the books Beezus sometimes hated Ramona. She was an awkward teen who truly resented having to look after Ramona, particularly since Ramona was always mucking things up.

This trailer also seems to have completely erased the fact that this was kind of a struggling family, financially speaking. I remember how it was a BFD in the books that they were able to scrape together some cash go out to eat one night, and that Beezus had to beg and beg for her mom to let her go get her hair cut one time (not even at some fancy salon) rather than having her mom trim it over the sink at home.

So um, for me? This might not really be a bad movie, by kids' film standards. But so far it doesn't really look like it shares much with the books except for the characters' names. I liked the books because despite the stories being fun and engaging with generally upbeat endings, there was always a sense of realness - as an older sister, I could relate to Beezus' frustration at having to deal with this meddlesome new kid in your house. I could relate to how awkward she was. I could also relate to Ramona - her scrapes genuinely got her punished, and they weren't the whimsical "Oh, look at what Ramona has gone and done again! Ha ha ha, so cute!" Manic Pixie Dream Kid scrapes they appear to be in this trailer. I appreciated reading about parents who actually acted like mine, rather than in the movies where parents were either two steps away from being removed by social services, or they were impossibly cool.

This whole thing just looks pretty Disney-fied.

Well said, Amanda6. I, too, remember liking that the family seemed so similar to my own, financial problems and all.

Both Cleary's and Blume's books were a big part of my childhood reading(Blume's are darker though, and tend to deal with heavier subjects).

Clink. Crack. Crumble. Crash.
There goes my childhood.
Thanks, Hollywood.

I've never heard of Beezus before so I read the title as "Ramona does Bejesus."