REWIND REVIEW: Charlie St. Cloud

MOVIE
Charlie St. Cloud

CAST
Zac Efron, Charlie Tahan

RATING
PG-13

RELEASE
July 30, 2010

DIRECTOR
Burr Steers

STUDIO
Universal Pictures

RUNNING TIME
1 hour 39 minutes





GRADE
B (85)





STARS
**1/2











REVIEW:

La la la la la, oh wait, this isn't High School Musical? Believe it or not, Zac Efron 'graduated' from East High 2 years ago. But after his modest hit 17 Again from April 2009, Mr. Efron wanted to establish himself as a serious actor in Charlie St. Cloud, the story about a man and second chances in life. Now this isn't nearly as good as the High School Musical series or Me and Orson Welles, but it's nice to see Mr. Efron making smart decisions for himself to establish himself as a full fledged actor.

Charlie St. Cloud is a sailor who has a loving family, a scholarship to Stanford, and a love and passion for sailing. One day when driving with his brother, Charlie gets into a major car crash that takes his younger brother's life away. The paramedic could only revive Charlie, thus making him have seen the light and had a near death experience. The one thing that Charlie gained from the experience was that he could communicate with his dead brother's spirit and play catch with him, which was a promise they made to each other before the crash. Five years pass, and Charlie gave up his life to spend time with his brother everyday, while running the local cemetery. But it's this year when he meets the possible girl of his dreams. So Charlie must decide to be with his dead brother, or move on with his life.

From the preview of this movie, (see below) this movie looked pretty interesting. Now after seeing the actual movie, I think that the trailer is much better. But that's not saying that the movie was bad. I just thought of it as an OK movie. The movie made me think about movies like The Sixth Sense and Ghost, though I bet those movies are better than this one. This movie won't win any awards, whether they're Oscars or Razzies. I just think that this movie isn't the best movie or the worst, this just falls directly in the middle, being ranked Average. Let me tell you why this movie was just an Average Joe.

First off, the story was just a bit too predictable. I mean just from the trailer, you know what will eventually happen to most of the characters, yet something might want you to think otherwise about it. Another average thing in this movie was the acting. When Zac Efron cries in this movie, you just can't help but giggle at it, finding it incredibly unbelievable. The rest of the actors in this movie just aren't that believable, other than Efron at times. I can see a bright future for Zac Efron in the acting industry, being able to perfect his profession by being a better actor. Who knows, maybe in the next 10 years, Zac Efron will win an Oscar, or just be nominated. But who can predict the future?

So was Charlie St. Cloud a must see movie? No. Will it win any awards? No. Is it even the slightest enjoyable? Yes. Even though the acting was a bit sloppy, and the story was pretty predictable, Charlie St. Cloud makes up with it's nice scenery, interesting plot, and Zac Efron's acting to call it an average movie. So it won't kill you not to see this movie, but it's good for what it is, and a nice way to spend about two hours when you're bored. So if you're a Zac Efron fanatic, and like sappy, sad, and dramatic romances, then Charlie St. Cloud is your weekend's must see with your gal-pals.