Nine-year-old Ramona (Joey King) is an imaginative, good-hearted girl who keeps getting into mischief without meaning to. Having featured in a long series of novels by Beverly Cleary, she and her folks now make the transition to the big screen in this family comedy. There's something refreshingly old-fashioned about the film's gimmick-free story, which concentrates on Ramona's day-to-day trials and tribulations of home, school, getting on with big sis Beezus (Selena Gomez) and wondering if dad's recent redundancy will mean losing their suburban Portland home. True, it's just a bit overlong for junior attention spans, but given that the boys get lots of movies with wizards and special effects, little girls will surely welcome a film that seems tailored just for them. Ms King's central performance is cute without being precocious, and there's always former Sex and the City heart-throb John Corbett (as the world's loveliest daddy) to keep the mums happy.

Ramona is a little girl with a very big imagination and a nose for mischief. Her playful antics keep everyone in her loving family on their toes, including her older sister Beezus, who's just trying to survive her first year of high school. Through all the ups and downs of childhood, Ramona and Beezus learn that anything's possible when you believe in yourself and rely on each other.