Movie Review: Chasing Mavericks
Chasing Mavericks is the true story of surfing star Jay Moriarity and his rise to fame. Played by relative newcomer Jonny Weston, Jay is a happy kid despite being raised without a father and a mother who’s not around much. He finds a father-figure in his surfing-legend neighbor Frosty Hesson, played by Gerard Butler. Frosty teaches Jay to surf the big waves and also some various life lessons along the way. And Jay teaches Frosty a few life lessons along the way too. It was a bit like the Karate Kid, but with surfing and not as good.
This was a pretty sad movie to me. There’s a lot of tragedy here, and I guess Jay’s happy-go-lucky attitude can be seen as inspirational. This is the first time I’ve liked Gerard Butler in a movie, but his character isn’t the best dude in my opinion. He seems a lot more interested in surfing and hanging out with Jay then spending time with his own two children. He’s likeable but not at the same time. Elisabeth Shue, who was in the orginal Karate Kid almost 30 years ago, plays Jay’s deadbeat mom.
I really enjoyed this movie. It managed to be realistic and inspirational at the same time, a difficult feat to manage.
Grade: B