The Last Song
The trick for any starlet making the transition from teen queen to adult roles is finding just enough edge. Miley Cyrus does that with The Last Song, a film built around a rebellious but still family-friendly teen dealing with love and loss in vintage Nicholas Sparks fashion. Veronica "Ronnie" Miller is still irked over her parents' divorce and is happy to punish her dad (Greg Kinnear), and ignores the little brother (Bobby Coleman) who needs them all to get along. Two things soften Ronnie's hard shell. She discovers a sea turtle nest and vows to protect it from raccoons. And she meets a boy (Liam Hemsworth). It's not a great film, with some of the edge that Sparks put in the novel left out, but there's real chemistry between the young lovers and an old-fashioned virtue to the father-daughter and father-daughter's boyfriend scenes.
Furry Vengeance stars Brendan Fraser as a well-meaning developer who has moved to a new subdivision carved in the middle of pristine forest. The future roadkill of the forest isn't taking this deforestation lying down. There's so little mirth in the message-oriented script that the cast resorts to mugging to find a laugh.
