Charlie St Cloud DVD
Starring: Zac Efron, Amanda Crew, Kim Basinger, Charlie Tahan
Director: Burr Steers
Rating: 2/5
Zac Efron may have a reputation of being an all singing and all dancing teen icon but he tries to break that image with his new movie Charlie St Cloud.
The movie sees him reunite with his 13 Again filmmaker Burr Steers with the adaptation of Ben Sherwood's best-selling novel, The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud.
Accomplished sailor Charlie St. Cloud (Efron) has the adoration of mother Claire (Basinger) and little brother Sam (Tahan), as well as a college scholarship that will lead him far from his sleepy Pacific Northwest hometown.
But his bright future is cut short when a tragedy strikes and takes his dreams with it.
After his high-school classmate Tess (Crew) returns home unexpectedly, Charlie grows torn between honouring a promise he made four years earlier and moving forward with newfound love.
And as he finds the courage to let go of the past for good, Charlie discovers the soul most worth saving is his own.
It's great to see Efron try to step away from his High School Musical image as he takes on a more dramatic role with his latest movie.
And while the film itself does have plenty of short comings Efron does show that he has the acting chops and is, by far, the best thing about this movie.
While the movie does tread a very well known paths of ghosts and so on Charlie St Cloud does explore the idea of letting go of loved ones who have past as well as not being afraid to take chances.
Efron does give a very emotional performance in this movie as a young man who is consumed by guilt and grief over the death of his younger brother.
However the movie is incredibly slow before it descends into complete lunacy and St Cloud starts seeing people who aren't quite dead - it really does turn into a little bit of a mess.
This could have been a great movie about dealing with grief and the lengths that we will go to to hold onto those who have passed.
But sadly the movie fails to ignite it's early promise and it descends into corny melodrama - very disappointing and forgettable
Charlie St Cloud is out on DVD now.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw