'Ramona and Beezus': Sisters come to life in sunny series of escapades

Flooded with warm light and a radiant mood, "Ramona and Beezus" is a sunny series of charming escapades and subtle flights of fancy that capture the safe fusion of imagination and reality where all little girls should grow up.

Parents also will be aglow over an unconditionally positive movie without a risqué joke to be found.

"Ramona and Beezus" is based on books by beloved children's author Beverly Cleary about 9-year-old Ramona Quimby (newcomer Joey King); her 15-year-old sister, Beatrice, nicknamed Beezus (Selena Gomez of Disney's "Wizards of Waverly Place"); and her doting, nearly flawless parents (John Corbett and Bridget Moynahan). There's also infant sister Roberta (Aila and Zanti McCubbing), who's good for adorable faces and the occasional strained-peas spit-take.

For all the spotless fantasy of a movie tailored to a specific demographic, there's an atmosphere of authenticity.

Ramona is as bright and cherubic as she is prone to accidents. Her reputation for clumsiness is based on a combination of earnest attempts to help and frequent daydreams into fantasy adventure sparked by guileless wonder at the world around her.

Beezus has been a long- suffering foil to her kid sister's gentle troublemaking. But even as she enters the complicated world of teenage womanhood, her sniping and exasperation are tempered by sisterly devotion.

Mom and dad couldn't love their daughters more, and even when dad loses his job he still keeps the needs and wishes of the Quimby unit his top priority.

When Ramona falls into her whimsical worlds — floating away on a parachute, crossing a chasm stretching far below her jungle gym or imagining the unknowns of running away from home — the fantasies are rendered without any fearsome subtexts.

At school and at home, Ramona causes various degrees of vexation, but she's also the one responsible for making everything work out (not that there's too terribly much going wrong). Subplots within the not-too-deep primary narrative involve budding romances between Beezus and another Cleary regular, Henry Huggins (Hutch Dano), as well as Ramona's adored Aunt Bea (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Hobart (Josh Duhamel), her hunky sweetheart from high school.

If Ramona didn't have a hand in muddling then mending any and all relationships, she just wouldn't be Ramona.

Ted Fry: tedfry@hotmail.com