Dear Lemon Lima

An overly imaginative teenager learns the difference between real friends and fake ones in this pastel-hued dramedy. Thirteen-year-old Vanessa (Alaska native Savanah Wiltfong)—who never knew her Yup'ik father—lives with her self-help author mother, Terri (Eleanor Hutchins). When summer begins, Vanessa's boyfriend, Philip (Shayne Topp), breaks up with her. She hopes he'll reconsider after she takes advantage of a scholarship and enrolls in his private school, but he expresses more interest in shallow Megan (Meaghan Jette Martin) and Vanessa finds herself on the low end of the social ladder. Still trying to get the unworthy Philip's attention, Vanessa enters the Snowstorm Survivor contest—a competition highlighting Eskimo traditions—putting together a team that includes her fragile pint-sized neighbor, Hercules (Zane Huett); a theremin player who calls herself Nothing (Maia Lee); and other eccentric outcasts. Oscar-winner Melissa Leo costars as Hercules' overprotective mother. Iranian-American director Suzi Yoonessi has her soft-spoken heroine narrate her story through the letters she writes to imaginary friend “Lemon Lima,” as well as occasional animations that add a humorous touch. Despite an overabundance of clichés, the always welcome “be yourself” message conveyed here to ‘tweens makes this a strong optional purchase. (K. Fennessy)