The Sandlot - Review

Growing up, the sports movie of choice for me was always The Mighty Ducks. Even to this day, I still think it is a perfect kids movie. Is that because I love the sport so much? Is it simply because I am Canadian and hockey was the sport we all grew up with? Either way, it's a great movie. However, many people I have met over the years would tell me that their version of The Mighty Ducks growing up was The Sandlot. I figured it would be the exact same storyline as the Mighty Ducks. A team full of misfits that can't play the game to save their lives, and only through an 80's or 90's training montage does the team learn the wonders of friendship and teamwork and eventually win the championship game against the other team that just so happens to be filled with the nastiest bullies on the block. While The Sandlot players do resemble a team like the one in the Mighty Ducks, (the token fat kid, geeky kid with glasses, the black kid [who was also in Mighty Ducks] and the super cool, most talented kid) and there is another baseball team full of bullies, this film does not follow the same formula at all. It's about a kid who comes to town with no friends and no idea how to play baseball. Scott, aka "Smalls", doesn't dream about being the next Babe Ruth, (hell, he doesn't even know who that is), he just wants to be a part of a group and make friends. This movie isn't about winning, it's about having fun. Getting up every day in the summertime to do what you love is something that I will never get to do until I retire (unless I reach enough fans for my reviews to give me a steady, livable income) and this movie makes me remember the good ol' days of being a kid. As for the main actor, I don't think he is a particularly good actor and Karen Allen I think has some questionable dialogue, but those aren't issues that really destroy the movie. It's just a movie about kids being kids. If you have kids of your own, this isn't a bad one to show them. Batter up!