Field of Dreams - Review

There comes a time where you look at your old VHS collection and come across a movie that you watched many times as a kid but may have been too young to understand. Field of Dreams is one of those movies. I remember being a kid in about 3rd or 4th grade and going to my grandma's house after school. She had an old TV with a VHS player attached to it. One of the movies that were there was Field of Dreams. I didn't really understand why Kevin Costner's Ray needed to build that baseball field or why he had to drive to Boston to pick up James Earl Jones's Terrence Mann, but for some reason, I watched this film a ton growing up. It has now been about 15 years since I last saw this movie and now I can understand why I watched this movie so many times. This movie is pure magic. The film opens with a little monologue from Ray describing his life so far and while he's happy, he's afraid of simply existing and nothing ever extremely extraordinary happening to him. Being an adult now, that fear definitely has much more weight now. Then, he hears the voice. "If you build it, he will come." Super mysterious, super simple and super intriguing. That mixed in with the score, it is an extremely chilling scene. It's even more chilling once the baseball field is made and after months of waiting, Ray's daughter Karen spots a man out on his baseball field who might be a player for the Chicago White Sox that passed away many years ago. It's an extremely gripping scene. Being a Canadian and loving hockey, it would be like if I built a giant hockey rink in my backyard and one night you see Maurice Richard (The Rocket) or Gordie Howe (Mr. Hockey) skating on the ice. Another thing I have to mention is that you'd think that Ray's wife Annie would be totally against this and think her husband is crazy. However, to a shocking surprise, she not only accepts it, but she encourages it. Now if every single wife would allow their husbands to do something as crazy as this, you'd have one hell of an alternate reality. Also, the kid who plays Karen is super cute and is a good kid actress. I don't want to give away anything else in the movie because this movie truly is something special. A super tight script, an actual good performance from Kevin Costner, and themes of hope and dreams that really give you the feels. Although I can't stand watching baseball on TV and could only name you about five baseball players, none of which are playing anymore, but for some reason, baseball movies are always very entertaining and Field of Dreams is one of the best. A truly magnificent motion picture. Even if you don't like baseball, you have to see this movie!