The Sandlot

Scotty Smalls is the new kid in the idyllic small town with his mom and stepdad. He's an awkward kid who wants to play baseball with neighborhood kids. There were 8 of them, and he hoped to be the ninth. Their best player Benny Rodriquez takes Smalls under his wing. Over the summer, the group has great childhood adventures together. It all culminates to a story of a lost baseball signed by Babe Ruth and a feared dog named the Beast.

This is more than just a kids movie. You can easily overdose on the innocence of it all. There is the group of kids. They are perfectly casted with amazing chemistry. Each one is an iconic child type. As a period piece, they picked an era just before the world goes into revulsion. In the sport of baseball, they have accentuated the childhood love of the game.

This is a kids movie for the whole family. That's not a cliché. It has the feel of a timeless classic.

Tommy Smalls (Tom Guiry) is the new kid, who moved with his mother (Karen Allen) and his stepfather (Denis Leary) is a suburbans area of Salt Lake City in the summertime. When Smalls becomes curious with a group of kids (Mike Vitar, Patrick Renna, Chauncey Leopardi, Marty York, Brandon Quintin Adams, Grant Gelt, Shane Obedzinski and Victor DiMattia), who plays Baseball all day long in a old baseball field. Smalls is hoping to play with them but he knows nothing about the game. When he tries to play, he's quite bad at all. He can't even throw a ball to the catchers. When he becomes friend with the leader of the game and Smalls starting to like the game. But when his stepfather goes away for business, Smalls take a baseball from his stepfather trophy room. Which without realizing that the ball, he took from the room is actually signed by the Baseball Legend "Babe Ruth". Smalls hits his first home run, the ball went over the fence of a old house. But that old house, it has an mean-spirited junkyard dog. Which the kids called him "The Beast". Now the kids have to help Smalls to get the ball back before his stepfather comes back from the business trip.

Directed by David M. Evans (First Kid) made an likable family comedy that plenty of funny moments, a good cast and a lot of imagination. The narration of the film will certainly make you remember of the late Bob Clark film "A Christmas Story", although the narration of "The Sandlot" is sightly heavy-handed at times. This film has a surprise hit, when it was release in the spring of 1993. Fox had another fantasy film about Baseball, which it was "Rookie of the Year". James Earl Jones, Art LaFleur and a young Marley Shelton have memorable bit parts in this pleasant comedy as well.

DVD has an sharp anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1) transfer (Also in Pan & Scan) and an good Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. DVD also includes an featurette, trailer and TV spots. This film went on to be an modest classic over the year. All the kids have their moments, especially Renna and Leopardi have their comedic moments. The movie slows down a bit during the second act. But it's well made and this picture pleases everyone as well. It's one of the better family movies of the 1990's. Don't miss it. Co-Written by the director. Arliss Howard appears Unbilled. Followed by Two Direct to DVD's. Joe-Dunton-Camera Scope (J-D-C Scope). (****/*****).

This is a truly amazing film. It's a very good family film that can be enjoyed by BOTH your kids and yourself! That's rare, as often "family films" have too much smutty language or sexual situations for kids OR are so saccharine sweet that sane adults would prefer suicide over watching the films (think Disney in the 1960s).

The film isn't quite a comedy, though there are really funny moments in it (such as the evil dog that eats baseballs). And, it's not exactly a drama. It's more like an occasionally surreal slice of life film about the good old days of the late 50s-early 60s. It's about a group of kids that live to play baseball--and that's all they ever seem to want to do! Despite this very simple plot, somehow the excellent acting, direction and writing make you really care about the kids and it engages you from start to finish.

Okay, I didn't grow up in the time this film is set (I was born in 1978). But after seeing the film, I've got a pretty good idea of what it was like. My dad likes the film because of how much it reminds him of his own childhood. The story is simple: a new kid moves with his mother and step-father to a brand new neighborhood where he knows no one. So imagine his surprise when he winds up meeting a kid who invites him to play baseball with him and his best friends. Naturally, the other kids don't take to him too well: he's not very good at baseball, and he can't even throw right. But eventually, the kids grow to like him and teach him the ways of the game, and before long they're having a lot of fun during the summer. THE SANDLOT is a great kids film, very family-friendly, unlike the majority of so-called "family" films that are made nowadays. Sure, there's a scene where the kids are throwing up on a carnival ride thanks to some chewing tobacco, but the scene is done more for laughs than as a gross-out. (You can imagine that the scene would be done the opposite way if the film was made more recently). The characters and the young kids playing them are all appealing, and it's nice to see Denis Leary playing a kind sensitive role instead of the over-the-top characters he's used to playing. He's very good, even though the part's not a big one. The few scenes between him and star Tom Guiry are very nice. THE SANDLOT is a very good film. Kids will like the humor, and adults will remember how fun it was to be a kid.

The Sandlot is a great childhood film because it examines changes and friendship among a group of pre-teens. It is really just good old fashioned fun (especially James Earl Jones' cameo) in the adventures of their baseball days. Denis leary makes one of his breakthrough films here. Entertainment supreme, and maybe adults will like it too. A