Thunderstruck

Thunderstruck is yet another short guy's hoop dreams fairytale. Brian Newall (Taylor Gray) is a huge Kevin Durant fan much like me, so I was pleased with how the story focused on this amazing NBA player. I was totally pulling for the Thunder in the NBA playoffs, but alas it wasn't their time. Initially I figured that this was a Space Jam like film for this generation of young hoopsters to see a current fan favorite in a life situation other than simply on the court or I thought it might be a Like Mike kind of film. Unfortunately, it didn't have the charisma or heart of either of those two films. The funniest scenes are when Alan (Brandon T. Jackson) tries to fix "the situation" with all nature of high fives and fist pumps. But it's sad when you resort to ball on balls physical comedy for laughs. Again, I am a Kevin Durant fan and consider him one of the most talented ballers in the game today, but he and Candace Parker Williams have some serious work to do if they want to build an acting resume. It helped that Brandon T. Jackson and James Belushi (Coach Amross) are good actors but they did not make enough of a difference to balance out the poor acting. The only common factor with this film and Space Jam was Sir Charles Barkley in his current role as a TNT basketball commentator. He was as funny in this film as ever. I laughed audibly when he remarked that Shaq had been working with Kevin on his free throws. If you want to make a Space Jam or Like Mike type of movie it has to have magic, even though there was some inexplicable magic in this film it wasn't that game winning shot kind that leaves your exhilarated and satisfied with the final triumph. I did realize though that you have to have some basketball talent to make it appear that you have no basketball talent. If it were the beginning of summer and you wanted to get the kids out of the house then send them to this film for an hour and a half of peace, but since it isn't you are better off saving your dollars. This film was like a drawn out commercial for the NBA, Nike and Kevin Durant, unfortunately it was less memorable than his data plan commercial. You can see basketball on TV, you can see the TNT announcers on TV and you should really wait until this film comes to TV to see it. I give it a red light.

Wow...A cheesy childrens movie.

They must think children are dumb or they want children to be as dumb as this movie.

This is a movie that didn't need to be made. Or maybe it did but it needed to be made better and chose to settle for hash.

Overall just a cheesy children movie. Even for basketball fans.

What can be learned? This movie mad THOR angry ....Probably? Verdict: straight to the VCR bin.

I'm only giving it 7 because of Mitch, he's hilarious.

I will preface my review by stating this is not a religious themed movie. It is however a movie that children over the age of 10 may learn a few valuable lessons about life, truly believing in one self, and being honest with not only your self, but with people we come in contact with. One of the key messages embedded in the movie was for people not to pretend they are somebody they are not.

The story evolves around a teenage boy named Brian Newell (Taylor Gray), who is a typical teenage boy who aspires to be as good as his professional basketball idol, Kevin Durant. Kevin Durant plays himself in the movie. (Shaquille O'Neal and Charles Barkley also make cameo appearances as broadcasters in the movie.) Kevin as we know him, is an exceptional NBA basketball star, who is humble about his natural god given talent, and willing to sign everyone's autograph. During one of Kevin Durant's NBA games, Kevin witnesses young Brian failing miserably during the half time intermission trying to sink a basketball at half court. To make Brian feel a bit better about missing his once in a life time shot at being the super star everyone idolizes, Kevin unselfishly signs a basketball for Brian and explains to Brian that "hard work beats talent, when talent does not work hard", and with those words, Brian miraculously inherits Kevin's basketball abilities, and unfortunately for Kevin Durant, he inherits Brian's former lack of ability to sink a basket.

The story then evolves how Brian deals with his new found (and totally unexpected) basketball talent and success with the lovely new girl in town Isabel Sanchez (Tristin Mays). This is a story of a young man "paying a good deed he received from Kevin Durant, forward". There are a few good messages for preteens and teenagers about team work, truth, and friendship, as well as being an entertaining movie for the entire family. It is well worth the watch and at least a plus 5 rating on IMDb.

This movie is great. Overall though this movie was well done and that Thunder fans or just basketball fans in general should watch.