Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Family Film With Classic Potential, September 17, 2006
"Everyone's Hero" is a wonderful tale about a young boy whose father is fired from his job at Yankee Stadium when Babe Ruth's bat is stolen on his watch. The boy knows who stole the bat and sets out to reclaim it for the Babe and to save his father's much needed job. The young boy, Yankee Irving, is a huge dreamer, who hopes to one day play for the Yankees. He picks up quite a friend in Screwie (Rob Reiner), a Major League foul ball who hesitantly agrees to help Yankee recover the bat as long as the boy promises to leave him to rot in the sandlot where Yankee found him.
Yankee meets quite a motley crew on his travels from New York to Chicago. He runs into some kind-hearted hobos, a young girl named Marti (Raven), who gets him in touch with her father, Rooster Brewster of the Negro League, who's team just happens to be headed to Chicago. He also runs into the villainous Lefty Maginnis (William H. Macy), a washed out pitcher who thinks that by stealing Babe's bat, Darlin', he can save his job with the Chicago Cubs and win the World Series.
The story moves at a wonderful pace and holds the attention of both children and adults. My daughter went crazy when Screwie and Darlin' went at each other, and the antics of Lefty had everyone laughing. It features an all-star cast including those aforementioned and Robert Wagner, Whoopi Goldberg, Mandy Patinkin, and Brian Dennehy as Babe Ruth. Joe Torre plays the manager of the Yanks and Dana Reeve plays Yankee's mom. Of course, Reeve and her husband, Christopher Reeve (who initially directed this film), both passed away before seeing this film come to life on the screen. They should both be proud of their work done on this film.
If you love baseball, strong family bonds, slapstick comedy, or nostalgia, I highly recommend you see this film. Rest assured that you don't have to be a sports fan to enjoy this film, but for those of us who do, it's nice to see not only the Babe get some screen time, but Lou Gehrig as well.
A highly recommend, future classic, family film.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Family and Baseball: An American Movie, September 16, 2006
EVERYONE'S HERO is a charming, heartwarming, and delightful animated film about a young boy who loves baseball and leaves home to help his hero, Babe Ruth, and save his dad's job. The film includes an impressive cast of talented voice actors: Brian Dennehy, Whoopi Goldberg, Jake Austin, William H. Macy, Richard Kind, Mandy Patinkin, Rob Reiner, Raven-Symone, Robert Wagner, and even Joe Torre as the Yankee's Manager.
The year is 1932. "Yankee" Irving (Jake Austin) is a ten-year-old boy who lives in New York and loves baseball, but no matter how hard he tries he always ends up striking out and falling down. Yankee becomes frustrated and almost gives up until he finds a talking baseball (Rob Reiner). He names the ball Screwie and Screwie becomes Yankee's companion and, on a different level, a part of his conscious. Yankee's dad works at Yankee Stadium. The Yankee's are beating the Chicago Cubs in the World Series and the Cubs' owner (Robert Wagner) hatches a plan to have his dirtiest player, Lefty Maginnis (William H. Macy), steal Babe Ruth's bat, Darlin' (Whoopi Goldberg). Lefty runs into Yankee before he steals Darlin'. When Yankee's father is fired because of the missing bat, Yankee realizes what has happened and sets out to get Darlin' back and return her to the Babe. The journey takes Yankee from NewYork to Chicago. Along the way he meets some friendly hobos (actually most hobos in that period were friendly) and has an encounter with some baseball players in the Negro Leagues.
The movie vividly recreates the images of the early 1930s and the colorful palette is quite pleasing. At the film's heart is a message of determination and perseverance, even when the odds are stacked against a person. Tied to that message is an affection and love for baseball as well as a nod to the injustice of poverty and racism.
There are some inaccuracies with the historical basis of the film. For instance, the Yankees did play the Cubs in the 1932 World Series, but the series only lasted four games, not seven. Yet, where the film veers from history for dramatic effect, it makes up for it in other areas, such as the details in the uniforms of the Cincinnati Tigers' Negro League team. Some might be confused by the lack of specific style in EVERYONE'S HERO: at times the film looks like a sophisticated piece of animation that is almost Pixar-worthy, while there are other times the film veers into antics similar to the hijinxes of the Road Runner, Wylie Coyote, Bugs Bunny, and other Warner Brother characters. Personally, I enjoyed this uneven-style because it grounded the film in reality, while reminding viewers it's just a cartoon.
I thoroughly enjoyed EVERYONE'S HERO. It's a great animated baseball picture with important and strong messages about determination and the importance of family. The film brings recognition to forgotten elements of American history, e.g. the Negro Leagues and hobos. It's a film full of promise and hope. It is also the last project Christopher Reeve worked on before his death and for film buffs the movie is worth watching for that fact alone. But like many of the films Reeve made, EVERYONE'S HERO appeals to a much broader audience, not just children and baseball fans. It's a movie that calls out to the hero in everyone.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good Clean fun of an Adventure, March 25, 2007
This animated feature is far different than the ones I'm use to seeing. However, it surpasses the realism of many of the others with a powerful message of perservance and making your dreams happen. This movie made me laugh, then I cried; then I laughed again just to cry even more later. It's produced and directed by a man who valued himself the meaning of trying and trying again. In a collaboration with his wife Dana and other respected innovators, this was the last movie Christopher Reeve worked on before his death. There is a tribute to him as a bonus feature on this disc.
Like the ever popular first Ice Age movies and both Garfield films, the movie buyer has the option to both full and widescreen modes. However, I'm not happy with the double-sided release the studio decided to do. It's quiet annoying and even anxiety-ridden as you try extra hard when flipping the disc not to drop or scratch it. One side's bad enough, but double-sided is just not pleasing.
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