Would it have killed the makers of this movie to even attempt to do something worthwhile? This is a kids' baseball movie that has been done too many times already.
The setup: The "evil" coach Bobby Geiser (Patrick Duffy) has won eight consecutive local Little League Championships and all the other coaches are jealous of him. In order to try and even the playing field, Geiser agrees to allow a lot of kids who aren't very good at baseball to be on his team. Our hero, 10 year old Kanin, is going to be on Coach Geiser's team this year. So what's the problem? To be honest, I'm really not sure. The kids' parents flip out when they find out that the coach has been holding extra practices for his good players in order to make sure they stay sharp.
This is where the movie nosedives even further. The parents decide to get rid of the coach and all of the good players on their team. Then they tell their kids that they should just cancel the rest of their season and not even play anymore. It's twisted logic which I can't understand. Why make your kids stop playing a sport they love simply because the coach was holding extra practices? Just goes to show you how parents are ruining youth sports programs these days...even in the movies!
Anyway, I won't spoil how things turn out but I need to get one more gripe off of my chest. In several scenes, the baseball used during the games is not real. It is an extremely poor computer special effect. Has the film industry sunk so low that they can't have a baseball movie using a real baseball? Why use CGI when you don't even have to? This movie has no soul. 1/10
