Like Mike

Like just about every other recent pop star before him, Lil' Bow Wow has landed the starring role in a major motion picture. Unlike the rest of them, he has managed to carry a good, clean family film. There's nothing too offensive here and kids of all ages (at least from the test screening) seemed to eat it up. While it's not terribly original (see "Rookie of the Year"), it's not trying to re-invent kids' movies, it's just trying to entertain in a fun, safe way, which it does.

Bow (Mr. Wow?) has enough boyish charm and enough charisma to show what could be a promising acting career in addition to his duties as a rapper. Morris Chestnut ("The Brothers") does well as an unwilling mentor who becomes a father figure to the orphaned boy. Crispin Glover is pretty creepy as the greedy "caretaker" of the boy, and Robert Forester and Eugune Levy both have humorous bit parts. Funny cameos by famous basketball players with obviously little acting skills give it an authentic feel.

While this probably won't do too well with critics, that's not who it was made for. The target audience is young kids and it will work for them. Parents won't have to worry about anything objective, except a questionable scene where Bow climbs an electrical wire in a rainstorm to recover his shoes. It's entertaining for kids and passable for adults taking their children. If this sounds good to you, you'll probably like it. If not, it wasn't made for you anyway.

This movie is hilarious, I think it deserves higher than a 5.3! It's heartwarming, story is solid, endearing, has great dialogue, music is awesome, and highly entertaining. I don't think I have any complaints, I appreciate it all. Shad Moss, Jesse Plemmons, Jonathan Lipnicki, and Chrispin Glover are great in my opinion! I love Like Mike even if others don't.

An unusually strong supporting cast (including Crispin Glover, Robert Forster, Eugene Levy and Anne Meara) enlivens this simple family comedy built around the appealing young actor Lil' Bow Wow. He plays an orphan who, upon finding a magical pair of sneakers, becomes an NBA superstar and in the process befriends another player (Morris Chestnut) with his own family problems. Bow Wow will have an appeal to children of various ages because his own age seems indeterminate; he can act like a teenager (managing various relationships in the orphanage, rallying his teammates) or a pre-teen (gorging himself on so much food he gets sick, saying his prayers at bedtime); and his winning smile makes him non-threatening to adults. There's absolutely nothing that isn't predictable here and the film itself culls themes and sequences from other family films such as `Home Alone' and `E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial'. There's also nothing objectionable either: it's barely above the level of a Disney Channel movie so kids will gobble it up, which isn't a bad thing. The NBA had a hand in making the film in an obvious attempt to improve its bad boy image, and naturally most of the real players come off as kindly, caring and ready to perform good works. (Fortunately, there are exceptions: Allen Iverson doesn't play cute and Gary Payton treats Bow Wow as an equal on the court, making him pay.) Not bad for its genre--that supporting cast definitely helps, especially the always-welcome Glover and Levy--but hardly memorable.

This is by no means, an awful film. I recently downloaded a copy of the film for my sister and she thoroughly enjoyed. She actually enjoyed it so much, she watched in 3 times in the next week! She told me it was a great film and I began to watch it.

I must admit, at first the film seemed a little weird but very soon the film introduces you to Kalvin, Reg and Murph and the bully leader Ox. That was one particular strength for the film. Also, when the coach gives Kalvin the tickets, you can start to connect with the character and understand what his life as an orphan must be like. The film got my attention and I began to enjoy it. It had, to be fair, not many laughs but the story was good, closely resembling the story 'Holes' in many ways.

Tracy Renalds was a brilliant addition to the film and he really connected well with Kalvin. This was, in my opinion, the biggest strength of this film.

Brenda Song does a great job as playing Reg. I'm a big fan of 'Suite Life of Zack and Cody' where she does an amazing job and I thought her performance was great in this film. Bow Wow did a very good job in the film.

Overall, definitely ignore IMDb on this circumstance and watch this film. However, note that this film is not for all ages and its mainly for little children but I myself being a 16 year old liked it.

This is a formulaic kinds movie in all senses where you can see every script movie coming a mile away but still manages to be harmless fun. Little Bow Wow plays an orphan who is given a pair of basketball shoes that he believes belonged to Michael Jordan and in turn give him unbelievable skills that he ends up getting signed by the LA Knights NBA team. There are the Normal lesson s of morality and family values you would expect from this kind of movie which thankfully the child actors do not lay on to thick. Moris Chestnut does well in the father figure role and there is able support from Crispin Glover (I bet he regrets asking for so much money that he got written out of 'Back to the Future 2) and Robert Forster (thank god QT saved him), which all results in the inevitable bit not disappointing ending. Would I watch it again? Only with kids present.