The Miracle Season

The Miracle Season is an inspiring account of a true story. The acting and narration respectfully accommodate the actual people involved. This is sure to be a worthwhile watch for any sports movie fan.

The story follows talented volleyball team, The Women of Troy, as they seek to win the championship. However, a tragic accident results in the death of team leader Caroline Found (Danika Yarosh). As a result, the team disbands in mourning, with coach Kathy (Helen Hunt) trying to lighten and reunite its hopeless members. Caroline's best friend Kelly (Erin Moriarty) chooses to become team leader and respect Caroline by espousing the championship. This results in a grueling training season where all team members must put aside their grief and work together to compete. With extreme stakes at hand, the team must win in order to fully respect Caroline's legacy and rectify their losses.

Helen Hunt, as Kathy, incredibly presents her tough-love attitude towards her team and their determination to win the championship. She performs wonderfully in depicting Kathy's attempt to imbue the team with a purpose in the most hopeless of circumstances. Erin Moriarty, as Kelly, excellently portrays her growth from novice volleyball player to motivating leader. Danika Yarosh, as Caroline, exceptionally characterizes her teenage friendship with Kelly, including some recklessness at times. This allows her accident to have an emotional weight to it. William Hurt, as Ernie, is my favorite character due to his character arc through his grief of his daughter's death, as he slowly pushes people closest to him away. His friendship with Kathy allows for a humanizing and emotionally charged redemption from his self-pity.

Sean McNamara directs the movie with a scenic chronological representation of the events that happened in real life. My favorite scene is one where Kelly and Ernie talk about their regrets, resulting in Ernie asking Kelly to stop being so harsh on herself. I love how it portrays a relatable aspect of life. The flaw with the movie comes in the first act, when it feels like another cliché teen drama. Fortunately, it improves once the more humanizing aspects of the story come into play. However, there is an overuse of mainstream music during much of the movie, which results in a few of the most emotional scenes being completely nullified.

The message of this movie is to always remain as a source of hope for others. Despite the extreme pressure the team faces, Kelly always finds a way to assure her teammates. I give this film 3.5 out of 5 stars and recommend it for ages 6 to 18.

Reviewed by Arjun N., KIDS FIRST! Film Critic. For more reviews by youth, visit kidsfirst dot org

I went to see this movie with my volleyball team. We cried a lot, and we got inspired a lot from all the playing and the speeches they made during the movie. It's not just about the sports though, watching a movie about people having to get over the death of someone they care about really hits you in the heart.

"The Miracle Season" (PG, 1:41) is a drama directed by Sean McNamara (who directed the 2015 true-story high school drama "Spare Parts") and written by David Aaron Cohen (2004's "Friday Night Lights" film) and Elissa Matsueda ("Spare Parts"). This movie is based on the true story of the tragic death of a high school volleyball team captain in Iowa in 2011 and the season in which the team struggled to overcome their grief, push forward without their best player and try to repeat as state champions.

Caroline "Line" Found (Danika Yarosh) is the effervescent captain of the West High School girls volleyball team and life-long best friend of Kelley Fliehler (Erin Moriarty, looking like a slightly younger Kate Mara). Caroline encourages Kelley when she doubts her volleyball skills and even manages to stay positive and try to boost the spirits of her mother (Jillian Fargey) who is dying of cancer. Caroline's father, Dr. Ernie Found (Oscar winner William Hurt), also seems to draw strength from his daughter as he deals with his wife's condition. All this makes for an especially devastating tragedy when "Line" dies so unexpectedly.

Caroline's teammates have a hard enough time dealing with losing such an important person in their young lives, let alone getting back on the volleyball court. The team's coach, Kathy Bresnahan (Oscar winner Helen Hunt) encourages Kelley to step up, become a team leader, and get her teammates back to practice. The coach feels that returning to the game they all love will help the girls heal and be the best way to honor Caroline's memory. The players slowly come to agree, but still find it very painful to play volleyball without Caroline - and just as difficult to win without her - but they keep on trying.

"The Miracle Season" is a touching and inspiring story. It may be predictable and have an "After School Special" vibe to it, but the excellent cast and strong performances raise this film to another level. It would've done better to wallow in its sad backstory a little less and feature the game of volleyball a little more, but the movie is still entertaining. It also serves up some valuable lessons, not just about overcoming adversity and never giving up (as important as all that is), but it also shows teenagers how fragile life can be and reminds us all to live every day to the fullest. "B"

Yes, it's saccharine sweet and predictable, but still, an enjoyable, inspirational, heart-warming family-friendly story (sorry for all the adjectives) Don't know why some critics trash this movie. Yes, we've seen this type of "rally around the painful loss, and win for our deceased sports hero" movie before, but it is based on a true story, and all that sticky sweet stuff really happened (as you can see by the real pictures and videos during the credits... Caroline truly did make an impact on her school/town). Yes, the characters could have been fleshed out a bit more, but overall the acting was good and the story was touching. No cursing or sex. A good, clean, emotional, family film In My Humble Opinion! 4/2018 *7.5 stars*

I hadn't been so touched and overwhelmed by a movie since My Sisters Keeper; it's inspirational, empowering and based on true events. It's a must watch.