When Scottie Smalls moves to a new neighborhood in the summer of 1962, he gets a team of baseball prodigy into a bit of trouble borrows a ball from his stepdad that gets hit over a fence.
Several of the hard issues involving childhood -- getting accepted in a new neighborhood, getting accepted buy a new stepdad -- are handled with sensitivity.
The kids even have their own treehouse, which means that the production designer is the only person connected with this project who actually went out on a limb.
Any of Charles Schulz's baseball-oriented Peanuts strips contains more understanding of baseball and more insight into children, as well as more pointed fun.
Time Out
February 09, 2006
Ever since Stand by Me, it seems that every Boy's Own yarn is deemed incomplete without a nostalgic, pseudo-ironic voice-over waxing lyrical about the mythology of short pants and acne.
The Sandlot is just a fun, funny film that holds plenty of family appeal because it has a wholesome Norman Rockwell vibe and, as with any good sports film, you don't have to love the game to love the film.
