Review of The Sandlot (1993) by Forrest P — 04 Sep 2010

One of my childhood favorites, The Sandlot comes complete with a unique feeling of nostalgia most films don?t seem to want to bother with these days.

And that?s easily the best way to sum up The Sandlot. The performances are good; these children act like children, similar to the kids in A Christmas Story. That?s something that is very important. These children aren?t manipulated to seem cutesy or kitschy, they just act like kids. For instance, there?s a wonderful scene where the kids are in a clubhouse eating smores and talking about wild stories. That scene is the best example of these kids acting like kids. Maybe they?re not even really acting. They might be just being themselves.

Something I always loved about The Sandlot is the main character who I?ve always been able to sympathize with. I feel like this character is an embodiment of my own life: a quiet guy who?s not so good at making friends.

The Sandlot is not a masterfully done film. There are still some flaws here, but they?re overlooked because the movie is so good at just telling the story of these kids and what life was like for them back then. If there was a problem, it would be that not every character is given all the screentime they need, but there are a lot of characters. And the actors do the most with the screentime they are getting, so even that isn?t much of a complaint.

I enjoyed The Sandlot as a kid, and I continue to enjoy it today. Making friends is hard for little kids, and this film goes the extra mile to illustrate that. I?m not sure that the message that ?baseball brings kids together? would be the central theme, though it almost seems to be, but the movie does work at everything it tries to do. It?s just an enjoyable little film.

8/10.