Review of The Sandlot (1993) by Robert M — 23 Dec 2009

The Sandlot is a nice tale about American adolescence, and what it truly means to be a kid. The story surrounds a young unpopular kid named Scotty Smalls (Tom Guiry) with a new dad who doesn't seem to like him (Denis Leary).

He finds friendship and acceptance with a group of neighborhood misfits who spend their days playing baseball. Throughout the movie, which takes place over the summer, Smalls learns to play the game under the friendly tutelage of Benny "the Jet" Rodriguez (Mike Vitar).

Minor adventures occur throughout, giving it a distinctly summer feel. A wonderful segment shows up in the middle of the fun to kind of slow things down. A segment about a bunch of kids playing baseball under the light of a Fourth-of-July fireworks show just warms your heart.

When the gang's baseball gets the guts knocked out of it by Benny, Smalls decides to use his stepfather's ball. When the ball is lost behind a fence to a very large dog, the gang finds out that the ball was signed by Babe Ruth.

The rest of the movie entails the group?s desperate attempts to get the ball back from "the Beast". The characters may be somewhat flat, but they are people you could've related to when you were a kid, giving this movie a kind of nostalgic feel for most.

Benny takes the initiative and goes one-on-one with the Beast in a chase that spans the whole town (oddly enough interrupting a theatre showing of the classic "Wolf Man" movie with Lon Chaney Jr.

). They eventually return to the Sandlot and meet the dog's infamous owner, Mr. Mertle (James Earl Jones). The story-telling is great, the characters are fun, the scenes are funny/campy/cool, and there has never been a better inspirational Baseball movie other than Angels in the Outfield.

An overall great story about baseball, childhood fears, childhood fascinations, childhood friendships, and generally just the institute of kid-dom. This great story his 8 home runs out of 10.