In a Nutshell. Mini reviews of movies old and new. No fuss. No spoilers. And often no sleep.

Thursday, 29 January 2015

The Sandlot (1993)

A-la Boy Meets World and A Christmas Story, this coming-of-age tale is narrated from the memory of the main character. This allows for larger-than-life exaggerations which embellish the simple plot. Over-eager to befriend the neighborhood kids, Smalls (Tom Guiry) loses his step-father's prized baseball to a seemingly monstrous junkyard dog. Once the sandlot kids are introduced it becomes a true ensemble affair and while some are given b-stories of their own, a few are sadly left out. I seldom enjoy films involving kids but their acting was rarely annoying and ever endearing.

3 "You're killing me Smalls!" out of 5

2 comments:

Impudent Urinal said...

I never noticed that was Karen Allen until right now.
4 Why didn't you just knock on the door? out of 5

Dr Faustus said...

Not having any interest in baseball means I likely would've passed over the film entirely, but I saw it for sale in a store (for a mere 50p) and remembered your posting about it being a coming-of-age flick, so I picked it up because I adore that genre.

It was really good. The poolside scene was great, but mostly I loved the huge dog and that the v/o gave events a slight Wonder Years vibe.

It was a double-pack with Sandlot 2, but it's the not kind of film that needed a sequel, so I'm a little hesitant about it. I can update with info when I get to watching it, if you like.

Same score.