I don't know what sort of movie 12 year old boys watch today. Certainly not the sort I liked 50 years ago when I was 12. Maybe this sort of movie would appeal to them. I can't say.
It didn't do anything for me, but then, as I say, I'm not 12 years old.
Instead, it struck me as a boy's version of The Natural, which I didn't get a lot out of either. A guy - or, in this case, a boy - has a stroke of good luck and acquires a magic power that makes him a great baseball player. It's luck, and not the result of hard work. (For that, see The Stratton Story, which is one of my favorite baseball movies.) He has a glorious career until the magic wears out. That didn't do much for me in The Natural, and it doesn't do much for me here. Played as comedy it can work - see "It Happens Every Spring" - but not, for me, as drama, because there's no drama involved.
I don't know if boys still dream about baseball anymore. Maybe those who do, if they still exist, might enjoy this movie. If so, let them so do.
But I won't be watching it again myself, at 62.
It didn't do anything for me, but then, as I say, I'm not 12 years old.
Instead, it struck me as a boy's version of The Natural, which I didn't get a lot out of either. A guy - or, in this case, a boy - has a stroke of good luck and acquires a magic power that makes him a great baseball player. It's luck, and not the result of hard work. (For that, see The Stratton Story, which is one of my favorite baseball movies.) He has a glorious career until the magic wears out. That didn't do much for me in The Natural, and it doesn't do much for me here. Played as comedy it can work - see "It Happens Every Spring" - but not, for me, as drama, because there's no drama involved.
I don't know if boys still dream about baseball anymore. Maybe those who do, if they still exist, might enjoy this movie. If so, let them so do.
But I won't be watching it again myself, at 62.