30 for 30 Shorts: Jake (2013)
For nearly a decade Alfred Slote's book "Jake" was a favorite among kids. It's tough tale of a kid finding life throughout baseball went out of print in 1981 and has pretty much been forgotten except by those it touched including the man who wrote it. With animation to back up the spoken words, Slote reads from the book to get its message across to a new generation of people. I will admit that the execution of this short wasn't as powerful as it could have been but it's still a very entertaining film. Slote's reading of the book was certainly the highlight as we get to see which parts make him emotional but he also does an excellent job in reading the story and getting its power across. The film manages to really get you caught up in the book and it especially makes you want to go out and try to find a copy as the story seems just as important today than when it first was released.
Episode: B+
For nearly a decade Alfred Slote's book "Jake" was a favorite among kids. It's tough tale of a kid finding life throughout baseball went out of print in 1981 and has pretty much been forgotten except by those it touched including the man who wrote it. With animation to back up the spoken words, Slote reads from the book to get its message across to a new generation of people. I will admit that the execution of this short wasn't as powerful as it could have been but it's still a very entertaining film. Slote's reading of the book was certainly the highlight as we get to see which parts make him emotional but he also does an excellent job in reading the story and getting its power across. The film manages to really get you caught up in the book and it especially makes you want to go out and try to find a copy as the story seems just as important today than when it first was released.
Episode: B+