Sports

The Sandlot

When egghead Scotty Smalls moves to town just before the summer vacation of 1962, his first priority is to make friends. He heads to the nearby sandlot only to humiliate himself before the local kids, but star player Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez befriends the awkward boy, teaches him the basics of baseball, and welcomes him to the team. It's a summer filled with camaraderie and fun until Smalls hits his first home run. Problem is, Smalls's home run sends his stepfather's "Babe Ruth" autographed baseball into a neighboring yard that's patrolled by a snarling, slobbering monster called "The Beast." Creativity reigns and hilarity ensues when the boys risk everything to retrieve the ball. A final heroic encounter with "The Beast" and his owner yields some very surprising results. Action, humor, and friendship permeate this 101-minute film appropriate for ages 5 and older. Rated PG due to name-calling and some pubescent behavior. --Tami Horiuchi

It's the early 1960s and fifth-grader Scotty Smalls (Tom Guiry) has just moved into town with his folks (Karen Allen and Denis Leary). Kids call him a dork?he can't even throw a baseball! But that changes when the leader of the neighborhood gang recruits him to play on the nearby sandlot field. It's the beginning of a magical summer of baseball, wild adventures, first kisses, and fearsome confrontations with the dreaded Beast and its owner (James Earl Jones) who live behind the left field fence. Soon nine boys have become best friends, Scotty is part of a team, and their leader has become a local legend in this hilarious and warmhearted comedy.

Angels in the Outfield

This effects-heavy, 1994 remake of the 1951 film starring Janet Leigh and Keenan Wynn is all computer-generated pizzazz, with none of the charm or imagination of the original. Aimed squarely at children this time, the story focuses on a boy who gets some divine intervention on behalf of his favorite ball club. Christopher Lloyd plays the head angel, and Danny Glover is good as the team's manager, but the real star of the film--for better or worse--is the software that makes a glowing, celestial presence on the field seem real. --Tom Keogh

Catch the movie that flew over the fence and into the hearts of millions of cheering fans! It's Disney's ANGELS IN THE OUTFIELD, the feel-good film of the year about a young boy praying for a father -- and a struggling baseball team praying for a pennant. Danny Glover plays George Knox, the frustrated coach of the California Angels, a ragtag team of major-league misfits who are down on their luck. But things begin to look up when 11-year-old Roger, their biggest fan, starts giving Knox some winning tips from a real live angel named Al (Christopher Lloyd). The team miraculously climbs back into the pennant race ... all the while learning to believe in themselves. With its heavenly mix of outrageous comedy, dazzling special effects, and amazing baseball action, Disney's ANGELS IN THE OUTFIELD is an entertainment home run for the whole family!

Space Jam

Although at first glance it looks like a movie dreamed up by a marketing committee (and in some respects it probably was), Space Jam actually defies the odds against it to become a dazzling display of family entertainment. There's a kind of demented genius to the idea of casting NBA superstar Michael Jordan in a live-action and animated movie costarring the beloved characters from Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes cartoons. They play off each other like seasoned veterans of vaudeville, and Jordan never falls into the kind of awkward, amateurish showmanship that you might expect from a sports idol. He's comfortable in the cartoon land of his costars, who include Bugs Bunny and sexy newcomer Lola Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd, Sylvester & Tweety, Speedy Gonzalez, the Tazmanian Devil, Foghorn Leghorn, and Yosemite Sam. They've all been hijacked to an outer-space amusement park run by the Nerdlucks, who strike a Faustian bargain with the Looney heroes: if Bugs and Co. can defeat the Nerdluck "Monstars" in a basketball game, they'll win back their freedom; if they lose, they'll be doomed to stay there forever as enslaved entertainers. So they kidnap Jordan as their coach and "secret weapon" while the nefarious Nerdlucks suck out the basketball skills from such stellar victims as Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing. It all leads to reckless abandon on the basketball court, and Bill Murray pops in for some hilarious support. Combining traditional animation and computer-generated Nerdlucks with its live-action cast, Space Jam was made in the anarchic spirit of the Looney Tunes cartoons, where anything goes as long as it's funny and off-the-wall (or the ceiling, or the door, or the floor...). Technically astounding, it's also witty enough to entertain adults and kids alike. --Jeff Shannon

Swackhammer, owner of the amusement park planet Moron Mountain is desperate get new attractions and he decides that the Looney Tune characters would be perfect. He sends his diminutive underlings to get them to him, whether Bugs Bunny & Co. want to go or not. Well armed for their size, Bugs Bunny is forced to trick them into agreeing to a competition to determine their freedom. Taking advantage of their puny and stubby legged foes, the gang selects basketball for the surest chance of winning. However, the Nerdlucks turn the tables and steal the talents of leading professional basketball stars to become massive basketball bruisers known as the Monstars. In desperation, Bugs Bunny calls on the aid of Michael Jordan, the Babe Ruth of Basketball, to help them have a chance at winning their freedom.

Air Bud

Moviegoers and more than a few critics found much to enjoy in this Disney film about a lost dog named Buddy. The canine is befriended by a lonely boy and proceeds to become the star of the kid's junior high school basketball team. Demonstrating an abundance of on- and off-court agility, Buddy can dribble like a pro (no, not the wet kind of dribble), and he never misses a shot. Michael Jeter plays Buddy's original owner who returns to get his dog back (don't worry, he's an unworthy weasel), and director Charles Martin Smith brings a refreshing flair to the climactic basketball scenes. Air Bud was a modest hit for Disney, and the film's entertaining vitality gets a touch of poignancy from the fact that Lucky, the canine actor in the title role, died of cancer not long after the film was released. --Jeff Shannon

A young boy and a talented stray dog with an amazing basketball playing ability become instant friends. Rebounding from his father's accidental death, 12-year-old Josh Framm moves with his family to the small town of Fernfield, Washington. The new kid in town, Josh has no friends and is too shy to try out for the school basketball team. Instead he prefers tp practice alone on an abandoned court, he befriends a runaway golden retriever named Buddy. Josh is amazed when he realizes that Buddy loves basketball...that is playing basketball...and he is GOOD! Josh eventually makes the school team and Buddy is named the Team Mascot. Josh and Buddy become the stars of halftime. Buddy's half-time talent draws media attention. Unfortunately, when Buddy's mean former owner, Norm Snively, comes along with a scheme to cash in on the pup's celebrity, it looks like they are going to be separated.

Air Bud - World Pup

Three is a charm for the Air Bud franchise, which returns to the screen to showcase the athletic talents of Buddy, the golden retriever who made his film debut as a basketball star in the original Air Bud (1997). If the second movie, Air Bud: Golden Receiver (1998) wore out its welcome (with Buddy as a football dynamo), Disney's third installment seems to have rekindled its initial freshness. Buddy takes to the soccer field this time, and he has the immense good fortune of being joined by real-life U.S. Women's Soccer Team champions Brandi Chastain, Brianna Scurry, and Tisha Venturini, among others. Kevin Zegers returns to the story as Buddy's owner, who falls in love with the only girl on his own soccer team. While sparks fly on and off the field in that romance, Buddy has a love interest of his own and soon becomes a father to six puppies. The drama heightens when a couple of puppy thieves (who closely resemble Jasper and Horace from 101 Dalmatians) pose as dog catchers and make off with the pups. A hilarious chase, assisted by dozens of courageous canines, ensues. Dog lovers in the audience will be pleased to know there is no insinuation of dog abuse here and there are no sad pet moments. Parents can skip this one, knowing their kids will enjoy plenty of benign entertainment while viewing some great soccer stunts by real-life champs. (Ages 4 and older.) --Lynn Gibson

Disney is proud to present the second heartwarming and hilarious sequel to the popular family favorite, AIR BUD! Buddy masters two new starring roles ... soccer player and father. AIR BUD: WORLD PUP is loaded with laughs and cool soccer action as Buddy teams up alongside U.S. women's soccer greats Brandi Chastain, Briana Scurry, and Tisha Venturini, meanwhile keeping a protective eye over his adorable new family of soccer-playing puppies!

Air Bud - Seventh Inning Fetch

That athletic phenom of a retriever is back for his fourth movie, trying his paw at baseball this time. Disney hasn't strayed far from the franchise formula, siccing upon the poor retriever yet another set of doggie thieves--this time mad scientists who want to capture Buddy and his pups to isolate the "Super Sports Gene." The original Josh (heartthrob Kevin Zegers) is also back, only to be dispatched to college soon after the opening credits. So it's younger sister Andrea (Caitlin Wachs) who needs Buddy's help this time, as she muffs her baseball debut and suffers the benign neglect of her parents (Cynthia Stevenson and Richard Karn). As with its predecessors, this is harmless, if inane, fun. Kids and dogs are heroes; adults are mostly benevolent screw-ups. Raccoons and scientists may take issue with their portrayals, but, then again, how many scientists operate their labs out of trailer parks? Ages 4 and older. --Kimberly Heinrichs

The Mighty Ducks

Disney had an unexpected hit with this predictable comedy about a smug lawyer (Emilio Estevez) busted for drunk driving and ordered to coach a sad-sack team of hockey-playing kids as community service. The kids triumph over their sundry problems, and Estevez's character grows up a little. End of story. A perfectly harmless movie for kids and adults who are giving their brains a night off. --Tom Keogh

Gordon Bombay, a hotshot lawyer, is haunted by memories of his childhood, when, as the star player in his champion hockey team, he lost the winning goal in a shootout, thereby losing the game, and the approval of his coach. When the court orders him to coach a peewee hockey team, the worst in the league, Gordon is at first very reluctant. However, he eventually gains the respect of the kids and teaches them how to win, gaining a sponsor on the way and giving the team the name of The Ducks. In the finals, they face Gordon's old team, coached by Gordon's old coach, giving Gordon a chance to face old ghosts.

Space Jam (Two-Disc Special Edition)

Although at first glance it looks like a movie dreamed up by a marketing committee (and in some respects it probably was), Space Jam actually defies the odds against it to become a dazzling display of family entertainment. There's a kind of demented genius to the idea of casting NBA superstar Michael Jordan in a live-action and animated movie costarring the beloved characters from Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes cartoons. They play off each other like seasoned veterans of vaudeville, and Jordan never falls into the kind of awkward, amateurish showmanship that you might expect from a sports idol. He's comfortable in the cartoon land of his costars, who include Bugs Bunny and sexy newcomer Lola Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd, Sylvester & Tweety, Speedy Gonzalez, the Tazmanian Devil, Foghorn Leghorn, and Yosemite Sam. They've all been hijacked to an outer-space amusement park run by the Nerdlucks, who strike a Faustian bargain with the Looney heroes: if Bugs and Co. can defeat the Nerdluck "Monstars" in a basketball game, they'll win back their freedom; if they lose, they'll be doomed to stay there forever as enslaved entertainers. So they kidnap Jordan as their coach and "secret weapon" while the nefarious Nerdlucks suck out the basketball skills from such stellar victims as Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing. It all leads to reckless abandon on the basketball court, and Bill Murray pops in for some hilarious support. Combining traditional animation and computer-generated Nerdlucks with its live-action cast, Space Jam was made in the anarchic spirit of the Looney Tunes cartoons, where anything goes as long as it's funny and off-the-wall (or the ceiling, or the door, or the floor...). Technically astounding, it's also witty enough to entertain adults and kids alike. --Jeff Shannon

His Airness and His Hareness; what a team! Michael Jordan slams Bugs Bunny jams and a cavalcade of Looney Tunes and NBA stars hoop it up in the rim-rattlin' out-of-this-world roundball romp: Space Jam.Running Time: 88 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: CHILDREN/FAMILY UPC: 085392753727

Kicking and Screaming

Will Ferrell is at his full, frenzied power as Phil Weston, a married, uncoordinated would-be sportsman with an uncoordinated would-be sportsman son--and an unresolved relationship with his coach father, Buck (Robert Duvall), who has very little tolerance for the uncoordinated. When Buck trades his own grandson to a real loser of a little league soccer team, Phil naturally takes over underdog coaching duties and the two men butt heads. You could easily, and perhaps rightfully, dismiss all of this as a dumb, demented Meatballs or Bad News Bears rip-off, but it's pleasantly dumb and sometimes hysterically demented: Encouraged by his neighbor, ex-Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka (yes, playing himself), Phil stops his vitamin regimen and becomes wildly addicted to regular doses of caffeine, which turns him into a monster of a team leader. In addition to Ferrell, Duvall does a doozy of a comic riff on his Great Santini role, and even Ditka is unexpectedly funny. It's a formula film with just enough far-out notions to keep you chuckling. --Steve Wiecking

A sensitive father turns into a driven, obsessively competitive soccer coach when he volunteers to coach his son's losing soccer team.
No Track Information Available
Media Type: DVD
Artist: FERRELL,WILL
Title: KICKING & SCREAMING
Street Release Date: 01/09/2007
Domestic
Genre: COMEDY VIDEO

The Sandlot 2

A decade has passed in the small town where the original Sandlot gang banded together during the summer of '62 to play baseball and battle the Beast. Now comes the sequel, a campy romp back to the dugout where nine new kids descend on the diamond only to discover that a descendant of the Beast lives in Mr. Mertle's backyard--a monster of mythical proportions known as "The Great Fear." Director/writer David Evans cleverly ties his two films together by introducing Johnnie Smalls, kid brother of Scotty Smalls ("You're killin' me, Smalls") who is well-versed in the legendary struggle for possession of the Babe Ruth baseball. Smalls befriends the sandlot gang (which now includes three girls) and its leader, David Vincent Durango, and relates the rumor of "a mutated, insane Bigfoot dog thing" behind the left field fence. Summer unfolds with baseball rivalries, rocket launchers, and the infamous Carnival kissing booth, but fate will forever change the history of the sandlot when a crisis forces Smalls and Durango to join forces against The Fear. Regardless of one's sentiments on sequels, Evans' writing in this remake is nearly as fresh and full of memorable quips as the original, including his characteristically understated narration. And while the film may be faulted for its forced melodrama and unseasoned cast, James Earl Jones lends his star appeal and the 70s soundtrack will make you wish for the days when fireworks were legal. Rated PG for profanity and raunchy humor. (Ages 6 to 14) --Lynn Gibson

Ten years ago, a quirky group of kids invaded the Sandlot, in one of the most beloved baseball movies of all-time. Now, a new generation of kids are back in THE SANDLOT 2, a nostalgic return to the dog days of summer playing America?s pastime where dreams begin and heroes are formed in this heart-felt and fun movie for everyone.