Everyone's Hero
From the mind of the late Christopher Reeeve, the same guy who played Superman, we get an animated baseball story that came out in late 2006. This sort of makes the film a bit dated and it has fallen into obscurity since that year. Beyond that, there are only a handful of animated sports films like the Pixar Cars franchise, Aardman's Early Man, Dreamworks' Turbo, the forgettable Netflix movie Underdogs, the live-action/animated mixture masterpiece Space Jam, the list goes on. But now that we are looking at the first and to my knowledge only animated film made by Mr. Reeves, will it be a homerun out of the park? Or will it get three strikes from me? Let's find out.
The Story: I will say that the plot of the movie is very straightforward with its premise. The film tells us the story of a young baseball fan named Yankee Irving going on a mission to retrieve the stolen bat of Babe Ruth himself, vindicate his father when he is blamed and fired for the incident, and give the bat back to Ruth before the 1932 World Series. Along the way, Yankee learns about confidence, determination, and the willingness to fight for what is right. That seems like a very nice way to tell the story, but in execusion wise, well, it, like Screwie, is somewhat of a foul ball. Here's the thing; it seems like your typical and bland follow your dream story mixed with a predictable sports story and all the cliches are in it; the underdog who goes on the adventure, the competitive bad guys who cheat, completely unoriginal comic reliefs, and so much more. If there has to be any saving graces, it would have to be the comedy. It mostly just features witty remarks and slapstick, but it actually can be rather amusing and entertaining to see. But other than that, the story here is just mediocre to say the least and the epic climax in the end only does so much to keep the auiences entertained.
The Animation: If you think the story was foul, well let's see how I can hit the bat on the animation. For starters, the appearence of the characters and the enviorments looks like something out of the Weinstein Company. The company that made this, IDT Entertainment, made other animated films I reviewed like Jonah: A Veggie Tales Movie, Gnomeo and Juliet, and Dante's Inferno, and distributed films like Hair High and Space Chimps; so I can possibly give it a break since this was made back in it's early days. I can't say anything bad about the character animation as it has a down-to-earth feel to it. Same can be said for Screwie and Darla as they roll and hop around like any anthropomorphic object without the need of hands or feet. As for the background animation, admitedly it is kind of generic, but it is great to see how things looked like in 1932, like New York City; Toledo, Ohio; and Chicago. While the animation here can be rather bland and formulaic, it still seems worth to watch to get some charm out of it.
The Characters: I hope I can at least get to second base, not in the adult context mind you, when describing the characters of the movie. Starting things off with Yankee, he's your typical baseball star wannabee who's ultiate mission is to prove his dad's innocence when Darlin' is stolen. As I said before, he seems to be a generic underdog and can get annoying at times whether it be through Jake T. Austin's performance or how Yankee acts in certain situations. However, I will say in execution wise, he seems like the kind of person you would like to be the main protagonist and his adventure puts a lot of character development onto him. You also have the living baseball and bat who are also the comic reliefs, Screwie and Darlin'. The former has a cynical outlook on baseball due to having been a foul-ball in the major leagues and the latter is mostly the pompous prima donna cliche. Although I did say that they are unorginal comic reliefs, I will give the film credit that, like Yankee, they aren't all one dimmensional and the film does gives them both development and help Yankee out durign the mission. There are also the villains of the film; Napoleon Cross, the owner of the Chicago Cubs and Lefty Maginnis, the dirty-playing pitcher for the Cubs. We mostly focus on the latter during the film and he's often the butt-monkey of the film's slapstick and also some gross-out moments that add in the humor, but he's mostly just the villain's comedic assistant through-and- through. As for Cross, I will admit that he is kind of excellent as a villain. Sure he may be a bit generic, but it's through the villain's plan and also Robin Williams' performance that add some charm to him. Also, Williams asked not to be creditted out of respect for Reeves since both of them were college roomies.
As for the other characters like Marti, Yankee's parents, and Babe Ruth himself, they're mostly there to advance the plot or cheer Yankee on. They are nonetheless likeable and have a great amount of scenes. The plot and animation may have gotten some foul balls, but it's safe to say that I knocked the characters out of the park.
Well Mr. Reeves, if your watching this from up above, I hope your taking my review of your movie in. Everyone's Hero isn't what I would call an animated masterpiece with a generic sports-movie plotline, but it makes up for it with decent animation and multi-dimmensional characters. If you're an ultimate baseball fan, than this is one movie you can watch in the spirit of the sport. If you just want to watch something with Robin Williams in it, then it wouldn't hurt to rent it. I can honestly say that I almost struck out while reviewing the movie, but as if I had practiced my baseball prowess, if I ever played the sport that is, I ended up with a satisfying result that now makes me have a new appreciation for this movie.
Story: 6/10
Animation: 6/10
Characters: 8/10
Score: 7/10