The Sandlot (1993)

Little boys, baseball, and a great big dog.  This is the movie that gets all three very right.

Now, there are lots of movies about baseball.  And lots of movies about growing up, and even a few about dogs.  But this is the one where all three come together in a parfait of perfection.  You see, Smalls is a kid out of his element.  He's just moved to a new town and has a new step dad.  He has no friends and no interests outside of his engineering tinker toys.

But then he's noticed by Benny, the leader of the gang of kids that play ball down at the sandlot.  We all need a friend like Benny, someone who will help us, teach us new things, stick up for us, and genuinely take an interest in us.  And Smalls simply flourishes because of Benny's friendship, and all the other friends he makes because of him.

And then Smalls does something monumentally stupid, and the gang spends the rest of the film trying to get a baseball back from the Beast, the neighborhood "gorilla-dog-thing" that is the stuff of legend.

Oh, this is a gem of a film.  Granted, the acting at times is stilted.  Sure, not every line is fantastic -some are straight out corny.  But this is a movie that understands how a little boy thinks.  It understands a little boy's first crush (Wendy Peffercorn!) and how a boy can become obsessed over a game or a project (like a baseball recovery).  It understands how boys can do stupid things like think chewing tobacco makes them macho, then go on fast rides (Tequila!).  It understands how boys have an imagination to make a big dog into a Beast, how they wonder at fireworks, how they boast and brag and exagerate, and how they simply desire with a deep earnest longing to be accepted.

The interactions of the boys themselves are what really lifts this movie.  Never again will you have a Smore without thinking of The Sandlot.  Never again will you be able to go to a public pool without thinking of the line "I have swum here every summer of my adult life!"  Because of The Sandlot you will know what an "L7 Weenie" is, you will know that PF Flyers are the only shoe guaranteed to make a boy run faster and jump higher, and you will know that there is no greater insult than "you play ball like a GIRL!"

It's a sweet movie.  It's funny.  It won't win awards, but it will win your heart.

Entertainment: 7/10
Artistic Value: 5/10
Technical Merit: 5/10

Overall: 7/10