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Film review

Home run or not, 'Hero' will win fans

A deeper relevance: Everyone's Hero falls short of excellence, but the influence of late actor-director Christopher Reeve adds poignancy.

By STEVE PERSALL
Published September 14, 2006

Everyone's Hero is corny, technically deficient and glorifies the New York Yankees, which is enough to make it unappealing to a lot of viewers. It also carries the inspirational imprint of the late Christopher Reeve, who helped create the animated adventure until his 2004 death.

The connection to Reeve is almost enough to give the movie a sentimental pass on its faults because of the effect he made with his courageous struggle to live and make living better for other paralysis victims. When things get too sentimental in Everyone's Hero, we don't wince because Reeve probably wanted it that way. When things go right, we assume the same.

Everyone's Hero tells the story of Yankee Irving voice of Jake T. Austin, a 10-year-old boy living in 1932 Brooklyn who idolizes the Yankees, especially legendary slugger Babe Ruth. Yankee is the kid who doesn't get picked for sandlot baseball games and fails miserably when he is. His father (Mandy Patinkin) is a Yankee Stadium custodian who takes his son inside the team's locker room after hours, just before the Babe's favorite bat is stolen in the midst of the World Series.

Yankee's father gets fired for the security lapse, and Yankee is blamed. But the boy deduces who stole the bat, a Chicago Cubs pitcher (William H. Macy) trying to fix the Series. Accompanied by his kvetching baseball (Rob Reiner), Yankee hops a train in pursuit of the thief, hoping to save his dad's job and restore the Babe's power stroke before the Cubs pull an upset.

It is easy to see why this material appealed to Reeve. This is a tale of perseverance, bravery and family values that doesn't mimic his saintly image but echoes its qualities. The moral of the story - just keep swinging - applies to Yankee's perpetual batting slump and Reeve's refusal to quit. Only a Grinch wouldn't buy into the sentimentality, and likely wouldn't admit it.

On an artistic level, Everyone's Hero isn't as easy to like. The animation is clunky, at times sinking to the depths of The Backyardigans or some other Saturday morning time-waster. The movie also gets sloppy with its period detail, using contemporary pop tunes to underscore events occurring 74 years ago and making jokes about sports merchandising that didn't exist; Babe Ruth never had a bobblehead doll or XXL underwear made in his image. Tiny flaws are everywhere, including a newspaper dated in March while the World Series is the October classic.

Yet bringing up those glitches, or complaining about Reiner's grating line deliveries, seems petty compared with the intentions of Everyone's Hero. That wouldn't be possible if Reeve hadn't convinced us time and again of his sincere belief in the kind of goodness the movie portrays. He was everyone's hero, even if this won't be everyone's movie.

Steve Persall can be reached at (727) 893-8365 or persall@sptimes.com

Everyone's Hero

Steve Persall's Grade: B-

Brett Phillips' grade: A-

Directors: Colin Brady, Christopher Reeve, Dan St. Pierre

Cast: Voices of Jake T. Austin, Whoopi Goldberg, Rob Reiner, Brian Dennehy, William H. Macy, Forest Whitaker, Mandy Patinkin

Screenplay: Robert Kurtz, Jeff Hand

Rating: G

Running time: 90 min.

[Last modified September 13, 2006, 13:01:46]