This is How Movies Should Be Made

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Ah the old clichéd sports movie, a veritable treasure trove of...clichés. I mean what can I possibly say here that everyone doesn't already know about? It doesn't matter that this is a kids movie, in fact that makes it even worse for the cringeworthy clichés.So the little all American town of Urbania (sounds like a small eastern European country) has a pee-wee football team called the Cowboys. Said team is coached by the local hero Kevin O'Shea (Ed O'Niell). After try outs for the team various useless kids are cut including local girl Becky who is daughter of Kevin's brother Danny (Rick Moranis). Upset by being cut Becky convinces her dad to create another team for all the kids who didn't make the grade for the Cowboys. Unfortunately this goes against the rules of one town, one team which is pointed out with much glee from Kevin. So Danny and his ragtag team of inept kids challenge Kevin and his well oiled machine of kids, to a playoff. Which team will represent the town Valkenvania...Castlevania...Transylvania...Urbania!!Yeah so you should know what to expect here, we've seen this type of thing a million times in various movies for kids. The bumbling cack- handed kids of the Little Giants team are a stereotypical bunch. You've got the fat kid who's funny because he's fat, clearly very unfit and unhealthy...funny huh! The scrawny weedy kid who's half the size of everyone else, wears glasses, has a basin haircut and is a mummy's boy. The token black kid...who also can't catch. The token Asian kid...who's also mega fat and wears glasses. One kid who cries all the time, one kid who gets injured all the time, and of course the one good looking blonde kid who's kinda good. On the other hand the fitter and better trained kids of the Cowboys team are also a stereotypical bunch. Stereotypical in the sense that they all look pretty uniform in appearance from physique to haircuts. One team is an uncouth messy mishmash of nerds; the other a highly organised, well trained team of young jocks. Each teams coach also represents those stereotypes in the sense that Danny (Moranis) is more of a laid back, spectacle wearing academic type who wants the kids to just have fun. Where as Kevin (O'Niell) is more of a no nonsense coach with a slick haircut, fancy sports car and likes (has) to win big. Danny coaches his unruly Giants with creative methods that involve no funds. Kevin has his own assistant, the team have expensive proper kits and equipment, and they use pro training methods within proper facilities. The movie certainly does seem to push the old negative stereotype that anyone who wears spectacles must be some sort of weedy nerd who is more academic than sporty. Vice versa it also pushes the daft stereotype that anyone who is sporty must be large, muscular and have a buzz cut. The thing is the movie never really addresses those stereotypes. I mean yeah sure the Giants win in the end (unsurprising spoiler alert!) and the Cowboys do recognise and applaud their opponents, but the stereotypes are still there, the movie doesn't really attempt to rectify them.Being a sports movie about American (pee-wee) football mixed with elements from 'Home Alone' does offer up some nice ideas, but its still a by the numbers movie really. Lots of silly training montages from both teams, lots of silliness from the kids, heartfelt moments from the adults yadda yadda yadda. There is a painfully slow car chase sequence in the movie which was so obviously staged I dunno why they kept it in. I do like Ed O'Niell but yet again he's basically giving us Al Bundy with his performance, he seems completely unable to break away from that persona. Where as Rick Moranis just does what he's always done really, play a spectacle wearing geek with a heart. As for the kid actors, well they do OK. They all do a good job in playing disgusting or wimpy nerds that's for sure, they all looked their parts.Obviously this movie is the typical underdog tale, unashamedly so, and that's not a bad thing because it is supposed to be for young kids. And while the movie is a feel good flick which kids I'm sure will enjoy, I can't help but feel the overall message is somewhat mixed (if you wear glasses you're a nerd!). Its definitely a well made movie, very colourful, cheerful and chock full of cheekiness, just don't expect anything original. But I think we all know and expect this.7/10

I was a kid when this family sports comedy was released, eight years old to be specific, so it's a film I could have seen as a kid, only I never even heard anything about it back in the 1990's. I never knew it existed until sometime within the past couple years, and even then, I still wouldn't have discovered it if it hadn't been for now retired Rick Moranis playing the starring role here. I certainly wasn't expecting "Little Giants" to be too hilarious or original, judging by what I had learned about it, but since I knew it was more popular than probably a number of other films like this, there was a chance that I could at least find some good moments in it. However, that didn't happen, and the movie turned out to be even weaker than I could have imagined! Danny O'Shea is the younger brother of Kevin O'Shea, and both of them live in Urbania, Ohio. The arrogant older brother is a former Heisman Trophy winner, and currently the coach of the Urbania Cowboys, the town's little league football team. Becky is Danny's daughter, and is the only girl trying out for the team. She is their best player, but during the try-outs, her sexist uncle still rejects her. Obviously not happy about this, she forms a new children's football team with the other rejected Cowboys. This new team is called the Little Giants, and Becky convinces her father to coach them. However, the rule is "one town, one team," so it is decided that the two teams will go head to head in a playoff game, and the winners will be Urbania's little league football team, so Danny gathers more children for his team and begins to prepare his players for the competition. The younger O'Shea has always been living in the shadow of his brother, and this might be his chance to put an end to that, but the Giants' chances of winning the game are threatened by several problems! Needless to say, this movie certainly does have a predictable plot, and one that sure bored me! If anything here grabbed me at all it was very brief. It didn't help that none of the characters really meant anything to me, so I couldn't really root for anybody. Like most other movies I've reviewed recently, this one is also a bad comedy. I wouldn't have been surprised if I had found SOME laughs in the movie, even if they were sporadic, but I didn't even find one! Not only that, the only time I can remember even smiling was during the part where Danny calls the police on Kevin and Butz while they're spying on his team! Whenever any of the kids in the film are supposed to be funny, they always fail, and more notable than the rest in this regard is probably Rudy Zolteck. The gags involving this character's eating habits and his flatulence are always lame, and none of the other kids help, either (it's never fun watching their conflict, which is one of the problems), especially not Jake Berman, with his snot blowing.I watched this movie just days after watching "Ed", another cheesy family sports film, but one which is generally considered to be much worse than this. After watching "Little Giants", I wouldn't say it's quite as bad as the 1996 flop starring Matt LeBlanc, but as much as a lot of people might be disgusted by me saying this, I honestly fail to see how this 1994 little league football movie is THAT much better! Well, regardless of what others may think of these movies, I'd better not watch any more films like this anytime soon, as this has gone far enough! I know there are many films like this out there which I've never seen, but most of them are probably not worth watching. Rick Moranis has often made me laugh, with his "SCTV" appearances and in "The Adventures of Bob & Doug McKenzie: Strange Brew" (featuring two very famous characters from "SCTV" played by Moranis and Dave Thomas respectively), but even he isn't funny in this movie, and it has to be the worst one I've ever seen him in. If you're an adult, then unless you just love these kids' sports flicks, this is not a must-see.

I understand how much competition holds back the development of youths, I'm a teacher. But good intentions do not encourage learning and hope does not create understanding. Participation, motivation and being truthful with children does(and lots and lots of planning). The kids that watch this take the lesson that you can fall behind, not read, not participate and a miracle will happen. You will be able to pull reason, information and remember content from when you were drawing in class, on the day of the test from your heart, your courage and a magic hidden talent you possess deep inside you. What fools all the teachers who stay up until 1am(and up at 5am) planning for cooperative groups that encompasses multiple learning abilities in children to draw their interest in American literature and encourage them to work hard, have fun and be confident young people. You want a good sports movie moms - watch Little Big League, that's cute, and honest about the importance of fundamentals.

This movie is just fun. It has a good message but its well crafted so as not to make it seem preachy as so many children's movies can be. I was 16 when this movie came out and I like it then and I like it now. How can anyone be opposed to a movie where the little guy proves that he can make it against the best. It's the American dream. While I certainly would not nominate this picture for an Oscar it is fun. This nice thing about this movie is that its pretty relevant for kids today so it has kind of a timeless quality to it. If you have kids or you are a big kid (like me) and feel like having a little light film fare, check it out, I think you'll enjoy it.