The Perfect Game is the most touching made for TV movie that I’ve seen in the theaters. Before I get misquoted, The Perfect Game was not made for TV, but it sure did feel like it. The movie isn’t well made at all but by the end of the film, you’ll fall in love with the story and characters that you won’t even care. Based on the true story of the first foreign team to win the Little League World Series of Baseball, The Perfect Game follows the team of young boys from the poor Mexican town of Monterrey to their inevitable perfect game in the United States and history.
The acting and accents are horrendous. The movie plays the awkward game of having the characters speak in English when the characters actually only know how to speak Spanish so when they’re around each other, they speak English but when they interact with Americans, they speak Spanish, Spanglish (the combination of English and Spanish), or just keep speaking English. The way the movie was filmed, you never felt like you were amongst the team, you always felt like you were sitting in the theater watching them. The movie didn’t incite any emotions of tension, anticipation, or any emotion for that matter. When the movie was supposed to climax at pivotal points of games, it was actually anticlimactic with a disappointing score and mundane shots…I’m pretty sure they used a couple scenes twice. “AGAIN!”
The movie touches on a lot of serious issues like racism, rich vs. poor, rough father/son relationships, alcoholism, etc. But this is definitely a kid’s movie and I’ve never seen a movie approach these matters in such a kiddish way. Unlike a Pixar or DreamWorks film, the movie doesn’t try to teach a lesson or highlight a new point of view so don’t expect a life changing a-ha moment; this movie just points at the issue and then runs away. For kids and families, it seems like it opens the door to have a conversation but doesn’t actually go deep into any subject or give its opinion on anything.
For me, the most entertaining parts of the movie came from the comedic relief of one character who knows everything about women and continually helps out his coach when he strikes out with his love interest, Maria. And I think every person gets attached to a certain character or two which helps bring you into the story. I did like how they meshed together some real black and white footage and wish there was more of that. Even though you’re pretty sure what’s going to happen throughout the movie (it is based on a true story), you start cheering and hoping certain outcomes come to be. So even though you may just be sitting in your seat watching another run of the mill, or iron factory, sports movie, you can forget that and relive this amazing true story that still captures your attention today as it did for many back when it originally happened. It’s a good film to take a child of any age especially if they’re into baseball but I would just wait until it comes on DVD or is the Sunday TV Movie…
Oh yeah, and David Koechner is in it for some reason as well many kid actors from shows like Wizards of Waverly Place (Jake T. Austin), Hannah Montana (Moises Arias), The X’s (Jansen Panettiere), and iCarly (Ryan Ochoa). Oh, and Cheech Marin plays a priest.
There are still plenty of advance screenings this week, you can find them here!
Tags: Alfredo Rodriguez, Anthony Quinonez, Carlos Gomez, Carlos Padilla, Cheech Marin, Clifton Collins Jr., David Koechner, Emilie de Ravin, Gabriel Morales, Jake T. Austin, Jansen Panettiere, Mario Quinonez Jr., Moises Arias, Patricia Manterola, Ryan Ochoa, The Perfect Game
Matthew Fong created advancescreenings.com and is the lead contributor. He watches every type of movie and will try almost anything twice. You can follow him on twitter here: @matthewfong
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