Partially directed by the tragic Christopher Reeve, the computer-animated Everyone's Hero was released in 2006 and featured parts voiced by such luminaries as Rob Reiner, William H. Macy, Brian Dennehy, Whoopi Goldberg, Robert Wagner, Joe Torre, Mandy Patinkin, Forrest Whitaker and Reeve's wife, Dana.
While primarily aimed at children, there are enough references in it to keep adult baseball aficionados happy. The story focuses on Yankee, a kid who lives with his parents in a tenement in the Bronx near Yankee Stadium in 1932 (the clever animation replete with the reproduction of old newsreels provides a panorama of the depression era, palatable to a pre-pubescent audience).
After Yankee discovers a talking baseball (Rob Reiner) who eventually becomes his pal, he visits his father who's employed at Yankee Stadium as a maintenance worker. At the behest of the rapacious owner of the Chicago Cubs, a Cub pitcher breaks into the locker room and steals Babe Ruth's (talking) bat Darlin' (Whoopi Goldberg). Yankee witnesses the theft but his father doesn't believe him and back at home sends him to his room. Soon afterward, Yankee's father loses his job as he's held responsible for the theft.
The rest of Everyone's Hero focuses on Yankee's sojourn to Chicago in his attempt to recover the purloined bat and return it to the Babe. Along the way, he meets baseball players from the Negro Leagues who give him a ride to Chicago where the Yankees face the Cubs in the 1932 World Series.
While well-intentioned, the films' scenarists strike more than one wrong note in trying to please both children and adults. The biggest sin is casting the Cubs (represented by their maniacal but goofy owner) as the bad guys and the Yankees as a group of sportsmen who can do no wrong. By taking sides, Chicago's baseball team is unfairly maligned, which sets a bad example for kids, not only because it's untrue but it also promotes an aura of unhealthy competition for kids to emulate.
Another sin involves the introduction of the Negro Leagues into the narrative. On the surface, it appears the films' scenarists should be commended for making the Negro Leagues' players part of the story. Their disgraceful exclusion from the national pastime prior to World War II is a sad chapter in American history that all Americans should study and at the minimum, be made aware of.
Unfortunately the whole idea that Negro League players were excluded from baseball is not made clear in the film and the depiction of the players being "happy-go-lucky" does a disservice to the historical reality. Perhaps it was felt that children would not be able to digest the ugly history but in some way the screenwriters should have found a way to communicate the reality of racial discrimination without offending juvenile sensibilities.
Finally, the narrative takes a turn at the denouement that perhaps only younger children will enjoy but will effectively turn off more sophisticated kids and accompanying adults. I'm referring to the absurd turn of events where Yankee is allowed to bat in a World Series game and hits an "inside-the-park" home run, winning the game for the Yankees. While talking bats and baseballs may be interpreted as a figment of a kid's imagination, no such interpretation can be made on the silly conceit of a boy being allowed to bat in a major league baseball game.
While very young kids might enjoy Everyone's Hero, anyone older should be turned off by the overwhelmingly goofy tenor of the characters' machinations. Mix that in with the rather ugly turn of favoring one team over another and surprisingly you have a children's' film that is pretty much unfit for children.
While primarily aimed at children, there are enough references in it to keep adult baseball aficionados happy. The story focuses on Yankee, a kid who lives with his parents in a tenement in the Bronx near Yankee Stadium in 1932 (the clever animation replete with the reproduction of old newsreels provides a panorama of the depression era, palatable to a pre-pubescent audience).
After Yankee discovers a talking baseball (Rob Reiner) who eventually becomes his pal, he visits his father who's employed at Yankee Stadium as a maintenance worker. At the behest of the rapacious owner of the Chicago Cubs, a Cub pitcher breaks into the locker room and steals Babe Ruth's (talking) bat Darlin' (Whoopi Goldberg). Yankee witnesses the theft but his father doesn't believe him and back at home sends him to his room. Soon afterward, Yankee's father loses his job as he's held responsible for the theft.
The rest of Everyone's Hero focuses on Yankee's sojourn to Chicago in his attempt to recover the purloined bat and return it to the Babe. Along the way, he meets baseball players from the Negro Leagues who give him a ride to Chicago where the Yankees face the Cubs in the 1932 World Series.
While well-intentioned, the films' scenarists strike more than one wrong note in trying to please both children and adults. The biggest sin is casting the Cubs (represented by their maniacal but goofy owner) as the bad guys and the Yankees as a group of sportsmen who can do no wrong. By taking sides, Chicago's baseball team is unfairly maligned, which sets a bad example for kids, not only because it's untrue but it also promotes an aura of unhealthy competition for kids to emulate.
Another sin involves the introduction of the Negro Leagues into the narrative. On the surface, it appears the films' scenarists should be commended for making the Negro Leagues' players part of the story. Their disgraceful exclusion from the national pastime prior to World War II is a sad chapter in American history that all Americans should study and at the minimum, be made aware of.
Unfortunately the whole idea that Negro League players were excluded from baseball is not made clear in the film and the depiction of the players being "happy-go-lucky" does a disservice to the historical reality. Perhaps it was felt that children would not be able to digest the ugly history but in some way the screenwriters should have found a way to communicate the reality of racial discrimination without offending juvenile sensibilities.
Finally, the narrative takes a turn at the denouement that perhaps only younger children will enjoy but will effectively turn off more sophisticated kids and accompanying adults. I'm referring to the absurd turn of events where Yankee is allowed to bat in a World Series game and hits an "inside-the-park" home run, winning the game for the Yankees. While talking bats and baseballs may be interpreted as a figment of a kid's imagination, no such interpretation can be made on the silly conceit of a boy being allowed to bat in a major league baseball game.
While very young kids might enjoy Everyone's Hero, anyone older should be turned off by the overwhelmingly goofy tenor of the characters' machinations. Mix that in with the rather ugly turn of favoring one team over another and surprisingly you have a children's' film that is pretty much unfit for children.