The movie is really well-made productively with a good camera and it's cool to see the NBA cooperated and thus we have actual NBA teams with actual NBA players and with the actual TNT crew. Kevin Durant himself is a very good actor in this, realistically portraying his humble attitude. And that is all the positives I have about this movie.
The biggest problem about this movie is just how clichéd and generic it feels. It feels like a downed version of older and better basketball movies such as Like Mike, The Red Sneakers, Space Jam, Hoosiers, etc. It hits all of the clichés in a typical cheesy kids movie: the underdog main character has a sucky life, something crazy happens that changes his life for the better (in this case the main character Brian gets Kevin Durant's basketball talent and now he plays insanely good basketball), the main character initially basks in all the fame and love he is getting, but then realizes the success is getting to his head and decides to return things back to normal. It even ends with a basketball game in which Brian's team wins on a last-second shot, but this is even worse than other versions because it's even more uninspiring than others. Somehow Brain magically gets the team to play better in the 4th quarter just by telling basic basketball advice to his teammates, and even though Brian sucked all game and should suck without KD's talent, he hits a game-winning shot. Can't get anymore cliché than that.
The characters feel one-dimensional, and the movie doesn't even try to make you sympathize with or root for anyone. You won't feel bad for Brian or KD while he doesn't have his talent once. There's this generic new girl character (Isabel) who is impressed with Brian's basketball skills but then when she realizes his success is getting to his head she claims that basketball is not how she noticed Brian (even though it clearly WAS basketball when Isabel started to be with Brian). The humor mostly relies on these simple and basic jokes instead of something more creative. And while KD has some good acting, I can't quite say the same for the most of the rest of the cast. Brian's actor is no fun, Isabel's just generic, and mostly everyone else is just there to act out some jokes.
Definitely wouldn't recommend, while 8-10 year olds may enjoy this there are still better basketball movies that you would rather see instead.
The biggest problem about this movie is just how clichéd and generic it feels. It feels like a downed version of older and better basketball movies such as Like Mike, The Red Sneakers, Space Jam, Hoosiers, etc. It hits all of the clichés in a typical cheesy kids movie: the underdog main character has a sucky life, something crazy happens that changes his life for the better (in this case the main character Brian gets Kevin Durant's basketball talent and now he plays insanely good basketball), the main character initially basks in all the fame and love he is getting, but then realizes the success is getting to his head and decides to return things back to normal. It even ends with a basketball game in which Brian's team wins on a last-second shot, but this is even worse than other versions because it's even more uninspiring than others. Somehow Brain magically gets the team to play better in the 4th quarter just by telling basic basketball advice to his teammates, and even though Brian sucked all game and should suck without KD's talent, he hits a game-winning shot. Can't get anymore cliché than that.
The characters feel one-dimensional, and the movie doesn't even try to make you sympathize with or root for anyone. You won't feel bad for Brian or KD while he doesn't have his talent once. There's this generic new girl character (Isabel) who is impressed with Brian's basketball skills but then when she realizes his success is getting to his head she claims that basketball is not how she noticed Brian (even though it clearly WAS basketball when Isabel started to be with Brian). The humor mostly relies on these simple and basic jokes instead of something more creative. And while KD has some good acting, I can't quite say the same for the most of the rest of the cast. Brian's actor is no fun, Isabel's just generic, and mostly everyone else is just there to act out some jokes.
Definitely wouldn't recommend, while 8-10 year olds may enjoy this there are still better basketball movies that you would rather see instead.