Little Giants (1994)

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

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

Oh, man - are we done with these kind of stories? I hope so. I am so tired of seeing the ragtag uncoordinated unorganized undersized, blah blah blah kids beat the super- organized, arrogant talented rich kids (or something similar.) This has been done so many times with so many of the same clichés, it make you want to puke.As for the "family" tag, tell me why you always have to have profanity thrown in as if a "G" rating is the worst thing possible? (It isn't. I wonder if Hollywood will ever learn that?)Rejects beating the established stars. That's what you have here....again. It's like a bunch of players who were cut from the NFL suddenly getting together and beating the New England Patriots! Come on!Oh, yes, the coach is always led by a nerdy guy, too. At least it was good casting. Who better for nerd looks than Rick Moranis and who better for the obnoxious bad-guy coach than Ed O'Neil? Since movie-makers are always PC, they have to throw in a girl, too, who "kicks butt." Did I forget the fat kid who always farts, the smart kids who carry around computers, look geeky and have their noses running all the time, kids who always get hit in the groin, etc. etc. Enough, already! It's the same baloney, over and over, every movie!It's movies like this that give "kids' sports movies" a bad name.

First off, let me make one thing perfectly straight: the one reason I saw this movie was to experience the rarity of Ed O'Neill in a leading role. I've watched Married With Children every chance I got the last 3-4 years, and ever since the first episode I saw, I wanted to see O'Neill in other roles, preferably in films. That's why I saw The Bone Collector, it's why I saw K9 and it's why I, against better judgment, saw this movie. OK, now that I've got that out of the way, let me make a point out of the fact that I really, really don't care for children's films. Yes, yes, I know, this is a "family film"... but that's really semantics, now isn't it? The reason the movie was made so kiddie-like wasn't to make it possible to show it to 'families', it was to make it acceptable viewing material for children. Face it, this is the kind of film that the parents rent for the kids if they want to have a night out or they just want to make absolutely sure that they won't be bothered by them for the next two hours or so. This really isn't that attractive a film choice for anyone over the age of 10. Apart from that, honestly, it's not all bad. Sure, it's a typical, predictable underdog tale glorifying one of the worlds most violent, ridiculous sports, but it's not entirely bad, and at least it's not another dreaded "kids taking care of the adults' problems" children's film. The plot is not the least bit original, but it's not bad. There seemed to be too many undeveloped subplots, though. The pacing is pretty good, despite my inherent hatred of kiddie flicks, I was rarely bored. The acting is mostly bad, but that's probably because it's a minor kids flick where most of the characters are children. O'Neill and Moranis are good, as are most of the other adults in the film. The humor is mostly juvenile and childish, but this is a children's film, so it's not like that's a big surprise. And at least not all of it is bad. Something I was surprised at was how credible and non-clichéd the characters were, despite many of them being stereotypical and more than half of them not even being properly fleshed out. I didn't hate O'Neill's character, even though he was Moranis's nemesis. Really, the film was far less mean-spirited than the usual children's film. It didn't rely too much on gross-out comedy, either. Honestly, for what type of film this is, you could do much worse. I don't know... if you need a children's film, keep this one in mind as a possibility. I recommend this mainly to kids and parents of sports fanatics. Fans of Ed O'Neill and/or Rick Moranis might want to check it out as well. 5/10

I still have yet to se a good family film about sports. It's always the same: bad team, gets good player, practices, and narrowly wins in the last three seconds of the game. How predictable can you get, Hollywood? I'm getting tired of this trash. Oh, and let's not forget the one or two mandatory swear words they always throw in to ensure PG and not G. However, Rick Moranis' "nerd" talent was good in this film, and kids might get a kick out of it. I wouldn't get mad if this film was labeled "kids", but it's not. It's labeled "Family", so make it family, writers! John