Michael's Movie Grade: B
A good hearted and truly feel good underdog story.
We have all seen many sports underdog stories in movies and truth be told this one adds nothing we haven't seen before. However it tells its story in such a sincere and heartfelt way that I couldn't help but be overcome by its charms. Much of this is due to our main character (Luke Wilson) a football coach who like the boys on his team grew up an orphan and have been hurt by the harshness of life (in his case the horrors of WW1). This is a man who has life knock him down and the past often comes back to haunt him, but who still fights to be optimistic and believe that with hard work and dedication he can accomplish anything. In this extremely pessimistic age, this is kind of unabashed optimism is just what we need. 12 Mighty Orphans is optimistic in all the right ways and this main point of the story comes across incredible well. We get the feeling that the filmmakers truly believe in what they are saying with this film and this sincerity makes us leave the theater feeling the same optimism that our main character feels. One of the most heartfelt scenes involves the coach talking to his star player (Jake Austin Walker) about the pain he still feels. This scene is surprisingly emotionally effective and very well written. It perfectly conveys the message of this film without sugarcoating or talking down to its audience. The movie also benefits from a very authentic feeling 1930's setting and a fantastic cast all around. Martian Sheen in particular often steals the show.
Unfortunately this movie's two main antagonists (Wayne Knight, Lane Garrison) are bland, uninteresting and incredibly over the top. In fact they are so over the top that they feel like they came out of a parody rather than a legitimate sports movie. This puts them at odds with the sincere and down to earth feeling of the rest of the film. The use of a narrator proves pointless as he just describes what we have already seen and can infer for ourselves.
All and all, if you like feel good underdog movies, you should really enjoy this.
Michael J. Ruhland
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