The Sandlot

There are movies out there that are just the culmination of your entire childhood. Its the movie you watched over and over again and years later when you're watching it, you realize you can still quote every single line from the movie its that memorable.

I feel like I've said this for a movie before but I can't remember which one it was, maybe The Kid? But the way I see it, The Sandlot is one of the most influential and quintessential childhood movies.

The Sandlot is a coming of age tale about a 5th grader named Scott Smalls (played by Tom Guiry). Scotty has just moved to the neighborhood and he doesn't have any friends. He has absolutely no knowledge of the game of baseball, and he can barely throw or even catch a ball.

But he is soon befriended by a local kid by the name of Benny Rodriguez (played by Mike Vitar) and he joins a team of local misfits to play baseball in a run down field called, The Sandlot.

At first Scotty is ridiculed by his new found friends, but he soon learns how to play baseball and gains the friendship of the other 8 players. All the while a local legendary monster inhabits the other side of the fence from the Sandlot, creating a pickle of wacky hijinks for the team.

Right off the bat, the first thing to be said about The Sandlot is that its just a lot of fun. You might watch it when you're older and think that they're taking the situations they run across all together too seriously, but the truth is, it gives a great representation of what its like to be a kid.

This is supplemented by the fact that the kids playing on the Sandlot are some of the best child actors I think you'll ever see. That's not really to say that they are Oscar Winning actors and there's no awkward reading. Hell the majority of these kids ended up getting out of acting and do their own thing. But even when you see them acting over the top and perhaps in a way a kid might not act, they are one hundred percent invested in this film. While you may watch and think that their life isn't going to be over when certain things happen, you feel for these kids and you get the weight of the event from their perspective.

On top of that, you grow to love every single one of these kids because this is the childhood I think a lot of kids would want. They're not going on any adventure that a regular kid couldn't have, they're not digging for treasure, they're not going up against aliens or any outrageous bad guy, they're just having fun being kids in the summer.

The biggest problem I think people could find with this film is that it is a pretty cheesy film. I've already talked about the hokey acting of the kids, but the script is pretty hokey, and the entire set up is just ridiculous.

I mean Benny is visited by the ghost of Babe Ruth... As awesome as it is when you're watching the film, overall its pretty damn hokey and ridiculous taken out of context.

This is going to be a pretty short review due to the fact that this is just a simple movie and its really hard, for me, to be objective and not really say anything bad about this film. I'm not saying its a perfect movie, but it is close to a perfect kids movie.

I think if you haven't seen this movie, its one that you definitely need to check out, regardless of age. If you have kids, show your kids this movie. It is the essence of pure unadulterated fun. Sure there's some "bad language" in the film, but it just adds to the entirety of this being one of the best representations of kids just having fun I've seen in a film.

I don't say this that often, but The Sandlot goes down, for me, as one of my favorite films of all time.

But what do you think? Did you grow up with The Sandlot? Did it resonate with you the same amount it resonated with me? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @cmhaugen24 as well as send me your requests for movies I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter you can also get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

I'll leave you with this. This is quite possibly one of the best scenes of the movie and I guess I never realized how short this scene actually is when I was younger. Enjoy!