User reviews

EH was a simple, emotional, sports, fantasy movie about a child in the 1930's and his hookey pookey baseball and Babe Ruth.

If you like baseball and literally and thought Babe Ruth was a god then you might like this movie. I liked it, but it wasn't the best of movies. The movie lacked a better mission to care about. I just don't care about these hookey pookey baseball games. This child risked his life for a damn game. Movies like these can really be toxic to young viewers.

This was an ok movie. Children may last a good 45 minutes watching it before they realize the main purpose of the movie is dull.

Cute, fast-moving kiddie cartoon, loosely based on a true story, about a kid who comes into possession of Babe Ruth's missing bat and treks from New York to Chicago to return it to him -- right in the middle of the World Series. Since this is a cartoon, the bat and the kid's baseball both have faces and talk. Whoopi Goldberg is perfect as the the old bat (heh heh). The animation is simple and the action never flags. The finale is a real crowd pleaser. And this review comes from someone who gave up watching cartoons a long time ago, especially CGI cartoons. Maybe it was the baseball angle that kept me watching this one. I am a lifelong Yankees fan, after all.

Everyone's Hero is charming kiddie fare. I didn't hate it but the story sorta screamed straight to video. However, for a film about a talking bat and baseball, I think I was a little more entertained then I expected to be.I like others thought the premise was a little ridiculous, but it gives the feeling of a Saturday morning cartoon where inanimate objects talk for no reason. Fair enough. The premise was still box office poison. Still, the film has some characters that aren't gratingly annoying, and of course the exaggerated one dimensional villains that you would expect. Aside from the lukewarm story, I was a little disturbed by some of the sequences involving young yankee irving in situations that are quite dangerous, aside from the realistic overall film. There is a looney tunes-esquire train segment where characters are jumping from train to train at full speed, and the end where yankee seems to acquire superpowers. Also, the very idea that he travels across half the country and it's kind of downplayed, it just doesn't mix well with the "you can do anything" theme of the film. It suggests to young children that they can literally do anything. It just doesn't seem like the best message to convey. Other than that, it's cute and not terribly original. The animation reveals obviously that this film wasn't done on an 100 million dollar budget, I think what they came out with matches the tone of the film. I'd recommend it to anyone with young children who enjoy baseball or for anyone who needs just a fun little film to pop in the DVD player to distract the kids for a little while.

I had to wait for someone in the mall, and since it was "cheap day" at the cinema, I bought some popcorn and sat in on this film. I knew absolutely nothing about it except that it was a clean film, about baseball. I flinched when I saw it was animated, but soon began to enjoy it. I'm a daycare worker, and thought that the boy's movements and speech were VERY realistic for that age. (So help me, I was sure I knew the boy upon whom the character must be based!) I thought the plot was enjoyable, simple enough for even smallest children to grasp, with plenty of nostalgia thrown in for adults (eg. ancient train station way out in the boondocks in the middle of the night). I did NOT care much for the talking baseball's script -- a cliché here and there is expected, but we ALWAYS knew what was going to come out of the baseball's mouth. The talking bat was cute. The ending was satisfying. Plenty of violence in this film, but it's a good kind: the bad guy keeps trying to be mean, so things "happen" to him.

The bonus in this film was seeing how a boy supports his parents in a moment of crisis, instead of badmouthing them and disobeying them. Oh, yes, almost forgot -- loved the depiction of the mother -- she looked so... real for that time. Great film overall.

Art is often aimed at a "target audience", as we all know. The biggest surprise about this film is the negativity in some of these reviews, as if an animated film has to contain veiled references to adult themes to be relevant or valuable. I assert the contrary. This film is clearly aimed at small children, not their parents, and contains nothing objectionable or controversial. The pacing and the moral are both rooted in the history of classic American films. If the goal is to provide 90 minutes of harmless diversion without offending anyone and teaching kids a little bit about baseball, America, and the values of honesty and perseverance, then this film managed at least a three-bagger. Let the kids have this one, you won't regret it.

Usually, i am pretty forgiving when it comes to rating movies, but this movie deserves no forgiveness. This movie is utter nonsense. Like most other baseball movies, it does cover the idea of never giving up no matter how bleak the odds look, but unlike other baseball movies, the message just does not ring true. The message about not giving up is not a constant during the movie, and is instead replaced with slapstick comedy, and booger and fart jokes. This movie could have been very funny, but instead, fails at delivering time and again. The animation is fairly decent, and it is a clever idea for a story, but in the end, every part of this movie falls thru. All in all, not even a good movie for "just the kids". Oh, and if you are a Chicago Cubs fan (which I am, seeing as that I am from the windy city) there is a TON of slandering in this movie, making the Cubs out to be cheaters, thieves, and idiots. If you are a Cubs fan, STAY AWAY AT ALL COSTS. This movie will just make you mad.

It's strange how people are reacting to this movie. I'm not sure what they're expecting. This is simply a fine, fun movie for the 4 to 10 year old set. I brought a group of kids with me that were in that age group and they all loved it. They were cheering at the end. As a parent I also found it quite enjoyable. It's no "Shrek" I suppose, but few movies are. This is just a fine animated film with a good plot, a good moral, and no bad language. Some reviewers are upset because some things don't make sense - like whether there could be lights on Wrigley field, or whether "Seabiscut" was around at the time this movie was supposed to take place? Please. Who cares? Certainly the kids don't. What more could you want in a fun animated flick for children? Take your kids to see it and enjoy.

Oh, yes, EH's language is safe for kids. No f-, d-, b-, s-words at all. General ideas of taking care about parents, and believing in yourself are OK. Yes, Finding Nemo or Bug's life were about the same points, but that's the only thing, which they have in common.

Animation is visually plain and poor in design, nothing to compare with Pixar's production. The most disappointing thing about EH was animation of stunts. When animators didn't have a clue how to solve a stunt they just added supernatural abilities to realistic heroes. Stretching limbs, twisting spine, etc. Dialogs and lines were at level of that garbage animation on Nickelodeon, times inferior to Pixar's scripts.

There is one thing I found weird about the Hero as a parent. 7 year old 3D-boy easily jumps between moving trains, dangles at 20-meter height, runs from home, talks to homeless people, and this is served as right things to do, no doubts or warnings. As my 6 y.o. son likes to repeat after heroes I'm not sure it's perfectly safe to show him this flick. No, I'm not a cuckoo parent obsessed with safety. While watching Incredibles or Harry Potter he knew that they were supernatural, so he didn't want to repeat after them. But together with EH's finale message of "despite of you're small, you can do everything" I'm not that sure.

And the last point - it's absolutely not enjoyable for adults, so calling it a family movie is a big exaggeration.

If I had paid, I would have asked for my money back. I am living in on a Navy base in Japan and we don't always get the newest releases. So when I found out that this movie was going to be played for free at the theater, I figured "Hey, Christopher Reeve was involved, I'll give it a shot" But I soon regretted that choice.

This movie lost me within the first 10 minutes as soon as I saw the baseball speak and it just got worse from there. Nevermind that the story is meant to prove that no matter how big or small you are that you can make a difference if you just keep trying, because there is way to much going on that it distracts you from that point.

I'll say that the kids in the theater seemed to like it and that's great, but even they were getting antsy after the first half hour. I would suggest waiting till this hits DVD. There are some amazing actors in the movie and it's saddening that they chose this particular flop to try and showcase their talents.

With a co-directing credit for Christopher Reeve (yes that Christopher Reeve), a great subject matter (not the biggest baseball fan but it's fun to see film and television revolving around it every now and again and a voice cast that includes Whoopi Goldberg, William H. Macy, Mandy Patinkin and Forrest Whittaker, 'Everyone's Hero' promised a lot.

Unfortunately, this promise is not fully lived up. 'Everyone's Hero' is not awful, it is a little bit better than has been said but the criticisms against it are to me not hard to agree with, and has elements that make it worth a one-time watch, but not enough to be worth fully getting on base for. It could have been much better, the cast deserved better and while there are things that Reeve has done that were worthy of him and worth remembering him for (like his iconic portrayal of Superman) his posthumous co-directing credit for 'Everyone's Hero' is not one of them sadly.

'Everyone's Hero' is watchable, despite major short-comings. It is a very well intentioned film, not giving up in the face of adversity (an everyday struggle to overcome) is not a new idea but is a very easy to relate with one for particularly anybody who has been there like me. The positive messaging is not always subtle to put it lightly, but they were very much appreciated and are important values for anybody regardless of gender and age and regardless of how many times they have been dealt with in media.

Some of 'Everyone's Hero' is funny and touching in equal measure, the baseball setting is beautifully realised and fun to watch. There are some interesting ideas and some colourfully portrayed characters, especially the relatable lead characters and a truly enjoyably vile villain. The animation is bright and colourful with some nice attention to detail, the soundtrack is dynamic and uplifting and the voice acting is enthusiastic and fitting, especially the barn-storming turn of Macy who truly relishes the film's juiciest character. The target audience is clear and the film does its best to attract a wider audience, including those not big on animation but are die-hard fans of baseball.

For all its good things and good intentions, 'Everyone's Hero' to me was heavily flawed. The story does tend too often to be too formulaic and lacking in spark to stop blandness from creeping in, it too is rather too pat and nice for any conflict to be convincing and there are elements that are under-explored or not made clear enough, coming over as strange instead. The twist agreed is too ridiculous to be taken seriously, one of the most unbelievable twists personally seen in a film seen recently.

Despite some moments, there are too many cheap and predictable gags that one can see coming from miles away. Complete with references that really don't hold up well, and would go over the heads of even much older audiences who lived during the period the film is set or close to it. Even they are likely to be unfamiliar with who and what some of the jokes are referencing or find them too mean-spirited to be clever and funny (that Eleanor Roosevelt joke was a good example).

Although the clear target audience and attempts at wide audience appeal are to be applauded, it's almost as if the film tried too hard to cater to fans of old-time baseball that are the most likely to completely get the portrayal of the sport at that time and some of the jokes and even they may question the strange choices the film makes and the lack of accuracy. While most of the animation is good, some of the character designs are crude, stiff and lack focus and generally it's all very striking and competent but not always imaginative.

On the whole, watchable and laudable for its good intentions but uneven lacklustre. 5/10 Bethany Cox

My wife and I took our 3-year-old to see it and all three of us enjoyed it very much. The animation was incredible...the story was very great and the awesome message that the movie gives is applicable in not only children's lives but it's something that we (adults) could adopt as our own "motto." I had no idea that Chris Reeve directed this movie until the end credits. I see now that he died while working on it. His wife and son did voices in it too. It certainly was refreshing to see a story like this after being bombarded by all these animated animal movies that seem to be a dime-a-dozen lately. I think we need more family shows of this caliber. I can't wait to see it again.

On the basis of most animated movies with a heart warming cast and story that is just so great you can take everyone, regrettably this is not that movie. Although I am a fan of baseball and the actors this movie is too shallow to enjoy for my taste. It has a lame story of a young kid who travels many miles to help out Yankee ball player Babe Routh. And I doubt some little five year old has the capacity to take in all the knowledge of who Babe is along with the Yankee history. This film was soggy and disappointing I was not impressed at all. And even the animation wasn't done well enough to make it nice to look at. I honestly fell asleep, I am sorry Mr. Reeve, you are still one of my favorite celebrities - *1/2

OK, I know it was a kid's movie, but couldn't they have picked another team to be the villains of the movie? LOL, OK, but other than that I watched Everyone's Hero last night, wasn't too sure what it was about before I watched it, and I checked out the rating on IMDb, 5.4 isn't that good for an animated film that usually gets 6.0 or above. But I can understand why, Everyone's Hero didn't really blow me away or got me excited. I'm not basing this on the fact that I'm a Cubs fan, just the story was alright, it's perfect for a kid's movie, it's just a good clean cut story, but for adults, it doesn't really give anything for them to enjoy it with their kids. But while this movie was probably aimed for the kids, it seemed like the writer was maybe expecting like another Shrek or The Incredables, where the whole family could enjoy it, but it ended up being just a kid's flick.

Yankee Irving is a young boy who isn't that good at baseball, but he has big dreams to play as a New York Yankee. It's 1932, his hero is Babe Ruth, and Babe Ruth has a lucky bat, Darlin', but Darlin' is taken by the Cub's pitcher, Lefty, to win the World Series. Yankee's dad is fired from Yankee Stadium, he's the janitor, so it was his job to make sure that everything was secure. Yankee finds a ball that can talk to only him; together they go to look for the bat, they find it, but want to take it to Chicago to give it to Babe Ruth himself. But Yankee has to make sure to keep it away from Lefty and the Cubs manager.

Everyone's Hero isn't a bad movie by any means, it's just a kid's movie, I guess I was expecting more. Not to mention the Cubs bashing was hurtful, sorry, I'm from Chicago, if you're a Cubs fan, you can definitely relate on this subject, you must be faithful to them, LOL. OK, back to the movie, the movie is cute and has a charming story, but it wasn't anything that stood out for me. I could understand the 5.4 rating, I'm sorry to the writers and cast, but Everyone's Hero is just a kid's movie, nothing more.

5/10

I say this with all due respect to the memory of both Christopher and Dana Reeve,as this was obviously a project that they both believed in,but this movie is profoundly dull.So dull in fact,that I had actually forgotten that I had seen it,until coming across one of the ticket stubs as I was cleaning our bedroom.No movie in recent memory has done that to me,and I have seen my share of snoozers.The animation is terrible,an the story is just not interesting whatsoever.Even my kids had trouble staying interested,and they are very easily entertained.I give it credit for being well intentioned,but in my opinion,I doubt this is something Christopher Reeve would want to be remembered for.

while i don't think this was a horrible movie,i did find it disappointing.just thought the message(persevere no matter what life throws at you)was too heavy handed.it is a good message,but i thought it could have been more subtle.there are some good things about the movie.one is the physical comedy,which van be quite funny at times.the other is the exciting action sequences.but most of the movie just seemed a bit hollow for me.the story just seems lacking.the message just becomes overbearing,and ends up dragging the rest of the movie down.it feels more like sermon on life,than an entertaining animated feature.anyway,for me,Everyone's hero is a 5/10

Great story. Makes you laugh often and makes you cry sometimes (well, maybe the most sentimental of us). Brings the warm feeling of old-days-baseball. I am not big fan of the game but still loved the mood of the picture. Nicely drawn characters. Was pleasantly surprised to see good computer-animation that is actually Not coming from Pixar. You recognize the actual actors behind the characters not only by voice but their look as well, which is always fun. Richard Kind is carbon copy of himself. I would change the title as it doesn't reflect main idea of the animation, but other than that excellent movie all around. Both of my children (5 and 8 years old), my wife and me loved it.

I have seen this movie more times than i would like. In school from 4-5th grade, whenever we had a substitute or a "day off" our teacher would play us this movie and this movie only. We would have parties on some fridays and we would have snacks and watch a movie. It was always this movie. The movie isn't funny. And from a 10 year old's perspective, this movie is garbage. I don't like baseball and i never want to learn because of this horrible movie. I have seen this movie maybe 20 times when i was younger and i never want to watch it ever again. If i was held at gunpoint and i had the option to get killed or to watch this movie, i would not be writing this review. The entire plot of the movie is stupid. It's a movie about a talking baseball. That's as exciting as it gets. The plot, Boring. The animation, mediocre. The execution, bland. This movie is an all around dumpster fire.

I don't like critics who take "kids' movies" so seriously. And while, "fine," Everyone's Hero could have been more "crisply" delivered.

A stickler for detail (kids' movies or not), I was sad to see a couple of easily avoided factual errors.

1. The ball says something to the effect of: "I wish I was made of the hide of Seabiscuit..." This is the 1932 World Series. Seabiscuit was born the following spring. Wikipedia: Seabiscuit (May 23, 1933—May 17, 1947) was a champion thoroughbred race horse...

2. Upon arrival in Chicago, we see Wrigley Field... and light stands on its roof! 56 years TOO SOON!

The film wishes to give a social message but as it goes on and on becomes boring.Some good voice actors doesn't save the movie.

For those adults who enjoy animated films (I still think Bugs Bunny is the best cartoon ever made) this one is a bit slow and ordinary. It lacks excitement and originality from the start. It's almost as if the story was popped out of a can and put in front of a camera. Toward the end it does take off in the last 10 minutes or so but that's it. The rest of it is predictable and mundane. 5/10.

However, for the 3 to 10 year old out there this is an excellent animated feature. 10/10.

-LD

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my faith: http://www.angelfire.com/ny5/jbc33/