Everyone's Hero

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Everyone's Hero

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Christopher Reeve
Daniel St. Pierre
Colin Brady
Produced by Ron Tippe
Igor Khait
Screenplay by Robert Kurtz
Jeff Hand
Story by Howard Jonas
Starring Jake T. Austin
William H. Macy
Rob Reiner
Brian Dennehy
Raven-Symoné
Robert Wagner
Richard Kind
Dana Reeve
Joe Torre
Mandy Patinkin
Forest Whitaker
Whoopi Goldberg
Music by John Debney
Cinematography Jan Carlee
Andy Wang
Editing by John Bryant
Studio IDT Entertainment
Arc Productions
Dan Krech Productions
Blue Sky Studios
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release dates
  • September 15, 2006 (2006-09-15)
Running time 88 minutes
Country Canada
United States
Language English
Box office $16,627,188 (Worldwide)[1]

Everyone's Hero is a 2006 computer animated sports comedy-drama family film, directed by Colin Brady, Christopher Reeve (who was working on this film at the time of his death[2]), and Daniel St. Pierre, with music by John Debney. The majority of this film was produced by IDT Entertainment in Toronto with portions outsourced to Reel FX Creative Studios and Blue Sky Studios. It was distributed by 20th Century Fox, and released theatrically on September 15, 2006. Everyone's Hero had a moderate performance at the box office, earning only $16 million worldwide during its theatrical run, but the film was not released in several major countries. The film is also dedicated to the memory of director Christopher Reeve and his wife, Dana Morosini.

Plot

In 1932, the dawn of the Great Depression, and young baseball fan Yankee Irving (Jake T. Austin), whose father Stanley (Mandy Patinkin) works as a janitor for New York City's Yankee Stadium, dreams of playing for the Yankees but can't even play sandlot baseball well enough to avoid being picked last. One day beside the sandlot, he finds a talking baseball he names Screwie (Rob Reiner).

While father and son are in the stadium, a thief steals Babe Ruth's famous bat Darlin' (Whoopi Goldberg), with the result that Yankee's father is blamed and fired. The true thief is Lefty Maginnis (William H. Macy), a pitcher for the Chicago Cubs. Lefty works for Cubs owner Napoleon Cross (Robin Williams), who desires to see the Cubs defeat the Yankees during the 1932 World Series.

Stealing the bat back, Yankee decides to return it to Ruth—and thereby exonerate his father—by journeying across the country to Chicago, where the next World Series' games will be played. Darlin' is able to speak, as does her counterpart Screwie, who she constantly argues and bickers with (though near the end, they finally become friends). Much of the plot is driven by Lefty's comic attempts to retrieve the bat from Yankee, with slapstick results. Other scenes involve Yankee meeting others who will help him in his quest: several hobos (Ed Helms); Marti (Raven-Symoné), an African American girl; her baseball player father Lonnie Brewster (Forest Whitaker); and in Chicago, Babe Ruth himself (Brian Dennehy).

A series of improbable coincidences allows Yankee himself to bat for the Yankees, resulting in the archetypal home run (technically, a series of errors after an infield pop-up that allow him to round the bases). This restores the morale of the Yankees, who score 7 more runs to take the lead and win the World Series. Cross tries to talk Babe Ruth out of accepting the victory, saying that Yankee is too young to be a counting player. This leads to the arrest of Cross, and also Lefty. Yankee also successfully exonerates his father. Yankee returns home, now knowing what is truly important in baseball.

Cast

Production

With the exception of Ruth, none of the film's characters are based on real people. However, there is a scene near the end where Ruth is at dinner, and talks to a man named Lou, probably a representation of Lou Gehrig.

The film takes a largely nostalgic tone in its presentation of 1930s American life, though the Great Depression is alluded to, as is the existence of separate Negro Leagues. (Marti's father is a member of the Cincinnati Tigers, though the team was actually founded two years later, in 1934.) The announced morals of the movie are to "keep swinging" (that is, never give up), and the importance of family.

The actual events of the 1932 series, though dramatic, were not followed in the film (perhaps because of rights issues over depictions of the game). For example, the Yankees swept the Cubs in the series, but in the film, they lost three games to set up the classic game 7 scenario.

In one point of the film, Screwie refers to Superman, which is anachronistic due to the fact that Superman did not appear until 1938, and the film is set in 1932, though the reference is clearly intended as a nod to late co-director Reeve, who played Superman in several films.

Reception

Box office

In its opening weekend, the film grossed $6,061,762 million in 2,896 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking #3 at the box office, behind Gridiron Gang and The Black Dahlia. By the end of its run, Everyone's Hero grossed $14,522,427 domestically and $2,104,087 internationally, totaling $16,627,188 worldwide.[3]

Critical reception

At Metacritic,[4] which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 51%, based on 20 reviews, which indicates "mixed" reviews. There were two negative reviews, twelve mixed and six positive.[5]

New York Daily News, positive review, "Whoever wanders into the theater should leave a winner".

L.A. Weekly, positive review, "The movie's antique Rockwellian look is its greatest pleasure".

Entertainment Weekly, positive review, "Everyone's Hero re-creates Depression-era America with surprisingly agreeable anachronistic panache, but a sassy ball and bat don't cut it as compelling cartoon characters, and the not-so-human humans never quite do either (Babe Ruth looks like Shrek)".

New York Post, mixed review, "Everyone's Hero, a tame CGI cartoon for the simple-minded: the very young, the very old and Yankee fans".

TV Guide, negative review, "An anemic adventure that epitomizes generic feature animation".

Syndication

In the United States, Cartoon Network aired Everyone's Hero on April 12, 2008. In Latin America, Cartoon Network Latino aired the film on November 23, 2011. In Asia, Disney Channel premiered May 29, 2012. It also aired on Disney XD in the United States on April 8, 2013.

Soundtrack

Everyone's Hero : Music From The Motion Picture
Soundtrack album by Various Artists
Released 2006[6]
Genre Film soundtrack
Label Columbia Records/Sony Music Soundtrax

The soundtrack, released on the Columbia Records/Sony Music Soundtrax labels, features tracks by the star of the film Raven-Symoné, Grammy-winners Wyclef Jean, Brooks & Dunn, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and various other artists.

  1. The Best – John Ondrasik – 3:49
  2. Keep On Swinging – Brooks & Dunn – 4:12
  3. Dream Like New York – Tyrone Wells – 3:44
  4. Chicago (That Toddling Town) – Chris Botti featuring Lyle Lovett – 2:16
  5. The Best Day of My Life – John Randall featuring Jessi Alexander – 3:13
  6. Keep Your Eye on the Ball – Raven-Symoné – 2:27
  7. What You Do – Wyclef Jean featuring Kontrast – 3:12
  8. Swing It – Brooks & Dunn – 3:34
  9. Take Me Out to the Ballgame – Lonestar – 2:43
  10. The Bug – Mary Chapin Carpenter – 3:48
  11. The Tigers – John Debney featuring Paris Bennett – 1:46
  12. At Bat – John Debney – 3:44

See also

References

  1. ↑ Everyone's Hero at Box Office Mojo
  2. ↑ Everyone's Hero at the Internet Movie Database
  3. ↑ "Everyone's Hero (2006)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2011-07-26. 
  4. ↑ Everyone's Hero Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More - Metacritic
  5. ↑ Critic Reviews for Everyone's Hero - Metacritic
  6. ↑ Amazon.com: Everyone's Hero Music From The Motion Picture: Everyone's Hero (Motion Picture Soundtrack): Music

External links

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