Little Big League (1994)

(In French, On Cable TV, December 2020) There was clearly something in the water in Hollywood in the early 1990s about kids making it to the baseball big leagues. After 1993’s Rookie of the Year, in which a twelve-year-old with a supernaturally fast pitching arm plays for the Chicago Cubs, here is Little Big League, in which a twelve-year-old inherits the Minnesota Twins from his grandfather and names himself the general manager. While ludicrous, it’s clearly a kids’ movie designed for maximum wish fulfillment. It’s still less goofy than Rookie of the Year – the conflict feels more natural, there is no magical element, the kid manages rather than plays, the ending is bittersweet, and as such the film is slightly better than its 1993 predecessor. But we’re still not talking serious drama here: much of the film is spent opposing a kid’s youthful ideals of playing baseball with the harsher realities of the professional circuit’s grind. I didn’t dislike it, but given my minimal interest in baseball either now or as a kid, I can’t say that it’s specifically designed to grab me by the aspirations or nostalgia of the sport. But Little Big League is an honest family comedy, and I suppose that it’s going to reach its audience even today.