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Everyone's Hero
Christopher Reeve's credit as director of "Everyone's Hero" is placed prominently at the end of the film. It's difficult to find out just how much work Reeve did on the picture before his death two years ago, but the credit is a curious button on a very strange CG animated film.
Regardless of his involvement in the actual day-to-day work of the movie, Reeve's spirit is all over this creation. "Hero" tells an inspiring tale of triumph over personal doubt, but it does so in excruciatingly rudimentary ways, still maintaining a cheery mood throughout. Clearly this is a not a glossy production, lacking a budget to polish the crude visuals, and follows a story that would have a bigger impact on the direct-to-video circuit, where kids can sit in the path of the message cannon without their parents growing irritated that they spent $40 to spend their Saturday afternoon with mediocrity.
Because the production doesn't have the coin to spend, they make up for it with a host of celebrity voices that go a long way to hiding the overall lethargy in the scripting. While Reeve's great friend Robin Williams is lost in a character without comedic payoff (the Chicago Cubs owner who wants the bat stolen), and Rob Reiner is swallowed by his growing volume, it's Whoopi Goldberg who scores softly as Babe Ruth's cherished bat. Yes, I just wrote that: Whoopi Goldberg is one of the best elements of the movie. Backing away from her dated, tired, and lazy sassmouth routine, Goldberg puts on her best southern charms and has fun with the role.
"Hero" has some respectable adventuresome moments. A train chase where Yankee is dashing to escape the clutches of Lefty provides a modest spark to the animation. I also enjoyed how the directors (Colin Brady and Dan St. Pierre are also credited) had fun with the idea of talking bats and baseballs, along with their limitations of movement. Because "Hero" gets sludgy with inspiration, it's the little moments, which break free of formula, that count.
Set in a pre-Depression era world, "Hero" plays pretty fast and loose with the period details. I'm not sure why the production even bothered to undertake this era when the script is peppered with characters doing the "Cabbage Patch" dance, or making a Starbucks reference. Even by the liquid standards of a family film, this kind of screenwriting and improv looks desperate, and while it doesn't exactly ruin the film, it ultimately allows the cringes to outpace the smiles.
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