In this film, William Dear brings the miraculous heartwarming story of a team from Monterrey and their journey through the country as they take on the Little League in the U.S.The film begins when Cesar Faz (Clifton Collins Jr.) is fired from his job with the St. Louis Cardinals where he worked as a clubhouse attendant. He then moves to Monterrey and there he meets a young baseball-loving boy named Angel Macias (Jake T. Austin). He takes Angel under his wing more or less and Angel rounds up his friends to help make a baseball field in an empty lot. They are persistent with trying to join the Little League and with the blessing of Father Esteban (Cheech Marin) they start their own team with Cesar Faz as their coach. The team consisted of Angel Macias, Enrique Suarez (Jansen Panettiere), Mario Ontiveros (Moises Arias), Norberto Villarreal (Ryan Ochoa), Baltazar Charles (Carlos Padilla), Ricardo Trevino (Gabriel Morales), Jose 'Pepe' Maiz (Alfredo Rodriguez), Gerardo Gonzalez (Mario Quinonez Jr.), and Fidel Ruiz (Anthony Quinonez). They were given three-day visas to play in Texas; Cesar had planned on playing then sight seeing and going home, he did not expect them to win and continue to play games. While they are in the U.S. they find a lot of racism and are seen as the underdogs. The scrawny team from Monterrey shocks everyone by moving up each game and becoming unstoppable. Along their journey they become friends with a sports reporter Frankie (Emilie de Ravin) and groundskeeper, Cool Papa Bell (Louis Gossett, Jr.) who help them in any way they can. The team goes on to play in the World Series where Enrique Suarez hits a grand slam and Angel Macias pitches a perfect game, which still remains the only to be the only one pitched in a World Series Little League Championship game. The story of these boys made for a great film. I really liked this movie because it made sense to me even though I don't know much about baseball. It was a family movie and I could see myself watching it again with my girlfriend and my family because it's heartwarming. The team is Mexican and the director was able to capture that without making them too stereotypical. It was inspiring to watch those little boys go so far with their team and stay modest through it all. They all had strong faith and I liked that they needed a blessing before each game, it was something that I could relate too since I do the sign of the cross before I step in to play. I was surprised to have liked it as much as I did because baseball movies usually don't interest me, but this one really stands out to me. I'm not sure if it's because of the setting or the funny scenes where they overcome racism and language barriers but I really enjoyed this movie. It still amazes me how these kids had never seen a real baseball in the beginning of the movie and had only listened to games on the radio and they went on to accomplish so much. I would definitely recommend this movie to my family and some of my cousins because I know they'd like it too. It has a great story behind it and the team really is inspiring regardless if you like baseball or not.

I must say I was pleasantly surprised by this movie, the Cast consist of a handful of Actors that have appeared on Disney Channel shows which drew the interest of my children and also consisted of several of those "hey wasn't that person in that one movie" moments from my wife and I. The story line was well written ( based on a true story) and the insertion of old footage always makes a great addition. The only reason I did rate the movie higher is because there were times That I felt as if the acting was a little sub-pare, but it was overall a strong family film that makes you feel better after watching it then you did before you turned it on.

this isn't a good movie, it seems as if it's made by someone that's seen all the archetypal feel-good, rags-to-riches movies then tried his hand at making one without understanding how the good ones actually work. in this genre "the blind side" is fantastic, "rudy" superb, even "the sandlot" is head and shoulders above this.the main problem with this movie is that it has the gruff embittered coach who didn't really want to be, check, the grandfatherly advice giver, check, a side love interest, check, impoverished kids who want to beat the odds, check - but when strung together as things we want to cheer for it falls completely flat. everything is too shallow.I mean I know as viewers we're supposed to do xyz at abc but the movie's job is to lead us to those points which make us want to reflexively cheer. this movie seems to use those recognizable spots simply as the indication that "ok audience, here's where you cheer". that's not how it works. things in this movie seem to just happen for no real reason except the feel-good format requires them. the build-up scenes seem disjointed/incomplete so there's no build-ups, the pay-offs ("hurray" "cheer" "you go!") appear out of nowhere making them utterly unsatisfying because they were unexpected.I had very little expectation other than to watch something fun and marginally gratifying for a couple hours but even with such a low bar this movie fails. I should add that I could only take a little over half of this movie but in fairness how many times can one watch something lousy saying "this stinks, I hope it gets better; this stinks, I hope it gets better; this stinks... the end"?

This dramatization of the 1957 World Little League Champions is just a terrific watch - sure, it is a little clichéd in places - but what sports movie isn't, but it has the same vibe as The Mighty Ducks and The Bad News Bears except that is based on a true story.All in all, baseball films are nearly always good to watch, and this is no exception - the team is fun, the story is built well, the film is nicely edited, you get a ton of baseball, and the moral compass is firmly fixed to good throughout.One of the better sports films for kids - and adults - and one that deserves a wide audience.