Being a Disney production, "The Rookie" could easily have settled to become a weepy dramatic tale dripping with over-dramatized scenes. Luckily, thanks to great acting and an attention to detail, this movie is instead a great human drama focusing on baseball themes.For a basic plot summary, "The Rookie" tells the true story of Jim Morris (Dennis Quaid), a 36- year old high school chemistry teacher in Texas. After a lifetime of being uprooted time and time again by his military father (Brian Cox), Morris also had his big-league baseball dream cut short by arm injuries. While coaching high school baseball in Texas and raising a family, he suddenly discovers that his left arm has some serious juice left in it. On a bet that inspires his young charges, Morris shows up at a MLB tryout and begins the journey he had thought was dormant forever.The reason this movie is so moving is because it weaves so many human-drama themes into the proceedings. Many potential viewers may dismiss it as a "baseball movie", but to do so would be foolish. This is more truly a story of family and one man's journey to make peace with his life. I can't think of anyone who wouldn't like a story like this. It is just so emotional as Morris interacts with his children, wife, parents, and others affiliated with the baseball side of his life.Only helping the drama spring to life is the incredible acting. I've seen Quaid in many movie roles, and this one is eclipsed by none of them. His body language and facial expressions carry the emotionally-charged scenes. The supporting cast around him (especially Rachel Griffiths and Angus Young as Morris' wife and son) also shines and really, truth be told, are very much more than "supporting". They are the reasons why Morris does what he does.Overall, I consider "The Rookie" to be the epitome of a solid, wholesome family drama (and just an incredibly compelling story to boot). I'm a big baseball fan, so perhaps I can appreciate the deeper, more embedded themes of the film more than the non-sports viewer, but to me this is five-star material all the way.

Review: I missed this movie the fist time round so I thought that I would give it a watch, even though it's one of those feel good Disney movies. I personally enjoyed this film, especially as its a true story and Dennis Quaid put in a realistic performance but it is quite corny and predictable from the beginning to the end. It's a about a promising baseball player whose career was shattered after damaging his shoulder and advice from his doctor, so he takes on a job as a teacher in his small town. He also takes on a job as a baseball coach for his district team but they haven't won that many games. In 1999, he makes a bet with his team to pursue his baseball career if they win the district championship and with determination and brilliant coaching, they manage to win. He then tries out for the majors and everyone is shocked that this near middle aged man can throw a 98mph fastball, so the offers start flowing in. He then makes the tough decision to leave his family and go on the road with a baseball team but he doesn't really gel with the other players because of his age. He soon starts to miss his family and there debts start to build up so he decides to give up his dreams and go back home to take on a ordinary job so they can pay there bills. Soon after that, he gets an offer from a major league baseball team and he becomes the oldest baseball player with a unique and amazing fastball. It's a basic zero to hero story which we have seen many times before but the real footage of Jim Morris makes the film a joy to watch. I'm not a big fan of baseball but films like Bill Durham, Field Of Dreams and Tin Cup have brought the sport too people around the world. I liked the relationship between Jim Morris and his son, who always believed that his dad had a special fastball but it took Jim Morris some time to convince his dad who always thought that he had to give up his dreams to put food on the table. It is an amazing achievement for a 35 year old rookie to make it in the majors so this feel-good movie is a emotional biopic about a baseball hero. Enjoyable!Round-Up: Dennis Quaid, 61, really hit it big after starring in the Right Stuff in 1983 and then he had roles in major films like Innerspace, which I really enjoyed, Dreamscape, Enemy Mine, The Big Easy and Great Balls of Fire in the 80's. Since then his career was plagued with hit and misses but his professional acting style has never been questioned. He has some major blockbusters behind him like Wyatt Earp, Any Given Sunday, the brilliant Dragonheart and Flight Of The Phoenix but it's hard to see were his career will go from here. It's been a long time since he has starred as the lead in a big blockbuster but his old movies will always be a joy to watch. This movie was directed by John Lee Hancock who brought you films like the Alamo, the great Blind Side and Saving Mr. Banks so he is known for his biopics. I would have liked to have seen the darker times of Jim Morris so it would have made it seem more real and not a typical happy go lucky Disney movie. With that aside, it is still an unique biopic which would be good if it was made for modern times. Judging by the movies takings, it obviously went down well with the audiences around the world so we are still suckers for the zero to hero concept. Anyway it's definitely worth a watch if your fed up with all the doom and gloom in everyday life but for entertainment and excitement, it's very average.Budget: $22million Worldwide Gross: $81millionI recommend this movie to people who are into their sports/drama/family movies about a rookie baseball player who pursues his dreams into the majors after taking a bet. 5/10

"The Rookie" was a near perfect movie that was based on a true story. It added different genres at just the right moments: a sprinkle of drama, many parts of family, and a heck of a lot of baseball.Starring Denis Quad, The Rookie was about a Texas High School Baseball Coach/Father who agreed his team that if they were to make the playoffs, he would try out for the major league. Little did he know, he actually had a 98 batting average and of course, was sent to play on a major league team.If your part of a sports family or just simply love baseball, I highly recommend that you see the Rookie.Best Sports movie of 2002 Hands Down! My Rating: 9/10

OK first off, this is by NO means a bad movie. Not at all. It's actually a good movie trapped in an awful movie's DVD. Mainly because it's stupid. OK just so you know, I'm in high school, so I can really understand how flipping unrealistic all those scenes that involve high schoolers are. OK you know in the district championship game when Rudy is pitching to the "bad guy" in red hair? THERE IS NO WAY THAT GUY IS IN HIGH SCHOOL. even the seniors at my school look like toddlers compared to the kid. Also, during the seen in the beginning of the flick the protagonist is a kid aged 10-12, but later he is 30-40, so obviously the characters have all aged 20-30 years, but the 3 weird old guys he always hangs out with don't change at all in appearance! frank's hair turned white, but other than that there the exact same! it's like the just returned from the set of tuck everlasting. when the young morris goes into the store, all those old guys are between 40-60. Twenty to thirty years later, they look the same. dumb. so does the dad, the exact same.also during the seen when he's posting the newspapers clippings on his bulletin board, i paused it and went up the the TV and read that newspapers, and IT Wasn't ABOUT BASEBALL.also this nonsense with the tryouts, tell me the last time you saw a huge billboard that said "hey have you ever wanted to play in the MLB? well then come here at this time!" for him to even a freaking shot at the majors he would need an agent! the music in the this film sucks too, particularly when he's timing his pitches with the car radar thing.also, why is the kid ALWAYS WITH THE DAD? i mean did he get divorced and take custody? that punk is always with him, even at practice. my freshman basketball coach ALWAYS brings his kids (all 3 of em) to our practices, and my teammates HATE IT and the last thing we would want is for one of them to come party in the locker room with us, like "Hunter" does.