The film takes place in the early 60's and it tells the story about a kid named Scotty Smalls, who just moved into a small town and tries desperately to fit in and make friends. One day he sees the kids play baseball at a sandlot and notices that their one team member short. However, Scotty stinks at baseball and the other kids turn him away except for the team’s leader Benny. With the help from Benny, Scotty later gets accepted into the team. But Scotty makes the biggest mistake in his entire life. The team is out of baseballs and Scotty uses his step dad's baseball, so the team can play with it. All goes well until Scotty hits it right out of the sandlot sending it into a yard where a ferocious dog owned by a crazy man lurks and destroys any baseball that enters the yard. To make matters worse, it's not only his step dad's ball, but it's autographed by Babe Ruth, who Scotty had no idea who he is.
Much like most kids’ films or films to star kids at the time, each kid plays as a kid stereotype or cliché so you can identify which one is which. You got the new kid who's a big loser, the older and good looking leader of the team, the fat kid, the nerdy kid, the twin brothers, the rebel, the only black kid in the neighborhood and the one with a catch phrase. While being stereotyped and cliches on kids much like most kids films made in that era, they're still treated as regular kids than being bland characters that only act on the stereotype and cliché they're given. Whenever you see them hang together, playing baseball, interacting with one another, goofing around, getting in trouble and being jerks to one another; you get a huge vibe of nostalgia thinking "Yeah that was pretty much like my childhood". Much like "A Christmas Story", "Stand By Me" or "The Little Rascals" shorts that took place during a time where most of us weren't born yet, but still managed to bring that feeling of being a kid again by its timeless feel, seeing the kids do what most of us did in our youth and seeing the types of people we've probably met or known as a kid is exactly what this film brings. As I said, the kids while not being the greatest actors of all time still bring plenty of fun, innocence and charm to their characters and really do bring that nostalgic feel of being a kid that the film is trying to create.
Anyone who's seen the film can countlessly quote the lines from this movie or talk about the many fun and memorable scenes that this film has to offer. I love that the first act while being about Scotty trying to fit in and is setting up for the second act, it's mostly just the kids hanging out and doing various activities together such as playing baseball, going swimming, going to the amusement park, playing up against bullies (Can't have a kids film without the stereotypical bullies), sleeping over in their clubhouse and watching the fireworks on the 4th Of July. Those moments not only bring nostalgia memories of being a kid but they're also very fun and memorable. The film really starts once Scotty knocks his step fathers autographed into a crazy neighbor’s yard guarded by a nasty dog called the Beast and the kids have to try many different methods to get it back which becomes a very fun and on the edge of your seat second act. The buildup and reveal of the Beast and this off screen neighbor is executed just as perfect as the buildup and reveal of Boo Radley in "To Kill A Mockingbird". Aside from the lovable characters; a wonderful childhood feel and atmosphere; memorable moments; and having a fun plot for kids; the film also uses wonderful techniques that have been used in other classic "Coming Of Age" films such as being narrated by the main character as an adult; having a soundtrack that represents the time period that the film is taking place in; and learning about what happened to these wonderful characters that we got to spend time with at the end of the film.
"The Sandlot" is one of the greatest kids’ films to have ever been made and it still surprisingly holds up just as well as I remember it. There's plenty of more things I can go on talking about, but then we'd be here "for-e-ver"! If you haven't seen the film yet or if you have when you were a kid, but has become a big blur in your memory since you last saw it, defiantly give it a watch.
RATING 5/5
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