Ya Gotta Believe!
1994-07-15
$31.0M
102 min
Roger is a foster child whose irresponsible father promises to get his act together when Roger's favourite baseball team, the California Angels, wins the pennant. The problem is that the Angels are in last place, so Roger prays for help to turn the team around. Sure enough, his prayers are answered in the form of angel Al.
Certainly enjoyable enough, could've been far greater though.
I really like the concept of <em>'Angels in the Outfield'</em>, I just don't feel like they constructed anything other than an alright production with it unfortunately. I can see what they were attempting to do with it here and there, especially in a few moments, but it doesn't get away from being a silly baseball flick by the end; not that that's a negative, it's just underdone that's all.
The cast is, mostly in retrospect, phenomenal. Danny Glover is top notch as George, as is a young Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Roger. You also have Tony Danza (Mel), Neal McDonough (Bass), Adrien Brody (Danny) and Christopher Lloyd (Al) all involved. Not a bad list at all, though I would've loved to have seen more of Lloyd who is very underused - his role, if more prevalent, could've raised the film up massively.
With all the silliness of the plot, there is still a nice amount of heart in there - which is entirely predictable, but I appreciated it nevertheless. Who knows, perhaps the two made-for-television sequels will nail the premise better? We shall see.
