Everyone’s Hero (Christopher Reeve, Colin Brady, Dan St. Pierre). 86 minutes. Opens Friday (September 15). For venues and times, see Movies, page 107. Rating: N Rating: NNNNN
After Babe Ruth’s lucky bat is stolen, a boy decides to track it down and return it to the Babe so the Yankees can win the 1932 Series against the Chicago Cubs, which has come down to a crucial seventh game.
If you’re a baseball fan, you’re already bristling, because the 32 Series is famous. Not for the drama — the Yankees swept in four — but for the third game, in which Ruth “called his shot” with a two-strike count.
Anyway, this bouncy computer animation has humans that look like they’re made of neoprene and a story that insults baseball, baseball fans and children of all ages. There are also studied anachronisms, condescending PC gestures and here and there some decent voice work, though one tires very quickly of Rob Reiner ‘s choleric talking baseball.
It’s possible to make an inspirational kids’ sports movie that doesn’t make adults want to run screaming from the theatre the recent golf film The Greatest Game Ever Played is proof of that. Everyone’s Hero isn’t. Dedicated to the memory of Christopher Reeve , who was one of the directors, it’s not a fitting memorial to anyone.
