The weather is still a bit cold to get a game of baseball going, but the fields are starting to thaw as another season is just starting to get underway. After a long, cold winter, everyone is ready to head to the field and watch the best compete for nine innings — even at the movies.
Disney’s “The Rookie” is the perfect feel-good movie for anyone who loves baseball. Based on the true story of Jim Morris, Dennis Quaid (“Frequency”) plays the high school chemistry teacher from Big Lake, Tex., who gets another shot at the big leagues.
The movie begins with a young Morris who loves baseball more than anything else and moves around a lot because his father is in the military. After numerous moves, the family ends up in Big Lake — a small town with no baseball team.
But, there is a legend in that town about a group of men who started an oil company and got two nuns to invest in their business. The nuns blessed the land upon which the workers drilled and played baseball while waiting to strike it rich. As it turns out, most of those men ended up in the big leagues playing ball, and it is that very same spot many years later where Morris starts practicing.
Fast forward 20 years or so and, after being forced to quit the minor league due to a shoulder injury, Morris becomes a high school chemistry teacher and baseball coach in Big Lake. Married with three kids, he seems content to stick to coaching — until he discovers that at 35 years old he can throw a 98 mph fastball. In an attempt to get his own team to believe in itself, he makes a bet — it wins district, and he will try out for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays’ minor league.
The film’s cast is talented, with Rachel Griffiths (“Blow”) as Morris’ wife Lorri and Angus T. Jones (“See Spot Run”) as Morris’ oldest son.
The movie is not without conflict, however. Throughout the story Morris must deal with his relationship with his father (Brian Cox, “For the Love of the Game”) who does not approve of his son’s obsession with baseball and tells him there are more important things. The elder Morris tries to do right by his son later in life and works to establish the relationship the two did not have while his son was younger.
Quaid sometimes tries too hard to be the kind of man who wears his heart on his sleeve, but overall, he fits the character of a man who gets another chance at his dream.
“The Rookie” is a great movie for anyone who is a baseball fan. It’s the perfect film to get in the mood for baseball season and to watch during a film season that is currently lacking quality. Just remember to bring the glove and ball along — the whole theater will want to play catch when it’s done.
