Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7356 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-01-25
• Rating: G (General Audience)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Spanish
• Running time: 127 minutes

Amazon.ca
Les studios Walt Disney ne sont pas seulement les plus gros fournisseurs mondiaux de dessins animés ; ils produisent aussi régulièrement des longs-métrages de fiction destinés à un public familial. The Rookie (La Recrue en version française), réalisé par John Lee Hancock et mettant en vedette Dennis Quaid, appartient à cette catégorie.

Même si Jim Morris, la quarantaine bien tassée, a dû abandonner le baseball dans sa jeunesse à la suite d’une blessure, sa passion pour le sport est restée intacte. Ainsi, lorsque l’équipe d’amateurs qu’il entraîne le met au défi de tenter sa chance dans les ligues majeures, c’est son rêve d’enfant qu’il fera revivre, avec courage et détermination, tout en défiant les nombreux avis contraires.

Inspiré d’un fait réel, The Rookie joue avec des ressorts dramatiques éprouvés maintes fois mais efficaces. De beaux sentiments habitent les personnages brossés à gros traits, et les valeurs traditionnelles de l’Amérique sont assénées avec la délicatesse d’un marteau piqueur, sans que le film ne perde ses qualités de divertissement grand public. C’est le rêve américain à la sauce Disney, forcément faite pour plaire à tout le monde. --Helen Faradji

Review
Stylish and well-crafted, this sports melodrama doesn't offer up much that is new in its oft-clich�d milieu, but the well-traveled paths down which it trods are reliable ones. If not for the film's badly distended running time it might have ended up, despite its lack of originality, in a genuinely affecting place. It's too bad that director John Lee Hancock and screenwriter Mike Rich don't get that their project is fundamentally G-rated schmaltz that's been road-tested and sanitized for Middle American bourgeois viewing. There's nothing wrong with candy corn cinema when it's self-aware, but the filmmakers seem to be laboring under the delusion that they're crafting a 21st century Field of Dreams (1989) instead of the latest family-friendly Disney concoction. The bloated two-hours-plus length betrays their pretensions, with nearly every scene slogging on long past the point where it should have been cut. The Rookie is definitely not a bad film; it benefits from its factual origins enough that the third-act payoff is genuinely affecting, and the performance by Dennis Quaid is thankfully free of irony or self-pity. It's just that the art of editing at either the script or at the final cut stage could have helped tremendously to disguise the artificiality that's being employed to manipulate viewers. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

On the DVD
ccAudio commentary by Dennis Quaid and John Lee Hancock
Deleted scenes introduced by John Lee Hancock
"The Inspirational Story of Jim Morris" featurette
Spring Training: Tips from the Pros

Customer Reviews

a great movie
not all of disney's movies have been great, in my opinion, but this one is an exception. The true story of a man who loves baseball,but gets busy with the usual life and family. Later he gets an unexpected second chance to play in the majors. If you like baseball movies, this one should be enjoyable. Also a good family movie.

great family movie from Disney (4.5/5)
this a great Disney flick.it is the story of an aging high school
baseball coach(Dennis Quaid),who was once on his way to the big leagues
as a pitcher,but suffered a career ending injury.but through series of
events,Jimmy Morris(Quaid)gets a second chance.you can probably guess
the rest.this is a great family film.it is inspirational,but doesn't
pour it on too thick.it's fun and entertaining.adults will enjoy this
movie as well as kids.it is based upon a true story,though i'm sure the
filmmakers took some liberties in telling the story.Quaid is
sensational as the title character,very convincing.if you're looking
for a film the whole family can enjoy,look no further. 4.5/5

Good family film.
I enjoyed this moview quite a bit. It had a nice cast, likeable characters, excellent music and a terrific story. The movie starts with his childhood just long enough to set the story and then we are re-introduced to the grown up Jimmy Morris (Dennis Quaid), his family and the high school baseball team he coaches. Its impossible not to like and root for him.

On the negative side, it was a bit long and the other weakness is that it did not always convey Jimmy Morris' love of baseball when he undertakes his unlikely quest to the major leagues. While the movie shows his ambivalence in missing his family as he begins his second shot at the majors, it doesn't capture the positive aspect of a man chasing his dream quite enough. Still, it was a nice movie that I have seen a bunch of times.