(rated G, 129 mins.)
Jim Morris is a little boy with a baseball glove and a dream. As a military child he moves from Connecticut to Virginia to finally Texas. Translation: No baseball. Only oilfields. But, if you drill ‘it they will come.’ Fast forward years later, and now Morris (Dennis Quaid), is a father-of-three, a science-teacher, and a high-school coach with his own field of dreams. Here’s the deal: if Morris’s team wins the district championship, he gets to try out as a pitcher with a major league organization. The bet proves incentive enough for the team and they go from worst to first, making it to state for the first time in the history of the school. With equal dose of apple pie and passion, Quaid evolves into a heart-wrenching character who wins us over in the time-honored Disney manner. “The Rookie” is about an all-American fantasy becoming a reality – and about what to do when your dreams finally come true. But don’t expect this movie to turn sappy; it never does. Don’t expect special effects, either; this time, they come from the heart. “The Rookie” is a real home run – and the kind of picture that reminds us why we go to the movies.