Everyone's Hero


Everyone's Hero is a 2006 American computer-animated sports comedy film directed by Colin Brady, Christopher Reeve and Daniel St. Pierre. Starring the voices of Jake T. Austin, Rob Reiner, William H. Macy, Brian Dennehy, Raven-Symoné, Robert Wagner, Richard Kind, Joe Torre, Dana Reeve, Mandy Patinkin, Forest Whitaker, Whoopi Goldberg, and Robin Williams, the film was produced by IDT Entertainment in Toronto with portions outsourced to Reel FX Creative Studios. Distributed by 20th Century Fox, Everyone's Hero was released theatrically on September 15, 2006 to mixed reviews from critics and earned $16 million.

Plot

Set in 1932 New York City during the Great Depression, Yankee Irving is a young 10 year old baseball fan whose father Stanley works as a custodian at the Yankee Stadium. While the two are on the premises, a thief steals Babe Ruth's famous bat Darlin' to which Stanley is falsely blamed and is temporarily dismissed until Darlin' can be found. An irate Stanley foolishly accuses Yankee for stealing it, Sends him to his room and setting him up, which he would regret later on. The real thief is Lefty Maginnis, a cheating pitcher for the Chicago Cubs who works for the Cubs' general manager Napoleon Cross, who desires to see the Cubs defeat the New York Yankees during the 1932 World Series.
Determined to reclaim the bat and save his family from being evicted & being out on the streets, Yankee journeys across the country to Chicago where the next World Series' games will be held. After getting the bat back, Yankee decides to return it to Babe Ruth and thereby clear his father's name. Darlin' and her counterpart Screwie, a baseball, are able to speak during this. Lefty attempts to steal back the bat from Yankee, but to no avail. On the way, Yankee meets others who help him in his quest such as hobos Andy, Louis and Jack, an African American girl named Marti Brewster, her baseball pitcher father Lonnie Brewster and Babe Ruth himself.
A series of improbable coincidences allows Yankee himself to play for the Yankees, resulting in the archetypal inside the park home run. This restores the morale of the Yankees, who score 7 more runs to take the lead and win the World Series. Cross tries to talk Babe Ruth out of accepting the victory, saying that Yankee is too young to be a counting player. This leads to the arrest of Cross, who simply says that he was a fan that cheated. When his involvement is revealed, Lefty is kicked off the team and also arrested. Stanley is cleared and officially reinstated as the stadium's custodian. Yankee, his parents and his new baseball friends, Screwie and Darlin, celebrate the Yankee’s World Series win in a victory parade.

Cast

Additional voices by Ritchie Allen, Rochelle Hogue, Sondra James, Matthew Laborteaux, Greta Martin, Christie Moreau, Sean Oliver, Charles Parnell, Dennis Pressey, Tyler James Williams and Cornell Womack.

Home media

Everyone's Hero was released on DVD on March 20, 2007 by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. The movie was released on Blu-ray on March 5, 2013 and is exclusive to Walmart stores.

Reception

Box office

In its opening weekend, the film grossed $6.1 million in 2,896 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking #3 at the box office, behind Gridiron Gang and The Black Dahlia. By the end of its run, Everyone's Hero grossed $14.5 million in the US and $2.1 million internationally, for an approximate total of $16.6 million worldwide.

Critical reception

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 51% based on 20 reviews, which indicates "mixed" reviews. Another aggregator, Rotten Tomatoes, scored the film 42% based on 69 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Everyone's Hero is such a predictable and bland tale that it'll appeal mostly to little kids; others seeking something in Pixar's league are looking in the wrong ballpark." Jack Matthews of the New York Daily News wrote, "Whoever wanders into the theater should leave a winner". L.A. Weekly called the themes "fairly pro forma" and cited the film's "antique Rockwellian look" as "its greatest pleasure". Gregory Kirschling of Entertainment Weekly rated it B− and wrote, "Everyone's Hero re-creates Depression-era America with surprisingly agreeable anachronistic panache", though he criticized the character designs.
The Austin Chronicle primarily criticized Everyone's Hero for focusing too much on sentimentality over entertaining moments. Tasha Robinson of The A.V. Club opined the film "ranges from improbable to nonsensical to just plain dull. The lame banter, the one-note characters, the predictable clumsy stabs at emotional uplift, or the booger jokes ." Screwie and Darlin were bashed on in a review by The Washington Posts Stephen Hunter, panning their inability to "move or express emotion;" and Slant Magazines Ed Gonzalez disliked the lack of reasoning for anthropomorphic baseball gear for being "random." The anachronisms, such as its out-of-time slang, pop-song-dominated soundtrack, and use of an African-American-voiced talking bat, were also panned, with Gonzalez even calling the Great Depression setting "nonexistent."
The story did have its supporters. Variety reviewer Joe Leydon lukewarmly honored Everyone's Hero as a "modestly engaging mix of broad comedy and nostalgic fable," picaresque plot and the inclusion of a Negro Leagues player; however, in addition to disliking its gross-out humor, he questioned the rejection of segregation that occurred in the 1930s era the film is set in. He also suggested the film would have a hard time selling to children: "the toon’s target demo — i.e., toddlers and grade-schoolers — are too young to know about the Reeves, and pic could be a hard sell to youngsters who aren't baseball fanatics and recognize Babe Ruth only as the name of a candy bar." Seattle Post-Intelligencer writer Manny Lewis concluded that "the film certainly will appeal to kids; with its beating-the-odds theme and its dramatic finale involving a crucial at-bat in the World Series, it is reminiscent of a boyhood daydream." Orlando Sentinel film critic Roger Moore concluded that "the kids will laugh and there's enough heart in Everyone's Hero to bring it over the plate -- barely." MaryAnn Johanson similarly spotlighted the "sweet gentleness" and "can-do-it-iveness" that made its otherwise typical children's film plot stand out. Time Out London applauded the characters, especially Screwie, which recouped for its "lacking" amount of tension.
The visuals garnered a mixed response, Robinson calling the animation "bland" and "generic" and Leydon "herky-jerky." Lewis found Screwie and Darlin's visual gags "stale" but praised those of Lefty, reasoning "his flailing limbs giving him a clumsy grace far more entertaining to watch than either the ball or the bat." Hunter acclaimed the animation as "quite advanced, bringing emotional subtleties, vivid eye dilations and expressions and complex movements to exceptional life"; while Moore opined "the animated people look plastic, but the backdrops are pretty, and the slapstick bits are a 'stitch'."
The voice acting was praised.

Cable syndication

In the United States, FX aired Everyone's Hero on July 12, 2009. In the United States, Telemundo aired the film on October 4, 2009. In Latin America, Cartoon Network Latino aired the film on November 23, 2011. In Asia, Disney Channel premiered May 29, 2012. In the United States, FXM aired the film on June 16, 2012. It also aired on Disney XD in the United States on April 8, 2013, and March 30, 2014. It also aired on Cartoon Network in the United States on November 5, 2016.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack, released on the Columbia Records/Sony Music Soundtrax labels, features tracks by the star of the film Raven-Symoné, Grammy-winners Wyclef Jean, Brooks & Dunn, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and various other artists.
  1. The Best – John Ondrasik – 3:49
  2. Keep On Swinging – Brooks & Dunn – 4:12
  3. Dream Like New York – Tyrone Wells – 3:44
  4. Chicago – Chris Botti featuring Lyle Lovett – 2:16
  5. The Best Day of My Life – John Randall featuring Jessi Alexander – 3:13
  6. Keep Your Eye on the Ball – Raven-Symoné – 2:27
  7. What You Do – Wyclef Jean featuring Kontrast – 3:12
  8. Swing It – Brooks & Dunn – 3:34
  9. Take Me Out to the Ballgame – Lonestar – 2:43
  10. The Bug – Mary Chapin Carpenter – 3:48
  11. The Tigers – John Debney featuring Paris Bennett – 1:46
  12. At Bat – John Debney – 3:44