Every Boy Needs a Hero - A Movie Review
I received a copy of the DVD "Every Boy Needs a Hero" from Family Christian Stores for the purpose of generating a review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
And great news! Family Christian is also partnering with me to give one of you a copy of the DVD. For free! Enter the giveaway at the end of this article.
Hope: A feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.
Hope. It keeps us going.
For our children this time of year. The expectation, the desire for all of our holiday festivities to culminate in one wondrous Christmas morning. Throwing a royal party worthy of the King of kings.
The hope within us that life will improve when we get a better job, a bigger house, a significant other, a long-awaited degree. Fill in your blank.
For this baseball-loving girl, the feeling of expectation as I wait just a few more months for spring training. I’m all too familiar with the hope that this season might be THE season those Detroit Tigers go all. the. way.
But what if your life appeared hope-less? You didn’t live in expectation of anything. You thought what you had now was it?
That word hope kept going through my mind as we watched “Every Boy Needs a Hero.”
A father leaves home to chase a big business opportunity. One that can set his family on solid ground for life. A few months away turns into seven years.
He finally returns home after learning his wife is sick. A diagnosis of terminal cancer. Hopeless.
Suddenly, he finds himself having to answer to a lot of people who feel he let them down. Over and over, he has to face the question,
“Was leaving worth it?”
The father goes about starting over. Investing in his family and his community again. It’s not easy.
Formerly the winningest Little League coach in the state, he joins his son in coaching a team. Hoping to reconnect with his son and make a difference in the lives of these young boys.
As the story unfolds, we do see hope restored in many lives. Through their love of baseball and coaching, the father and son start to reconnect.
They also make it mandatory for other fathers to participate in practices with their sons. The last few years in this particular town, the moms had begun just dropping their sons off at practice. Or sticking around but with their noses in cell phones. The coach also expected the dads to -gasp- work with the boys at home too.
The coach had learned the hard way. Seven years of absence. A son needs his father. A young man becomes a better ball player, actually a better person, when their dad plays an active role.
This movie also tells the story of some fathers who have lost their way in the world. They have forgotten the simple truth that some important people count on them. They find renewed purpose by teaching their sons basic hitting and fielding skills.
Hope restored.
The movie was excellent. Even if you’re not a baseball fan. If you are, bonus! There’s plenty of playing time on the field.
And for the baseball-crazed readers (like me), keep your hope alive. Springs a comin’.
The giveaway is open to North American residents and will run through midnight on Tuesday, December 30th. Happy New Year! A winner is randomly selected. The winner will be contacted by email and will have forty-eight hours to claim the prize. If unclaimed, a new winner will be selected.