Little Giants (1994)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Duwayne Dunham

Writers (WGA):

James Ferguson (story) &
Robert Shallcross (story) ...

Release Date:

14 October 1994 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Family | Sport

Tagline:

For everyone who's waited to be chosen, and wasn't... your day has come.

Plot:

Misfits form their own opposing team to an elite peewee football team, coached by the elite team coach's brother.

Plot Keywords:

Coach | Cheerleader | Pee Wee Football | Flatulence | Brother Brother Relationship

Cast

Rick Moranis	...	Danny O'Shea
Ed O'Neill	...	Kevin O'Shea
Shawna Waldron	...	Becky O'Shea
Devon Sawa	...	Junior Floyd
Todd Bosley	...	Jake Berman
Michael Zwiener	...	Rudy Zolteck
Danny Pritchett	...	Tad Simpson
Troy Simmons	...	Hanon
Sam Horrigan	...	Spike Hammersmith
Joey Simmrin	...	Sean Murphy
Marcus Toji	...	Marcus
Christopher Walberg	...	Timmy Moore
Matthew McCurley	...	Nubie (as Mathew McCurley)
Brian Haley	...	Mike Hammersmith
Jon Paul Steuer	...	Johnny Vennaro

MPAA:

Rated PG for kids' rude language and pranks.

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:L | Netherlands:AL | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | UK:PG | USA:PG | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Arroyo Grande, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

John Madden travels around to various football venues, as he does in the movie, on a bus because he dislikes flying.

Goofs:

Continuity: The girl's clothes when The Giants are gathering players.

Quotes:

Danny O'Shea: Hey, I got an idea. How about we go put some mud tires on the go-cart?
Becky O'Shea: Nah. I don't want to.
Danny O'Shea: Alright, forget the tires. How about we go camping in the woods! Make "moose sounds"?
Becky O'Shea: Nah.
Danny O'Shea: Alright, forget the moose sounds.

Movie Connections:

References "The Addams Family" (1964)

Devon Sawa as a Pee-Wee Football Star... and Rick Moranis

As children, the O'Shea brothers were night and day: one a geeky little wimp and the other a popular football player. As adults, the trend continued and the football player was now a popular coach with a successful car dealership. But when the wimp's daughter gets rejected from her uncle's football team, the brothers must face off: wimps versus jocks. It's an underdog story!

I watched this film on Christmas 2007 with my best friend Chelsea, who freely admits to loving underdog kid sports films (which is evident if you know her love for "The Sandlot" and "The Might Ducks", as well). I don't really have that strong of an attachment, but they're fun if nothing else, and this one is definitely one of the more amusing ones, if for no other reason than the rampant stereotypes and solid cast.

Rick Moranis is the wimp brother, Danny O'Shea (not far from his role in "Honey I Shrunk the Kids") and Ed O'Neill is football star Kevin O'Shea (sort of like his role on "Married With Children"). The daughter/niece is Becky "Icebox" O'Shea, played by Shawna Waldron (who went on to appear in "The American President") and her love interest is Devon Sawa, playing quarterback Junior Floyd. Sawa is how I got "tricked" into watching this film, after his name was dropped during one of our many "Casper" conversations...

There's nothing really surprising about this film. I won't give it away by telling you the plot, but I will say it's a team of wimps against a team of quality players. You can probably guess how this works out, because all underdog sports movies basically work the same way. And you'll get the stereotypes here: tomboy who struggles with becoming a woman, fat kid who must be eating (and passing gas) in every scene... weakling with the overprotective mother. You can take away points for creativity, but you have to grant them that they've covered all the expected bases.

With the possible exception of one twist (which is predictable if you see the opening credits) and the presence of Harry Shearer with some great announcements ("Mr. Moe Mentum has a new address!") this is what you'd expect, and if you want what you expect, you'll love this film. I found it very fun and light-hearted (a good way to wind down Christmas). Would I watch it again? Yes.