Everyone's Hero (2006)

A young boy named Yankee Irving finds himself at an extraordinary crossroads: He has a chance to be a hero - and make a difference against incredible odds - or he can play it safe. With ... See full summary »

Directors:

Colin Brady, Christopher Reeve,

Writers:

Robert Kurtz (screenplay), Jeff Hand (screenplay),

Stars:

Ritchie Allen, Jake T. Austin, Brian Dennehy

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ritchie Allen	...	Officer Bryant / Additional Voices (voice)
Jake T. Austin	...	Yankee Irving (voice)
Cherise Boothe	...	Rosetta Brewster (voice)
Jesse Bronstein	...	Sandlot Kid #1 (voice)
Ralph Coppola	...	Sandlot Kid #2 (voice)
Brian Dennehy	...	Babe Ruth (voice)
Whoopi Goldberg	...	Darlin' (voice)
Jason Harris	...	Announcer (voice)
Ed Helms	...	Hobo Louie (voice)
Ray Iannicelli	...	Conductors / Umpire (voice)
Gideon Jacobs	...	Bully Kid Tubby (voice)
Richard Kind	...	Hobo Andy / Maitre D' (voice)
William H. Macy	...	Lefty Maginnis (voice)
Marcus Maurice	...	Willie (voice)
Amanda Parsons	...	Emily Irving (voice)

Storyline

A young boy named Yankee Irving finds himself at an extraordinary crossroads: He has a chance to be a hero - and make a difference against incredible odds - or he can play it safe. With faith in himself instilled by his family, he teams up with a sassy young girl and some off-the-wall sidekicks and embarks on a sometimes perilous, often funny, cross-country quest. In the process, he restores his family's honor, befriends the world's biggest sports superstar, and reveals the hero within.

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Plot Keywords:

new york yankees | baseball | road movie | train | bronx new york city | 

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Taglines:

No matter where life takes you, always keep swinging.

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Sport

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Certificate:

G

Details

Country:

Canada USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 September 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Untitled IDT Entertainment Project

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$6,061,762 (USA) (15 September 2006)

Gross:

$14,522,427 (USA) (1 December 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Arc Productions, Dan Krech Productions, IDT Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Dana Reeve's final project.

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Goofs

During a moment when Yankee brings lunch to his father at Yankee Stadium, the right-field light standards can be seen. Actually, Yankee Stadium didn't have lights installed until 1946 (14 years after the events in the movie).

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Quotes

Yankee Irving: [Yankee and Darlin' have just had a bonding moment] Thanks, Darlin'.
Darlin': No, no. Thank you, Yankee.
Screwie: Oh, brother! You could pour this stuff on pancakes!

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Crazy Credits

In Memory of Christopher & Dana Reeve.

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Connections

References Scarface (1932)

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Soundtracks

"The Best"

User Reviews

This is the "old ball game!"

It's so rare for a computer-animated film, that isn't Pixar. to win my heart, but Everyone's Hero plays like a trip to an actual baseball stadium. No matter if the game is scoreless, your favorite teams is trailing, or whatever, the atmosphere and feeling makes it all worthwhile. Everyone's Hero is a formulaic, tale in the flesh, but the voice-acting, characters, plot, and the fun script make it shine thru its roots.

I've mentioned before that CGI animation is sadly killing hand-drawn animation, Everyone's Hero seems like a nineties animated feature that was reincarnated into a 2006 animated film. This one has more of a nostalgic 1930's appearance, so no doubt it will appeal to the baseball son and his former card-collecting father. But it will also spark a soft spot with lovers of "unlikely hero" type films, or just fans of animated films. It pleases on every level.

The plot: Yankee Irving (Voiced by Jake T. Austin) is a perky little baseball fan, until his dad gets fired from being the janitor at Yankee Stadium when Babe Ruth's "lucky" bat named "Darlin'" goes missing. Yankee saw someone come in the locker-room, who told him to get out, and he's positive that was the guy. He learns from a talking baseball name Screwy (Reiner) who he found at his baseball diamond, the sandlot, that the person who stole the bat is Lefty Maginnis (Macy).

So Yankee and Screwy set off to go to Chicago, the place where the Yankees and, Lefty's team, the Cubs are going to play to win the World Series. Yankee and Screwy wind up getting Babe's talking bat Darlin' (Goldberg) back early on, and now the three are off to get to Babe as quickly as possible.

Everyone's Hero's purpose is to inspire, inform, and entertain. Inspire because it includes a tear-jerking, precious end scene that, while is cliché in the books, is nonetheless beautiful and heartwarming. It informs you about baseball by reminding adults when they were young how much they loved the game, and may even win the hearts of some younger kids when they see this. And, it's entertaining as can be.

The voice acting is done extraordinarily as recognizable voices plague the screen. While this isn't the smoothest animated feature in terms of animation, because of its blocky, strange imagery in times, it still is covered up by the soft and warm feeling the film brings from start to finish.

I hope one day that parents will rent or buy this film for their kid, leaving other family films like Big Daddy, Despicable Me, and Scooby-Doo on the shelves. It's not often a film like this comes out, and to have all of those films make millions of dollars, when this barely gets seen is appalling. Everyone's Hero deserves as much recognition as a Pixar film. It's that beautiful and stunning in its execution.

But is it better? By no means. But is it following in the footsteps, or on its way to be something like that? Yes.

Voiced by: Jake T. Austin, Rob Reiner, Whoopi Goldberg, Brian Dennehy, and William H. Macy.