Realistic people come to a film like this with sane expectations. It's low budget and it was made with the stated purpose of simply being an enjoyable film for families to watch together. In that, it succeeded.
This is, to keep it real, a movie made for Christian families, or at least for families with some sense of faith and God. It's not an evangelistic movie but is certainly one written from the Biblical world view.
The music was a bit much at times. It reminded me of Ron Howard's 1991 movie, "Backdraft" where a very good soundtrack by Hans Zimmer was overused and left me a bit worn out mentally.
And there are other things that I would have "tweeked" if Kirk Cameron would have had the decency to call and ask me before he wrapped up production. (Some of you reading this may need to be told that I am being sarcastic here.)
But compared to the incredibly immoral and filthy garbage that families have to weed through in order to find decent family viewing, this movie was a very nice piece of work. My wife doesn't like movies, but she found this to be more than just tolerable and we heard her LOL several times. That was worth the price of admission for me right there.
It's just a simple movie about persevering through trials. But I liked all of the low-paid actors (again, keeping things real) and I believe they made you love or hate the characters they played, accordingly.
One thing I was VERY happy NOT to see was some spoiled brat kid that needed smacked (it seems like nearly every "family movie" has that obnoxious teenager in it and this one did not, thankfully).
I would recommend this for family viewing. Absolutely. Other thoughts:
1. Not enough Tim Hawkins. That guy is just plain hilarious.
2. Another happy ending? I want to see a "family movie" where the family loses it's business, loses their home and still remains faithful.
3. One of the best overall casts in a low-budget Christian movie since the 2002 Rich Christiano film titled, "Time Changer".
4. Great video production. As mentioned, the music was a bit much at times (except the drastic change at the end when the little league title game is over, which was a nice change).
5. A lot of people simply hate Kirk Cameron for expressing his beliefs and convictions. But I like Kirk. And I think that will have a lot to do with whether a person likes or dislikes this film.
So, watch it and enjoy.
