Everyone's Hero

Everyone's Hero is a 2006 American computer-animated sports comedy film directed by Christopher Reeve (in his final directed film after his death in 2004), Daniel St. Pierre, and Colin Brady. Starring the voices of Jake T. Austin, Rob Reiner, William H. Macy, Raven-Symoné and Whoopi Goldberg, 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 $16.6 million on a $35 million budget, becoming a box-office bomb. It also marked the final film for Dana Reeve before her death in March 2006, six months before the release of the film, and it was dedicated to her and her husband, Christopher Reeve, who directed the film.

Everyone's Hero
Theatrical release poster
Directed by
Screenplay by
  • Robert Kurtz
  • Jeff Hand
Story byHoward Jonas
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography
  • Jan Carlee
  • Andy Wang
Edited byJohn Bryant
Music byJohn Debney
Production
company
Distributed by20th Century Fox[1]
Release date
  • September 15, 2006 (2006-09-15)
Running time
87 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States[1]
LanguageEnglish
Budget$35 million[2]
Box office$16.6 million[3]

Plot

In 1932 New York City during the Great Depression, Yankee Irving is a 10-year-old baseball fan but is picked on by the other kids for his poor skills. On that day, he finds a talking baseball he names Screwie, though other people can't hear him. Yankee's father, Stanley, works as a custodian at Yankee Stadium. While the two are on the premises, a thief disguised as a security guard steals Babe Ruth's famous bat Darlin'. Stanley is falsely blamed and is temporarily dismissed until Darlin' can be found. Stanley foolishly blames Yankee for being alone in the locker room and setting him up. Stanley grounds him and sends him to his room, but the real thief is revealed to be Lefty Maginnis, a cheating pitcher for the Chicago Cubs. Lefty 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 and being out on the streets, Yankee goes to the train station and takes it from Lefty, but fails to get off before the train takes them to another stop. Darlin’ the bat also has the ability to talk and urges Yankee to take her back to Babe Ruth in Chicago, where the next World Series game will be held. During the trip, Maginnis attempts to steal the bat from Yankee during a wild chase. Yankee decides to return Darlin’ to Babe Ruth and thereby clear his father's name and save his job. Meanwhile, Stanley (who is now regretting being too hard on him) and Emily (who is worried sick about her missing son) start searching for their son after discovering that he left home. Yankee meets others who help him in his quest such as hobos Andy, Louis, and Jack, a girl named Marti Brewster, her father, a Negro league pitcher named Lonnie Brewster, who helps him drive to Chicago and teaches Yankee to set his feet right while batting, and Babe Ruth himself. Lefty steals Darlin and gives her to Cross, who kidnaps Yankee. During the game, Cross traps Yankee inside the office and reveals his plans to him.

After Yankee escapes the office, he evades several security guards and finally gives Darlin’ back to Babe. Cross tries to talk Babe out of accepting the victory, saying that Yankee is too young to be a counting player. Despite this, Babe gives Yankee a confidence boost by telling him it's not the bat, it's the batter. Yankee manages to hit Screwie after two strikes. While the numerous Cubs players tried to tag Yankee out, he dodges and trips them. Lefty tries to make his last attempt to tag him out, but Yankee manages to outsmart him by jumping over him (as payback for getting both him and Stanley in trouble) and landing on home plate, scoring a run. This restores the morale of the Yankees, who score seven more runs to take the lead and win the World Series.

The revelation of Darlin's theft leads to the arrest of Cross, who says that Yankee was a fan that cheated. When his involvement as an accomplice and as a cheater is also revealed, Lefty is kicked off the team and also arrested. Stanley apologizes to Yankee for being too hard on him early & congratulates him for being the best player, while his name is cleared and officially reinstated as the stadium's custodian. Yankee, his parents, and his new baseball friends, Screwie and Darlin', celebrate the Yankees’ World Series win in a victory parade where he becomes an honorary player while Cross is handing out the Babe Ruth bobbleheads with Maginnis sweeping the streets as part of their work release. Yankee happily plays catch with Screwie and the hobos' dog as the movie ends.

Voice cast
  • Jake T. Austin as Yankee Irving; a young 10-year-old boy who dreams of being a baseball player, looks up to his idol Babe Ruth, who saves his dashing and beautiful baseball bat, Darlin'.
  • Rob Reiner as Screwie; a sarcastic, wisecracking talking baseball who bickers with his counterpart, Darlin'.
  • Whoopi Goldberg as Darlin'; a loyal-but-egotistical talking baseball bat owned by Babe Ruth, Babe and Darlin' are inseparable, Babe takes her anywhere he goes, and will protect her at any costs. Darlin' loves her owner and feels safe around him.
  • Robin Williams (uncredited) as Napoleon Cross; the corrupt general manager of the Chicago Cubs and Lefty's boss.
  • William H. Macy as Lefty Maginnis; a cheating baseball pitcher who is sent by Napoleon Cross to try and steal Babe's bat, Darlin', and attempts revenge against Yankee for giving her to Babe.
  • Brian Dennehy as Babe Ruth; the famous New York Yankees baseball player
  • Raven-Symoné as Marti Brewster; Lonnie and Rosetta's daughter
  • Mandy Patinkin as Stanley Irving; Yankee's father and the custodian at Yankee Stadium
  • Forest Whitaker as Lonnie "The Rooster" Brewster; an African American king of the curve ball, who is the star pitcher for the Cincinnati Tigers and the father of Marti and the husband of Rosetta
  • Dana Reeve as Emily Irving; Yankee's mother
  • Robert Wagner as Mr. Robinson, the general manager of the New York Yankees and Stanley's boss
  • Richard Kind as Hobo Andy / Maitre'D
  • Joe Torre as New York Yankees manager
  • Cherise Booth as Rosetta Brewster, Lonnie's wife and Marti's mother
  • Ritchie Allen as Officer Bryant
  • Jason Harris Katz (credited as Jason Harris) as Announcer
  • Ed Helms as Hobo Louie
  • Ray Iannicelli as Conductors/Umpire
  • Gideon Jacobs as Bully Kid Tubby
  • Marcus Maurice as Willie
  • Will Reeve as Big Kid
  • Ron Tippe as Hobo Jack
  • Jesse Bronstein as Sandlot Kid #1
  • Ralph Coppola as Sandlot Kid #2
  • Conor White as Bully Kid Arnold

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.[4] The movie premiered on Disney+ on 7 May 2021, in Canada and the United States; prior to then it was available from launch on HBO Max.

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.[5]

Critical reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 42% of 69 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.1/10. The website's 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."[6] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 51 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[7] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale.[8]

Jack Matthews of the New York Daily News wrote, "Whoever wanders into the theater should leave a winner".[9] L.A. Weekly called the themes "fairly pro forma" and cited the film's "antique Rockwellian look" as "its greatest pleasure".[10] 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.[11]

The Austin Chronicle primarily criticized Everyone's Hero for focusing too much on sentimentality over entertaining moments.[12] 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 [don't help]."[13] Screwie and Darlin were bashed on in a review by The Washington Post's Stephen Hunter, panning their inability to "move or express emotion;"[14] and Slant Magazine's Ed Gonzalez disliked the lack of reasoning for anthropomorphic baseball gear for being "random."[15] 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,[14][16] with Gonzalez even calling the Great Depression setting "nonexistent."[15]

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."[17] 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."[18] 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."[16] MaryAnn Johanson similarly spotlighted the "sweet gentleness" and "can-do-it-iveness" that made its otherwise typical children's film plot stand out.[19] Time Out London applauded the characters, especially Screwie, which recouped for its "lacking" amount of tension.[20]

The visuals garnered a mixed response,[12] Robinson calling the animation "bland" and "generic"[13] and Leydon "herky-jerky."[17] 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."[18] Hunter acclaimed the animation as "quite advanced, bringing emotional subtleties, vivid eye dilations and expressions and complex movements to exceptional life";[14] while Moore opined "the animated people look plastic, but the backdrops are pretty, and the slapstick bits are a 'stitch'."[16]

The voice acting was praised.[17][16]

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.

Upon its launch in May 2020, the movie was available to stream on HBO Max as part of a longtime distribution deal the HBO network had made with Fox; the deal was still enacted even after the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney, which had its own streaming service, Disney+. However, on May 7, 2021, the film had moved from HBO Max to Disney+, though it's since been removed from the latter service as of September 2021 in the United States, but still available internationally.

Soundtrack
Everyone's Hero: Music from the Motion Picture
Soundtrack album by
Various Artists
Released2006[21]
GenreFilm soundtrack
Length38:28
Label

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.

No.TitlePerformer(s)Length
1."The Best"John Ondrasik3:49
2."Keep On Swinging"Brooks & Dunn4:12
3."Dream Like New York"Tyrone Wells3:44
4."Chicago (That Toddling Town)"Chris Botti featuring Lyle Lovett2:16
5."The Best Day of My Life"Jon Randall featuring Jessi Alexander3:13
6."Keep Your Eye on the Ball"Raven-Symoné2:27
7."What You Do"Wyclef Jean3:12
8."Swing It"Brooks & Dunn3:34
9."Take Me Out to the Ballgame"Lonestar2:43
10."The Bug"Mary Chapin Carpenter3:48
11."The Tigers"John Debney featuring Paris Bennett1:46
12."At Bat"Debney3:44
Total length:38:28

See also

References
  1. "Everyone's Hero". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Archived from the original on June 14, 2017. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
  2. "Everyone's Hero (2006)". Archived from the original on August 9, 2020. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
  3. Everyone's Hero at Box Office Mojo
  4. "Everyone's Hero Blu-ray". Blu-ray.com. Archived from the original on April 7, 2015. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
  5. "Everyone's Hero (2006)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on December 25, 2011. Retrieved July 26, 2011.
  6. "Everyone's Hero". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved May 28, 2022.
  7. "Everyone's Hero". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved May 28, 2022.
  8. "Cinemascore :: Movie Title Search". CinemaScore. Archived from the original on August 9, 2019. Retrieved August 9, 2019.
  9. Matthews, Jack (September 15, 2006). "'HERO'A BIG-LEAGUE HIT". New York Daily News. Archived from the original on April 23, 2023. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
  10. "Film Reviews". L.A. Weekly. September 13, 2006. Archived from the original on March 27, 2019. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
  11. Kirschling, Gregory (September 13, 2006). "Everyone's Hero". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on December 3, 2017. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
  12. Clark, Brian (September 22, 2006). "Everyone's Hero". The Austin Chronicle. Archived from the original on October 19, 2006. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  13. Robinson, Tasha (September 15, 2006). "Everyone's Hero". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on November 24, 2019. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  14. Hunter, Stephen (September 15, 2006). "Strictly Bush League". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on April 2, 2021. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  15. Gonzalez, Ed (August 26, 2006). "Review: Everyone's Hero". Slant Magazine. Archived from the original on March 17, 2020. Retrieved March 17, 2020.
  16. Moore, Roger (September 15, 2006). "Heart saves 'Hero' from being a zero". Orlando Sentinel. Archived from the original on April 14, 2021. Retrieved March 17, 2020.
  17. Leydon, Joe (September 14, 2006). "Everyone's Hero". Variety. Archived from the original on August 11, 2021. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  18. Lewis, Manny (September 15, 2006). "Baseball 'Hero' should play well with the kids". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Archived from the original on November 25, 2006. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  19. Johanson, Maryann (September 14, 2006). "Seen It All Before? See Everyone's Hero 'Again' Anyway". MTV News. Archived from the original on March 19, 2020. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
  20. "Everyone's Hero". Time Out London. September 14, 2006. Archived from the original on March 18, 2020. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
  21. "Amazon.com: Everyone's Hero (Motion Picture Soundtrack): Everyone's Hero Music From The Motion Picture: Music". amazon.com. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
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