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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: 20th Century Fox
Salesrank: 127990
Released: July 10, 2007 |
| Our Price: $1.95 |
| Used Price: $1.98 |
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MPAA Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
It's the early 1960s and fifth-grader Scotty Smalls (Tom Guiry) has just moved into town with his folks (Karen Allen and Denis Leary). Kids call him a dorkâ?"he can't even throw a baseball! But that changes when the leader of the neighborhood gang recruits him to play on the nearby sandlot field. It's the beginning of a magical summer of baseball, wild adventures, first kisses, and fearsome confrontations with the dreaded Beast and its owner (James Earl Jones) who live behind the left field fence. Soon nine boys have become best friends, Scotty is part of a team, and their leader has become a local legend in this hilarious and warmhearted comedy.
Description of The Sandlot (Follow Along DVD):
When egghead Scotty Smalls moves to town just before the summer vacation of 1962, his first priority is to make friends. He heads to the nearby sandlot only to humiliate himself before the local kids, but star player Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez befriends the awkward boy, teaches him the basics of baseball, and welcomes him to the team. It's a summer filled with camaraderie and fun until Smalls hits his first home run. Problem is, Smalls's home run sends his stepfather's "Babe Ruth" autographed baseball into a neighboring yard that's patrolled by a snarling, slobbering monster called "The Beast." Creativity reigns and hilarity ensues when the boys risk everything to retrieve the ball. A final heroic encounter with "The Beast" and his owner yields some very surprising results. Action, humor, and friendship permeate this 101-minute film appropriate for ages 5 and older. Rated PG due to name-calling and some pubescent behavior. --Tami Horiuchi
The Sandlot (Follow Along DVD) Reviews:
Stand By Me? 
2009-12-18 - I can understand why this is a likable film, but did anyone draw parallels to Rob Reiner's far superior "Stand By Me" from 1986?
One of my all time favorite movies! Brings back boyhood memories. 
2009-12-03 - This movie is essentially me and my friends growing up in the early 70s. Just like the Bad News Bears, while baseball is center which both stories evolve around, it's about more than that. It's about growing up, innocence of youth, and summer's spent when the only concerns about the future is when school starts again. Like the main cast members, every day we waited for who would start the chain of calls to wake everyone up to play ball at the nearby grade school lot. And with some variations, we spent the time not playing ball doing the same exact things these guys do. This movie is about love of baseball, and why so many cling to it: in addition to the love of the sport, it's the memories the sport evokes for many who played it. Until current times when organized leagues are everywhere and year round training facilities abound, the main memories baseball centered around was our summer vacations, our last years of innocence with no worries or obligations that adulthood would soon bring, whether we liked it or not. Which is kind of the synopsis that "Smalls," the movies main character, makes at the movies end as an adult. How things changed as time move on, but how "that" summer will always be the best. Any 40something or older can fully relate to that sentiment. Which is why I think the viewers' age proportion is widely spread. A fabulous movie to watch w/ younger kids, as it has some great, subtle common sensities sprinkled throughout the movie.
Cuss words WAY beyond "family feature" 
2009-11-16 - This is absolutely a great movie. But I cannot be the only parent who was horrified to find I was showing my three boys a movie that is filled with cuss words. Maybe you are ok with a "family feature" in which s--t is used half a dozen times. But not everyone is, and parents need to be aware that this movie goes beyond the d--n and son of a b---- norm for PG. If a "edited for tv" version of this existed I'd recommend it to anyone. But can you imagine how many grandparents pick up this "family classic" for their little grandsons, having no idea that their little boys are about to sit through six or eight "s--t"s and almost as many "son of a b----"s? I'm not a prude when it comes to adults' movies. And if parents are fine with their kids hearing these words in a movie, fine. But for anyone who is concerned about this, it is amazing how rarely you'll find any kind of notice attached to this movie. Parents, and grandparents, ought to be able to make an informed decision.
The Sandlot - Fun, and happy
2009-09-24 - Found this by accident and loved it. Purchased multiple copies to share with family members. I loved the film and it's one you can enjoy viewing again and again. Alot of fun. This is a sandlot baseball movie, so any baseball fan will enjoy this flick. It's set in Los Angeles, 1962. Guys might also like seeing the old cars. Smalls' family car was identical in appearance to one of my Dad's cars, down to the color and body type.
Plot is about a geekish kid Scott Smalls who moves into the neighborhood with his mom and stepdad. Like "The Wonder Years", Scott, as adult, is narrating as the film progresses. The kid is brilliant, but totally inept and clueless about baseball. He and his mom get the stepdad to help him learn how to throw and catch a baseball, but it doesn't work. Then this "Benny" who is the head guy on the sandlot group takes him under his wing. Then, Scott borrows his stepdad's prized display baseball that was signed by Babe Ruth and somebody knocks it over the fence into a yard guarded by this huge Mastiff known as "The Beast". A bit of the film goes into efforts to retrieve the prized baseball.
I don't want to go further and ruin it, but it's a nice, nice movie with an ending you'll love.
Also, PG-13 rating is probably undeserved, as I saw nothing that would be objectionable to younger kids.
Reminded me of "Our Gang" and "The Wonder Years". The kids in the film were great.
I don't know if I should mention that info is on [...] but these sites may contain spoilers.
A family film that really will appeal to the whole family.
2009-04-22 - On the front cover of the DVD, 20th Century Fox has labeled this movie as a 'family feature', and it truly is one. After all, males and females of all ages love baseball, and people young and old can relate to the kids in this movie. Also, you don't have to be a baseball fan to enjoy this movie. You just have to appreciate a time in the early 60s when children had fun doing different things. The Sandlot was released over 15 years ago, so I think it's safe to say that it's a classic. For those reading this who are not familiar with it, however, allow me to summarize the plot. Shy fifth-grader Scotty Smalls is the new kid in a suburban town in the summer of 1962, who has a hard time making friends, but is eventually allowed to join a group of kids who play baseball all day, every day. They never choose teams or keep score; they just play and have fun. However, they also visit the public swimming pool, enjoy the 4th of July, and even try chewing tobacco like the pros. One night, after a ball goes over the left field fence, they have a campout in a treehouse, where Smalls is told the legend of the beastly dog that lives behind that fence. Needless to say, when a ball signed by Babe Ruth belonging to Smalls' step-father accidentally goes over, he is in deep trouble. Luckily for Smalls, his step-father is away on a business trip, allowing the boys time to try to get it back, with hilarious results. Overall, The Sandlot is a great movie, but the DVD doesn't offer much in the way of bonus features. The one main extra is a brief promotional featurette in which the cast and crew describe the plot and share their comments on it. There are also some theatrical trailers and TV spots. The movie is good enough, however, that it doesn't need many extras to be worth buying. In fact, Siskel and Ebert gave it two thumbs up, calling it "a charming and whimsical comedy".
