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By:

Twelve

Family / Sports
2019 / 92 minutes
RATING: 7/10

Kyle Cooke is an 11-year-old baseball prodigy who’s always the best kid on the field. When he gets cut from an all-star team – the coach picks his own kids instead of the best kids – his already impressive work ethic goes into overdrive. Kyle is going to make his next season the best ever, so he can take whatever team he’s on all the way to the 12-year-olds’ World Series.

That sums up both what’s great about Twelve and what’s wonky with it too. If you have kids who aren’t overly obsessed with sports then showing them a film about a 12-year-old who lives, sleeps, and breathes his sport could be a good bit of inspiration. If they really want to make their high school basketball team, or get onto the junior high cross-country team, then they need to put in the work. They could do with being more like Kyle.

But Kyle, and his dad too, are quite a bit too invested in baseball. The saving grace is that theirs is a love-of-the-game kind of obsession and not a win-at-any-costs kind of thing. The dad proves he’s too into baseball when he lets his generally solid sportsmanship slip after his son gets cut unfairly from the all-star team. And Kyle shows he’s too obsessed in that his life doesn’t have anything else to it but baseball. That said, he is respectful to coaches and to his dad. And even though he is by far the best player on his new team, he doesn’t have an inflated ego around his teammates.

So, the pluses are some fun training montages, cute interactions between him and his big brother (and his big brother’s girlfriend, who is rooting for him), lots of drive and determination, and a fairly low tension level, which might be nice for the 10-12 year-old target audience – there’s never really any doubt that Kyle is going to go all the way.

Cautions

The most notable negative is, again, just how seriously this family takes baseball, getting pretty close to a substitute religion, moderated only by the fact that the two boys aren’t obsessed with winning (Kyle is super confident he will win, but he doesn’t get all stressed out about it).

Language concerns are minor: Kyle’s brother “X” almost says a bad word, starting off with “bullsh…” before ending on a better note with “….shoes.” Dad does it once too.

Oh, and if you try to stream this, beware of the 2010 film of the same name which is about drugs, not sports.

Conclusion

The consensus in our house rated Twelve a solid 7. The one holdout didn’t like the abrupt ending and dropped her initial 10 all the way down to a 0 – she wanted a little bit longer with these characters, but the final credits start just a couple of minutes after the climax. So, take that for what you will.

If you’re looking for sports flick with some good camaraderie, and not too much of an edge, this will fit the bill… as long as your kids aren’t as sports-obsessed as Kyle. Check out the trailer below for a good overview of the admirable and the obsessive.

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Family, Movie Reviews

Going to the Mat

Family / Drama 2004 / 92 minutes Rating: 8/10 Jace Newfield is the "new kid" and he's blind, but what's causing him the most difficulties is his snark. He used to live in New York City but his dad's new job means now they have to live in the podunks of Utah. So, on his first day the first thing this big city kid does is alienate all his classmates by joking that they're backcountry hicks. He digs himself under even deeper with an attention-seeking drum solo that doesn't impress his music teacher, Mr. Wyatt. Fortunately there are a couple of kids willing to overlook his rough start. Vincent "Fly" Shue tells him the only way to fit in is to be a jock, so Jace decides to try out for the wrestling team... corralling the lightweight Fly to join up too. Jace discovers that in wrestling blind athletes can wrestle against the sighted. The only concession given is that the two athletes start with a hand on each other. Jace isn't the biggest guy, and a total newcomer to the sport, but this is the chance for him to be just an athlete, rather than "that blind guy." Sports movies are predictable so no one will be surprised to see Jace losing in the early going, and (I don't think this is giving too much away) triumphing, at least in part, in the epic slow-motion finale. But this does have a few fresh twists to keep it interesting. Cautions The only caution concerns how children might misunderstand the moral to this story. Jace proves he can excel on the wrestling mats, so kids might think that's how he's proven he's just as valuable as anyone else. However, that's a worldly idea – that it's what we do that makes us valuable – and it is a dangerous idea. This is the idea behind the devaluation of the unborn: the world says they are worth less than you or me because they can't do what we can: they don't have a heartbeat yet, and can't survive on their own. This "able-ism" is the basis for euthanasia too, which is kept from the able-bodied, but offered up to the disabled and elderly who are valued less because they can do less. Christians need to share that our worth comes not from our abilities, but from our Maker. We are all valuable, because we are all made in the very Image of God (Gen. 1:27, 9:6). So our kids need to hear that Jace would be valuable whether he could wrestle or not. Conclusion This is a 1990s Disney channel TV movie, so I was only hoping for a family-friendly sports story. I was pleasantly surprised to get a lot more. The acting is solid, and the sighted Andrew Lawrence does a convincing job playing Jace. Wayne Brady, as Mr. Wyatt, is a sympathetic but hard-nosed mentor, who gives Jace the kick in the butt he needs. It's sweet, surprising in spots, and solid throughout: this is a fun film. I couldn't find a trailer, but these clips give a pretty accurate feel for it. ...