A better story than a movie

Rating: 6/10 (16 January 2018)

As a family movie about sports, history, and civil rights, this film works. It is hard NOT to be compelling with this story, after all. Almost every single powerful moment or conversation actually happened. Jackie Robinson's journey was indeed epic. But there are some pretty serious flaws too. Flaw 1: Harrison Ford's attempted impersonation of Branch Rickey is super-distracting, especially because the director seems to agree with Ford that this movie is about him. Flaw 2: this feels like a Disney-fied version of history at points...too many touching changes of heart and a hero that feels a bit too perfect. So you end up with a great story and a just ok movie. Too bad, but not bad either.