Sentimentalism at its Finest

Rating: 8/10 (30 December 2013)

This is docudrama based on Jackie Robinson's entry into Major League Baseball. It starts in the spring of 1945 when owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford) decides to bring in the first negro into the league. Jackie (Chadwick Boseman) would be the one, and this movie tells the story up to the end of his rookie season.
This is unabashed sentimentalism. Some subjects deserves and warrants such a treatment. Jackie Robinson is one. His squeaky clean image is maintained here. I like that they used a relative unknown in Boseman. At no time was I thinking that it's Will Smith up there playing Jackie Robinson. Boseman embodied the legendary player. Same can't be said of Branch Rickey. Every time I kept thinking Harrison Ford is playing that character. In the end, he does the job well, and I don't want to complain about that. It's a movie that deserves all the tears and all the cheers. It's a movie that should be seen.