Shallow, disappointing film adaptation of one of sport's greatest stories

Rating: 5/10 (6 February 2004)

When I first saw the trailer for Disney's "Miracle" last summer, I told myself I'd go and see that film on opening weekend. It is unquestionably a film that deserved to be made. Perhaps, though, it deserved to be made by someone else.
Like Disney's last true story, feel-good sports outing, 2002's "The Rookie," "Miracle" never quite captures the emotion and inspiration it should, given that the story behind the production is a tremendous one in both instances.
Though his performance is praised by those who knew Herb Brooks, the great coach that led this team to their improbable triumph, Kurt Russell struggles as the lead with an underwritten character. That's a theme that would become recurring, almost monotonous, for everyone else. Disney does not give the "characters" (I hesitate to call them as such, since they are real people) any room to breathe, and the story falters greatly at various points. It has a stop-and-go feeling to it, where things apparently just magically happen without the viewer being given the privilege of actually seeing them unfold. At one point, these guys aren't getting along so well. Then, they're starting to play together. And before you know it, we've apparently witnessed the birth of a hockey family after an outsider is brought into the fold.
The only true focus any of the players get goes to Mike Eruzione (Patrick O'Brien Demsey) and goalie Jim Craig (Eddie Cahill), and it is largely undeveloped and unrealized. Both young men were remarkable and inspirational stories in their own right, but neither can seem to really open up in this film. Eruzione goes from nearly being cut to being the captain, with little-to-no visible reason for it. Craig pops up every twenty minutes or so to have an issue with something, reminding us that this guy has some issues he needs to get through. That's really about as far as we ever get into these young men, besides some feats of toughness from Jack O'Callahan (Michael Mantenuto) and Rob McClanahan (Nathan West).
Overall, "Miracle" falls disappointingly short of the glory that the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team brought to a sport and, truly, an entire nation. It's hard to care about the players, as you never truly get to know any of them, or even get to know the team itself. We never get to see Herb Brooks really teaching them the new style of hockey the players adapted to succeed against the Russians and the rest of the world's top teams, and we never get to see exactly when this ragtag bunch of kids really becomes a bona fide team. While we know those things truly happened, and that makes it easy to fill in the blanks, "Miracle," standing alone, does not satisfy.