Sophisticated family entertainment.

Rating: Null/10 (20 February 2003)

In this day and age, a G-rated film is specifically a children's movie- replete with cute, worldly children, cute talking animals, cute talking aliens, and cute computer animation. "The Rookie" is also rated G, but you'd never know it from its sophisticated script and direction. This is a family friendly autobiography about real people who experience- among other things- divorce, father-son dysfunction, heartbreak, and fulfilling your dream. Those who want to whine about the sentimental edge of the story don't realize that the film is actually more straightforward than usual and hasn't been "Disneyfied" in any way. (This reveals a sad commentary on how cynical we've become about sentiment in general.) "Rookie's" director John Lee Hancock comments on this same phenomenon on the DVD's bonus documentary; while his film has none of the typical overly-cute trappings of a G-rated film, the MPAA rated it as such anyway. It's so smart and witty that it can even spotlight a corps of baseball playing teenagers (these are the film's best scenes) who are more mature and subdued than in most films of this genre. I think it is a winning, sublime, magical little film that can bring a smile to just about anyone's face.