You Gotta Believe is perfect for families - movie review

You Gotta Believe tells the story of a Little League team that's the worst in the league. That may sound somewhat reminiscent of The Bad News Bears, the 1976 award-winning film about a team of misfits, which was remade in 2005 (Bad News Bears). Unlike The Bad News Bears, this movie tells a deeper story and has a much more innocent tone overall. The boys in this film are all loyal friends who have each others' backs. Their friendships and adventures remind me of the Disney live-action movies of the 1960s and '70s.

Although the kids are despondent over being such a lousy team, things change when their manager, Jon Kelly (played by Greg Kinnear), is asked to send them to the Little League World Series. Since Jon mostly sits in the dugout doing paperwork for his legal job and was actually happy when the regular baseball season was over, he pitches the idea to his Westfield coach, Bobby (Luke Wilson), hoping he'll either say no or handle it on his own.

As it turns out, Bobby and his wife (Sarah Gadon) have just been told that Bobby has brain cancer. The doctor says there's a surgery that may help, but Bobby has to get a lot of rest and focus on his recovery. When Jon tells him about the possibility of Westfield going to the Little League World Series, Bobby is so thrilled by the idea of the kids going that Jon decides to step up as coach.

He brings in an expert trainer to get the boys in shape, and a former major league ball player to help with pitching. After a few weeks, the boys are starting to look like a team that may be able to hold its own. Bobby's eldest son, Robert (Michael Cash) is one of the players and he very much wants his dad to be proud of him so he works extra hard on his running and batting.

When the team finds out about Bobby's diagnosis, they get his name embroidered on their caps and dedicate the series to him. Despite his illness, Bobby goes to each and every game, wanting to support the team -- and especially Robert, who's worried when other people start calling Bobby's cancer "terminal."

Michael Cash, the boy playing Robert, is an up-and-coming star. A Broadway veteran, he's already famous for his Instagram stories (@dearmichaelcash) -- plus he's an award-winning dancer, can sing beautifully and acts out goofy skits while being completely charming. His emotional side really shines in this movie as he plays a boy struggling with the fact that he may lose his much beloved father and mentor.  The rest of the boys are stellar as well, many of whom are Canadian, since the film was shot in Ontario -- including Etienne Kellici, who plays Walker Kelly; Nicholas Fry, who plays Scooter Finley; and Joaquin Roberts as Peanut, Robert's little brother.

You Gotta Believe is a film that's perfect for children and families -- it shows a group of boys sharing fun and good-natured insults, and even though the film has a serious side to it, as the team roots for Bobby to make it, it brings them all even closer together. ~Alexandra Heilbron

5 out of 5 stars.

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