Ten9Eight: Shoot for the Moon: Critic Reviews

It's the type of film you might expect to see at a fund-raising dinner or a convention banquet, not in a commercial theater. That said, it's a very well-made piece of boosterism.

Whether it's credulity or audience cynicism, Ten9Eight: Shoot for the Moon has a problem, and good vibrations won't solve it.

Less a documentary than a relentlessly upbeat nonprofit infomercial...

Spending more observational time with her smart, resilient and stirringly positive subjects -- even seeing less-edited footage of their business plan speeches -- might have helped sell her inspirational story.

Docu features teen CEOs beating poverty, drugs, violence.

Mazzio feels the beating heart of the striver and, as a result, Ten9Eight: Shoot for the Moon never drags, even as it offers an important message to audiences.

Showcases entrepreneurs even Michael Moore would celebrate - high school kids with really great ideas like cake on a stick!

A nice story with no rough edges and little of the proper context. Fine viewing for high school business class but nothing more.

It's all very uplifting. It might even move some youngsters to start their own businesses.

This may be an admirable competition, but that doesn't make this movie less self-serving.

Ten9Eight will induce shivers of excitement in free-market proponents who get off on watching ambitious, money-minded young people pull themselves up by their bootstraps and set out to become future titans of industry.

There's no build-up or suspense leading to the final showdown, and the details of the projects fly by without registering.

Director Mary Mazzio's film, part documentary and part public-service announcement ... may prompt a discussion of totally revamping standard curriculum.