The Rookie: Critic Reviews

John Lee Hancock handles this Disney production with at least some taste and skill.

What saves it is Dennis Quaid, a fine and generally underrated actor who plays a real-life small-town Texas high-school science teacher and baseball coach who fulfills his dream of pitching in the big leagues.

You can see why the filmmakers optioned the story from a Sports Illustrated article: It just works.

All the uplift could easily get cloying, but director John Lee Hancock knows how to keep things in control, and the whole is surprisingly satisfying.

A sports film with feel-happy appeal for all, regardless of age or interest.

Hancock's heartfelt movie scores a solid hit.

Sweet and engaging despite some flaws.

In one of his greatest performances, Dennis Quaid puts nasty velocity and wicked movement on his delivery. A patient, emotionally honest sports film about resurrecting a dream and investing all you never knew you had.

It spreads the inspirational butter thicker than the diamond action and buries the school team beneath Morris' quest for a new career, but develops a lyrical sense of what it's like to resurrect self-worth and chase one's dreams.

Earnest to the point of blandness.

The Rookie is one of those rare, wonderful 'formula' films that ... favors understatement over exaggeration, subtlety over sentimentality.

I would almost rather have seen an A&E biography than a concocted Hollywood parable of unrealized dreams.

A fine example of heartwarming real-life drama, with performances that ring true and some terrific moments that befit a classic American Dream story.

My all-time favorite baseball movie.

If they gave an Oscar for Best Performance in a Mediocre Movie, Dennis Quaid should already be clearing his mantelpiece.

It shows us that things may not be like they used to, but we can still enjoy the celebration of things past.

Baseball season is here, folks, and The Rookie is a good opening day experience.

Sem apelar para o melodrama, o filme (baseado em uma historia real) emociona e inspira o espectador.

Credit to the actors for still making it such a heartwarming affair, but like its leading character, The Rookie had the potential to be so much more.

...Quaid proves that this is the sort of role he was born to play.

Lovers of the genre will be surprisingly entertained. You know who you are.

...This is a great story everyone should get a chance to see-a good family movie about someone achieving his dream.

The strong and silent naturalistic performance of Dennis Quaid scores a strikeout.

Despite the inherently moving story and the respectable work of director John Lee Hancock and the cast, something remains absent throughout the entire film: a certain sense of verve and personality.

The Rookie camina con los pasos no de una estrella, no de un campeon, sino de un simple ser humano que escucha la ultima llamada a escena, el ultimo aviso del destino y pese a tener las apuestas en contra, decide tomarlo