Thomas and Niko in the City of Trees by Kid Boise

It's what a coach could only hope for in the children who grow up to be fine adults. Hearing them reminiscing (the movie is set in 1989), talking about the movie, and showing genuine care and respect for their beloved coach and each other. I have to say the reason I'm giving this a '7' is because of the EXCELLENT behind-the-scenes stories where the filmmakers interview the runners from the team, along with the real coach, Jim White, and Kevin Costner all at the same sitting. For Disney, I'm proud of them for taking a racial theme and turning it into a positive story for all involved. But how they pull it off is worth the cinematic journey. What makes this watchable is how true the story is. What follows is fairly standard Disney stuff of our innocent but willing racially-inferior minnows who fight to get better against the racist, elitist killer whales (rich kids) of the other schools. Then Costner sees a kid running a sub-5-minute mile on his way to work in the produce fields with the rest of the population of minority workers in the area. The fish-out-of-water family has a few brushes with the local Mexican population where they think being the only (seemingly) white family in the area is a bad idea and are intending on moving immediately. Because of a mistake in the opening sequence, the coach is fired and lands in a dead-end town in Nowhere'sville, USA - aka McFarland, CA. Basic plot: Costner (Jim White) is a football coach at a reasonably successful high school program. It was a rich assortment of landscapes that mesmerized the visual senses on BluRay. Special recognition to the set designers who created a beautiful location for all the running sequences. What's surprising is the plethora of fabulous performances by the kids and townspeople in this terrific little TRUE story. It's basically 'Bull Durham', 'Draft Day', 'For Love of the Game' all rolled into the same guy. His 'Coach/Manager/Player who has seen it all' character is standard stuff for him.

Okay, Kevin Costner can do this character in his sleep.

Thomas and Niko in the City of Trees by Kid Boise