Director:
William Dear
Starring:
Danny Nucci ………. Benny Rodriquez
Luke Perry ………. Tommy Santorelli
Keanu Pires ………. Young Tommy
Sarah Deakins ………. Sara Santorelli
Chauncey Loepardi ………. Squints
Brandon Olds ………. Two Ton
Cole Heppell ………. DP
Kai James ………. Timber
Ryan Drescher ………. Wings
Cainan Wiebe ………. Ryan
Meshach Peters ………. Q
Samuel Patrick Chu ………. Wok
Renzo Carbonel ………. Roll
Alexander Ludwig ………. E.J.
The Movie
In the age of direct-to-DVD movies, we’ve seen this formula many times before in the last few years. Movie companies take a successful and popular film from the 1990’s or early 2000’s and make a sequel to that movie. Almost always these sequels are home video releases and they pale in comparison to the original movie. Somehow, though, these sequels generate enough money that the big movie companies believe that another sequel is in order, which also goes direct-to-DVD. The Sandlot 3: Heading Home is one such sequel.
The film centers on a successful, arrogant baseball superstar named Tommy “Santa” Santorelli (Luke Perry). He happens to be playing on a team that is managed by a fully grown Benny (Danny Nucci), who was the best kid in the original Sandlot movie. One day, Tommy gets hit in the head with a baseball, as fireworks shoot off, and that sends him in a time travel spiral back in time to 1976. It is here where he relives his boyhood days on the sandlot baseball team. Will he choose baseball over glory this time or will things always be the same?
Something that a direct-to-DVD sequel and a theatrical sequel have in common is that they are so far off from the original movie that it often makes the original worse when people view it again. Usually they take elements from the first movie and copy it in the sequel. The sequel to the sequel usually tries to copy what the sequel did, but what ends up as a result is a convoluted mess.
The Sandlot 3: Heading Home basically takes the two kids from the original Sandlot. They are now adults and they barely interact with the new cast of kids in this film. That’s pretty common, though, as they have to somehow connect the second sequel to the original. This film decides to take things one step forward and brings a time travel element to this story. Somehow Tommy gets hit in the head with a baseball and that teleports him back to “The Sandlot” when he was a kid. That’s a stretch, uh, quantum leap, any way you look at it.
Even if you can suspend disbelief and try to follow the main storyline, it doesn’t discount the fact that everyone in the film is just a copy of someone from the original. The kids try hard to make this movie work, and they do an okay job in their roles, but there is just not enough here to make things interesting. The same can be said for Luke Perry, although he is barely in the movie. If there is a positive thing about this movie it’s that you can get a look at some good up-and-coming actors. Keanu Pires especially shines as the young Tommy. Definitely a star on the rise.
What you are ultimately left with is a crazy plot that tries to recapture the magic of the original Sandlot movie. It didn’t work as well in The Sandlot 2 and it works even less in this movie. Some things just shouldn’t be copied. Remember as well that there is a reason why these movies are never shown in theaters and released directly to DVD.
The Video:
The video is presented in 1.33:1 fullscreen color. The video quality is decent enough. No real problems and pretty much in line with other direct-to-DVD releases.
The Audio:
The audio included is available in English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono sound. There are subtitles available in English, Spanish, and French as well. No music to speak of, no catchy pop tunes; the same could be said about the dialogue. But everything is clear and concise. No problems.
The Extras:
For the Love of the Game: Sharing Memories with “Goose” Gossage–
This is an interview with former Major League Baseball relief players. Goose talks about his history in baseball from the “sandlot” ball to professional baseball. Fairly interesting feature.
“Keanu & Ludwig’s Double Play” Featurette –
These two kids are basically the captains of rival baseball teams in the movie. They try to be funny and I’m sure boys of their same age will enjoy seeing them act crazy on the sets of this movie. Nothing really gets said, though, of note.
Director’s Video Diary –
The director gives you a short “behind-the-scenes” tour as the movie gets made. Nothing that special really, though.
Deleted Scene –
You get one deleted scene and it’s young Tommy talking to his mom. Doesn’t add anything to the movie at all.
Bloopers –
Pretty obvious that this is all of the bloopers, mistakes, and pranks that occurred when everyone was making this movie. Just like everything else, it’s a little short.
Cal Ripken’s Play Baseball Instructional Demo –
This is actually better than the movie as it’s informative. Cal Ripken and some other guy take you through various drills and fundamentals of baseball.
Image Gallery –
Just what it says. These are pictures from the movie.
I can’t recommend adding this to your collection. Even hardcore fans of the original Sandlot will probably only want to rent it, then again. You won’t be missing a whole lot, if you decide to skip this movie all together.
The Sandlot 3: Heading Home |
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