Goal! The Dream Begins
Picture: C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Film: C+
The
commercial film director Danny Cannon (Judge
Dredd) tries to find new hope for his career and some respectability with Goal! The Dream Begins in the tale of a
young man (Kuno Becker) trying to find his way into the big leagues of Soccer,
known overseas as football.
Unfortunately, though the cast is decent and can act, his directing and
screenplay with no less than four writers cannot cohere into a formula-breaking
sports film.
Unfortunately,
Cannon is so busy showing off and trying to appeal to the lowest common
denominator visually that he sabotages the possibility of making this film work
despite script limits. Instead, the film
just drags out and drags out, while the color-drained way the practice moments
are shot are awful and the “Dream” becomes a nightmare. Disney has been trying to own the feel-good
sports film and fared much better with Glory
Road and Miracle. Cannon can forget it.
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image has detail issues, was shot in Super 35
and too often goes for tired monochromatic colors from sepias to blues that are
lame. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is not
so good either, with limited surround use and dialogue that is sometimes subpar
in fidelity. The use of many bad hit
records becomes even more obnoxious.
Extras include filmmaker’s audio commentary, a Music Video for one of
those annoying records, Golden Moments Of The FIFA World Cup segment and two featurettes. For fans only.
- Nicholas Sheffo
