Overrated and overhyped

Best movie ever!

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Folks, There is only one group of people who will truly enjoy and think this is a great film-the group who it was intended for: those of us who were in our pre-teens or early teens who saw this when it first came out in the Summer of 1977.The tale is pretty much the kind of thing that every red-blooded American boy of that age would dream about. The little leaguers fire their tyrannical coach and "borrow" a van to play at a little league championship in Houston. To avoid spoiling it, I'll just say that this deals with their adventures along the way and the results. A "Huckleberry Finn" of the 1970s, to be generous.The overprotective parents and PC squads of today would have heart attacks at the scenes of the kids' foul language, cigarette smoking, chasing a grown woman, committing grand theft auto, and swiping Playboy magazines. But most of us who saw it at the time knew that this was over -the top and didn't take it that seriously.Yeah, an adult viewer would agree that the story, writing, and acting are atrocious. But this wasn't intended to be Shakespeare. See it with a 13 year old mind and trust me, you'll "get it." For those of us who saw this as 13 year olds in 1977, leave your brains at the door and enjoy the nostalgia and the theme song "Looking Good." To everyone else-you've been warned!

"The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training" (which should've just been called "The Bad News Bears 2" takes off a year after the first one. The boys led by Kelly Leak (Jackie Earle Haley) jump into a stolen van and drive from Southern California to Houston Texas to play against the reigning Little League Baseball Champs, The Toros. I love how most of the boys returned and that it is a worthy sequel. I also like the subplot with Kelly and his father, Mike (William Devane), showing why Kelly was so bad to begin with. Things that did make me mad about this film is the disappearance of Walter Matthau and Tatum O'Neal, if they were in this film, it would've been good, and Kelly's Dad could've been the co-coach. Kelly and Tatum also could've had a little romance blossom in this one. And the only other thing I didn't like is why Timmy Lupus is in the film, but for a maximum of three minutes! But you gotta love Tanner Boyle, Ahmad Abdul Rahim, and smart whiz Ogilvie. Jimmy Baio's Carmen Ronzanni I could've did without, but he was good towards the end. I recommend this for all "Bad News Bears" Fans.

The subject is a reference to my review of the original (The "Mighty F***s"). There's no getting around it: this movie SUCKS.It would have been okay if they did this as a separate movie, and it might have found a home on cable, but to piggyback it onto one of the best films of all time was a disgrace.No Matthau and O'Neal? Are they KIDDING? What made the original work was those two great actors taking a great script and making it even greater. This movie reminds me of watching the Chicago Bulls after Jordan retired and Pippen moved on; the supporting cast was fine when they were letting the two heavyweights shine, but on their own they were as bad as those "Baby Bulls." Do we really need to know Kelly Leak's backstory? Bill Devane as his father was a miscast, but it was hard to notice because the entire cast stunk. The plot -- they are playing for the national little-league championship -- is also far-fetched, since the Bears were about having fun rather than winning, and you can only go so far on Kelly Leak's back.I wish I could say I remember more about the plot, but most of it was about how the Bears had to navigate their way to Texas without adult supervision (creating tons of complications whenever they needed to be of age for something), and it becomes painfully obvious in this film why Jack Earl Haley is a competent #3 guy in a movie, he is no Jordan or Pippen on the screen.Calling this movie a sequel is a bit of a stretch as well, as the characters, the plot, and the movie as a whole bears little if any resemblance to the original. Matthau is probably still turning over in his grave at what they did to this movie, and I'm sure Vic Morrow has done the same.A movie as strong as the original deserved a much better continuation than this one, and it could have been done.

There's a showbiz rule that you should never work with children or animals . Michael Jackson didn't heed this advice and now look at him , so why on earth did someone think a baseball movie featuring a bunch of kids would be a hit ? It's not just any bunch of kids , no siree it's a Jewish kid , it's a black kid , it's a really fat kid , it's small but gutsy kid etc who are all annoying as can be If they'd remained a bunch of stereotypes and cyphers it would have been bad enough but someone somewhere decided to stick the knife into the audience by casting a bunch of ( Not very good ) child actors who obviously attend a ( Not very good ) stage school . You might be interested though not shocked to know that the only actor in BAD NEWS BEARS IN BREAKING TRAINING who has had regular employment since is William Devane and he was 37 years old when this movie was released There's another problem and that's a heart tugging family sub plot where we see the crap hair style kid spouting lines like " I remember being five years old and you gave me a bike . I didn't want a bike - I wanted a father " I'm telling you what this kid really needs is some acting lessons . Something else is the suggestion that if people chant " LET THEM PLAY " at a sports arena people will get what they want . I'm sorry but we don't live in a democracy . Don't believe me ? then go to the republican party convention and chant " WE WANT JOHN McCAIN " then go to the Democrat party convention and chant " WE WANT RON KOVIC " and see what happens Add to all this mush poor directing where everything seems to be framed in medium shot and strange cinematography where primary colours dominate the screen and you've got a movie that rates two out of ten