The Sandlot 2 (2005)

A Masterpiece!

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Yes it's far too similar to the first, but the storyline is far more appealing. The group of kids is more realistic and diverse in a small town, which are the kids who would be playing at a sandlot. Instead of them being the only kids who play baseball, there is also I more superficial team who are their rivals, that play on a real team. In any small town, sports are the main priority, but you don't have to be self absorbed to be a part of it., which is why they seclude themselves from that. Which is where a lot of people throw bad reviews come in. These are the kids who aren't. They're playing for the love of the sport not because they're good at it or have been placed into it by their parents. I think anyone from a small town realizes this and embraces this movie because of that reason. The characters are great, and nothing is over bearing. Just diverse, and not typical. In my opinion it was a lot better than the first. It just really means a lot to me coming from a small town and not being one of the typical, it just makes a lot more sense; honestly.

This film carried the burden of following up an American classic in the original, therefore being set up to be considered a disappointment by those (read: everyone/non-terrorists) who enjoyed the first. What saved The Sandlot 2 from being a complete disaster was a magnificent performance by the delightful Samantha Burton. Throughout the 97 minutes, Hayley Goodfairer will have you laughing, crying, before leaving you with a newfound belief in love with a kiss so passionate it rivals (dare I say surpasses?) the iconic kiss shared by the Notebook's Allie and Noah amidst the pouring rain. It was one of those once-in-a-generation performances where an actress puts the entire cast and crew on her shoulders and says "I will NOT let this movie suck!" Her ability to take a bunch of no-name actors and save them from the mediocrity that is their own talent (or lack thereof) when it is all said and done may go down as the single greatest cinematographic accomplishment since the invention of the moving picture. If she can stay away from the failings that often do in child stars, drugs, alcohol, hipsters with man-buns, I can say with as much certainty as I can say that I am going to die one day, that Samantha Burton will have won 15+ Oscars by the time it is all said and done.

I grew up on the first Sandlot and you know what? THEY SHOULD HAVE LEFT IT ALONE! The Sandlot is a fantastic movie(one of my top favorites) and it has been by itself for 12 years and now they have to go and make one of the world's worst TV movies for its sequel. Where should I begin? 1) THE PLOT IS EXACTLY THE SAME AS THE FIRST ONE! Group of kids lose something over the fence and spend their summer trying to come up with a clever plan to retrieve it because of some unknown "monster" on the other side. Also the feud between the rookie team and the league team. "You play ball like a girl!" That entire scene was exactly the same as in the original. Exactly the same...2) CHARACTERS ARE BASICALLY THE SAME! One baseball hot-shot, a fat kid, one black kid, two brothers, Smalls (Scott Smalls younger half-brother) and they did mix it up a little bit, they threw in three girls who play softball. They only decided to give these characters different names. Like in the original, the dog was called "The Beast" and in this movie the dog is called "The Great Fear." What is that? 3) NOBODY IN THIS MOVIE COULD ACT! With the exception of James Earl Jones of course, he was awesome as he always is. I'm still trying to figure out why in the world he would take this role...This movie is just plain insulting to anyone who has seen and has fallen in love with the 1993 movie "The Sandlot" because how they have basically taken every single scene and twisted it to fit the 70's. I'm afraid to even think about what "The Sandlot 3" is going to be about...I give this 1/10 stars because that is as low as the scale goes.

First off, I want to say that I saw the original Sandlot when I was five or six. I'm 14 now, and I still love it. When I hear it's going to be on TV, I get my TiVo ready and watch it.I wouldn't say this was a horrible movie. Most people didn't feel like giving it a chance, but I was bored one day when it was on ABC Family, so I watched it and gave it a chance.The acting isn't extremely good and the storyline is extremely predictable, but the story was good enough to keep me interested until the end.It had some good lines and some likable characters, and it brought me back to my sixth grade days somehow. Sixth grade was a time of innocence, back when you would go to your friends' houses and say: "Can you come out and play?", which is what this movie demonstrated to me.David Durango (Max Lloyd-Jones) and Hayley Goodfairer (Samantha Burton) were the best out of the young actors in this film. The characters were believable, though the kiss at the end was definitely expected, however, it was needed to close the tension between the two of them. I wouldn't say they had extremely great chemistry, but what do you expect--it's a kid's movie.In conclusion, I wouldn't recommend this movie if you are looking for the same type of magic that the first Sandlot gave us, but if you are looking to kill 97 minutes of your free time, I'd see it.