The Big Green (1995)

‘The Big Green’ (1995) a timeless Disney soccer movie

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The Big Green is a formulaic Disney movie about an underdog soccer team. Disney knows how to create a film that doesn’t age and that can be shown to successive generations of little kids for decades. The Big Green is the Disney equivalent of a Twinkie.

The only plot point that could eventually date the movie is that the star player’s mother takes him into hiding after admitting she is an illegal immigrant using a fake Social Security number. This film is Steve Guttenberg’s first soccer movie but a sadly poor performance. He plays a Texas sheriff with a ridiculous accent that thankfully fades away by the end.

Despite having only one actor with soccer ability, the field play is straight forward and well portrayed, without fancy time slicing. They actually spend quite a bit of time showing every kick in a penalty shootout.

Director Holly Golderg Sloan is a pioneering women director of soccer films and is also a successful screenwriter. She wrote Angels in the Outfield, an excellent kids movie starring a young Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Steve Guttenberg’s other soccer movie is Home Team.

5 Soccer Movie Mom Rating = 5

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