At two-plus hours, The Rookie is a good 20 minutes too long, but for father-son teams waiting eagerly for the umpire's "Play ball!", it's an uplifting season opener.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | May 12, 2014

Morris ultimately lasted two partial seasons in the majors, and the film's rendering of his minor-league struggle is so enjoyable you want to see more of that and less of the everyday life preceding it.

| May 12, 2014

Though Hancock traffics in a lot of bogus small-town sentiment, The Rookie exhibits a refreshingly honest understanding of baseball as a job, with long road trips away from home and a workmanlike routine.

| May 12, 2014

It's Quaid and his fellow actors, Rachel Griffiths and Brian Cox, who lift the film out of its intermittent doldrums, and together they deliver that rare thing: a nuanced sports movie.

| Mar 12, 2013

Until The Rookie came along, I'd forgotten how good and smart a family film can be.

| Mar 12, 2013

Deftly constructed to stoke the baseball-phenom fantasies of coulda-shoulda-woulda middle-aged guys and fields-of-dreaming young diamond studs.

Full Review | Feb 23, 2012

Sweet and engaging despite some flaws.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 29, 2010

All the uplift could easily get cloying, but director John Lee Hancock knows how to keep things in control, and the whole is surprisingly satisfying.

| Mar 26, 2007

A fine example of heartwarming real-life drama, with performances that ring true and some terrific moments that befit a classic American Dream story.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 30, 2006

If they gave an Oscar for Best Performance in a Mediocre Movie, Dennis Quaid should already be clearing his mantelpiece.

| Feb 9, 2006

But The Rookie belongs to Quaid. Here is an actor born to be in a baseball film. He is never anything less than believable as the stalwart Morris. More than that, though, Quaid just seems to get better and better as the years go by.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jun 19, 2003

John Lee Hancock handles this Disney production with at least some taste and skill.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 19, 2002

It's hard to resist the movie's whimsical charm.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 26, 2002

You can see why the filmmakers optioned the story from a Sports Illustrated article: It just works.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 20, 2002

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 1, 2002

The kind of old-fashioned biopic that makes you want to go out and read the book.

| Original Score: B+ | May 9, 2002

What saves it is Dennis Quaid, a fine and generally underrated actor who plays a real-life small-town Texas high-school science teacher and baseball coach who fulfills his dream of pitching in the big leagues.

Full Review | Apr 14, 2002

Hancock's heartfelt movie scores a solid hit.

| Apr 10, 2002

A sports film with feel-happy appeal for all, regardless of age or interest.

Full Review | Apr 10, 2002

I hesitate to use the phrase 'family film' because it has such fluffy connotations, but this is really a rare G-rated movie that's suitable for all viewers.

Full Review | Apr 1, 2002