LIKE MIKE
Starring:
Lil' Bow Wow, Morris Chestnut, Jonathan Lipnicki, Eugene Levy, Brenda Song
and Robert Foster
Director: John Schultz
Running Time: 100 mins
Certificate: PG
Out to buy on DVD 12th May
Calvin Cambridge (Bow Wow) wants only one thing in life, to be part of a family. Living in an orphanage is no fun for him and his friends because the people who come to adopt a child usually only take the younger kids and at thirteen Calvin thinks he will never find a family. To take his mind off this he retreats into basketball but how ever much he loves the sport he just isn't as good as he'd like to be. This all changes when a pair of sneakers turns up in a box of clothes for the orphanage but these are no ordinary basketball shoes as they used to belong to Michael Jordan.
I have to admit I wasn't really looking forward to this movie, as there seems to be a lot of rappers taking trained actors jobs at the moment. If anyone has a few hit records, movie producers see it as a way to cash in on their popularity so my expectations were not that high but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the movie and Lil' Bow Wow's performance.
This is a very good family film, utilising the dream of most young boys, playing for their favourite sports team. Yes this has been done before and it does have an over-the-top premise of magic shoes but the way the cast and director John Schultz have approached it has to be commended. It could have been a cliché riddled movie full of sentimentality but what we have is a fun film that mixes sports comedy and slapstick with a small amount of drama. Lil' Bow Wow handles both really well, finding the fun material very easy and he copes well with his characters sadness over fact that he can't find a family.
Key to the film's success is the interaction between Bow Wow and Morris Chestnut. The two really bounce off one another, from their tentative enforced partnership on the court to the inevitable friendship. Ok, the ending is very predictable but it doesn't go as far as it could have done but when the performances of the leads and their support are as good as they are, it doesn't really matter.
At the end of the day this is a fun family film that showcases Lil' Bow Wow's many talents. It looks like we could have another superstar in the making.
Audio commentary from director John Schultz with actors Lil' Bow Wow and Jonathan Lipnicki, 'Off The Hook And On The Set' featurette, Deleted scenes with optional audio commentary from the director, 'Bow Wow's Bow' featurette, Music video, 'Basketball' music video, Interactive menu & Scene access
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