Movie Review: Cool Runnings
Rate This Article
What Parents Should Know
Bobsledding, at least here, won't be as engaging a sport for
the under-eight crowd as, say football, baseball or basketball.
Preteens and teens are more likely to appreciate this lively
underdog movie about an unusual topic. Expect some hokey
cliches, but a valid point is made about the spirit of
sportsmanship -- parents may want to discuss the topic when the
movie's over.
Common Sense Media Review
You've seen this underdog material done before, from the
sublime
Rocky to the embarrassingly cliched (virtually any
Rocky sequel). COOL RUNNINGS taps both qualities. At
one end you've got the Jamaican team, a colorful, contrived
bunch of squabblers who predictably learn to pull together and
defy their detractors (mainly a rival team of stereotyped East
German Nazi-Commie storm troopers).
But then comes the real-world finale, when the heroes lose the race but achieve a much greater goal, symbolizing what the Olympics truly mean to athletes around the globe. Seldom in sports movies has defeat looked so noble.
Younger viewers may want to learn more about Olympic bobsledding, or Jamaica, if only to sort out the facts from the fiction. The novice 1988 Jamaican bobsledders were actually conceived by a businessman and an ex-diplomat, and they did wipe out in the midst of a spectacular performance. "Irv," however, and the other characters are screenwriter inventions, and they seem like it.
For another spectacle in which an ethnically-diverse,
hard-luck team from the (Hawaiian) islands competes in an
international race, check out
Race the Sun.
Chariots of Fire is another inspirational sports
story.
Common Sense Media is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing information to help parents make media and entertainment choices for their families.
