The Miracle Season

You want emotion? See if you can handle this inspirational sports drama, whose every scene is calculated to make young hearts explode.

The Miracle Season is pleasantly swift, but in a quest for ruthless efficiency, a few character beats are skipped.

This movie goes for the heartstrings and tear ducts more than the sports-conscious. The results are pretty mixed.

A simple movie of straightforward sentimentalism and gung-ho, against-all-odds inspiration.

The underlying story here is powerful enough that it sells itself. The best thing about "The Miracle Season" is it lets that story unfold and doesn't do anything to stand in its way.

It simply wallows too deeply in its grief to be uplifting.

In the end, nonetheless, this salute to Line's legacy offers uplifting entertainment suitable for a broad audience.

This is the kind of film that deserves an audience.

It's really easy to wonder why the filmmakers didn't attempt a well-structured documentary rather than crank up every manipulative, overly sentimental dial in their arsenal to give us a beat-for-beat re-enactment of what is clearly a heartfelt story.

The Miracle Season is an inspirational sports film with enough heart to win the game.