The Sandlot - 25th Anniversary Collector's Edition

In the early '90s, Hollywood was completely onboard with the idea of sports movies for kids. Tons of different sports were covered, from hockey ("The Mighty Ducks") to soccer ("The Big Green") to football ("Little Giants"). But the most celebrated sport was baseball, cranking out an almost staggering amount of films for young baseball fans to devour. Major League Baseball played a big part, with "Angels in the Outfield," "Little Big League," and "Rookie of the Year" all throwing kids into the adult profession. But when it came to kids playing on beat-up diamonds in the summer, you just can't beat "The Sandlot."

In the summer of 1962, Scotty Smalls was the new kid in town. Having moved just before the start of summer, Smalls doesn't have any friends to speak of. But he quickly notices a ragtag group of kids that head to a nearby sandlot to play baseball all day. In hopes of finding his way into the group, Smalls lingers on the margins, until Benny, the group's leader, notices him. With Benny's help, Smalls becomes one of the team and has the best and most memorable summer of his life.

Movies from your childhood can be tough on a revisit. What you forgave at the age of eight seems a bit worse now. But things feel a bit different with "The Sandlot." While the nostalgia is certainly strong with this film, it's actually quite good at doing exactly what it wants to. It doesn't try to be some piece of groundbreaking filmmaking. It is a small film about friendship, growing up, and baseball. Rather than the overly showy and theatrical acting that we've come to expect from child actors on The Disney Channel, the crew here is much more restrained. They are believable as a close circle of friends, and each of their little eccentricities only makes them more endearing and relatable.

All of my memories of "The Sandlot" involved watching it on our family television. It was a small TV by current standards, but just fine back then, and with a definition that couldn't have been much better than 480p. So, it's a bit weird to see Ham, Squints, and Smalls so clearly. The Blu-ray transfer doesn't make the movie look like a soap opera, but it's definitely a whole lot clearer.

The special "25th Anniversary Edition" comes with a bunch of physical extras (a fold-out poster and a pretty cool set of old-school Topps baseball cards), but doesn't have anything in terms of media. The special features (or more accurately, feature) is the same as what was on a previous DVD release. The feature itself is really only good for showing just how much better the picture quality is this time around. It would've been nice to get some new features, maybe a "Where Are They Now?" or even a mini-documentary on the film's ability to stay relevant for so long, but unfortunately that wasn't to be. While the special release ends up feeling like little more than a repackaging money grab, it's hard to argue with the nostalgic pull of "The Sandlot."

"The Sandlot"
25th Anniversary Blu-ray + Digital
$19.99
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