Plot: What’s it about?
As good as some movies are, they just don’t know when to stop it seems. The case in point is the latest offering bearing the “Major League” name. Now readers of this site know that Major League (the original) ranks among my top 5 favorite movies of all time, so to see not only the sequal but the sequal to that not be good…well, it’s a bit displeasing. Still, it does bear the Major League name, so I gave it a look. We find that in place of Tom Beringer and Charlie Sheen are some new faces at Cather and Pitcher, but there’s still Cerrano (Dennis Haysbert) and the owner of the team Dorn (Corbin Bernsen) still apparent in this film as well. It seems that they also gave up on trying to make the Indians a “top notch” team, they decided to send them back to the minor leagues (as evidenced by the title). Now it seems like the whole trilogy is a complete joke, since, basically ever since the first came out the “real life” team has been doing great (they won some league championships and went to the World Series twice…so there).
Now as far as the plot of Major League: Back to the minors, well, it’s simple enough. Corbin Bersen plays, of course, Roger Dorn who now owns a minor league team. Down and out pitcher Gus Cantrell (Scott Bakula), who is on his last season, agrees to take over as manager of the team. As we have come to expect from the “Major League” movies, the team is a rough group of eccentric personalities and every position is a character. The only member from the original team is Cerrano, and he’s way out there in right field! After a rocky start, and a series of losses, the team starts to come together (sound familar?) and all of the sudden the “Buzz” is just that. A contender. One of the few redeeming features of this movie is the fact that it still has Bob Uecker as a cast member. He is still hilarious as announcer Harry Doyle, and it’s good to see him bringing some much needed humor to this movie.
While the second Major League was no “Major League” this one isn’t really even much of a “Second” Major League. It’s a desperate attempt at cashing in on a once good name. The original Major League was original and made sports movies fun again, while this one is lagging. The cast is talented, there’s no doubt, but this just isn’t their bag. Still, if you like movies like this and Necessary Roughness, you just might find Major League: Back to the Minors worth watching.
Video: How does it look?
Major League: Back to the Minors is presented in an anamorphic widescreen transfer. Being a relatively new movie, the colors are bright and vivid and the transfer it relatively free of errors. I noticed a few grains here and there, but on the whole, it was a good transfer. It was a bit odd that this was presented in widescreen only. Most movies like this have both, and being from Warner I was suprised that it didn’t. There was ample room on the disc, as it was a single sided DVD. Oh well, no biggie I guess…
Audio: How does it sound?
Being a comedy, one of the last things we can expect is a really awesome soundtrack. But Major League: Back to the Minors did suprise me a bit. The dialogue is crisp and not distorted at all, and surround effects are used quite frequently. Not a bad mix for this movie. There is also a French soundtrack in 5.1 as well.
Supplements: What are the extras?
A little more than your average offering. There are production notes included as well as a theatrical trailer for this and a few other Morgan Creek movies. Also, there is a “Meet the Buzz” featurette. It’s about 3:00 minutes long and it has Gus Cantrell and Roger Dorn telling us about the team and how wild and wacky they are. A neat touch that they were still in character while describing the team.
