12 Mighty Orphans movie review 2021

MOVIE TITLE: 12 Mighty Orphans

This inspiring drama is available in theaters nationwide on June 18, 2021. No streaming release has been announced yet. The movie was released a week early in Texas in honor of the football team of a Fort Worth orphanage who went on to play for the Texas state championships.

RATING: PG-13

LENGTH: 1 hour 58 minutes

IN A NUTSHELL:

Haunted by his mysterious past, a devoted high school football coach leads a scrawny team of orphans to the state championship during the Great Depression and inspires a broken nation along the way.

This old-fashioned sports drama is based on Jim Dent’s nonfiction book Twelve Mighty Orphans: The Inspiring True Story of the Mighty Mites Who Ruled Texas Football. It’s the newest movie from director Ty Roberts, who previously brought us The Iron Orchard and happens to be a Texas native.

THINGS I LIKED:

Luke Wilson looks and feels like he really belongs in the depression era. To that point, Martin Sheen’s role as Doc Hall fits him like a glove. Martin Sheen provides a lot of the comic relief and creates an endearing character who lights up the screen every time he appears.
Who doesn’t love Wayne Knight? He gave us such memorable characters as “Newman” in the hit TV show Seinfeld: Complete Series Box Set (Repackage) – DVD and the rascal Dennis Nedry in Jurassic Park. Even farther back, he played one of the detectives in the famous interrogation scene in Basic Instinct that propelled Sharon Stone into a national sex symbol.
I really like the entire cast, which also includes Robert Duvall, Treat Williams, and all of the actors who play the “dirty dozen” orphans, although the kids definitely look too old to be an orphan.
I was surprised to see comedian Ron White, but he did a great job.
In the beginning, we get to see actual footage from the Great Depression, setting the mood and time period for the film very well. The director peppers various scenes with black and white footage to keep giving us the flavor of the Depression era.
You learn about some of the new techniques used in the history of football.
Who doesn’t love an underdog sports movie? It’s somewhat cheesy, yet heartwarming. What’s so wrong with cheesy anyway? It’s also extremely formulaic, but this underdog sports formula has proven to be very effective in the history of filmmaking. It’s used over and over again simply because it works.
There is a lot of exposition from the narrator, but I didn’t mind.
Keep watching during the final rolling credits to read the “rest of the story”, as well as see pictures of the real people the movie and book are based on.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

In one scene at the beginning of the movie, the wife, played by is angry about moving to the orphanage to teach there with her husband. She turns on a dime, spouting inspirational messages, without our seeing her personal transformation and how she arrived at her newfound attitude.
Sticklers to the facts might feel disgruntled about the real timeline. President Franklin D. Roosevelt is included in the film, even though he wasn’t in the actual timeline of the real events.
Some of the actors struggled with convincing accents.
There are a lot of flashbacks that might confuse some viewers.
None of the football action is new or sequences we haven’t seen before.
Lots of vomiting. Bleh.

12 MIGHTY ORPHANS-Rusty Russell(Luke Wilson) school photo. Image by Laura Wilson.jpg

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

A surprising amount of blood
Violence
Bullying
A lot of hot-tempered, aggressive males. Feminists will definitely protest the “toxic masculinity” displayed in the film.
Some crude comments, mostly about women.
“Light” profanity, including my favorite: “dangit!”

THEMES:

Courage
Hope
Persistence
Brotherhood
Family – in all its shapes and sizes
Power
Powerful symbols
Belief in yourself and believe in something that otherwise might not seem possible
Overcoming your past

INTERESTING LINES:

“Hard work leads to great beginnings.” – Rusty Russell (Luke Wilson)
“The best horses are the hardest to break.” – Doc Hall (Martin Sheen)
“Orphan football. That’s as dumb as letting woman vote.” – Coach Cox (Heath Freeman)
“You’ve got to adapt to be competitive.” – Rusty Russell (Luke Wilson)
“You can’t give up. You gotta believe.” – Rusty Russell (Luke Wilson)