Product Review – Golden Shoes – The Greatest Goal is Believing on DVD and Digital HD

By Ryan Traynor, Editor-in-Chief

 

Starring Dina Meyer, Eric Roberts, David DeLuise, Christian Koza, Montel Williams, Aedin Mincks, with Vivica A. Fox & John Rhys-Davies
Recommended for ages 12+

I played soccer for many years growing up so I was anticipating a real connection with the movie, Golden Shoes. This movie has many elements that will make it appealing to girls and boys, especially those ages 12 – 15. The main character, a boy of 8 named Christian, is a member of his small town’s soccer league. At the beginning of the movie, he is not very good and so spends most of the game time warming the bench. The coach wants to give him more playing time, but one of the parents is the team sponsor and is bullying the coach to play his kids instead of Christian.

Christian has always looked up to Cristiano Ronaldo, a great soccer star on television and dreams of playing in the international league one day. However, with his father away at war and his mother working during the day, he has many challenges to face to accomplish his dream. When his mother is hospitalized following an accident and Christian is forced to live with his evil neighbor (the team sponsor), Christian pours himself into becoming a great soccer player, rather than buckling under the adversity. With the help of some very special shoes, can Christian lead his team to the championship, inspire an entire nation, and bring his family together again?

I found this to be an inspirational film with great acting by the mother, actress Dina Meyer. You could sense her frustration at having to juggle the demands of parenting with an absent husband, without causing the viewers to blame the father for her situation. Her love for her son is also very apparent and encourages the viewers to root for him to achieve his dream. Eric Roberts plays a villainous neighbor (and team sponsor) who you will love to hate. The clarity in the photography was breathtaking at times and enhanced the storytelling.

There were a few items that could have been handled a little better, however. For instance, the mother is in an accident after answering a cell phone call in her car. I believe showing this in the film is not good for children, since talking on a cell phone in the car is very dangerous and, in many states, illegal. Also, at the end of the movie, the mother resorts to physical violence as a method of revenge on the evil neighbor, even when she really didn’t know the full extent of the trials that he put her son through. It would have been much more effective for Christian to have conquered the trials by working with the villain’s sons and proving to their father that working together is better than resorting to violence. The grumpy neighbor next door who comes to Christian’s rescue was kind of thrown into the plot at the end when his interesting dimensions could have added much more if he was woven more deeply into the storyline. Overall, though, the inspiring story of a young boy overcoming obstacles to achieve his dreams makes the film a worthwhile viewing for family time.

To learn more about the film, please visit www.goldenshoesmovie.com.

GOLDEN SHOES DVD
UPC: 013132635750
Run Time: 89 minutes
You can find it online and in stores near you. Here is the link to purchase it on Amazon.com.