Average Rating: 5.2/10
Reviews Counted: 80
Fresh: 35 | Rotten: 45
Impressive sports action sequences are the highlight, as the run-of the-mill story invokes every known sports movie cliche.
Average Rating: 5.2/10
Critic Reviews: 23
Fresh: 10 | Rotten: 13
Impressive sports action sequences are the highlight, as the run-of the-mill story invokes every known sports movie cliche.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 93,665
One young man's dream takes him on a remarkable journey in this sports-themed drama. Santiago Munez (Kuno Becker) was born in Mexico, and came to California with his family when he was just a boy. One of the few things Santiago brought with him was a love for soccer, and while he holds down two jobs -- working landscaping during the days with his father, Hernan (Tony Plana), and as a busboy at night -- he still dreams of playing the game professionally, and spends his precious spare time with an
Sep 8, 2005 Wide
Sep 12, 2006
$4.2M
Buena Vista Pictures
All Critics (87) | Top Critics (24) | Fresh (37) | Rotten (47) | DVD (13)
It is constructed of sports movie clichés but built on an unshakable foundation of earnestness.
Everything here is beyond predictable.
Goal! is filled with cringe-inducing scenes we've seen before many, many times.
... it is good and caring work, with more human detail than we expect.
In the end, I can't think of a movie that matters less than Just My Luck. It's just negligible.
Predictable Goal! The Dream Begins may not be the stuff of everyone's reveries, but the film is capably acted and somewhat inspiring.
Director Danny Cannon ("I Still Know What You Did Last Summer") captures every bit of Kuno Becker's star quality although the committee-written script remains slack.
Soccer melodrama. Older tweens and up.
...begins as a stereotypical sob story but turns out to be entirely uplifting, just as advertised. (Blu-ray Edition)
Fits the sports movie mold to a fault. It forces the familiar down your throat. However football fans might appreciate a thoughtful "Hollywood" film about their sport. The somewhat extensive list of extras is also mighty enticing.
...engaging and fun to watch, thanks mainly to Kuno Becker in the title role (he's such a nice kid, we can't help but root for him).
The action on the field won't be enough to sate the most soccer-crazed viewers.
The combination of button-pushing uplift, sundry sweeping helicopter shots and a bombastic score that sounds like it came on a free transfer from a Tony Scott movie proves as resistibly synthetic as the CGI-enhanced heroics on the pitch.
A predictable mishmash of sports underdog cliches with a domestic release timed to capitalize on anticipation for the World Cup. Accordingly, expect plenty of elbow room at the local multiplex.
The script is about as solid as a penalty kick with a deflated ball.
A soccer-themed soap-opera that misses the net as an insipid, if inspirational, underdog tale.
Most movies about soccer suck. Most movies about rags to riches suck. Most soccer rags to riches movies in the 2000's suck. But "Goal" didn't suck. In fact, it rocked. It had great acting, good emotion, a nice ending. I really enjoyed it, despite how corny and cliche it was. Like I mentioned, the worst part about the
July 12, 2011
Super Reviewer
Great Soccer Movie! This is how sports movie should be, with a tremendous story and fantastic ending!!! Like millions of kids around the world, Santiago harbors the dream of being a professional footballer. However, living in the Barrios section of Los Angeles, he thinks it is only that--a dream. Until one day an
August 22, 2009
Super Reviewer
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