Rating: 
Summary: If only baseball was this interesting....
Review: I agree with the reviewers who say The Natural has nothing to do with real baseball. Having sat through my share of no-hitters, I can say this beautiful and uplifting movie is far better than the real thing! Better music, too.
Rating: 
Summary: The Natural
Review: I've waited for 2 years since I bought my DVD player for this movie to be issued on DVD. I just bought it today, and must say it was worth the wait. I've worn out copies on both BETA and VHS tape so needless to say I'm excited to have it on DVD. The video transfer is in flawless widescreen format. The audio, while not in 5.1 Dolby Digital, is in a very acceptable 4.0 Dolby Digital format that more than adequately transmits the true sounds of baseball. There really are only a couple of extras included w/ this DVD. There are the ever present Theatrical trailers, Cast biographies, and an excellent 45 minute documentary on the movie with Cal Ripken, the future Hall Of Famer from the Baltimore Orioles. This is a DVD that any sports fan MUST HAVE. Along with Hoosiers, this is one of the greatest sports films of all time.
Rating:
Summary: DVD is gorgeous!
Review: Great reviews are already posted on the content quality, so I' just mention the DVD itself.I just received my copy of "The Natural" on DVD this morning and the quality of playback is fantastic. This did this one right! Buy it!!
Rating:
Summary: Baseball before egos took over
Review: For everyone who as a kid who stood in the outfield, held a baseball glove to their face and connects the smell of well dressed glove leather to their youth and summer on the diamond ... this movie is for you. I bet that almost every kid who played baseball at any level, had many day dreams of being "The Natural", playing at a level above all others, and getting the "big hit" or making the "big play". The Natural isn't reality, and it shouldn't be. It's about the "what if" of baseball that reaches into the soul of the former sandlot player, adds some adult twists, and connects the childhood dreams to the adult cinema. I enjoy this film, not because it's about the way it is, but because it's the way I dreamed it could be. Roy Hobbs (the main character played by Redford) appears to have it all. Looks, incredible talent, big league prospects, when his life takes a sudden unfortunate turn. He returns to baseball and against the odds, lives a baseball dream. Dramatic? Yes. Realistic? Not really. But I'd rather be entertained by this baseball fantasy, than watch the biography of today's typical player. It's more pleasurable to watch Roy Hobbs overcome his baseball challenges, than to watch a player go though drug rehab and salary arbitration while batting .260. On the cast, Redford is perfectly cast, and Wilford Brimley as Pops the Team Manager is right on the nose. This is a very good baseball film that deserved better treatment by the critics. If you're sick of "shoot 'em ups" and pointless shock films, watch "The Natural" for a nice break.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderfull movie about Baseball
Review: I saw this movie in the theatres when it first came out. I was enchanted with the idea of Roy Hobbs being a real american hero in one of the nations most beloved sports. The cast was outstanding, many of the actors/actresses are veterans of the film industry. The ending is one to remember, the emotion was overwhelming. By far my favorite movie of all time.
Rating:
Summary: It's A Natural, All Right - A Natural Pleaser
Review: For its rather blatant and somewhat hokey liberties with the actual ending of the Malamud novel (if you haven't seen or read either, I'll not spoil it, but put it this way - in the novel, the title character doesn't exactly come out as a saviour in the end), it is tempting to dock a star and a half. But why quibble? You will see few films that take hokum from melded reality (Roy Hobbs, after all, is a hybrid of Shoeless Joe Jackson and Eddie Waitkus, the postwar infielder stalked and then shot by a disturbed female fan) and make it work as embraceably as this film does. Nor will you see very many baseball films which actually do cut to the indescribable (though God knows many have tried) grip which the game has kept upon a nation for almost a century and a half and expose it with such sinuous aplomb. For that matter, Robert Redford fans will never see his wry understatement put to better use than as the star-crossed Roy Hobbs, or Glenn Close fans her almost ethereal passion better than as Iris. I'm not entirely sure why Darrin McGavin elected to go uncredited, though, since he damn near steals the show as the cagey bookmaker we presume is a stand-in for Arnold Rothstein, the early mob boss who likely bankrolled the 1919 World Series fix. Kim Basinger is better than she gets credit for being as the narcissistic Memo Paris, while Robert Duvall isn't as out of sync as you might otherwise expect as the amoral, self-congratulatory Max Mercy. The sleepers: Robert Prosky as the avaricious jurist who co-owns the home team, and Wilford Brimley as the folksily bruised manager who wants nothing more than to win one pennant.
Rating:
Summary: Defies definition, logic or reason. The movie's a Natural.
Review: When it comes to computers, my ex-boss used to call me "wonderboy"... so named after the baseball bat the starring character hits his 'homers' with... when everything else goes wrong, "wonderboy" can hit the home run. There's so much in this movie that makes it a bases loaded favorite. If you like sports, get it. If you are into a touching story with true meaning and depth, characters that have been painted as deep as the scenery... there's so much to love about it. I guess the most wonderful thing I liked about this movie is that it has many wonderful philosophical/religious/mystical messages, so many meanings, so many great things... and there's no hammer over each message slamming them brutally out to you, screaming "Look at me, Look at me..." The messages come across in such subtle ways, when it finally catches up to you, you gotta slap yerself on the forehead and say "DUH"... Not one of the messages was telegraphed across before it's time. A home run. A must have. Maybe someday you'll have the name "wonderboy" and truly know what it means. Get it.
Rating:
Summary: Naturally Entertaining
Review: Not only is this film extremely entertaining, but each individual actor or actress was casted perfectly. It so much more than a movie about baseball. Robert Redford plays Roy Hobbs, a young pitching prospect that gets caught up in an unfortunate situation with a mysterious woman played by Barbara Hershey. Sixteen years later, he is signed to play with the New York Knights' baseball team as the league's oldest rookie. He becomes a middle-aged baseball phenom, tearing up the league (and a baseball or two), and bringing the Knights out of the celler. Hobbs inspires all of his teamates, and helps bring about one spectacular ending. The acting is superior, and Redford is at his best. Kim Basinger plays the perfect "bad girl," and Glenn Close is the ultimate "good girl." Throw in an incredible performance by Robert Duvall, and then there is Wilford Brimley, who steals the show as the Knights' manager, Pop. This film is fantastic, and the musical score by Randy Newman is breathtaking, and amazingly appropriate. This movie displays the classic conflict of good vs. evil, and it is never more perfectly portrayed. This is one film that you will not want to miss.
Rating:
Summary: Great Movie / Myth on Baseball
Review: This movie is ranks 11 on the "Best Movie I Ever Seen" list. It is a wonderfully contructed presentation of Baseball in its golden era. It has the look, the feel and the sounds of everything we dreamed or hoped baseball to be. The only drawbacks is that the movie at time tends to be slow moving, but its pace is right for this era in time. The excellent casting and wonderful warm colors (which remind one of the color of the 1950's baseball cards) gives the movie a real, yet dreamlike quality. I recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Can't rationalize it, I just Love It
Review: yes, redford is too old here, yes the plot strains all credibility, and yes there is some "corn" mixed in... but if you put all cynicism aside, this film will transport you... its lyrical, moving and powerful, full of strong visuals and heartfelt emotions... it is a fable, and as such it merits suspension of disbelief...allow yourself to follow it and you will be rewarded...
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