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Little Giants

Play trailer Poster for Little Giants PG,  1994,  1h 46m,  Kids & Family/ Comedy Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist 50% 14 Reviews Tomatometer 63% 50,000+ Ratings Popcornmeter
50% Tomatometer 14 Reviews 63% Popcornmeter 50,000+ Ratings
Ever since childhood, nerdy Danny O'Shea (Rick Moranis) has felt inferior to his brother, Kevin (Ed O'Neill), a former college football star. Danny runs a gas station, while Kevin coaches the local youth football team. When Kevin's team rejects Danny's daughter, Becky (Shawna Waldron), because she's a girl, Becky convinces her dad to start a rival team, though the city can support only one. To prove himself against his brother, Danny begins coaching his team of misfits for a playoff game.

Critics Reviews

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Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times Jan 1, 2000
1/4
Working in two platoons, [the four screenwriters] have skillfully removed all vestiges of originality from this story, and turned in a perfectly-honed retread of every other movie about how a team of losers wins the big game. Go to Full Review
Danielle Solzman Solzy at the Movies Oct 14, 2024
3.5/5
Little Giants is still a fun watch as the film turns 30 years old, even if it never became a sports comedy classic. Go to Full Review
Justin Brown Medium Popcorn Aug 19, 2024
5/5
I'm glad to have revisited this film. This is one of the few children's films of this time that has substance and that you can watch with multiple generations in your family. Go to Full Review
Brandon Collins Medium Popcorn Aug 19, 2024
4/5
Very enjoyable and heartfelt. Ed O'Neil is fantastic in this. Go to Full Review
Malcolm L. Johnson Hartford Courant May 23, 2018
...dropping the ball at every turn. Go to Full Review
Randy White Common Sense Media Jan 2, 2011
4/5
The little guy wins in this rote comedy. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Hermione S Dec 26, 2018 A fun family movie. Quite a bit of laughs and a cute story. It is always nice rooting for an underdog.
Draco S Nov 17, 2018 Just another classic 90's children's movie that gets to the heart. The best acting of Ed O'Neill you'll see and with Rick Moranis you'll love the movie from start to finish See more
Ron S Mar 31, 2018 Cute, smart and funny.
Hermione S Jun 26, 2017 Ah the old cliched sports movie, a veritable treasure trove of...cliches. I mean what can I possibly say here that everyone doesn't already know about? It doesn't matter that this is a kids movie, in fact that makes it even worse for the cringeworthy cliches. So the little all American town of Urbania (sounds like a small eastern European country) has a pee-wee football team called the Cowboys. Said team is coached by the local hero Kevin O'Shea (Ed O'Niell). After try outs for the team various useless kids are cut including local girl Becky who is daughter of Kevin's brother Danny (Rick Moranis). Upset by being cut Becky convinces her dad to create another team for all the kids who didn't make the grade for the Cowboys. Unfortunately this goes against the rules of one town, one team which is pointed out with much glee from Kevin. So Danny and his ragtag team of inept kids challenge Kevin and his well oiled machine of kids, to a playoff. Which team will represent the town Valkenvania...Castlevania...Transylvania...Urbania!! Yeah so you should know what to expect here, we've seen this type of thing a million times in various movies for kids. The bumbling cack-handed kids of the Little Giants team are a stereotypical bunch. You've got the fat kid who's funny because he's fat, clearly very unfit and unhealthy...funny huh! The scrawny weedy kid who's half the size of everyone else, wears glasses, has a basin haircut and is a mummy's boy. The token black kid...who also can't catch. The token Asian kid...who's also mega fat and wears glasses. One kid who cries all the time, one kid who gets injured all the time, and of course the one good looking blonde kid who's kinda good. On the other hand the fitter and better trained kids of the Cowboys team are also a stereotypical bunch. Stereotypical in the sense that they all look pretty uniform in appearance from physique to haircuts. One team is an uncouth messy mishmash of nerds; the other a highly organised, well trained team of young jocks. Each teams coach also represents those stereotypes in the sense that Danny (Moranis) is more of a laid back, spectacle wearing academic type who wants the kids to just have fun. Where as Kevin (O'Niell) is more of a no nonsense coach with a slick haircut, fancy sports car and likes (has) to win big. Danny coaches his unruly Giants with creative methods that involve no funds. Kevin has his own assistant, the team have expensive proper kits and equipment, and they use pro training methods within proper facilities. The movie certainly does seem to push the old negative stereotype that anyone who wears spectacles must be some sort of weedy nerd who is more academic than sporty. Vice versa it also pushes the daft stereotype that anyone who is sporty must be large, muscular and have a buzz cut. The thing is the movie never really addresses those stereotypes. I mean yeah sure the Giants win in the end (unsurprising spoiler alert!) and the Cowboys do recognise and applaud their opponents, but the stereotypes are still there, the movie doesn't really attempt to rectify them. Being a sports movie about American (pee-wee) football mixed with elements from 'Home Alone' does offer up some nice ideas, but its still a by the numbers movie really. Lots of silly training montages from both teams, lots of silliness from the kids, heartfelt moments from the adults yadda yadda yadda. There is a painfully slow car chase sequence in the movie which was so obviously staged I dunno why they kept it in. I do like Ed O'Niell but yet again he's basically giving us Al Bundy with his performance, he seems completely unable to break away from that persona. Where as Rick Moranis just does what he's always done really, play a spectacle wearing geek with a heart. As for the kid actors, well they do OK. They all do a good job in playing disgusting or wimpy nerds that's for sure, they all looked their parts. Obviously this movie is the typical underdog tale, unashamedly so, and that's not a bad thing because it is supposed to be for young kids. And while the movie is a feel good flick which kids I'm sure will enjoy, I can't help but feel the overall message is somewhat mixed (if you wear glasses you're a nerd!). Its definitely a well made movie, very colourful, cheerful and chock full of cheekiness, just don't expect anything original. But I think we all know and expect this. See more
Leia S Jun 22, 2017 6/17/2017: A nice little movie, but not great. Not as funny as I hoped.
Ron G Jun 3, 2017 I watched this a million times as a kid and as an adult it is still as good.
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Little Giants

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Movie Info

Synopsis Ever since childhood, nerdy Danny O'Shea (Rick Moranis) has felt inferior to his brother, Kevin (Ed O'Neill), a former college football star. Danny runs a gas station, while Kevin coaches the local youth football team. When Kevin's team rejects Danny's daughter, Becky (Shawna Waldron), because she's a girl, Becky convinces her dad to start a rival team, though the city can support only one. To prove himself against his brother, Danny begins coaching his team of misfits for a playoff game.
Director
Duwayne Dunham
Producer
Arne Schmidt
Screenwriter
James Ferguson, Robert Shallcross, Tommy Swerdlow, Michael Goldberg
Distributor
Argentina Video Home, Warner Bros.
Production Co
Warner Brothers, Amblin Entertainment
Rating
PG
Genre
Kids & Family, Comedy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Oct 14, 1994, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Jul 1, 2014
Box Office (Gross USA)
$18.8M
Runtime
1h 46m
Sound Mix
Surround, DTS, Stereo, Dolby Digital
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