Dorathen Better Late Then Never

Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

Yash Wade Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.

SnoopyStyle The Bears are back but Amanda Whurlitzer and Buttermaker are gone. Kelly Leak (Jackie Earle Haley) drives the new dictatorial coach Manning away. The team is off to the Houston Astrodome to play the Houston Toros. Leak brings on Carmen Ronzonni from back east to be the new pitcher. The boys drive to Houston on their own. They discover that they still suck after playing a roadside game. They get into trouble for their van and Kelly decides to contact his estranged father Mike Leak (William Devane). Sy Orlansky (Clifton James) is the local businessman sponsoring the game.Most of the gang is back with the exception of the big stars. It's too bad that Walter Matthau and Tatum O'Neal can't return but it may be asking too much for sequels of that era. The story isn't much. I don't know why the Bad News Bears get to play in the Astrodome. There are snippets of fun but mostly it doesn't live up to the original. That is until Tanner runs around and the Let Them Play chant. It's cheesy but effective and it's the Astrodome.

Joseph P. Ulibas The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training (1977) was a notch below the first film. A couple of key players from the first film are missing (Walter Matthau and Tatum O'Neal). So the supporting cast has to pull their weight. The Bears go on a summer trip to play in the Astrodome. But they need a manger. The kids decide to leave on their own. After tricking their parents into thinking they found a manger, they hit the road. Jackie Earle Haley (co-captain of the Bears in the first film) takes over as the leader of the team. The players want a manager. So he searches for his estranged father (William Devane) to help them on their way to Houston. Will the Bears make it to the Dome on time? Can the father and son patch up their differences and work together? How do the kids travel from California to Texas? Find all that out when you watch THE BAD NEWS BEARS IN BREAKING TRAINING.A cheesy fun family film. Many of the key players from the first film reprise their roles. This film was Jackie Earle Haley's chance to shine. He was a child star during the eighties. He practically fell off of the face of the Earth until he began to show up in movies recently. Followed by The BAD NEWS BEARS GO TO JAPAN!Recommended.

ray-280 The subject is a reference to my review of the original (The "Mighty F***s"). There's no getting around it: this movie SUCKS.It would have been okay if they did this as a separate movie, and it might have found a home on cable, but to piggyback it onto one of the best films of all time was a disgrace.No Matthau and O'Neal? Are they KIDDING? What made the original work was those two great actors taking a great script and making it even greater. This movie reminds me of watching the Chicago Bulls after Jordan retired and Pippen moved on; the supporting cast was fine when they were letting the two heavyweights shine, but on their own they were as bad as those "Baby Bulls." Do we really need to know Kelly Leak's backstory? Bill Devane as his father was a miscast, but it was hard to notice because the entire cast stunk. The plot -- they are playing for the national little-league championship -- is also far-fetched, since the Bears were about having fun rather than winning, and you can only go so far on Kelly Leak's back.I wish I could say I remember more about the plot, but most of it was about how the Bears had to navigate their way to Texas without adult supervision (creating tons of complications whenever they needed to be of age for something), and it becomes painfully obvious in this film why Jack Earl Haley is a competent #3 guy in a movie, he is no Jordan or Pippen on the screen.Calling this movie a sequel is a bit of a stretch as well, as the characters, the plot, and the movie as a whole bears little if any resemblance to the original. Matthau is probably still turning over in his grave at what they did to this movie, and I'm sure Vic Morrow has done the same.A movie as strong as the original deserved a much better continuation than this one, and it could have been done.

chets808 How can a movie like this be made ? How come this is not an afterschool special, because it sure looks and smells like one. This stinker is so bad...so incredibly bad. Questions to ponder: Why does Kelly's Dad clap like a neanderthal ? Why is Kelly Leak so cool ? Why is there a celebration scene about getting hotel rooms (what is it with these Texas movies and celebrating otherwise normal things, see Urban Cowboy review). How are the Bears the California Champs if they lost in the title game last time ? Things I love about this movie. William Devane mugging at the camera and showing off his baseball skills (in an Army jacket no less, notice he has one outfit almost the entire movie). Kelly "losing control" and just running...running...running from all his problems. And perhaps the best scene in the entire movie, when the team gets the hotel room with the view of the Astrodome, Harpo Marx Jr. runs into Kelly's room to tell him they can see the dome from another room, and Mr. Jackie Earle Haley in all his coolness gives him the biggest "I am way too cool to be bothered by your childish excitement" look. Now that is direction !but all is not lost, Willy Devane does well considering the material he has to work with, and J.E.Haley actually went on to be in '83s Losin' It, a rather funny movie and role. And we get to see the wonderful Astrodome in all its 70s glory, although Jimmy Baio nearly tanks this one and surely makes his cousin look like Anthony Hopkins.