This movie was painful to watch

@Grilloz, I don't consider myself a loser for not liking a crappy movie, even if it was generally well-received. Also, I am not sure what I should be choking on, nor am I sure that I would like to be choking on "it." Judging from your response, you didn't bother to read my entire post. Also, I get the feeling that you never passed a third-grade reading/writing level. I strongly suggest that you spend less time on the IMDB forums, and more time improving these skills. I specifically requested that you not flame and that you take the time to write a well-thought-out response. Please do so next time you post.

@MetFanMac, Offdwallnotdrack, I take the "verbose" comment as a compliment. The truth is that I, myself, am only 16. I can tell that my stylistic choices convinced you that I am older. Unfortunately, there appears to be a trend among youth (and immature people, such as grilloz) that they misspell words, ignore grammar, and often have nothing valuable to say. I've not fallen into that trend.

I have not had nearly enough time to forget what it was like to be a child. My childhood was nothing like the ones on display in this movie, granted, but it was also nothing like those displayed in Stand by Me. I still fail to see what made The Sandlot such a good movie.

Really? I think you may have been sheltered as a child, as in, you were not allowed outside to play with the other boys and girls in the neighborhood. Because obviously you don't recall the exaggeration and memories of your childhood. There was nothing supernatural about this movie involving the dog "Hercules", it was all about childhood perception and the stories that followed,"not based in any reality whatsoever"....in case you were confused....... which made "Hercules" a larger than life foe for the kids in 'The Sandlot'. Take the movie for what it is, not a coming of age film but a memory of childhood....well, not yours anyway.

I'm an over 50 guy and will take a stab at your comments.

Like many others have already written, I enjoyed this movie and not for the acting but for the subject matter. Like the sandlot kids, I had a group of guys I hung out with and played nearly every sport available to kids of our age with them. Why was the dog portrayed as the antagonist? I remember being afraid of even small dogs when I was a kid; I was a skinny, short runt and nearly every animal on the face of the earth seemed huge to me. Only after hitting puberty and growing a little did things begin to seem a little smaller. Why did the dog chase only Benny? Because he was the only one who ran - he also had the ball but not sure if this is why old Herc chased him. Dogs tend to run after those who run from them; the same dogs who used to chase me (and sometimes make me delay walking the last 50 yards home b/c the route took me right past a house with two barky and chasy dogs - I would actually sit by the side of the road until my dad came home and grab a ride with him but always made it seem like I had just stepped off the bus) actually stopped short and looked up at me after a barking charge when I finally found the courage to stand my ground.

Oh, and I was the first of my group of buddies to move away. I didn't do a very good job of keeping in touch (no internet available in 1973 and I wasn't much of a letter writer at age 13) and have regretted it. You meet a lot of people as you move through life but friendships cultivated as adults are never quite the same as those which come from a schoolyard playground, or a sandlot . . .

Ah, reminiscing . . .

Whatever doesn't kill me only makes me stronger. How strong are you?

It seems your main gripe is with the "supernatural dog." That storyline was only one part of the movie but I think you completely missed the point. It was not a "supernatural" dog. LOL. Hercules was just a big dog that lived in the fenced yard behind the sandlot. From the perspective of a kid, he was a beast. Up until Benny confronts the dog, they exaggerated the dog to allow the viewer to see it from the kid's point of view. It wasn't supernatural, the film simply showed the kids exaggerated perception of him. When Benny confronts him, we finally see the dog for what it really is, just a big dog that collects baseballs. The reason the dog only chases Benny is because he has his ball. Have you ever played fetch with a dog that loves to fetch balls? When you have the ball, he only chases you. Dog's have a one track mind, and Hercules wanted to get that ball from Benny. After the dog was injured and then rescued by the kids, they all became friends, and Hercules becomes part of the team. It may be silly and dumb, but there was nothing supernatural about it at all.

I see your points, and I respect your opinion, even while I utterly disagree with it. For a lot of us, this movie is our childhoods. When you see this movie as a kid, it will stay with you for a very, very long time. It's a simple story, yes, and it does lend itself to a lot of very childish moments, but that's alright for us.
It's hard to explain, but this movie is the classic growing up movie for kids. It's about being young, being new in the neighborhood, making friends, trying to relate to people, trying to get accepted, and above all it's about Baseball. Not winning, not competition, just about Baseball. Playing Baseball. Talking about Baseball. Living Baseball. Growing up with Baseball. It sounds about as cliche as it could be, but we don't see it that way. For a lot of us, it's more like this is the movie that set a lot of those cliches.
As for Stand By Me, I haven't seen that, so my opinion on it is notably incomplete. But the way I always looked at Stand By Me (I've seen bits and pieces of it), it was more of a grown-up movie than a kids movie. A lot of the stuff in there goes right over the heads of a lot of kids. I'm not saying the movie is too mature and too complex for any kids to watch/enjoy, but you do miss a bit as a kid. Stand By Me is about growing up an becoming more mature and a better person for it. The Sandlot is about growing up. I'll admit Stand By Me is the better film, by most standards of judgement. But a lot of us still love The Sandlot.
Okay, I don't know how many coherent points i managed to make in all that. I guess all I can say is that a lot of us love The Sandlot for every reason you hate it. Because of this, saying it was "painful to watch" will upset a lot of people. It's like insulting Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

The Sandlot is supposed to be seen through the eyes of a kid. All of the exaggerations in the movie are how a kid would see them. When you're a kid, certain things come off as more incredible (such as a pretty large dog) or more amazing (such as a ball being hit out of it's seams). It's trying to get across how you would see what was happening if you were in their shoes. Things just seem altogether more epic as a kid, so the fantasy parts of the movie are just trying to get this point across.

Maybe the problem is that you have to see it first when you're a kid. I saw this in the theaters when I was 8 and it instantly became a favorite. To this day I still love this movie. I think it really captures the greatness of being a child. Doing nothing all summer long but playing baseball (or any other game you were into) with the exaggerated story of the big scary dog (who didn't have something like that in their neighborhood when they were a kid?). It takes place in the 1960s where kids were a lot more innocent than they are today and they actually PLAYED OUTSIDE in the summer instead of today where technology is ruining our youths imagination. Maybe that's why people compare it to Stand By Me or even Now and Then?

If you don't like it that's your deal but there's a reason why this movie is rated so high... It is a GREAT kids movie for a lot of different reasons.

Wow, I didn't even have to read your entire response to know that you've probably lost every bit of childishness in you. (I'm not sure that's a word but that's besides the point.) The reason the dog outsmarted the kids was BECAUSE THEY WERE KIDS!! Kids have wild imaginations and are amazingly impressionable. If all your friends tell you that there is a beast in a grumpy old man's back yard, you believe them. You may act skeptical, but you secretly believe them. Comparing this movie to Stand By Me is completely irrational. As a kid, I would never want to watch that movie because it deals with some difficult topics while The Sandlot is pure fun. It's like comparing True Grit with Avatar. You can't compare a drama movie starring kids marketed to adults to a comedy-drama movie starring kids marketed towards kids and teenagers. It just doesn't make sense. The two movies are in completely different genres and have different messages. Stand By Me is a more mature movie for adults who want a good story with some nostalgia. The Sandlot is so great because the movie is really just about childhood friendships and the "pickles" you get into as a child with your friends.

Your pessimistic attitude towards this movie makes me question what your childhood was like. If you can't understand this movie, it's because your over analyzing it and subsequently, taking all the magic out of it. I've seen this movie dozens of times and it's been one of my favorite movies since I first saw it as an elementary school student.

Maybe you're too old to appreciate this film for it's beauty. That's perfectly fine. There are plenty of other people in this world who find this movie brilliant and amazing.