Rating: PG

Run Time: 129 minutes

Genre: Drama, Sport

Director: Niki Caro

Featuring: Kevin Costner, Ramiro Rodriguez, and Johnny Ortiz

Image courtesy of http://movies.disney.com/

McFarland USA races into local cinemas

Seven boys, one coach, one dream. McFarland USA follows the story of Coach Jim White (Kevin Costner) and seven high school students on their quest to starting and becoming one of the greatest California cross country teams in 1987.

Coach Jim White scrambles to redeem himself from a difficult past as a football coach to several unsuccessful teams. After an incident with a player in the locker room, White is forced to pack up and move to the only job he can get, as a science and PE teacher at McFarland High School, in California. The town of McFarland is a struggling agricultural settlement, and like many of California’s fruit growing towns, the people make their living off of raising and picking the produce for sale. A large population of the students at the high school spend early mornings and late evenings working on their parent’s plantations to help bring in an income.

It becomes evident to White after a few weeks in McFarland that many of the students are natural runners, as their intensive working routine on the plantation makes students like Thomas Valles (Carlos Pratts) an obvious candidate for a cross country team. White convinces Principal Camillo (Valente Rodriguez) to let him be the coach of the first cross country team, and so starts a long and arduous journey from the bottom to the top for seven teenage boys.

Its a story of a rapid transformation. The boys trained in flimsy tennis shoes they’d had for years, running up hills of packaged almonds in a field, and having to use cheap uniforms because that was all White could afford. Slowly, as White and his team began to trust and work with one another, the McFarland cross country team started to make a name for itself.

Despite the movie being a product of Disney, the story doesn’t drip with Disney vibes. To put it bluntly, there is no singing, so don’t fear that you will have to see the runners break out into “Don’t Stop Believing” or “Let it Go.” Some scenes seemed too good to be true, and the progression of the team over the course of the movie makes it seem like the boys didn’t have to practice very much to get to the point they were at in the end of the movie. But for a 129 minute movie, Disney definitely made it worth the while.

An inspiring story, McFarland USA could make anyone want to put on their tennis shoes, no matter how out of shape they are, and take a couple of laps round the block. Its a tale of not only running, but of how racial stereotypes affect the way we perceive and treat other people. Its a story of friendship, showing how a community can support one another no matter how hard times may get. The runners learn from White that they dream big, and to give themselves high expectations no matter what their parents have done before them.

The verdict then? Regardless of whether you are a runner or not, McFarland USA is the perfect movie to see with friends and family.