Goal (2006)

If you think this movie will be like The Mighty Ducks or Air Bud or any of those movies you've seen and have quite forgotten the plot (if there's any), then you will be happily disappointed. Goal!, starring Kuno Becker as the Mexican immigrant to the U.S. Santiago Munez, is not your type of a Hollywood predictable movie about a rising basketball or football star. First because it does not involve an underdog superhero out to steal the glory from a suppervillain team.

Goal is a simple story of a young man who dreams big and who happens to have a heart and two nimble feet to walk his way to success. The director, Danny Cannon, is so sympathetic with his main hero that he allows him to show his vulnerabilities and strengths. The audience can't help but feel for Santiago as he confronts people who don't believe in him and learn to trust others who can help him reach his full potential. The story is also a good testament to the young man's determination to get into a tough team despite the many odds lodged in his way.

The classic story of an unbelieving father is also in Goal!. But unlikemany Hollywood movies, Goal! does not pander on the melodrama. It does not paint Santiago as a faultless hero but as someone on the verge of maturity and someone just beginning to accept and realize that he can reach even his wildest dreams if he just believed in himself.