Leave it to Beaver

Director - Andy Cadiff (Home Improvement)
Starring - Cameron Finley (What's Eating Gilbert Grape), Erik von Detten (Escape to Witch Mountain), and Christopher McDonald (Happy Gilmore)
Release Date - 1997
Genre - Children's
Tagline - "The Beav is back"
Format - DVD (Personal Collection)

Rating (out of 5):

     It is no secret how much I love movies.  I typically watch horror movies but I have a soft spot for any movie made in the 80's.  It can also be seen that I still watch the same movies I watched as a child.  Movies like The Worst Witch, Small Soldiers, Space Jams, and the like still give me that nostalgic feeling and whenever I have the chance to pick one of those up on DVD or Bluray I grab them.  When I was younger I had the Leave it to Beaver movie remake on VHS but a friend borrowed it, along with Ritchie Rich, and moved away taking them with him (damn prick).  Because I did not have the VHS anymore I forgot that this little gem existed, along with Ritchie Rich, until I was at my local Big Lots once again looking through their small selection of movies.  I found this for $3 and had to have it.  I remembered loving it when I was little and wanted it for my collection for sentimental reasons.    

     The film follows the misadventures of Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver (Finley) as he tries to get himself out of some sticky situations.  Beaver really wants a new bike and takes advice from his weasel of a friend Eddie Haskel.  Eddie tells Beaver to suck up to his old man and do things he normally would not.  His father is always reminiscing about when he was younger playing sand lot football.  Beaver then gets the idea to sign up for football so his dad will get him the bike for his birthday.  Beaver succeeds and gets his bike, along with a computer and random other presents.  He loves his new bike and whenever he is not riding it he is giving it a good spit shine.  Now that he has a nice bike his parents allow him to ride it to school as long as his older brother Wally (Detten) accompanies him.  Wally does, for the most part, but Eddie has a crush on a girl and makes Wally be his wing man.  The two go in to the diner and leave Beaver outside.  While they are inside, a teenager asks if he can ride his bike to show him a few tricks.  O' the innocence of youth.  Beaver agrees to let him and the boy does do a few tricks before riding off on it.  Beaver chases but can't catch him.  After he tells Wally they decide not to tell their dad so he won't get upset with them.  That night at dinner their father can tell something is bothering the boys and question them till he finds out.  He blames it on Wally for not keeping an eye on his brother and the boys go to their bedroom that they share.  Wally is upset he got the blame for it and the two argue until Wally tackles Beaver.  The two fight till they knock the computer out the window.  Ward (McDonald) then grounds the two over the entire ordeal.  At school the Beav's grades are dropping and his teacher offers to give him after school lessons.  Beaver agrees because he really hates football and this will be a good excuse not to go.  Beaver starts skipping football practice and his parents are oblivious.  One day when Beaver and his friend are out they come across the punk that stole his bike.  The punk makes a bet with Beaver that if he climbs the coffee shop building to see if their really is coffee in the giant coffee mug he will give him the bike back.  Beaver agrees but once he gets inside the cup he can't get out.  While this is going on Beaver's dad tries to surprise him by going to one of his games but Beaver is not there.  The coach tells Ward that Beaver hasn't played for a few weeks.  Later that evening the police and Beaver's friend show up to tell them that their son is stuck in a giant coffee cup.  The police, fire department, and a rescue helicopter are all there to get him out but Ward climbs a ladder on a fire truck to rescue his son.  He goes inside the cup and the two have a heart to heart and Beaver is rescued.  He also wants to play the last football game of the season because he knows they will lose and the parents will buy them pizza.  At the game Beaver sees the punk that stole his bike and chases after him.  Beaver just happens to be holding the ball and as he runs off field he scores the game winning touch down.  There just so happens to be a fair taking place around the field and Beaver chases him through  the crowd before knocking him off the bike and into a rack of pies...and that is how he got his bike back.

     I am not going to pick at this movie with a fine tooth comb.  I just wanted to write about a flick that I watched a lot as a child and as I got older I seemed to forget about it along with the rest of the world.  When you go to Wal-Mart or Target and look in the children's films in the movie section you always find films made by Disney along with movies like Little Rascal and Casper.  Don't get me wrong, both of those movies are great but this one goes forgotten.  It is very entertaining and even as an adult I liked it. This is going to be one of those films I show to my kids as soon and I trick someone into baring my spawn.