October Sky

This fact-based story stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Homer Hickam, the son of a West Virginia miner with dreams of building a rocket in post-Sputnik 1957. Battling the opposition of his father (the always reliable Chris Cooper), Homer and three classmates set out to create a working rocket to win a regional science fair. Ordinarily that would be the cue to begin a predictable winning-against-the-odds crowd-pleaser, and indeed some elements of October Sky are quite familiar. Yet there's something energetic and charming about director Joe Johnston's staging of the rocket trials, something fundamentally and unconventionally appealing about a story in which teenagers are obsessed with an intellectual pursuit. It's also wonderful to see a father-son relationship treated with such sensitivity and intelligence, thanks to a smart script and two solid performances by Cooper and Gyllenhaal. At times, the film does begin to feel like its more convention-bound cousins, dragging in obligatory romantic sub-plots and an under-developed friendship between Homer and a sympathetic teacher (Laura Dern). That's hardly enough to detract from the pleasures of a film that proves feel-good movies don't have to be feel-dumb movies. Recommended. (S. Renshaw)[DVD Review--January 25, 2005--Universal, 108 min., PG, $14.98--Making its second appearance on DVD, 1998's October Sky: Special Edition is presented in a beautiful anamorphic widescreen transfer with DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound options. In addition to the 11-minute original featurette "Spotlight on Location," the special edition includes a personal and personable (as opposed to filmmaking-related) commentary by Hickham, as well as a new 32-minute documentary entitled "Aiming High: The Story of the Rocket Boys," featuring interviews with Hickham and other "original" rocket boys. Bottom line: identically priced to the initial release (which is still available), the special edition--with the new documentary and informative commentary--is a fine bargain. Recommended.]