Search - Searching for Bobby Fischer on DVD

Claudia K. from N ARLINGTON, NJ
Reviewed on 2/7/2022...

Based on a true story...very good and very enjoyable.
Makes you smile and at times stay on the edge of your seat

Daniel W. from LANSING, MI
Reviewed on 2/16/2014...

This is one of those movies that don't sound very exciting that turn out to be a great movie. I mean, come on, a movie about a chess prodigy? Heck yeah it works! Why? Because it keeps it real. Amazingly gifted young boy who just wants to be a normal boy. A sports writer father living vicariously through his son. A chess teacher trying to teach the young boy to bury his feelings and a Mom who wont stand for any such thing and protects her boys good heart. Beyond stellar cast( Joe Mantegna, Joan Allen, Ben Kingsley, Laurence Fishburne with William Macy and Tony Shaloub in small roles. But the most impressive is young Max Pomeranc, not because he has great acting abilty but because hes actually allowed to act like a normal boy. Great movie, hard to find ( its an out of print dvd and the small box office take means the odds of this coming out on blu ray are extremely small) and I don't care if the aspect ratio is bad, its not enough of a reason to miss this hidden gem.

Great Movie (5), Lousy DVD (1)

Scientific K | Seattle, WA United States | 08/27/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I'm very surprised that no one commented on what the studio has done to this picture in the DVD release: The "widescreen" aspect ratio is achieved by taking the pan-and-scan version of the movie and lopping off the top and bottom to make the 4:3 aspect ratio into 16:9 (1.85:1). This means you see even less of the frame than in the VHS version! Thankfully, this practice is being abandoned by the movie studios. Let's hope this terrific movie gets a proper re-release on DVD soon."

GOOD MOVIE, GOOD GAME.

M. MERRITT | The Mid-West USA | 01/05/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

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Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie''s plot.
Searching for Bobby Fischer is a movie based on the true story of Joshua Waitzkin [Max Pomeranc) A Seven year old boy. He uses chess as a way to analyze carefully the moves and motivations of himself and others.

He is put in a position to care about the game and at the same time make sense of his relationship with his over competitive Father(Joe Mantegna) A particularly avid sports writer, A homeless drug dealer, Vinnie (laurence Fishburne) who plays chess in the local park and a World Renown chess instructor named Bruce Pandolfini(Ben Kingsley).
The movie starts out with an introduction about a Grand Master and U.S. chess champion Bobby Fischer also a former child chess prodigy. He has disappeared and thus the search for him is what drives the motivation of others.Fischer, is the standard by which young Waitzkin is compared and from this reference the rest of the plot unfolds.

The acting is tremendous, every actor is used appropriately and each add to the quality of the story. Particularly Max Pomeranc! Child actors are usually not convincing and I mostly avoid movies that revolve around them.

As a chess player myself I found this movie to be beautifully well written and focuses on the art of the game and uses plenty of popular chess innuendos and complicated algebraic chess notation in honor of those that love the game. It does not insult those who do not understand the intricacies of the game as well.

It accomplishes this by involving you into a story that most of us can identify and relate to. The relationships between a child and adults (who in most cases act more like children than this 7 year old boy.) That premise, is what makes this movie stand on its own two feet with movie audiences and critics alike.
Even to this day, it is a warm heartfelt story that the entire family can enjoy.

I cannot recommend this movie any higher! For those of you who want to walk away feeling uplifted and truly inspired, this movie has passed the tests of time for 17 years. It's hard for me to imagine that it ever will lose in that strategy, because of its universal subject matter.

It will challenge you to put your thoughts and emotions in "check" and it successfully keeps them there!

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