On this episode of Cinematic Underdogs, we discuss how our memory of The Big Green was upended by our adult viewing experience of the film. Nevertheless, there was a lot to take from this film, despite the fact that it doesn't have the same emotional payoff as other classic Disney 90's Sports Movies.
In some ways, The Big Green is more politically relevant than ever: dealing with issues of immigration / deportation, the plight of rural America, the urgency for narratives that cultivate self-worth and belief, and the warring biases between cosmopolitan and small-town mindsets. However, despite being an effective underdog film in celebrating the margins of American society, we also critique how The Big Green may be relevant politically, but still comes off as ultimately lackluster due to its derivative and haphazardly patched together narrative and character development.
Given the fact that this was a 90's children's classic that sat in VHS boxes on thousands of living room shelves, The Big Green is a uniquely forgotten time capsule that elicits a lot of emotions: nostalgia, annoyance, mild laughs, incredulity, and curiosity. Look past the 0% Rotten Tomatoes score, and the film's perpetual place on the bottom of miscellaneous "best of 90's" lists, and there are a lot of silver linings in exploring this strange Disney release.
