At the moment of submitting this first review, this film has a rating of 6.3 which in my view it does not deserve. I was far from convinced by any of it really . The acting was by and large OK from an unknown cast most of whom as you will see don't even have IMDb photos. Direction, camera work, lighting and so on also OK. There is not much to either like or dislike. The word bland comes to mind. The film is about largely Spanish-American schoolkids playing chess. Er, that really is just about it. There is much dialogue between the children and their parents, family members and teachers most of which is in English if it contains a plot point but they would often change to Spanish when it was just general chit-chat: to lend an air of authenticity you see. Now, I can speak Spanish so no problem for me but I can see some viewers becoming a bit frustrated if they are suddenly shut out like that. Why would people whose first language is Spanish be talking to each other in English at home anyway?
I used to be a keen chess player also but I found it difficult to follow what was going on a lot of the time. In the latter part of the film they appear to have reached a very high standard and are being taught complicated strategies- French opening, gambits, Engish defence and so on and you have to be very good to know or even want to know stuff like that. But in his final game the "lead" child actor makes a blunder so clumsy and ignorant that it is impossible to believe. I won't bore you with the details but a raw beginner would have seen it coming. So, if you like harmless almost vacuous films about 12 year olds playing board games then this is definitely the one for you.
I used to be a keen chess player also but I found it difficult to follow what was going on a lot of the time. In the latter part of the film they appear to have reached a very high standard and are being taught complicated strategies- French opening, gambits, Engish defence and so on and you have to be very good to know or even want to know stuff like that. But in his final game the "lead" child actor makes a blunder so clumsy and ignorant that it is impossible to believe. I won't bore you with the details but a raw beginner would have seen it coming. So, if you like harmless almost vacuous films about 12 year olds playing board games then this is definitely the one for you.