Parents' Guide to The Champion

This sports drama fails to thrill, and the main characters are hard to like. Also melodramatic, The Champion often feels like there's a lot happening over nothing. It's difficult to get behind the brash, arrogant, selfish, and vain soccer star Diego. But even when Alex realizes Diego has dyslexia (which is supposed to humanize him), it's still hard to care about a 20-year-old millionaire. Diego does have an initial reaction to Alex's work, but quickly Diego becomes "better." While this is supposed to happen, the problem is that to make this the case, it's as if the writers simply started writing a different character. Diego is suddenly no longer selfish, uncaring, mean, and angry. Like magic, all his "issues" are solved within a week or so of meeting Alex.

And Alex is not that likable either. Sure, he's a good person and cares about the world and making Diego better, but he's drab, dour, boring, and just not very interesting. Yes, he's depressed and has anxiety issues, but those alone don't make for a full, round, or robust character. On top of these characters, despite the story meaning well, its logical problems don't help, like how no one has a problem with the immediate conflict of interest in hiring Alex given his brother's job or how if Alex really was a professional (which he is represented to be), he wouldn't ever become so friendly with Diego. Overall, this film often feels like it's trying to squeeze drama out of some fruit that isn't very sweet to begin with.