Common Sense Media Review
By Jennifer Green
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
French docu offers insights into pioneering pro player.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 12+?
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Tony Parker: The Final Shot
What's the Story?
Tony Parker had an illustrious NBA career with the San Antonio Spurs, a team he played with from 2001 to 2018, the year before his retirement. TONY PARKER: THE FINAL SHOT pieces together interviews with the French American Parker and coaches, teammates, rivals, family members, journalists, and friends from both sides of the Atlantic. Archive footage shows Parker playing basketball from a very young age, enrolling in an academy at 15, playing in the French League for two years then getting recruited to the NBA at just 19 years old. We follow Parker's career through the highs of championships and awards, and lows of a near career-ending injury. We also see Parker at home with his family and learn about his post-professional career in France as a team owner and founder of a youth academy in Lyon.
Is It Any Good?
Tony Parker: The Final Shot follows on the Nike heels of the popular Michael Jordan miniseries The Last Dance. While this French-made documentary may not hold as much interest for non-fans of the sport, Parker was one of the NBA's top players for years and a pioneer for European athletes in the United States. The film maintains a brisk pace and offers some insights into both the career trajectory of a pro player and some of the personal details that fueled Parker's success. He's portrayed as a uniquely skilled player and a family man with a long-term vision of the impact he can have around the world even now in his post-professional career.
Comments from Michael Jordan, Pau Gasol, and Kobe Bryant (to whose memory the film is dedicated) offer their takes on the friendly and mutually-respectful rivalries they had with Parker. But some of the more revelatory pieces of the film are comments from Parker's friends, including French teammates from as far back as his teen years, and family about his upbringing in France and the significance for him of playing for the French national team. His parents -- a Dutch mother and an American father who played professionally in Europe and raised Parker and his two brothers in France -- offer a lot of insight into where Parker's discipline and emotional resilience come from.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the line in Tony Parker: The Final Shot that suggests success comes from a combination of "skill and will" but that the will must be stronger than the skill. Do you agree? How did Parker demonstrate this idea?
Parker has won many top awards and championships over the course of his career. Which seemed to hold the most significance for him, and why?
What did you learn about Tony Parker or the professional sport of basketball from this documentary? How could you learn more?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : January 6, 2021
- Cast : Tony Parker , Kobe Bryant , Thierry Henry
- Director : Florent Bodin
- Studio : Netflix
- Genre : Documentary
- Character Strengths : Perseverance , Teamwork
- Run time : 98 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : January 11, 2021
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