Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

The New York Yankees have won 27 World Series and at the time of the filming of this documentary Intermediate (Junior High) School 318, in Brooklyn, N.Y., had won 26 National Chess Titles. So it's natural for Asst. Principal John Galvin to declare that his chess team are the Yankees of chess, as everyone wants to beat them. It's rather amazing to see the halls of the school lined with plaques, photos, trophies, and banners of the school's chess accomplishments.The film follows the usual pattern of this type of documentary by highlighting a few individuals and following them not only in their chess matches, but illustrates how their families support them and how the students must try and balance their academics and other interests with their chess playing. To just highlight one of those inspiring stories, I'll write about Rochelle Ballantyne, who when the documentary began was an 8th grader at I.S. 318. She was 13 years old but already exhibiting great natural skills and abilities in chess. She talked about her disappointment at seeing so few females trying out for the team but did not let that deter her.Rochelle's mother was constantly stressing her grades and education as a priority, so Rochelle was trying hard to balance the two, while continuing her goal of becoming the first female African American master level chess player ever. Towards the end of the documentary, Rochelles enters the Girl's National Chess Tournament which has a top prize of a full scholarship to the University of Texas.It was also inspiring to see the dedication of the I.S. 318 staff in helping the students. The aforementioned Asst Principal John Galvin as well as Elizabeth Vicary (Chess Teacher/Coach) were very hands on and helpful in motivating the team members. They, along with Principal Fred Rubino (who unfortunately passed away last year) tried to rally the students and parents to fight back against crippling budget cuts which would greatly restrict extra-curricular programs like chess and marching band. At the time of the Great Recession, they organized successful E-mail campaigns as well as raising tens of thousands of dollars through Walk-A-Thons and other campaigns.In summary, I found this documentary, directed by Katie Dellamaggiore, to be quite an engaging and fascinating film. There are some technical chess terms mentioned in the movie, but I would venture to say that it would not hamper any non-players from enjoying it.

Hard not to compare this film to Spellbound in that it shows students working very hard in an intellectual pursuit in order to improve themselves and open up new avenues for their futures. This is an unfortunate comparison because really this film is not as good as Spellbound on many levels and, to be honest, even without the direct comparison it is easy to see weaknesses within Brooklyn Castle as a documentary. I say "as a documentary" because as a general film it works pretty well despite running a little longer than it can bear. The main reason it works is because of the characters involved; the teachers are passionate, the students are colorful, engaged and driven and generally the viewer invests in them because of how likable and interesting they are as people. This is something the filmmakers have done well because, while some of the kids are instantly likable, some of them are a little bit harder to get close to and in the edit good selections have been made to bring their characters across the best.In this way we care who wins and loses when the film inevitably comes down to the final contests. All of this is good and I liked the film for that but what disappointed me was that the attempts to speak bigger than them doesn't work as well. In terms of showing the value of after-school activities it is a no-brainer to see that this group of kids benefit greatly but I would have liked the film to do more with stats to show that this is true generally by contrasting with other schools and painting an undeniable picture of the importance of these programs. It does this well through the main thrust but there was room for more. Likewise the impact of budget cuts, it shows them and discusses them but it really doesn't hit it home and to be honest I watched the film thinking that actually 2-4% cut was not that bad and seemed to be well managed. I'm guessing this is not the message the film was trying to present (nor is it the case either I imagine) but the lack of bigger picture on the importance and the lack of bigger picture on the impact of the cuts really missed the opportunity to hit this message hard. The point of the film was not just to entertain with the story of this particular collection of students or this school, but on top of that to use them to make a bigger point and educate and engage the viewer (by drawing them into the former and then hitting their engaged-brains with the latter).It is a shame that it doesn't do this as well as it should because it would have been a much stronger film for it. As it is, the film still works as an entertaining, engaging and uplifting look at these specific students, but just the important messages are not as well delivered as they should have been and that is a real disappointment for this as a documentary. Well worth seeing for what it does well though.

Fantastic, inspirational, warm-hearted true story--a can't miss documentary. Goes on a little longer than it probably should, but watching the improbable story unfold is unquestionably captivating."Brooklyn Castle" is a documentary about I.S. 318 - an inner-city school where more than 65 percent of students are from homes with incomes below the federal poverty level - that also happens to have the best junior high school chess team in the country. Chess has transformed the school from "school in need of improvement" in 2003, to one of New York City's best. But a series of recession-driven pubic school budget cuts now threaten to undermine those hard-won successes.The second act of the film loses its sense of direction, but finds its footing again in the third act when the focus is on the kids and the intense competition of the tournaments. If you feel that the country's educational system is in a perpetual downward spiral, and no one really cares, be sure to give it a watch. It's sure to give you at least some hope for our nation's future.

Brooklyn Castle was extremely well-received at its World Premiere at Austin's SXSW Film Festival. This film shows how students who are often written off as low achievers can be inspired and empowered to succeed. I.S. 318 in Brooklyn has been building teams that win national chess championships and by doing so empowering students to learn and to succeed against very long odds. This inspiring film focuses in on a few students and shows their struggles and their successes. These students take us into their lives and show us how chess has changed them and given them opportunities that they never knew existed before. Chess provides them an avenue to success where they can go as far as their minds can take them. The film is powerful antidote to all of the negative attacks that we hear about teachers and public education (in films such as "Waiting for Superman" which placed the blame for educational problems on the Teachers Unions). This shows that students succeed when they are empowered by excellent teachers. One creative aspect of this school is that chess is offered to the students as an elective course instead of just an extra-curricular activity.Despite all of their successes they face even greater challenges from budget cuts that threaten their opportunities to travel to tournaments and compete. Education and the opportunity to achieve should be a right of all American students, not a privilege of the well-to-do. This film should be widely viewed by all those here in Texas and around the country that are seeking to balance budgets on the backs of American schoolchildren. We need to invest in the minds of our children if we expect them to be able to compete in a global economy. Chess is an excellent avenue that can be used to grow young minds. Bravo to I.S. 318 and to the filmmakers of Brooklyn Castle who have shown us the successes being achieved at one school. This film needs to be widely viewed by the general public and most especially by our educators and our political leaders.