Pelé: Birth of a Legend
Pelé: Birth of a Legend
PG | 06 May 2016 (USA)
Pelé: Birth of a Legend Trailers

The life story of Brazilian football legend, Pele.

Reviews
Linbeymusol

Wonderful character development!

... View More
Cathardincu

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

... View More
Freaktana

A Major Disappointment

... View More
Voxitype

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

... View More
odawg_007

A great movie to understand the beautiful game. Really well done!

... View More
fontaine-30501

Not well made movie, Clichés after Clichés, emotion compassion. Pelé deserve way better than hat. Don't waste your time. typical Hollywood movie

... View More
Samrat Mitra

I did enjoy this film on many levels and it ticks the boxes for the audience this film targets! The music makes it's presence felt and I looked up the composer: no other than AR Rehman! I am buying the DVD and the CD once they are out!

... View More
voxrockulis

A generous 6.5 for a Disney-fied feel-good drama of Pele's life story. The story goes exactly as you would expect it.The writing is a bit weak and lacking experience. For example (This is the spoiler), a young Pele plays with a bunch of rich kids who daydream of playing like famous footballers, each saying "I'm this guy" "I'm that guy" - Pele interjects and says "and I'm Pele!" to which the other kids ask: "Who?"Pele explains that he's pretending to be the Vasco de Gama keeper and the kids laugh at him and correct him, "It's Bilé."Then they say "Hey, let's call this boy Pele" - in real life (or in a better script) they would not have this "decision" moment, but would just start calling him Pele, like a "see you later, Pele!" not something as contrived as "Hey everyone, we have decided to call this boy Pele because it's funny. This is a good idea." Poor script-writing. The did this same thing with "Hey let's all call this team the shoeless ones" instead of just going straight for shoeless jokes like "lace up!" or more cruel jokes like "If you beat us I'll lend you my old boots."An even better story for the Pele name sticking would be for the rich kids to completely forget the boy until they meet him in a tournament match. When they were talking about him, the rich kids could say "Who?" (are we facing?) because they didn't actually know his real name and one of them could say "that Pele boy" which is the way people actually talk.This movie was filled with these lots opportunities and weak moments with unnatural dialogue. The scriptwriter can't hide behind language issues because the dialogues sound contrived even in Portuguese. Bullies don't say "hey, what do you guys think of this nickname for this boy we could all start using? Do you agree that it is a good one to use to taunt him?" They just use it, they don't have a meeting or vote about it. It felt like those anti-bullying educational videos they show to kids where the bully says "I do not like you because you look different. From now on I will do this to you." "I want to smoke because I feel like an adult doing it and it is cool." Pele's football skill also makes no sense. His skills fluctuate from world class to garbage class and back with no explanation whatsoever. They could've made it about the pressure of the national team, locker room problems, family problems, love, something that explains his drop, but nopes. His skill just drops in the second act so that it can come back at the right time "because 3 acts."Even as a Disneyfied feel-good story, they could've done a better job.I started the review giving this film seven stars, but the more I thought about it the more it felt too generous. I dropped it to 6.5.Don't get me wrong. It's enjoyable, but it's two wasted opportunities - they could've made a great, hard-hitting dramatic biopic (something similar to, but better than Heleno) or they could've made a better feel-good film. They didn't do either. They chose the easier option and still failed. This film will surely have cooled any interest in making a better Pele movie of either variety.

... View More