Orphan Calvin Cambridge (Lil Bow Wow) stumbles across a pair of sneakers said to have been worn by "some tall bald basketball player." Anyway, the initials "MJ" are magic-markered on the their tongues (the shoes - not the orphans). Speakin' of tongues (not speaking in tongues), once Calvin slides his two feet into 'dem shoes, well of course, he plays like he's two feet taller. Actually, that first magic moment (not to be confused with Magic Johnson) when Calvin takes the ball to the hoop and plays like a dream (yep, not "hoop dreams"), the film takes you with him. The small boy stickin' the pro, jammin' the ball and hangin' from the rim 'cause he's too short to let go - it's a special moment. Well done, I was cheering right along with 'em.

But the film ain't all fun and games. Calvin's got a stubborn teammate to win over, a bully orphan to dodge and a slimy guardian to overcome. Actually, Crispin Glover perfectly portrays the chess-playing sleaze-ball pseudo-yuppie orphanage guardian. Kudos to him. All else are okay. Though Robert Forster as Coach Wagner was a fine casting choice as well as Eugene Levy as the smily Knights promoter. And of course, it was fun to see so many sports players and casters participate in the folly.

A strong first quarter, slightly less so second quarter, and average second half. (Btw, Michael Jordan does not appear.)

Lil Bow Wow comments about his film debut, "In almost everything I do, I just go with the flow, so I knew that once I got into the whole acting thing, I could do a good job. So I put my all into it."