On Friday, November 15, 2013, San Francisco was transformed into Gotham City as five-year-old leukemia patient Miles Scott became Batkid for the day. He and Batman saved citizens from danger and defeated their arch-enemies The Riddler and The Penguin. The day, which began as a simple request to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, turned into one of the biggest events in that organization’s history, truly going above and beyond in making Miles’ wish of becoming his all-time favorite superhero come true.
As the documentary “Batkid Begins” details, 21st century word-of-mouth, a.k.a. social media, played a major part in this becoming one of the most inspiring and memorable stories of 2013. Thousands of people poured into SF that day from all over the world to help make this day as special as possible for Miles and his family. And millions, including Hollywood celebrities, actors who have played Batman over the years, and President Obama, joined via Twitter and Facebook.
The first half of “Batkid Begins” (which is being distributed Warner Bros., the studio behind the big screen Batman franchise) focuses on all the efforts it took to make Batkid Day a reality. It’s presented in a TV news special style, including interviews with officials of Make-A-Wish, the SF police department, the mayor’s office, and the key people who would play the characters in this elaborate real-life action story. Credit goes to those smart enough to capture all of this on camera at the time it was happening. Without this footage an effective documentary would have been impossible. We also learn a little about Miles’ parents, who, like everyone else, quickly become overwhelmed by the explosion of publicity their son is generating.
Everything presented involving the build-up to the big day is interesting, including how “Dark Knight” composer Hans Zimmer lended a hand, writing Batkid theme music. Sadly, the facts, details and snippets of dialogue from all those involved come at us in such rapid-fire fashion that, often, I wished the pacing would slow way down, allowing the filmmakers to spend more time delving deeper into certain important and interesting aspects of this unique story.
The second half of the film chronicles the day itself, with footage of all of Miles’ amazing adventures. There are moments that will surprise you, make you smile, and tear-up as it all comes together in a remarkable way. Again, the authentic video in crucial, and we get every angle and clear audio from young Miles and all the participants, including actual news media footage and interviews and shots of the tremendous crowds of strangers who packed the streets and venues to show their support for this young cancer victim. We see that it took so many superheroes to make Miles dream come true.
The ending of “Batkid Begins” does present some questions, especially after hearing a few candid comments. How did this day really impact Miles? Did it mean more to the city of San Francisco? Did Make-A-Wish go too far? A potential financial controversy is swept away rather quickly. I would’ve been fine with sitting through another 20 minutes or so and having these issues analyzed and dissected, but that isn’t the movie director Dana Nachman wanted to make. This is simply designed to be a “feel good” film about a little Caped Crusader who inspired the world to come together for one, special day.
On The Official LCJ Report Card, “Batkid Begins” gets a B.
Julia Roberts is producing and plans on starring in a fictionalized, Hollywood version of the Batkid story, which will reportedly focus on events following Batkid Day. Since we learn late in “Batkid Begins” that Miles’ parents shut-down the media circus and their son’s appearances shortly after his big day, it’ll be interesting to see what Roberts can do to advance this story and top this very effective, if overly simple, documentary.
Running Time: 87 min.