Film Review: Miraculous ‘Batkid Begins’ Can Save Us All

CHICAGO – Sometimes, a simple will of the heart is like a drop of water in the ocean, which ripples so profoundly that it affects the tides. That will is illustrated in the heartbeat of “Batkid Begins,” the story of Miles Scott, a little boy fighting an illness, who wished to be The Batman.

Rating: 5.0/5.0

What happened next can only be described as a miracle. The desire of the boy was brought to the Make-a-Wish Foundation, who considers the requests of ill children and tries to fulfill them. As the mechanics for the transformation of Miles Scott to Batkid began to fall into place, something else occurred, based in part in our new era of technology. The details and the complexities of making the dream happen began to light up the Twitter sphere, through the Foundation and the participants in the wish. This drew interest from more volunteers, which led to donations of props and performances, which led into the entire City of San Francisco virtually shutting down to create a reality for a little boy. There is joy, hope and a glorified dignity in “Batkid Begins” that we as human beings might have thought was lost, yet was rediscovered in the happy sparkle of the boy, a Foundation, a city and the billions of cyber followers who just wanted to be a part of the miracle. The lesson is Batkid can save us all.

Miles Scott was 18 months old when he was diagnosed with leukemia, and spent the next several years in chemotherapy treatments, which were successful. To celebrate the remission of the cancer, his parents (Nick and Natalie) got together with the Make-a-Wish Foundation to set up a special event for their now six year-old son. When pressed for the theme, the superhero obsessed Miles said, “I want to be Batkid.”

This began the story of the wish fulfillment, and how it snowballed. Every decision from the dream granting team at Make-a-Wish was bearing fruit, and the setting up of the situations that would become Miles’ adventure was garnering interest from every quarter of their resources. In November of 2013, it all came together for a day in San Francisco – standing in for Gotham City. The Batkid would “save” the city, but at the same time would generate exhilaration for over 100,000 ground participants, and millions more around the world.

Continue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full review of “Batkid Begins” [18]

Mission Accomplished for Batkid (Miles Scott) and The Batman (Eric Johnston) in ‘Batkid Begins’
Photo credit: Warner Bros.

Continue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full review of “Batkid Begins” [18]