Surf’s Up (2007)
Animation/Surfing Penguins
This came out several months after Happy Feet and has a similar plot involving surfing penguins. Though the lesser film and far more predictable, it is likeable
Sports
Sports refers to any type of event or game where participants must participate in some form of physical competition either individually or as a team. These can be sports of strength, skill, dexterity or physical endurance.
Almost any sports film discussed here falls into two categories. The first is the familiar sports film trope of The Underdog Wins Out plot where an individual or team enters a competition despite vast odds stacked against them. The other is where they receive some form of fantastical odds in the form of formulas, superpowers, or help from ghosts, angels, aliens, talking horses or vehicles with personalities.
Also discussed here are depictions of sports of the future or in fantasy settings.
Teen Wolf (1985)
Teenage Werewolf Comedy
This lamely updates I Was a Teenage Werewolf to the 1980s high school, strips all horror elements and has Michael J. Fox’s transformation be regarded as an instant injection of cool. The result was a surprising hit
Teen Wolf Too (1987)
Teenage Werewolf Comedy
Feeble sequel to the unexpected Michael J. Fox comedy hit where Jason Bateman plays his cousin who discovers his inner wolf as he heads to university
Tekken (2010)
Videogame Adaptation/Combat Tournament
Another videogame adapted film, this has almost entirely been conceived around a series of slick fight sequences and little else
Terminus (1987)
Future Truck Race
Very strange French SF film about a futuristic truck race
There’s Only One Jimmy Grimble (2000)
Magic Soccer Boots
Film about a pair of magical soccer boots, so centred in its local sports culture that it is unlikely to have much appeal outside of its Manchester setting
Tokyo Fist (1995)
Boxing, Body-Piercing and Masochism
Shinya Tsukamoto returns to the repressions of his earlier Tetsuo: The Iron Man in this frenetic, ultra-violent work about a downtrodden salaryman who reconnects with life by allowing himself to be beaten up in the boxing ring. This feels like Raging Bull remade by David Cronenberg
Tooth Fairy (2010)
Tough Guy Becomes a Tooth Fairy
From the top wrestling superstar in the world in the early 00s to movie action hero to being dressed in a pink tutu with fairy wings, it is hard to believe that Dwayne Johnson’s box-office star would have ever recovered from this family film embarrassment that sees him cast as a fairy
Transformers One (2024)
Transformers Origin Story/Animation
Since Michael Bay retired from the series, The Transformers films have been looking for new directions. This ventures into animation to tell a Transformers origin story
Turbo (2013)
Animation/Racing Snail
The 24th film from DreamWorks Animation – the studio that once offered a reasonable challenge to Disney is now starting to slip into the bland formula of competitors like Blue Sky. While passable, this feels like a film substantially lacking in originality and where you can predict its every move
The Twelve Tasks of Asterix (1976)
Animation/Comic-Book Character
Animated film based on the popular comic-books co-directed by the comic-book’s creators René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo,. This is disappointingly weak animation that substitutes slapstick cartoon gags for the comic’s more sophisticated humour
Twilight (2008)
Vampire Romance
Before the teen idol phenomenon took over, the original in the massively popular Young Adult series works as an earnest romance where all involved are clearly making an effort to play with a conviction
Volcano High (2001)
High School Fantastical Martial Arts
Energetic South Korean attempt to employ the Wu Xia action moves popularised by The Matrix and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in a high school setting
The World’s Greatest Athlete (1973)
Disney Comedy/Jungle Boy Super-Athlete
A Disney live-action comedy that puts a Tarzan character on the athletics field for some inspired nonsense
The Wrestling Women vs. the Aztec Mummy (1964)
Mexican Wrestlers vs Revived Mummy
This is surely one of the great exploitation titles of all time. Another Mexican wrestling superhero film where a duo of woman wrestlers take on the Aztec Mummy from another Mexican horror series
Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)
Comic-Book Superheroine
The much-anticipated sequel to the Gal Gadot starring Wonder Woman is a highly divided success, partly due to an inane plot centred around a magic wishing stone