This amiable vehicle for diminutive rapper Bow Wow (he's dropped the 'Lil' since making the movie) is surprisingly fun fare.
Like Mike breathes life into a paper-thin premise - basketball-loving orphan Calvin Cambridge (Wow) stumbles across a pair of Michael Jordan's discarded sneakers which magically transform the kid into an NBA superstar - and mixes sports comedy, Annie-style orphan drama, slapstick, Disney villains (Crispin Glover) and flights of fantasy into a sweet but not-too-cloying confection.
If the plotting leaves no cliche unchecked - will Calvin's band of orphans find foster homes? - what rescues the film from (Channel) Five Sunday teatime schlock is the efficiency with which Schultz marshalls his story, some strong adult support from Chestnut and Robert Forster as the LA Knights' coach, and the good-natured presence of Bow Wow himself.